New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) has taken a significant step in its commitment to advancing artificial intelligence by establishing the Grace Hopper AI Research Institute (GHRI). The institute is a key component of NJIT's $10 million AI Initiative aimed at enhancing the university's capabilities in AI research and applications. In its inaugural call for research proposals, GHRI received more than $1 million in funding requests. These proposals span a diverse range of departments and fields, including engineering, computer science, mathematics and university operations. This…

Tara Alvarez, a distinguished professor of biomedical engineering at NJIT, won first place in the inaugural Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University (PMU) / National Academy of Inventors (NAI) International Patent Award competition. Her patented technology, branded as VERVE (Virtual Eye Rotation Vision Exercises), is a virtual reality game to correct an eye motor disorder called convergence insufficiency, in which the muscles that control eye movements do not coordinate to focus on near objects, to see them singly and clearly. Because each eye sees images separately, the person experiences…

Anna Maria DiBrita ’24 didn’t quite have the time to study abroad during her time pursuing her degree in biomedical engineering. The Albert Dorman Honors Scholar kept a full plate on campus — member of the Society of Female Engineers, ambassadorships for biomedical engineering and the Honors College, Orientation Fellow among others. But now, DiBrita has earned a Fulbright scholarship and is an English teaching assistant in Spain’s Canary Islands. Her mornings begin with a bus ride to her school in Telde. DiBrita assists and supports the students learning English. She’s there Mondays through…

Bharat Biswal, a pioneer in the field of neural imaging who developed a technique that sheds new light on brain-related diseases and injuries, is this year’s winner of NJIT’s Excellence in Research award. In the early 1990s, as scientists began mapping the brain with functional MRI (fMRI), Biswal proposed a radical new approach to imaging: observing all of the regional networks at once while the patient sat still for several minutes. “At the time, it was perceived as a crazy idea in neuroscience, which was focused on task and response,” recalled Biswal, then a graduate student at Wisconsin…

Five of this year’s Governor’s STEM Scholars are from New Jersey Institute of Technology — the most from any college in the state and the university’s highest total in a single year. The Highlanders are among a select cohort of 16 college-level scholars and a larger pool of 111 that includes high school students interested in STEM. Each college scholar plays a leadership role, sharing expertise and offering guidance to a group of about a half-dozen high schoolers as they tackle global problems at a local level. “These exceptional Highlanders have the knowledge, experience and skills to…

A quadriplegic for the past 11 years, Julissa Santiago is the master of her own comfort. With the precision of a polite drill sergeant, she delivers instructions at bedtime for a series of minute body shifts and covers placed just so. And yet she still struggles to sleep. “If I sleep for five hours, I’m lucky. My brain is constantly going, and it drains me,” she says. In her wheelchair during the day, she occasionally experiences a sudden drop in blood pressure that is mentally discombobulating in its own way. These disruptions are deeply frustrating for the observant 35-year-old who soaks…

The human body can heal itself, but only up to a point. If an injury removes 20% or more of a muscle — as can happen in car accidents, certain surgeries or explosions in combat zones — natural processes can’t, on their own, replace it. Instead, the wound seals up, covered by scar tissue.   “The body sees this extensive loss of tissue as an insurmountable void,” says Jonathan Grasman, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering.  His lab is developing implants to boost muscles’ regenerative power and provide a more effective option than the surgeries currently used to…

Back-to-school buzz has returned to campus, and with it has come the latest wave of promising first-year students hailing from NJIT’s home city of Newark. A growing number of these Newark natives are poised for success in their first semester thanks to several initiatives launched in recent years, which have helped grow the city’s young STEM talent at NJIT — including the Forensic Science Initiative (FSI), the Math Success Initiative (MSI) and Mayor’s Honors Scholar Program. Here, we catch up with a few Class of 2028 students as they take on the next chapter of their academic journey.…

New Jersey Institute of Technology’s standing in national rankings continues to rise with U.S. News & World Report placing NJIT No. 84 among U.S. universities — improving two places from last year — in the 2025 edition of its Best Colleges list. The latest ranking extends NJIT’s upward trajectory — climbing 19 spots since 2022 — and supports the findings of other publications that rank U.S. universities, which emphasize value and return on investment. This year U.S. News revised its criteria to place greater emphasis on student outcomes, like social mobility, and includes other metrics…

Sophomore computer science major Hari Sah was on the gold medal team at this year’s Project/Problem-Based Learning competition, hosted by National Taipei University of Technology, where students from New Jersey Institute of Technology brandished their skills against peers from around the world. Sah and three fellow Highlanders from the Albert Dorman Honors College— data science major Haripriya Kemisetti, biomedical engineering major Aliza Mujahid and mechanical engineering technology major An’Jolae Seabrooks — were each assigned to different teams, composed of international students who…