When the vessel “King Gizzard” lined up for the final round of NJIT’s STEM Success Academy boat race, the stakes weren’t high in the traditional sense — just a stream of air and a small plastic boat floating on a narrow water track in NJIT’s Makerspace. But what was at play was far bigger: creativity, collaboration and the confidence to think differently.
Written by: Andrew McMains and Tracey Regan
Published: Tuesday, August 5, 2025
The Research & Development Council of New Jersey is recognizing medical technology developed at New Jersey Institute of Technology and Stryker executive Robert C. Cohen’s leadership in surgical device and robotics innovation.
For the fifth straight year, New Jersey Institute of Technology is a Top 50 Best Value College in The Princeton Review’s annual ranking of public institutions.
Danna Valentina Sanchez Hernandez’s path to becoming a researcher began long before she arrived at NJIT. Growing up in Colombia, she developed an early fascination with science by attending medical conferences alongside her parents — both physicians — and learning about clinical trials and biological research. But her passion for biomedical engineering didn’t crystallize until she enrolled in dual-enrollment courses at Universidad CES.
Business leaders Adam Broder and Adam Shain have joined the Board of Trustees of New Jersey Institute of Technology.
Broder and Shain, who were appointed by N.J. Gov. Phil Murphy, bring extensive expertise in launching and growing businesses in financial services and health care, respectively.
“Our new trustees deepen and strengthen our ties to the business world and bring valuable insights and experiences that will help us on our journey to become an even more prolific nexus of innovation,” NJIT President Teik C. Lim said.
Persevere, be authentic, remain flexible and make a difference in the world, speakers told the Class of 2025 at New Jersey Institute of Technology’s undergraduate commencement.
New Jersey Institute of Technology served up a full day of fanfare as its advanced degree graduates walked across the stage in the Bloom Wellness and Events Center in three commencement ceremonies. The 2025 master’s and doctoral class exemplifies the institution’s commitment to research and scholarship across a diverse range of disciplines.
New Jersey Institute of Technology’s Aliza Mujahid, a senior biomedical engineering student, along with mechanical engineering Ph.D. student and research assistant Mohammad Jafari, reached the final round-of-eight in the 2025 U.S. Hult Prize competition for social-minded startup founders.
The duo, with Assistant Professor Farid Alisafaei and colleagues at Washington University, represent a new company called DermaMech that aims to better understand the science of human skin grafting and develop technology that will reduce infections, rejections and scarring.
A robotic alarm clock that hides from you, so you have to get out of bed anyway if you wish to silence it, was the star Highlander entry in the spring 2025 edition of the MakeNJIT hardware hackathon.
The clockmakers earned third place overall among 47 teams from several universities. Members of Team Daniel knew that many tinkerers have built such devices, but they designed their own version just for the fun and education of it.
Seeing her father struggle through rehabilitation exercises after a stroke made Marina Samuel '25 think, why can’t therapy be more personalized, effective and efficient for the patient?
So, with a central focus on patients, she pursued a bachelor’s in biomedical engineering at New Jersey Institute of Technology and after graduation in May, will seek a Ph.D. in the same discipline at NJIT. Her research as an undergraduate fueled this pursuit.
