Department of Humanities and Social Sciences

Mathematical Epidemiologist Sara Del Valle '00 '01 Welcomed Back at 2020 CSLA Awards

Tuesday, November 17, 2020
Sara Del Valle, a two-time NJIT alumna who works at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) developing models for tracking and mitigating the spread of infectious diseases, gave the keynote address at the 2020 College of Science and Liberal Arts Awards ceremony. CSLA Dean Kevin Belfield led the presentation at this year's ceremony, which continued its long tradition of awarding the outstanding achievements of students, faculty and staff across the college's diverse departments, from theater and history to physics and chemistry. The event is normally held in May but was instead held...

NJIT Undergrads Win Scholarships for Artistic Work Reimagining a Greener Planet

Wednesday, November 4, 2020
Undergrads Suzanne Hlinka ’21 and Nada Boules ‘21 have been applying the skills in game development and interior design that they’ve picked up at NJIT, and Mother Earth is thanking them for it. This past year, the pair of students began artistic projects promoting a more sustainable planet, and now, their creative talents have been recognized with the “Jim Wise Scholarship for Theatre: Communicating the Environment Through Art.”  The scholarship is typically limited to one standout undergraduate student each year “who created and publicly presented a research project in an artistic...

NJIT Cyberpsychology Seminar Series Begins, Features Experts at Intersection of Psychology and Tech

Thursday, September 17, 2020
Next week, NJIT’s College of Science and Liberal Arts’ new Fall 2020 Cyberpsychology Seminar Series is set to begin, featuring some of the nation’s leading experts at the emerging intersection of psychology and technology who will cover a diverse range of future-focused topics for the university community. Such topics will include current dilemmas and phenomena related to online disinformation, problematic gaming, online racism and the use of virtual reality to examine racial bias, and the rise of telehealth during COVID-19.  “Our program is excited to launch...

A Look Back: NJIT's Unusual Explorations of Nature

Friday, September 11, 2020
From discovering dinosaur-era ants with metal horns on their head, to swapping the brains of “Frankenfish,” to joining whale musicians at sea, NJIT faculty have been part of some unusual explorations of nature, sometimes taking them to distant corners of the world. Here, we look back on some of them. Resurrecting Vlad the Impaler and the “Hell Ants”  [[{"fid":"8346","view_mode":"default","fields":{"format":"default","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"...

NJIT's Vanessa Velez Awarded for Quarantine-Inspired Folk Artwork

Friday, September 4, 2020
NJIT Department of Humanities staff member Vanessa Velez has shown that not only is art her true calling, but it's a potent form of therapy, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recently, Velez’s quarantine-inspired artwork was awarded at the “nation’s largest annual celebration of handmade craft,” American Craft Week, observed virtually this year. The event annually features an artist contest that attracts submissions in the folk tradition from around the nation — spanning paintings and embroidery to...

In Xavante Territory, the Researched Recruit the Researchers

Tuesday, July 14, 2020
By: Rosanna Dent, Assistant Professor of History Every year, with the dry season, come the researchers. They arrive with audio recorders, microscopes and glucose meters. They bring backpacks filled with GPS recorders, cameras and field notebooks. They ask endless streams of questions about how to live in the Cerrado of Central Brazil. The Xavante community members who receive and host us are long accustomed to these visits. My scholarship on the history of research in Xavante territory asks: What would it be like to be studied again and again? Why would a community consent to host...

Senior Success: Awardees Shine at NJIT's College of Science and Liberal Arts

Thursday, May 28, 2020
Each spring around Commencement, NJIT’s College of Science and Liberal Arts holds its very own celebration, awarding its standout student and faculty stars from across the college’s diverse academic spectrum of art, history and humanities to physics, biology and chemistry. Among CSLA’s award winners this year, several graduating seniors took home 2020 CSLA Outstanding Student Award honors. Here, they share their unique university experiences, successes and plans after receiving their special recognition. Mary McGuinness ’20, B.S. in Chemistry [[{"fid":"7006","view_mode":"default...

Mental Health, COVID-19 & Our Tech: Q&A with NJIT Cyberpsychology Director Julie Ancis

Wednesday, May 6, 2020
The current pandemic has deeply influenced our social behavior in many ways, among the most obvious being that while physical interaction is way down, screen time is way up — some early estimates since March showed total web hits jumping up to 70%, and streaming content by at least 30% worldwide.  What is less clear is the overall impact that the soaring screen time has had on our mental health as our experience of physical spaces and relationships are diminished and as virtual spaces become, for some, the primary window to friends and family, work and school routines, and milestone...

NJIT Musicians Unite in Inspiring Performance: 'Don't Stop Believin'

Monday, May 4, 2020
Members of NJIT's string, jazz and wind ensembles are showcasing their collective spirit with a new inspirational performance for the university community. Student-musicians of NJIT’s Music Initiative have collaborated to digitally stage a performance of Journey's "Don’t Stop Believin’," featuring an original arrangement by Dave Rimelis, NJIT jazz ensemble conductor and artist-in-residence for the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.  Students of Rimelis and other NJIT ensemble instructors, Christine Sweet (string ensemble and the video’s project director) and Nick...

Theater Returns to NJIT: Virtual Series Explores Quarantine Life, Zoom As Stage

Thursday, April 23, 2020
Even in the social distancing era, the show must go on for the art world. That includes the NJIT/Rutgers-Newark theatre arts community, which is soon returning to its audiences with a string of all-new virtual performances exploring art, click-based technology and social connections during physical isolation.  The theater group is prepping to premiere its latest work to home audiences via Zoom, titled “One Click Away” — a collection of four one-act plays all written, directed and set in the present reality of COVID-19 quarantine. The performances delve, through comedy and drama, into...

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