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Over 100 Albert Dorman Honors College (ADHC) scholars showcased their semester's research at the Honors Interdisciplinary Research Forum, featuring work from three foundational courses: Introduction to Research Writing, Introduction to Research Methods and — new for this semester — Introduction to Entrepreneurship.

New Jersey has been abuzz with reports of unidentified drones flying in its skies, sparking public curiosity and raising questions about their origin and purpose. Amid the growing concern, Associate Professor Pramod Abichandani, director of the Robotics and Data Lab (RADLab) and the Advanced Air Mobility (AAMLab) at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), has emerged as a voice in the conversation.

Alumni from NJIT are impressing Mike Reagan, who leads 250 people for the New York/New Jersey region of international technology consultancy CGI Inc., because the Highlanders among them stand out for backing up solid training with invaluable soft skills.

“They have risen to be the cream of the crop,” said Reagan, senior vice president, who’s an electrical engineer and transitioned into management. “What I do not hire is someone with a resume of 4.0 and nothing else. Give me the 3.2 who was part of a couple of clubs, involved in student government and has a personality.”

Brian Kiernan ’70, a visionary in wireless communication technology and a proud alumnus of Newark College of Engineering at NJIT, has been named a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). This honor recognizes his pioneering contributions to mobile and fixed wireless communications, a field he revolutionized through innovations that underpin technologies used by billions globally.

Neel Adwani is a second-year Ph.D. student in the Helen and John C. Hartmann Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He works at the Controls Automation and Robotics Lab (CAR Lab), advised by Dr. Cong Wang. He is also a teaching assistant for the ECE Department, currently teaching ECE 294 Analog and Digital Circuits Lab. His current research is based on end-effector fabrication for robots using LLMs and VLMs, where his goal is to leverage models like GPT for designing and prototyping robot end-effectors for performing domestic services like cooking.

Xueyu Hou began her Ph.D. study at NJIT in 2021 with Dr. Tao Han as her advisor. She earned her Ph.D. in May 2024 and started her current role as a tenure-track assistant professor in the ECE department at the University of Maine in September 2024. Since the beginning of her Ph.D. journey, AI and machine learning have gained significant attention across various fields, and she is proud to be among the researchers exploring these areas within cyber-physical systems. Working with Dr.

Daniel Vargas ‘15, a systems safety engineer at Nvidia, is at the forefront of one of the most exciting and transformative fields in technology—autonomous vehicles. With a career that began in aerospace and defense, Vargas — who graduated with a degree in electrical engineering — has now transitioned into the tech world, where he ensures that Nvidia’s cutting-edge innovations are safe, reliable and compliant.

New Jersey Institute of Technology has earned national recognition for how it serves students connected to the military, be they active members or veterans.

Zhenlu Qin joined the Department of Computer Science at Auburn University at Montgomery as an Assistant Professor in August 2024 after obtaining his Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from NJIT in May 2024. He started his Ph.D. study in 2018 and was advised by Dr. Qing Liu. His research focuses on high-performance computing (HPC), data compression and reduction, and I/O performance.

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.