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An all-freshman team, Rackify, was the top NJIT winner and third overall at this year’s MakeNJIT hardware hackathon, creating a smart bicycle rack that automatically locks your ride by activating an RFID reader and extending an arm through the spokes or frame.

Accomplished computer science and engineering professors at New Jersey Institute of Technology were among the featured speakers at a conference about creating “smart” cities that was organized by two centers of NJIT’s Martin Tuchman School of Management: the Leir Research Institute and Hub for Creative Placemaking.

Distinguished Professor of Computer Science Guiling “Grace” Wang talked about her research into developing responsive traffic signals whose timing adjusts based on the volume of traffic. Artificial intelligence is central to that project.

NJIT’s annual celebration of its top student researchers kicked off at the 2024 Dana Knox Student Research Showcase, which once again highlighted a stunning array of innovation and discovery from every corner of the STEM disciplines.

Now in its 19th year, the showcase competition featured 68 diverse research projects presented by students from NJIT’s six colleges at the university Campus Center.

The 35th annual Scholarship Brunch took place April 12, bringing together generous benefactors who have created scholarships at NJIT with the students benefiting from their support.

The event humanizes and demonstrates the impact of giving back and removing a financial burden to those who need it most. In a unique opportunity, scores of scholars attended with each one proudly representing — and meeting — their donors. 

From an estimated pool of over 5,000 college sophomores and juniors, two NJIT students — Danna Valentina Sanchez Hernandez and Owen West — have been named Goldwater Scholars this year by the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation. The scholarship is recognized as among the country’s most prestigious for STEM undergraduates pursuing research careers.

Vaccines remain the gold standard of protection against dangerous pathogens, but take considerable time and vast resources to develop. Rapidly mutating viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 can blunt their effectiveness and even render them obsolete.

New Jersey Institute of Technology aims to be a nexus of innovation that embraces new tech, commercializes groundbreaking research, leverages its diversity and tackles global environmental and socioeconomic challenges under a new strategic plan that extends through 2030.

The plan, NJIT Makes An Innovation Nexus, identifies six priorities, spells out the university’s mission to be a leader in research, innovation and entrepreneurship, and reaffirms its core values, including collaboration, social responsibility, diversity and sustainability.

NJIT has established employee resource groups (ERG) that meet regularly and encourage faculty and staff to connect outside of their direct working relationships. This month, NJIT is celebrating its Women’s Leadership and Employee Resource Group and publishing an employee spotlight on one of its members: Miosotis Hernandez, assistant director for first year engineering programs in Newark College of Engineering.

Can you introduce us to your ERG?

A research team from New Jersey Institute of Technology is uncovering mysteries surrounding fluids in nanoporous materials, and has been recently awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support this research.

The excitement was palpable at NJIT’s fourth annual Elementary STEM Challenge (eSTEM) — an event that recently brought scores of 3rd-5th grade students to campus to show off tech innovations they’ve been designing for weeks to enhance health and wellness in their communities.