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When NJIT holds its 103rd Commencement May 21, more than 100 Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) seniors will officially move on from their undergraduate study to begin the next chapter in their lives. While their plans after EOP may differ, the four years they’ve shared in the program provided them all with a uniquely supportive and familial environment.

Here, we take a look at where just a few are going.

Gloria Brewster

Thousands of NJIT graduates are moving onto bigger and better things. Off to Fortune 500 companies, global engineering firms and premiere law schools, take a look at just a few of our students who are moving on as proud Highlanders.

On his first day of college, Stephen DePalma ’72 and his classmates received blunt words about their daunting engineering curriculum from then-President Robert Van Houten, clearly intended as a form of “no nonsense” motivation: “Look to your left and look to your right – one of those people will not be there at graduation.”

The young CEO of a new healthcare company, two undergraduate students building tech-driven start-ups, a professor of entrepreneurship and NJIT VentureLink’s director of commercialization were all named “2019 STEM Leaders: Innovators to Watch” this week by the New Jersey Tech Council.

When Angelo Del Russo ’82 says that he “always wanted to be a builder,” he is not exaggerating. By his early teens, the young enthusiast of masonry, concrete, roofing and carpentry already had a toehold in the industry, regularly working after school and on weekends with local home remodelers in the construction business.

“It was mostly laborious work – raking gravel, pushing wheelbarrows full of concrete – but I loved it. To see the end product – that completed patio or set of stairs – was always so satisfying,” he recounts. “And as a teenager, I was making money.”

Union County College (UCC) students pursuing an associate degree in either science or applied sciences are now able to seamlessly transfer into a variety of bachelor’s degree programs — from engineering and architecture to computing and management, and more — at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT).

“We saw when you came in as freshmen, and you thought you knew it all. Then you realized after the first week of the summer program, do I really know anything?” reminisced Crystal Smith, interim director of NJIT’s Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), while addressing EOP graduating seniors, their parents and university staff and faculty. “And then you made it through to this awards ceremony for us to celebrate you.”

The life expectancy for those living in Chad is less than 50 years. In Swaziland, 26% of the population is HIV positive. These statistics are just some indicators of a much larger global health crisis. But what possible role can technology play in addressing this crisis and what can biomedical engineers do to help? Can simply donating medical equipment from developed countries to underdeveloped regions solve the problem?

Throw on any iconic rock album from the mid-1970’s to early 1980’s, and chances are, you’ll hear the distinct sound of pitch-shifting and harmonizing effects that were just beginning to revolutionize how records were being produced — from the rhythm instruments on David Bowie’s 1975 album “Young Americans”, to the arena-sized choruses of AC/DC’s “Back In Black”, to the signature double-tracked tones of Eddie Van Halen’s finger-blistering guitar work in his band’s 1978 debut album, “Van Halen”. 

NJIT’s Career Development Services (CDS) paid tribute to an array of recruiting partners at its annual Awards and Recognition Ceremony, held April 2 in the Campus Center Atrium. There, CDS staff acknowledged the important relationship between the university and employers in advancing the professional success of NJIT students.