“Stay resilient in everything you do,” NJIT civil engineering alumna Gabrielle Grompone encouraged members of the Class of 2025 during the university’s annual Convocation, held in NJIT’s Wellness and Events Center Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021.
“Resiliency brought me here,” said Grompone ’17, ’20, who earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degree as a transfer student to NJIT. “During my first semester at NJIT, I hit a roadblock. I will never forget the time I failed my first class: math.”
Grompone triumphed by diving deep into resources NJIT has to offer. She took on an elective course during winter break and refocused her life around her academic pursuits. The next semester she signed up for 21 credits, joined the American Society of Civil Engineers, actively sought out help from professors, studied with classmates and made friends with other students.
“The once unconquerable college curriculum seemed much more easily attainable with the support of the community — your NJIT community." – Gabrielle Grompone
She went on to accomplish a great many things while studying at NJIT, including earning a first place prize in the Dana Knox Research Showcase and publishing a children’s book.
Her accomplishments extend beyond NJIT. Grompone is currently a construction project engineer, co-leader and co-founder of the East Coast Region of Women in Construction and co-leader of the Total Process Reliability Initiative–Equipment Idle Reduction, at J. Fletcher Creamer & Son, Inc. She ended her keynote with a lasting directive: “I implore you to ask yourself: Will you hold yourself accountable for your successes? Will you hold yourself accountable for your shortcomings?”
President Joel S. Bloom celebrated the over 1,400 students entering NJIT, noting their diversity and academic achievement, including a collective average SAT score of 1295 and ACT of 30. They come from 23 countries and 22 states and territories. Despite the incoming class’s impressive academic record, Bloom emphasized to the class to seek help to stay on track and work hard to achieve success.
“Most [of you] graduated at the top of your class,” Bloom said. “Ensure that you know where, how and whom to ask for help.”
Bloom went on to ask students to take the time to treasure every moment, work hard, be ethical, be honest and be sincere.
“Allow me to congratulate you on being the Class of 2025, of making the right decision and doing the great work that you’re about to do here at your university,” Bloom said.
Provost and Senior Executive Vice President Fadi P. Deek ’85, ’86, ’97, Chair of the Board of Trustees Robert C. Cohen ’83, ’84, ’87 and Alumni Association President Ralph Jimenez ’02 spoke at the ceremony, during which professors and students were honored with awards and promotions listed below.
Award Winners
Presidential Leadership Award
Jeremy Bedient (Undergraduate) NCE, Industrial Engineering
Twinkle Chaurasia (Graduate) NCE, Engineering Management
Excellence in Teaching
Tenured, Tenure Track Faculty
Phillip Barden, Biological Sciences
Matthew Adams, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Matthew Bandelt, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Georgeen Theodore, Hillier College of Architecture and Design
Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Program Director
Je-Hyun Ro, Mathematical Sciences
Elektra Kostopoulou, Federated Department of History
Veljko Samardzic, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Adjunct Faculty
Deborah Morrison-Santana, Federated Department of History
Robert DeMarco, Biomedical Engineering
Teaching Assistant
Esthi Zipori, Hillier College of Architecture and Design
Innovative Teaching
Murat Guvendiren, Chemical and Materials Engineering
Excellence in Research Awards
Yvette Donghee Wohn, Informatics
Somenath Mitra, Chemistry and Environmental Science
Yi Chen, Martin Tuchman School of Management
Jorge Fresneda Fernandez, Martin Tuchman School of Management
Bharat Biswal, Biomedical Engineering
Overseers Excellence in Research and Prize Medal
Nirwan Ansari, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Gabrielle Esperdy, Hillier College of Architecture and Design
Overseers Excellence in Service
Monica O’Donnell, Office of The Registrar
Michele Rittenhouse, Theatre Arts and Technology
Master Teachers
Victor Matveev, Mathematical Science
Anthony Schuman, Hillier College of Architecture and Design
Constance A. Murray Diversity Award
Linda Cummings, Mathematical Sciences, Graduate Education and Research
Promotions
To Distinguished Professor
Michel Boufadel, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Alexander Kosovichev, Physics
To Professor
Ecevit Bilgili, Chemical and Materials Engineering
Laurent Simon, Chemical and Materials Engineering
To Associate Professor with Tenure
Senjuti Basu Roy, Computer Science
Brooke Flammang-Lockyer, Biological Sciences
Michael Lee, Informatics
Cong Wang, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Haisu Zhang, Martin Tuchman School of Management
Tenure
Bin Chen, Physics
Kelly Hutzell, Hillier College of Architecture and Design
Ioannis Koutis, Computer Science
Mengyan Li, Chemistry and Environmental Science
Zuofeng Shang, Mathematical Sciences
To Senior University Lecturer
Veljko Samardzic, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
