Diagnostic Testing Development

Dr. Atam Dhawan is helping to organize a large-scale national initiative to fast-track the development of innovative SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic tests to assist the public’s safe return to normal life. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) program, Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics, will spend up to $500 million over the next several months on promising technologies aimed at building the nation’s testing capacity up to 100-fold more than what is now achievable. The goal is to deliver new testing procedures to the public as soon as late summer and to make SARS-CoV-2 testing readily available to every American. Dhawan chairs the national advisory board of NIH’s Point of Care Technology Research Network, which will coordinate the program’s review of the anticipated thousands of proposals.

Dr. Atam Dhawan

Senior Vice Provost for Research

Chair of the National Institutes of Health’s point-of-care research network

Additive Manufacturing, Medical Device Prototypes

A team of NJIT physicists has developed a novel test swab that can be 3D printed using inexpensive, widely available materials and speedily assembled in a range of fabrication settings. To augment the nation’s testing capabilities, the inventors are making the swab’s design publicly available to large and small manufacturers, free of any licensing fees, during the COVID-19 emergency. The designers filed a provisional patent on the design in mid-April, but say it’s important to make it available immediately as basic medical supplies, including swabs, are still in short supply. The design has novel features that simplify fabrication and storage and reduce contamination risk.

Sam Gatley

Technical and Programming Lead, Additive Manufacturing Lab

The Driving Forces Behind Emerging Infectious Diseases

Ecological and evolutionary forces drive epidemics. For example, pathogen virulence adapts (an evolutionary process) to maximize transmission (an ecological process). Dr. Russell teaches a course called Ecology and Evolution of Disease and can discuss emerging infectious diseases, transmission dynamics and pathogen/host co-evolution, using recent diseases (e.g., COVID-19, SARS, MERS, Ebola) for context.

Dr. Gareth Russell

Associate Professor, Biological Sciences

Financial and Market Impact of COVID-19

COVID-19 is an example of a market disruptor causing remarkable economic volatility. The rapid messaging, uncertain outlook and supply chain disruptions have pulled markets down, at some points as much as 35%. Dr. Michael Ehrlich can discuss the direct and indirect effects of COVID-19, including behavioral changes affecting the marketplace, and discuss contexts around financial market failures. Also to discuss is the impact the stimulus bill (CARES Act) will have on the economy and potential consequences.

Dr. Michael Ehrlich,

Associate Professor, Finance

Co-Director, NJ Innovation Acceleration Center

Sustainability of Industrial Systems 

Operational productivity has been affected in industrial and service organizations from COVID-19. Dr. Sanchoy Das has extensive research in industrial systems, specifically in hospitals, factories and supply chains modeling and analysis.

Dr. Sanchoy Das

Professor, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering

Social Interaction Change During Public Health Crisis

Dr. Yvette Wohn examines how social media and mobile technologies are used for social support, which includes emotional, informational, and financial support— managing both personal and professional relationships. She is also conducting research on how physical and social space influences wellbeing and productivity of people living and/or working in enclosed spaces. She is the principal investigator of two NSF-funded projects examining the role of content moderators on social media, whose role is to keep online spaces positive and factual.

Dr. Yvette Wohn

Assistant Professor, Informatics

Director, Social Interaction Lab

Handheld Point-of-Care Disease Sensing Devices

Two NJIT experts in sensing devices, including disease biomarker detection technologies, have proposed creating point-of-care, hand-held devices to overcome difficulties faced by public health officials who are ill-equipped to test and contain the virus. They would develop low-cost, disposable, paper-based biosensors and molecular genetic tools to rapidly detect and inactivate the 2019-nCoV/SARS-CoV-2 while avoiding contamination issues.

Dr. Sagnik Basuray

Assistant Professor, Chemical Engineering

Dr. Omowunmi Sadik

Distinguished Professor, Chemistry and Environmental Science 

Disinfection Systems with Deep Ultraviolet Light

Professor Hieu Nguyen is working on next-generation, high efficiency nanowire deep ultraviolet (DUV) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) using III-nitride semiconductors. The primary focus of the proposed disinfection system is to efficiently treat/kill the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). The proposed disinfection system can be customized for use in hospitals, schools, offices, homes and supermarkets. He has funding through an NSF CAREER grant and the New Jersey Health Foundation.

Dr. Hieu Nguyen

Assistant Professor, Electrical and Computing Engineering

Privacy Implications of Contact Tracing

Cybersecurity expert and co-founder of Duality Technologies, Dr. Kurt Rohloff can discuss areas of concern related to privacy and the implications of contact tracing—the process of identification of persons who may have come into contact with an infected person and subsequent collection of further information about these contacts—and how technologies exist to both protect private information and support contact tracing. Duality Technologies has developed a prototype solution for privacy-preserving contact tracing that uses the open-source PALISADE homomorphic encryption library Dr. Rohloff developed at NJIT with funding from DARPA.

Dr. Kurt Rohloff

Associate Professor, Computer Science

Co-Founder, Duality Technologies

Cyberpsychology and Conditions of Physical Isolation  

Julie Ancis is director of the cyberpsychology program at NJIT and holds fellow status in the American Psychological Association. Dr. Ancis can discuss psychological phenomena arising from our deep reliance on technology and virtual communication to socialize and work, particularly as conditions of physical distancing and isolation further impact the lives and mental health of individuals throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Dr. Julie Ancis

Director, Cyberpsychology Program

Esports Entertainment and Technology

The faculty adviser to NJIT's award-winning esports team, D.J. Kehoe teaches game design and can also speak to virtual reality technology and how these activities play an increasing role during the crisis.

D.J. Kehoe

University Lecturer, Informatics 

Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR)

Augmented and virtual reality technology raises the bar on the experience of being somewhere when you're not. University lecturer Eric Nersesian is director of the MIXR Lab, where they study how to best use and advance mixed-reality applications.

Eric Nersesian

University Lecturer, Informatics

Director, MIXR Lab

Impact on Sustainability and Our Environment

Maurie Cohen is professor of sustainability studies at NJIT and editor of the journal Sustainability: Science, Practice, and Policy. Cohen's work now focuses on rapid societal shifts and sustainability trends evolving alongside the coronavirus outbreak. He is currently discussing topics ranging from the rise of telecommuting and shifts in production technologies and routines (Industry 4.0), coronavirus financial packages and the concept of universal basic income, as well as what recent reductions in energy and material consumption worldwide mean for our environment.

Dr. Maurie Cohen

Professor, Humanities

NJII Health Care Experts

NJHIN and Interoperability

Discussion of healthcare system interoperability and the critical role it plays now and how the state-wide New Jersey Health Information Network (NJHIN) may or may not be used to help with data analytics and information exchange during COVID-19.

Shelby Klein, MSW, LSW

Senior Director, Program Development

Telemedicine - Impact on Clinical Procedures/Operations | Clinical Impacts | Metrics

Challenges and opportunities with Telemedicine, anything Clinical (e.g. changing procedures and treatments) as well as any discussion of Metrics related to understanding the quality or efficiency of healthcare delivery given current events. 

Sarah Balzano

Senior Director, Payer and Provider Services

Impact of Government Policy & Regulation

Can help interpret and describe the impact of changes in policy and regulation and other announcements related to programs run by the The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Department of Health and Department of Health and Human Services as well as other local, state and federal agencies.  

Balavignesh “Bala” Thirumalainambi

Government Affairs and Finance Director

HIPAA & Privacy

Can speak to issues related to any waivers or adjustment to HIPAA and other privacy concerns as well as the impact on privacy of changes in policy, legislation and regulation. 

Susan J. Flynn-Hollander, Esq., HCC

General Counsel, NJII

CMS Quality Improvement Programs | Telemedicine Technology

Can answer questions related to The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and changes in regulation and changes to their quality improvement programs and deadlines because of COVID-19.Can also speak to or answer questions about Telemedicine vendors, solutions, technology platforms and how to evaluate and select them or how they are likely to be used during COVID-19.

Van Ly

Senior Director