A Message from the Chair of the Board of Trustees Robert Cohen
Dear NJIT Community,
My name is Robert Cohen, and I am a proud alumnus of NJIT. I have served on various NJIT boards over the last decade, and today I write to you as the new Chair of NJIT’s Board of Trustees. Without question, it is a privilege and honor to serve my alma mater in this capacity, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to help lead the college into the future. I also am very fortunate in that my colleagues--my fellow members of the Board of Trustees--are an amazing and dedicated group of diverse individuals who are equally committed to seeing the continued success of this university.
As background, NJIT has been a central component of my life since I first enrolled here as a mechanical engineering undergraduate in the Class of 1983. I later earned two graduate degrees from NJIT in 1984 and 1987. I have been on the NCE Board of Visitors for over 10 years, and I first joined the Board of Trustees in 2018. I am so very much appreciative for what I have learned during the last couple of years from outgoing Board Chair Steve DePalma and President Joel Bloom. This is especially true of the last year, during which Steve and I spent much time together. I thank him for his many years of selfless service to the university and his efforts to assure a seamless transition.
Over the lengthy duration of my relationship with NJIT, my pride in this university only has grown. What NJIT has achieved under the leadership of President Bloom, the administration and the faculty has been truly remarkable. Our students and alumni are realizing incredible personal and professional success. I have seen this up close in my role as Vice President of Global R&D and Chief Technology Officer of Stryker Corporation’s Orthopedic Joint Replacement Division. Stryker has over 100 NJIT alumni that work on the design and production of medical devices. We are benefitting directly from their talents and the education they received at NJIT.
Our university faculty are producing innovative and impactful research at what has been a rapidly increasing rate. Our faculty are exceptional not only at teaching the core subjects but also at adapting and teaching the newer, cutting-edge technologies. Our university’s reputation has grown widely, and NJIT has garnered many prestigious accolades, both nationally and internationally. In addition, the growth and improvement of NJIT’s campus and its facilities has been remarkable. We collectively have achieved a polytechnical university status that is well deserved.
NJIT has thrived in recent years, but we presently are facing momentous challenges brought on by an unprecedented global pandemic. We will get through these challenges, and we will do so with the Board of Trustees working closely with President Bloom, the university’s faculty and its administration. Rest assured that we not only will continue to provide opportunities for our students and faculty to experience success but will expand those opportunities and enhance that success in the years ahead. We, together, will make prudent fiscal decisions and investments that strengthen NJIT in the present and for the future. The decisions we make today will have a profound impact on the university, and this has our utmost attention. We will need to continue to interface productively with government and industry to assure our curriculum and research interests remain relevant and well maintained.
I have stayed engaged throughout the years because I genuinely care about NJIT and its success. As the new Chair of NJIT’s Board of Trustees, I commit to you that my fellow board members’ and my efforts always will be guided by the greatest interests of NJIT’s students, alumni, faculty, and staff. Thank you for all your contributions to NJIT. There is no doubt in my mind that our future will be a bright one.
Sincerely,
Robert Cohen '83, '84, '87
Chair of the NJIT Board of Trustees
