President Bloom Visits 50+ Alumni at Stryker Corporation

Written by: Deric Raymond
Published: Monday, September 17, 2018

More than 50 NJIT alumni hosted President Bloom at Stryker headquarters in Mahwah, N.J. on Sept. 11.

The event marked the fifth time Stryker engaged with NJIT this year. Previous engagements included a Stryker campus tour and basketball game, a lecture at Stryker headquarters by Dr. Treena Arinzeh, biomedical professor, and visits from students in the pre-college program and Biomedical Engineering Club.

At the invitation of Stryker Joint Replacement's chief technology officer, Robert Cohen '83, '84, '87, Dr. Bloom toured Stryker's new Additive Manufacturing Lab, 3D printing facility, and several other areas of the Stryker campus.

Club co-chairs Joe Racanelli '83 and Ken Trimmer '92 hosted a lunch with dozens of NJIT Stryker alumni, followed by a presentation to the club from Dr. Bloom. He highlighted new campus construction, new faculty research, increasing connections with Newark, and NJIT's newly-released ranking in U.S. News and World Report, placing the university at #106 nationally.

Cohen encouraged the group to stay connected with NJIT. "You all know that we're not here because we have to be," he said, "We're here because we care about the work we do, and because we care about our alma mater."

Following Cohen's remarks, Racanelli and Trimmer conducted a Q&A with Ken Alexo, Jr., vice president of development and alumni relations; Vincent Lombardo, executive director of development; and Michael Smullen, alumni director. Attendees asked several probing questions about how to meaningfully engaged with NJIT. Among the topics of consideration were: how to communicate mentorship opportunities with students and other alumni, how to increase the number of Stryker employees on volunteer boards at NJIT, and how to establish consistent, meaningful touch-points between Stryker and NJIT.

The event concluded with a call for the next Stryker alumni event on Dec. 4 at NJIT's campus. Alumni will take a tour of several lab facilities, including the new Makerspace, and enjoy a beer and wine tasting, followed by attending a men's basketball game against the West Point Black Knights. Click here to read more and register.