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Students come to New Jersey Institute of Technology to learn — but they also have a chance to teach. 

A group of NJIT undergraduate and graduate students recently shared their STEM expertise with students in grades 3 to 5 from dozens of New Jersey schools, providing guidance as teams experimented with microcontroller technology to address issues affecting their communities. Their efforts culminated in a day of prototype and poster presentations at NJIT, held March 19 as part of the university's eSTEM Challenge.

A student proposal focused on restoring biodiversity, strengthening the Second River edge and deepening community engagement at Branch Brook Park was selected as the winning concept in NJIT’s latest Albert Dorman Honors College biodiversity initiative. 

The proposal, “Living Parks by Parks for People,” emerged from a presentation session in which six student teams each delivered five-minute proposals shaped by field research, biodiversity data and conversations with park visitors.

Chemistry and chemical engineering majors learn to make all kinds of compounds and solutions, but an afternoon focusing on the design and packaging of facial serum was probably a first for them.

That’s what happened on March 11 when 50 students gathered in NJIT’s Agile Strategy Lab, with the multipurpose room serving as an actual laboratory, for hands-on training in the science of cosmetics development.

Colon cancer is one of the most common cancers in the U.S., with more than 100,000 cases diagnosed each year. But some people develop a highly aggressive form of colon cancer that is extremely rare, making up 0.02% to 0.1% of all colon cancers.

A trio of students from New Jersey Institute of Technology have been selected as the inaugural recipients of STEM scholarships from The Aunt Betty Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to reducing the burden of student loans taken on to pay for higher education.

The awards follow a competitive selection process that drew roughly 100 applicants. Seven finalists were interviewed and ultimately three NJIT students were selected: Mitchell Rodriguez of Dunellen, Amir Hayes of Newark and Joshua Hernandez of Teaneck.

For the first time, scientists have observed how tiny metal "thorns" called dendrites sprout inside lithium-ion batteries, which can cause the batteries to short-circuit. Their findings, published Mar. 12 in the journal Science, shed light on previously unknown mechanical properties of lithium dendrites as they grow.

A trio of undergraduates studying concrete industry management at New Jersey Institute of Technology, which is one of only five colleges nationwide offering a B.S. in that field — earned special recognition this semester in competitions and scholarships.

An NJIT student's proposal for robot swarms that can build and service a moon base has won first place at a NASA competition. Led by Tatiana Mejia '27, the winning team received a $10,000 grant to develop a prototype.

Richard Calbi, director of Ridgewood Water, was astonished to discover the extent of PFAS contamination in New Jersey drinking water when the state adopted pollution standards for the industrial chemicals in 2020. 

“The first thing we did was determine if we were affected and found them in every one of our 52 groundwater wells. We couldn’t find water to buy that didn’t have PFAS in it. We had to reimagine and rebuild our entire system to accommodate new filters,” Calbi said. 

Following a long period of diminishing gun violence in New Jersey’s urban areas, researchers from New Jersey Institute of Technology are now applying engineering methods to the data, as they evaluate the effectiveness of red flags laws that can temporarily prevent dangerous people from possessing weapons.