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NJIT hosted the ninth New Jersey Big Data Alliance Symposium, bringing together nearly 200 experts from academia, government and industry to share ideas about the present state and future trends of their field.

Attendees represented a gamut of careers, not just programmers, which the panelists said indicates that the importance of artificial intelligence, data science and machine learning applies to nearly all aspects of life in the 21st century. Many students were also present.

Crisis presents opportunity, and given the pandemic, war in Ukraine, structural racism, climate change and questions around the world’s supply of energy, food and water, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute President Shirley Ann Jackson called on the Class of 2022 at New Jersey Institute of Technology to take on such challenges with the goal of improving lives.

Pradnya Desai, a senior computer science major, made it her mission to accomplish as much as possible during her four years at NJIT, amassing an impressive resume that includes multiple awards and recognitions for her work combining technological invention with a desire to positively affect  society.

Anuja Badeti started interning at Bloomberg in high school, kept working there during summer breaks from college and will accept a full-time role upon her graduation from the joint B.S./M.S. program in computer science this spring. 

It's a strikingly logical career path, considering her childhood dream of being a farmer — "I really liked the idea of being able to grow food and eat it," she said — and then her move into campus politics, where she served as president of the NJIT Student Senate after not being involved until her junior year.

LIVE STREAM LINKS:

• May 11, 2022, 3 p.m.  NJIT, Doctor of Philosophy Hooding Ceremony  https://youtu.be/k7gF15btnYk
• May 13, 2022, 9:30 a.m.  NJIT, Newark College of Engineering Convocation Ceremony  

Information technology student Sam Itman has long believed that knowledge and passion for technology can open doors as “it presents a world of opportunities to those who are willing to discover them.” For Itman, these opportunities have led to an impactful internship at Optum and a cybersecurity position with the federal government.

Sreya Das, graduating this spring with a bachelor's in computer science and is headed for the cybersecurity team at financial giant JPMorgan Chase, credits much of her success to involvement with activities outside the classroom.

Das joined so many NJIT student organizations and academic commitments that she practically lost count. "The number of activities she is successfully involved in is mind boggling. I call her superwoman," Ying Wu College of Computing Professor James Geller said.

Business publication ROI-NJ included several NJIT executives and faculty among its annual list of New Jersey's top technology influencers.

Assistant Professor Hua Wei is studying how to build more realistic models for traffic simulation, with the goal of improving predictions by closing the gap between just following traffic laws vs. how people actually drive.

That gap can be significant, so Wei is using the latest in artificial intelligence and reinforcement learning to help his cause, supported by  a $175,000 research grant from the National Science Foundation.

NJIT’s Career Development Services recognized both a graduate student and undergrad in its annual intern and co-op of the year awards.

The grad student, Pooja Kittanakere Balaji ’22, is pursuing a master’s in computer science, while the undergrad, Rivka Farrell ’23, is majoring in biology.

CDS honored Farrell for her work as a research intern at the National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute during the summer of 2021, and Balaji for her role in a cooperative educational experience at Siemens Digital Industries between June and December 2021.