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The latest graduate studies rankings from U.S. News & World Report highlight the national standing of New Jersey Institute of Technology in the fields of engineering, computer science and now business.

NJIT’s Newark College of Engineering (NCE) ranks No. 85 on the publication’s list of the Best Engineering Schools in the U.S. — the tenth consecutive year the NCE has made the top 100.

All hard work and no play makes “techies” anxious for more. 244 recently accepted high school seniors and their parents need not worry. Although the Ying Wu College of Computing’s (YWCC) programs are rigorous (that is the reason why they are the most significant generator of tech talent in the NY metro area), the theme for this spring’s Experience Day centered on what is fun and “cool” about the work in the school.

Zhi Wei, a bioinformaticist, was elected to the 2024 Fellows class of the prestigious American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Wei, who joined NJIT’s Ying Wu College of Computing in 2008 and now holds the role of distinguished professor, also became an IEEE Fellow in 2024.

Haley Patel, an undergraduate computer science student in the Ying Wu College of Computing, recently represented NJIT at Stanford University's TreeHacks 2025, one of the most competitive hackathons globally. Sponsored by tech giants like NVIDIA, Google and OpenAI, TreeHacks received more than 12,000 applications, and selected only 1,000 participants. 

Ying Wu College of Computing (YWCC) was a notable presence at the 39^th Annual AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence during the month of March. Distinguished Professor and Associate Dean for Research and External Relations Guiling “Grace” Wang served as Sponsorship Chair for this year’s event, in addition to co-coordinating YWCC’s sponsorship of the AAAI Student Hackathon with Associate Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Brook Wu and serving as one of 10 Women Mentors for the women mentoring lunch program.

The NJIT Rocketry Club is experimenting with a model that autonomously lands itself standing up, a la SpaceX, but accomplished through novel methods.

SpaceX rockets fire their liquid fuel thrusters while descending. Other hobbyists have already tried to duplicate that method, so the Highlanders devised a unique approach: next year, they want to make the nose cone of their Project Lotus rocket unfold like flower petals, revealing a drone that takes control.

NJIT’s forensics program made an impression at the 77th Annual American Academy of Forensic Sciences’ Conference in Baltimore’s Convention Center, unveiling new research and innovations that tackled this year’s conference theme, “Technology: A Tool for Transformation or Tyranny?”

New Jersey Institute of Technology distinguished professor David Bader was inducted recently into the Mimms Museum of Technology and Art Hall of Fame, located near Atlanta.

The annual SIGCHI (Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction) Design Jam happened during an inspired nine-hour designathon beginning on Saturday, March 8 at 9 a.m. and finishing at 1 p.m. the following day. The event invites students studying human-computer interaction, digital design, web and information systems and cyberpsychology to form teams of four to create an interactive prototype (Figma, front-end code, paper prototype, etc.) that will solve a real user problem.

A keynote speaker at NJIT’s Women Designing the Future conference explained the imperative for holistic approaches to climate change policy, while another shared her tale of breaking through glass ceilings to develop innovative artificial intelligence software.

The speakers — Rhiana Gunn-Wright, who orchestrated behind-the-scenes policymaking for the 2019 Green New Deal, and Danielle Feinberg, visual effects supervisor at Pixar — were on campus March 7 to help celebrate the 30th anniversary of the NJIT Murray Center for Women in Technology, and also for Women’s History Month.