As the new provost of New Jersey Institute of Technology, John Pelesko brings decades of experience as a professor, department chair, associate dean and most recently dean at the University of Delaware, where he had spent 21 years. Pelesko also has the benefit of knowing NJIT firsthand: he was a graduate student here in the 1990s, when he earned a Ph.D. in mathematical sciences. The campus has changed a lot since then, of course. But the new administrator has fond memories of his days as a student and a bevy of ideas for getting reacclimated this fall. What are your initial goals as you…

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, during an appearance at New Jersey Institute of Technology, unveiled plans for a trade mission to East Asia this fall that will seek to generate more jobs and investment in the state. Murphy, speaking during a business roundtable with N.J. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Tom Bracken, said the trip “at minimum” would include stops in Japan and South Korea and take place in October. The N.J. delegation, he added, will comprise elected officials, diplomats and leaders of business, culture and higher education, including NJIT President Teik C. Lim. “Job…

NJIT’s McNair Scholars have been igniting their research efforts in campus labs this summer, and many are starting to see their career aspirations take shape in the process. NJIT’s Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement program has often been described as life-changing by those selected ever since the first scholar class was announced in 1999. The program provides many underrepresented or disadvantaged students with preparation for doctoral study, as well as a plethora of advanced research and travel opportunities that have a lasting impact on their future. This year’s class…

A select group of local high school seniors have become the first graduates of NJIT’s Forensic Science Initiative (FSI) after successfully completing an intensive STEM training program this year. FSI’s inaugural class recently drew plaudits from the professional forensic science community at a New Jersey Association of Forensic Scientists (NJAFS) conference, where they showcased their capstone research projects — the culmination of their work throughout the program dating back to last summer. Launched in 2022 through a collaboration among New Jersey school districts, and NJIT's College of…

Climbing temperatures in the Arctic tundra are transforming inorganic mercury deposited by power plants and other industrial polluters, some of it inert for decades, into a neurotoxin that is accumulating in the region’s lake sediments, wetland ponds, soils and food chains. Certain tiny anaerobic microorganisms are thought to play a role in accelerating the formation of methylmercury (MeHg), a neurotoxin. As the permafrost thaws, researchers posit, decaying soil releases an abundance of nutrients. Those nutrients fuel the metabolisms of anaerobes, which convert inorganic mercury into…

When Kiaja Jones ’23 arrived at NJIT from Newark’s Technology High School in 2019, she did so as part of the inaugural class of local scholars from the Mayor’s Honors Scholar Program. Now she’s leaving her home city, diploma in-hand, as a reflection of the program’s early success and will be pursuing a law degree at the University of Maryland in the fall. While Jones began her first semester as an IT major, she says it wasn’t exactly a straightforward path. Her academic journey was one of self-discovery, eventually finding her calling through NJIT’s Law, Technology and Culture program. Here…

With data from Big Bear Solar Observatory’s Goode Solar Telescope, researchers discover intense wave energy in the coldest region on the Sun, the sunspot umbra, which is driving puzzling temperatures in the star’s upper atmosphere.     Nearly five thousand kilometers above the Sun’s surface lies a century-old question for solar physicists — how are temperatures in the star’s upper atmosphere, or corona, hundreds of times hotter than temperatures at the Sun’s visible surface? An international team of scientists has a new answer to the question — commonly referred to as the Sun’s…

The soot permeating the air in New Jersey and New York this month — courtesy of massive wildfires in Canada — is exactly what a New Jersey Institute of Technology professor is studying to determine its impact on climate change. Alexei Khalizov, an associate professor of chemistry and environmental science, is partnering with Associate Professor Gennady Gor on the three-year project, which began last year and is supported by a $620,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. Specifically, they’re examining the soot created by wildfires and the burning of fossil fuels in hopes of better…

Nearly a decade ago, a bark beetle infestation tore through southeast Wyoming's Snowy Range, transforming lush landscape of Medicine Bow National Forest into a tinderbox of dead lodgepole pine. In Sept. 2020 it ignited — what became known as the Mullen Fire raged beyond the parkland across 176,000 acres over the next month, fueled by the beetle-killed trees and unusually dry conditions. Xiaonan Tai, assistant professor of biological sciences and director of NJIT’s Ecohydrology Lab, is investigating the fate of the national forest. Tai has been developing models used to unravel the complex…

Public artificial intelligence programs such as ChatGPT are being embraced by faculty across New Jersey Institute of Technology as the latest classroom tool, just like the introductions of videoconferencing, laptops, computer-aided drafting and pocket calculators that came before. AI itself is an established technology that emerged from research labs in the 1950s — here's a Newark College of Engineering chemical engineering dissertation using AI techniques in 1974. AI also makes periodic dalliances into consumer life, such as computer chess games in the 1980s and IBM's Jeopardy-dominating…