Sara Del Valle, a two-time NJIT alumna who works at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) developing models for tracking and mitigating the spread of infectious diseases, gave the keynote address at the 2020 College of Science and Liberal Arts Awards ceremony. CSLA Dean Kevin Belfield led the presentation at this year's ceremony, which continued its long tradition of awarding the outstanding achievements of students, faculty and staff across the college's diverse departments, from theater and history to physics and chemistry. The event is normally held in May but was instead held…

To overcome production hurdles for cell and gene therapies, a promising new class of biologic medications, NJIT’s New Jersey Innovation Institute (NJII) has opened clinical-scale centers that will work directly with drug developers to streamline the processing of new therapies and manufacture them in large quantities. NJII’s new company, BioCentriq, was formed in collaboration with leaders in the pharmaceutical industry, top regulators at federal agencies that oversee biologic therapies and state economic development officials. It is the first such enterprise in the nation backed by a…

Undergrads Suzanne Hlinka ’21 and Nada Boules ‘21 have been applying the skills in game development and interior design that they’ve picked up at NJIT, and Mother Earth is thanking them for it. This past year, the pair of students began artistic projects promoting a more sustainable planet, and now, their creative talents have been recognized with the “Jim Wise Scholarship for Theatre: Communicating the Environment Through Art.”  The scholarship is typically limited to one standout undergraduate student each year “who created and publicly presented a research project in an artistic…

TTI/Vanguard, a prestigious organization of technology industry executives who meet a few times each year to study and debate emerging innovations, chose to virtually visit New Jersey Institute of Technology this week for their latest intellectual retreat. The group's members, through exposure to wide swaths of cutting-edge technology research, advise their clients and employers about what directions to follow for commercialization and investment opportunities. The visit of 58 thought leaders from academia, corporations and government agencies — including Internet pioneer Leonard Kleinrock…

Sticking to the bodies of sharks and other larger marine life is a well-known specialty of remora fishes (Echeneidae) and their super-powered suction disks on their heads. But a new study has now fully documented the “suckerfish” in hitchhiking action below the ocean’s surface, uncovering a much more refined skillset that the fish uses for navigating intense hydrodynamics that come with trying to ride aboard a 100-foot blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus).  In a study published Oct. 28 in the Journal of Experimental Biology, an international team of researchers…

Albert Dorman Honors College welcomed more than 70 additional students this year as part of a new program called Dean's Scholars, designed to allow for a more robust honors education across campus. The program admits scholars from the College of Science and Liberal Arts, Hillier College of Architecture and Design, Martin Tuchman School of Management, Newark College of Engineering and Ying Wu College of Computing each year who desire the rigor of an honors education within their academic discipline. Dean's Scholars pursue a minimum of three honors-only courses within their degree-granting…

On Oct. 8, NJIT welcomed former NASA astronaut and noted STEM education leader Bernard Harris at its annual STEM School Leadership Forum, sponsored by NJIT's Center for Pre-College Programs (CPCP) — an event that attracted scores of educators virtually for a discussion on what the future of post-COVID STEM learning should look like.  NJIT’s past STEM School Leadership Forums have brought together K-12 leaders from across New Jersey to professionally network and learn the latest in STEM curricula and programming. However, given the extraordinary…

Starting Thursday, Oct. 15, NJIT will co-partner to host Newark’s 2020 Virtual Call to Collaboration (C2C) — a city-wide, 4-day virtual meeting that “unleashes imaginative strategic thinking, powers individual leadership and responsibility, and strengthens personal and professional networks for the betterment of the City of Newark.”   The 2020 C2C will look to build on the momentum of the inaugural event held at NJIT in 2019, which attracted more than 350 attendees and more than 75 vibrant, thought-provoking conversations, with topics that…

A month after ROI-NJ named five NJIT administrators Higher Education Influencers, the publication recognized Treena Livingston Arinzeh and Angela Garretson as 2020 ROI Influencers: People of Color. Treena Livingston Arinzeh Arinzeh is a distinguished professor of biomedical engineering known for her research in adult stem cell therapy. In particular, ROI-NJ cited her fellowship at the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering — “an honor given to less than 2 percent in the field” — and her roles as co-principal investigator and director of diversity at the…

A Q&A with chemist Omowunmi “Wunmi” Sadik Q: How do chemical sensors work? Chemical sensors are small devices coated in spots with specific compounds that react to, or recognize, targeted chemicals in the air, water and biological systems. The devices’ transducers convert the results to a measurable signal. They can provide a one-time yes or no answer or deliver continuous information as they monitor changes in the environment or the body. I got my start at the Environmental Protection Agency developing environmental immunosensors that employ antibodies that bind with PCBs — toxic…