Tobiloba Fashae Comes to NJIT For Industrial Design, Supercars and Yo-Yos
Tobiloba Fashae knew he wanted to learn how to design the technology of the future while still attending Hunterdon Regional High School. At first, it was automotive engineering since he’s an avid fan of high-performance sports cars. During an isolated year of self-reflection in his senior year of high school, he found his calling in industrial design. Now, he’s a freshman at NJIT’s Hillier College of Architecture and Design and an Albert Dorman Honors Scholar.
“I felt like something was missing,” said Fashae, who goes by his nickname “Toby.” “I wanted to do something more artistic, and less technical, something I feel I have more of an aptitude for.”
"Industrial design allows me to work in any industry."
Fashae seems cut out for industrial design, a discipline at the intersection of art and engineering. Industrial designers are creative in determining an object’s form and features for mass production. Fashae made his choice after a teacher referred him to speak with industrial design professionals at a local firm, who persuaded him away from engineering and encouraged him to expand his academic focus.
Fashae would like to one day apply his industrial design knowledge to the racetrack, hopefully in a car design master’s program. For now, he’s keeping his options open.
“The main field I’d like to go into is car design but it’s very limited,” said Fashae. “There are only a few graduate programs on automotive design. Industrial design allows me to work in any industry.”
It wasn’t only the prospect of joining the Pagani design team (his favorite brand) that brought him to NJIT. The school checked off all the boxes: small school, urban environment, diverse student population, great facilities and close to home. The two biggest selling points for Fashae was the industrial design program and the Albert Dorman Honors College.
The Albert Dorman Honors College is great for undergraduates like Fashae who have specific design applications in mind. The college helps students prepare for research-oriented careers by supporting their development of proof-of-concept prototypes and teaching to pitch their research to gain funding. Many students take their research experience to a masters or doctoral program, get a prestigious fellowship or even straight to industry after college. Of the last three Fulbrights, two are design students.
Fashae is an academic wiz kid, but his life extends far beyond, below, and above his studies – as a yo-yo enthusiast.
“I yo-yo and do yo-yo tricks. That’s my biggest hobby outside of school,” said Fashae. “It’s something I started in early middle school. I’ve been doing it, for the most part, ever since.”
He also enjoys playing tennis and rock climbing. His life outside of school powers the academics inside of it. His favorite part about NJIT, after an anticlimactic and isolated end to his high school experience, is meeting new people.
“I like the diversity of people here. I’m always meeting a ton of different people, which is really nice,” said Fashae. “I also enjoy the facilities, especially the architecture building. There’s a lot of cool facilities to use.”
Fashae has found community at NJIT among the first-year class, who seem more excited than any in the past to enter college. His parents moved to the U.S. from Nigeria twenty years ago, and he has a few Nigerian-American friends on campus. He can be found in and around the Hillier College of Architecture and Design studying, chatting with new friends, and throwing dazzling yo-yo tricks.
