Welcome to the Spring Semester from President Bloom

Published: Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Dear NJIT Community Members, 

Welcome back for NJIT’s Spring semester. It does not seem long ago that outstanding performances by our students, faculty, and staff at both the Winter Wind and String Ensemble Concert and the Winter Jazz Band Concert ushered in the holiday season. I hope you enjoyed the break that followed and are enthusiastic about what we accomplished last year as well as the work that lies ahead in 2020. I’m very happy to share with you this brief video recap of 2019 and hope you will take one minute to watch it. 

It is my pleasure to make several announcements as we begin year 2020. First, NJIT has acquired the former Warren Street School property and has released a request for qualifications regarding the development of this location into additional student housing. This will help us meet increasing demand as we continue to develop the on-campus residential student population. Senior Vice President Andrew Christ is leading the team on this project. Second, Governor Murphy has appointed three new members to NJIT’s Board of Trustees, all of whom are NJIT alumni who have been very engaged with our university for many years in various leadership capacities. We are looking forward to welcoming Richard M. "Rich" Maser '73, Norma J. Clayton '81, and Demetrios “Jim” Stamatis '85 as members of our Board of Trustees, and we thank them for their continued service to NJIT in this important capacity. We have been extremely fortunate to have benefited from the excellent long-term Trustee leadership of Liz Garcia ’73 and Dennis Bone, who will be leaving the Board.  A third announcement involves Dennis, who along with Senior Vice President Ed Bishof led a team of the Trustee Audit and Finance Committee, university staff, and bond consultants to refinance existing capital bonds that will realize $10 million in cash flow savings from FY 2020 through FY 2026 while keeping portfolio debt service equal to current levels thereafter.   

I also would like to spotlight a few recent special achievements by members of the NJIT community:

  • Vatsal Shah '08, M.S. '09, Ph.D. '14, Dorman Honors alumnus and now a civil engineer with Mott MacDonald who oversees the design and construction of foundations for wind and solar farms, wastewater treatment plants, as well as tunnels and bridges, is the National Society of Professional Engineers “Young Engineer of the Year” for 2019.
  • Ying Wu College of Computing professors Xinyue Ye and Shaohua Wangare are part of a consortium that has received a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation to use technology to assist agencies that manage wildfires, water quality, and biodiversity.
  • Eleven new members have been selected for the NJIT Athletics 2020 Hall of Fame class. The distinguished group includes Kelly (Crowe) Ascolese '07 (Women's Basketball), Demond Cowins '04 (Men's Basketball), Bob English (Robert Swanson Recipient), Wycliffe Gordon '00 (Men's Volleyball), King Moy '74 (Herb M. Iris Recipient), Vincent Namoli '62 (Benefactor), John Rapsomanikis '68 (Men's Soccer), Erika Taugher '08 (Women's Soccer), Steve Tice '00 (Baseball), Wayne Webb '58 (Men's Basketball) and Sonia Zacher-Martini '88 (Women's Volleyball). They will be inducted at a ceremony on May 16.
  • As part of SpaceX’s CRS-19 re-supply mission to the International Space Station, researchers from NASA, NJIT, and NYU are set to begin a new scientific investigation to explore how a group of microscopic particles considered key “building blocks” for materials and products here on Earth, known as colloidal particles, behave and form in zero-gravity.
  • NJIT’s Center for Pre-College Programs (CPCP) has received a two-year grant from the Victoria Foundation of $150,000 to support at least 80 middle school and high school students from Newark taking part in CPCP’s summer 2020 and summer 2021 Early College Preparatory Programs.

Finally, I thank the hundreds of members of the NJIT community led by Provost and Senior Executive Vice President Fadi Deek who are engaged in three significant planning efforts which will have long-term impacts on our university: 1. The next strategic plan, “Building on a Strong Foundation—NJIT 2025;” 2. The design of the next Self-Study for the anticipated Middle States Commission on-site team visit during 2022; and, 3. “Information Services and Technology Transformation, A Strategic Plan 2020-2023.” During this spring semester, these plans will be made available for review by additional community members.

Please join me in congratulating these individuals and groups on such important achievements, and thank you all for your many important contributions to NJIT. Our university is moving aggressively on a very positive trajectory, and I look forward to sharing with you the accomplishments of the coming semester.

Sincerely, 

 

Joel S. Bloom 

President 

New Jersey Institute of Technology