NJIT Magazine Fall 2016

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CAN EYE THERAPY BE FUN? TAKING TO THE SKIES TO REPLENISH THE EARTH IN GOOD HANDS

UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH

E X ECU T I V E SU M M A R Y

A MESSAGE FROM NJIT PRESIDENT JOEL S. BLOOM

A GLIMPSE INTO THE FUTURE For more than 130 years, NJIT has demonstrated its commitment to excellence in undergraduate education and research. One of only 32 polytechnic public research universities nationally, NJIT offers undergraduate research, innovation and design opportunities that include the Provost’s Undergraduate Summer Research Program, Undergraduate Research and Innovation Student Seed Grants, McNair Research Fellowships, and several capstone design programs. In addition, annual competitions focusing

NJIT MAGAZINE FALL 2016

Denise Anderson Associate Vice President Communications, Marketing and Branding Christina Crovetto M.S. ’03 Editor

on innovation, research and design within and across disciplines prepare our undergraduate students

Tanya Klein Editorial Assistant

for future leadership roles in the highly competitive global marketplace.

Shydale James Contributing Editor

Our cover story in this issue highlights an eye therapy project instigated and overseen by Biomedical Engineering Professor Tara Alvarez and executed by students Rob Gioia and John Vito d’AntonioBertagnolli, who created eye-tracking algorithms. They are testing the device this fall at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

“Taking to the Skies to Replenish the Earth” focuses on graduate student Chrystoff Camacho ’17, who is devising a drone that drops rocket-shaped fertilizer capsules from the sky to reforest remote areas stripped of vegetation. Chrystoff has won or placed in two tech competitions and has recently assembled an NJIT-Rutgers team of biologists, engineers and business students to finish and market a prototype of the drone.

Through the concerted efforts of NJIT’s Department of Public Safety, our students—as well as all members of the university community—have a safe environment in which to live, work and study.

“In Good Hands” provides an overview of how the 78-member department, headed by Chief Joseph Marswillo, applies the “COPPS” model of community policing to meet the challenges of ensuring campus security while maintaining a welcoming environment on an urban campus.

As identified in NJIT’s strategic plan, 2020 Vision, it is critically important that we continue to offer our students exceptional learning experiences and encourage them to discover innovative solutions to today’s challenges. The undergraduate research taking place on our campus offers an exciting glimpse into the innovations of the future.

I hope you enjoy reading these articles, and I welcome your feedback.

Dean L. Maskevich, Tracey L. Regan Contributing Writers Babette Hoyle Production Manager Diane Cuddy Design Editorial Advisory Board Kevin D. Belfield, Reggie J. Caudill, Charles R. Dees Jr., Atam P. Dhawan, Urs P. Gauchat, Moshe Kam, Michael K. Smullen NJIT Magazine is published by New Jersey Institute of Technology, Office of Strategic Communications. Its mission is to foster ties with alumni, university friends and corporate partners and to report on relevant issues, particularly those in education, science, research and technology.

Please send letters of comment and requests to reproduce material from the magazine to: NJIT Magazine Office of Strategic Communications University Heights Newark, NJ 07102-1982 crovetto@njit.edu Joel S. Bloom President Charles R. Dees Jr. Senior Vice President University Advancement Michael K. Smullen Director of Alumni Relations On the web: magazine.njit.edu Cover photo: Robert Gioia ’17 is part of a team who is collaborating on a device with the potential to revolutionize vision therapy.

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FEATURES PAG E 10

CAN EYE THERAPY BE FUN? AN ENGINEER AND A VIDEO GAME DESIGNER TAKE UP THE CHALLENGE Biomedical Engineering Professor Tara Alvarez and students Rob Gioia and John Vito d’Antonio-Bertagnolli are collaborating on a device with the potential to revolutionize eye therapy.

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TAKING TO THE SKIES TO REPLENISH THE EARTH An interdisciplinary team of NJIT and Rutgers students is devising a drone prototype that will reforest remote areas stripped of vegetation.

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PAG E 2 2

IN GOOD HANDS Headed by Chief Joseph Marswillo, NJIT’s Department of Public Safety successfully ensures that all members of the university community have a safe environment in which to live, work and study.

DEPARTMENTS 2 A BSTRACTS

NJIT news in brief

6 P OINT BY POINT Athletics update

8 G IVING

NJIT development news

15 A LUMNI SPECIAL SECTION Calendar of events and more

33 I N CONCLUSION

Leading-edge achievements by faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends of NJIT

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ABSTRACTS BUILDING NJIT’S FUTURE NJIT will receive $20 million in capital funding from the State of New Jersey to renovate classrooms and laboratory spaces. Chief among the building projects will be the creation of Makerspace, a 9,500-square-foot-facility that will heed the call for innovation, invention and production in today’s burgeoning STEM economy.

The $20 million award stems from bond referendums in which voters approved funding for capital projects at colleges and universities in the state. It follows a highly competitive application process and is one of the largest awards given by the state during the referendum’s second round of funding in the fall of 2015. NJIT received funds from both the Building

Our Future Bond Act as well as the Higher Education Capital Improvement Fund.

“Campus transformation serves to enhance the student experience and solidify NJIT’s position going forward as one of the nation’s leading research and public polytechnic universities,” said President Joel S. Bloom. “The state bond award augments the ongoing transformation of our campus as a catalyst for the development of the highly needed STEM workforce and the science and technology-driven economic development for Newark, the state and nation.”

Housed in the Advanced Manufacturing Laboratory of the Guttenberg Information Technologies Center, Makerspace will

PIONEERING RESEARCH

NJIT has received a $1 million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation for a three-year project titled “Engineering New Materials Based on Topological Phonon Edge Modes.” This project—the first major collaboration between NJIT and Yeshiva University—will seek to elucidate the fundamental dynamics of cell division and other functions of living cells, and lay the groundwork for the fabrication of a new class of metamaterials with novel physical properties and functionalities.

“We are thrilled to have received this prestigious grant from the 2 N J I T M A G A Z I N E | FA L L 2 0 1 6

offer students, faculty, regional companies and manufacturers opportunities for multidisciplinary collaboration in everything from 3-D printing, general fabrication, computer-network-control and general machining to industrial meteorology, wood and metalwork, advanced manufacturing and electronics assembly.

The first round of the $750 million Building Our Future Bond Act was distributed in 2013. NJIT received nearly $100 million, which the university has used toward renovating the Central King Building and constructing a new Life Sciences and Engineering Building. n

Keck Foundation,” said President Joel S. Bloom. “It will support transformational research by our world-class faculty, who are pushing the edge of the envelope in biophysics, nanotechnology and materials science.” Added Provost and Senior Executive Vice President Fadi Deek: “This exciting grant from the Keck Foundation will help advance NJIT’s far-reaching goals to promote groundbreaking multidisciplinary research as part of 2020 Vision, the university’s strategic plan. The Keck grant is an important milestone in our efforts to elevate NJIT to a top-tier research institution.”

Co-PIs Camelia Prodan, associate professor of physics at NJIT, and Emil Prodan, professor of physics at Yeshiva University, have already published a seminal paper demonstrating the role of the unique vibrations known as topological phonon edge modes in the functioning of microtubules—essential skeletal material in eukaryotic cells.

This project will adapt recent NJIT research breakthroughs in nanotechnology to provide the first experimental verification of the key role that these topological phonons play in many fundamental cellular processes, including cell division and movement. In addition to developing new microfluidic devices to stabilize microtubules and drive acoustic modes, the research team will seek to predict and fabricate topological phononic crystals, which have a wide array of applications, including energy-efficient solar cells, sound deadening and amplification, and insulation. The grant will also provide funding to support two NJIT graduate students studying physics. n

PHOTO: N.J. COUNCIL OF COUNTY VOCATIONAL-TECHNICAL SCHOOLS

VISIONARY LEADERSHIP The New Jersey Council of County Vocational-Technical Schools (NJCCVTS) presented its 2016 Career and Technical Education Leadership Award to President Joel S. Bloom. As a visionary partner of the state’s county vocational-technical schools, Bloom has helped to transform technical education in New Jersey.

“Throughout his long career at NJIT, Joel Bloom has been committed to expanding technical education opportunities for all types of students,” said Timothy McCorkell, president of NJCCVTS and the superintendent of the Monmouth County Vocational School District.

In accepting the award, Bloom spoke about his early efforts to partner with county vocational-technical school career academies to provide talented students with a pathway to NJIT’s Albert Dorman Honors

College. Today, the largest number of students in the Honors College are from county vocational-technical school career academies.

“The broadest retention of learning is by doing,” said Bloom. “That is what goes on today in county vocationaltechnical schools.”

NJIT has numerous articulation agreements with county vocational-technical schools that enable students to earn college credit for their advanced learning and get a head start on a technical degree at the state’s flagship technology

President Joel Bloom accepts the New Jersey Council of County VocationalTechnical Schools 2016 Career and Technical Education Leadership Award from NJCCVTS President Timothy McCorkell and NJCCVTS Executive Director Judy Savage.

university.

“Articulation agreements between our county vocational-technical schools and NJIT are a win-win for students and parents, and for the university,” said NJCCVTS Executive Director Judy Savage. “They are also

a big win for New Jersey because they keep more top STEM students in state, where they are more likely to move into high-demand positions in engineering, computer science and other fields.” n

ADVANCING KNOWLEDGE OF COASTAL COMMUNITIES A two-year grant from the New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium—an affiliation of colleges, universities and other groups dedicated to advancing knowledge and stewardship of New Jersey’s marine and coastal environment—will help NJIT’s Center for Resilient Design (part of the College of Architecture and Design) develop techniques to protect ecosystems and their surrounding communities from flooding.

The project, “At Risk: Healthy Coastal Ecosystems and Resilient Communities & Economies in an Era of Climate Change: A Balanced Approach to Protecting People, Property and Nature in Historic Greenwich Township, New Jersey,” is spearheaded by Colette Santasieri, director of policy and planning innovation for civil infrastructure and environment at NJIT, and conducted in

collaboration with Rutgers and Montclair State Universities.

“Primarily, this project serves to research and analyze potential solutions to Greenwich Township’s efforts toward resilience,” said Santasieri. “But it also will prove critical to the ecosystem health and economies of all coastal communities in New Jersey, especially with regard to the farming, fishing and recreation industries.”

Greenwich Township, located on the banks of the Cohansey River in Cumberland County, was one of the many Delaware Bayshore-area towns flooded four years ago by the storm surge from Hurricane Sandy. Also greatly affected was the village’s ecosystem, which plays a vital role in both the local environment and economy.

The results of the case study, which will determine the

likelihood and magnitude of environmental effects based on natural-resource vulnerabilities and identifying a range of protective flood-mitigation alternatives, will be used as a process-solution model and online

education program by other coastal communities threatened by rising waters from storms. Deane Evans, executive director of NJIT’s Center for Building Knowledge, will lead the effort. n

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DESIGNING WOMAN In her first year at the New York headquarters of architecture and planning firm Perkins Eastman, Sabrina Raia ’15 signed onto an eye-opening, high-wattage project on the Upper East Side of Manhattan: a 25-story cancer center for Memorial Sloan Kettering that will house research, clinical trials and new models for outpatient care— all under one roof.

Raia, who earned both an undergraduate degree in architecture and a master’s in civil engineering at NJIT, dove right into the nitty gritty of construction administration, helping coordinate utility infrastructure drawings. She will be on-site as the center goes up, making sure the work is done according to specifications.

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enter an in-house competition at Perkins Eastman that took her a world away from the technical complexities of building a 21st-century high-rise. This year’s focus was a career training and development center slated for Bihar, India, an impoverished state bordering Nepal, for women on the margins of society — victims of domestic violence, women and girls forced into prostitution and members of the so-called “untouchable” caste, all at continuing risk of human trafficking.

Open to young architects below associate level in the firm’s offices across the globe, Raia teamed up with Snigdha Agarwala, a 26-yearold colleague in New York, to create a light-filled, airy, environmentally sustainable complex centered around large, open-air courtyards with trees and plants on site. Porous, red-brick walls run through the interior with openings

of various sizes to create a sense of fluidity and connection, while

providing ready-made niches for the women to display their handiwork. To her complete surprise, they won.

The pair’s sustainable design features permeable pavers that will allow rainfall to collect in below-ground containers for reuse in the building, and solar panels on roofs pitched to the south to maximize the amount of sunlight harvested.

“Sabrina and Snigdha’s design is very doable, very constructible. I loved the planning, the hierarchy of scheme, with its configuration of office spaces, production areas and residences, and the possibility of extensions,” said Christine Schlendorf, a principal at the firm who organized and oversaw the competition. “Its nice overall layout caught the eye.”

“It was a humbling moment since this project will help so many women,” commented Raia, “and I get to be a part of it.” n

PHOTO: MICHAEL SWEENEY

FINANCE FUNDAMENTALS

Hugh ’69 and Marion Conway ’70, ’73 with Financial Literacy Program students Seti Vega and Coralie Jean-Francois.

Thirty-four students from 75 neighboring urban high schools were introduced to the fundamentals of finance in a four-week Financial Literacy Program offered by NJIT’s Martin Tuchman School of Management. The free summer financial literacy camp–now in its 20th year and supported by Hugh ’69 and Marion Conway ’70, ’73, as well as the TD Charitable Foundation and the Leir Charitable Foundation—offers classes, lectures, computer labs, fun outings and a field trip to Wall Street. Participants in the camp study financial management, investment and economics while acquiring public speaking, presentation and teamwork skills from group projects—and develop motivation for academic and professional success.

“Over the course of the camp the students learn how to research and assess financial information and make sound decisions based on that research,” said Michael Ehrlich, a professor of finance who is the principal of the Financial Literacy Program. “But most importantly, the camp gives them confidence, brings them onto a college campus and lets them view themselves as future college students.”

The Conways said they fund the camp because they believe in its purpose: to give urban high school students a step up and put them on the track to success and college. And as alumni, they also believe in NJIT. They met while they were students 50 years ago and have been married for 46 years. Their son also has three degrees from the university, so together the family has six NJIT degrees. They both said they had great careers — Marion still works as a consultant to nonprofit companies — and are thus happy to support an effective program run by their alma mater. “We’ve supported the financial literacy camp for nine years,” said Marion, “because we believe in the community.” n

END NOTES MATTHEW P. ADAMS, assistant professor in the John A. Reif, Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, presented two papers at the 15th International Conference on Alkali Aggregate Reaction in Concrete (ICAAR) in Sao Paulo, Brazil July 3-7, 2016. ICAAR is the pre-eminent conference on advances in understanding alkali-aggregate reaction in concrete systems.

University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business about her research on mining health forums for adverse drug reaction (ADR) discovery. Dr. Chen presented the advanced technologies that her group has developed to mine the fast-growing user-contributed content in health forums in order to automatically discover ADRs for post-marketing surveillance and for evidence-based decision-making.

CESAR BANDERA, assistant professor of entrepreneurship in NJIT’s Martin Tuchman School of Management, was named South American Director of the Academy of the International Council for Small Business (ICSB) for 2017. An intensive weeklong boot camp for international university entrepreneurship students, the Academy, now in its second year, is held in conjunction with the World Conference of the ICSB.

EDGARDO FARINAS, associate professor and chair of the department of chemistry and environmental science, received a Salute to Excellence Award from the North Jersey Section of the American Chemical Society for his leadership in helping to make the New Jersey Chemistry Olympics a success for all participants.

YI CHEN, Henry J. Leir Chair in Healthcare and an associate professor in NJIT’s Martin Tuchman School of Management, was invited to give a talk June 22 at the

JERRY FJERMESTAD, a professor in NJIT’s Martin Tuchman School of Management, presented his paper “Collective Intelligence: There Is More to the Story” at the 2016 Collective Intelligence Conference June 1-3 at New York University’s Stern School of Business.

SHANTHI GOPALAKRISHNAN, a professor in NJIT’s Martin Tuchman School of Management, was invited to Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Seville, Spain, to present her research on “Environmental Jolts and Strategic Alliances in the Aftermath of the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks.”

THERESA HUNT, senior lecturer in the department of humanities, published an article entitled “A Network of One’s Own: Young Women and the Creation of Youth-Only Feminist Spaces” in the prominent international youth studies journal Young. The article details the results of her three-year study tracing the social media communities of young women’s rights activists from the Middle East, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe.

LOUIS LANZEROTTI, distinguished research professor in the department of physics, received the William Kaula Award from the American Geophysical Union in recognition of his “unselfish service to the scientific community through

extraordinary dedication to, and exceptional efforts on behalf of, the Union’s publications program.”

KARL W. SCHWEIZER, professor, Federated Department of History, was awarded the Adelle Mellen Prize for distinguished scholarship for his book Oligarchy, Dissent and the Culture of Print in Georgian Britain.

JIM SHI, assistant professor of supply chain management and finance in NJIT’s Martin Tuchman School of Management, published an article titled “Cash-Flow Based Dynamic Inventory Management in Production and Operations Management with his co-authors Dr. Michael Katehakis and Dr. Benjamin Melamed, both distinguished professors at Rutgers Business School. The article tackles the issue of optimal cash flow management via studying the interplay between financial decisions and operational decisions.

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POINT BY POINT

THE LATEST NEWS ABOUT NJIT SPORTS:

njithighlanders.com

NJIT’S NEWEST OLYMPIAN

Henrique Marques

THE BALL IS IN HIS COURT

Andres Alban ’16 aspired to attend a university with strong science and engineering programs where he also could continue playing tennis. For Alban, an Albert Dorman Honors College scholar who received his B.S. in applied math and physics May 17, 2016, the decision to attend NJIT culminated in his acceptance to a Ph.D. program with full support at INSEAD, a business school in France.

“NJIT was the best choice where I could pursue my academic and

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athletic goals,” Alban recalls. The Honors College was an additional factor in my decision to attend NJIT.” A native of Bogota, Colombia, Alban earned a GPA of 3.98 and was captain of the NJIT tennis team. He says that his double major in applied mathematics and physics provided him with a “great background for further studies” and the Albert Dorman Honors College enhanced this experience.

“Even though tennis sometimes conflicted with my studies, it

In August, junior business major Henrique Marques made his Olympic debut at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio. Currently ranked #2 on the Brazilian Olympic fencing team, he fenced in the individual competition Aug. 7 and in the team event Aug. 12.

“Qualifying for the Olympics was always my goal since I was a child and that is what I trained for,” said Marques, who is originally from Sao Paolo, Brazil. “It is definitely one of the best feelings in the world, to have such a high goal and be able to achieve it so early in my career as an athlete. I felt that everything I trained for was paying off.”

Earlier this year, Marques was among the school-record six fencers representing the Highlanders in the 2016 NCAA National Championships hosted by Brandeis University at Gosman Sports and Convocation Center in Waltham, Massachusetts. Seeded the highest (fifth) of any Highlander heading into the Regionals, he recorded a third-place finish in the men’s foil and was undefeated against four of eight schools he competed against this season, including #3 Penn State, Sacred Heart, Vassar and New York University. With fellow fencing champion Julia Garcia, he qualified to attend the Junior World Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in which he placed 23rd out of 113 participants in his event.

Marques joins the roster of NJIT alumni who have previously competed in the Olympic Games. They include: Ray Blum ’50, speed skating (Switzerland); Myron Worobec ’66, soccer (Mexico); Robert Dow ’68, fencing (Germany); and Hernan Borja ’81, soccer (Los Angeles).

improved my time management and leadership skills, as well as my work ethics and discipline,” he says.

“I had many other experiences that helped me develop to become a good candidate for a Ph.D., such as my job at the math tutoring center.”

Alban served as Student Athlete Advisory Committee representative from 2013-present; a member of the Pi Mu Epsilon Mathematics Honor Society; and the Chi Alpha Sigma National College Athlete Honor Society. He received the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Scholar Athlete Award in 2014 and 2015.

Andres Alban

Cody Kramer

Ian Bentley

HIGHLANDERS NAMED TO ASC BASEBALL ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM Ian Bentley and Cody Kramer were named to the 2016 Atlantic Sun Conference Baseball All-Academic Team.

Bentley, who is in a five-year program that will see him earn a degree in architecture and a master’s degree in civil engineering in May 2017, posted a 3.54 GPA. A left-handed pitcher, Bentley ended his season with a 4-5 won-lost record. He was the winning pitcher when NJIT beat USC Upstate in the first-ever A-Sun game for the Highlanders on April 1 with five innings of five-hit, one-run relief that included seven strikeouts.

As a freshman in 2013, Bentley pitched in 19 games, 18 as a reliever, and notched a team-leading five saves, while also winning three games. He shifted to the starting rotation part way through his sophomore year and won six games that year, followed by a school Division I-record seven wins as a junior. His four victories this season raised his career total to 20, a new school Division I record, surpassing Tripp Davis ’13, who won 19 career games.

Bentley’s 4.40 career earned run average is second on the DI list among pitchers with at least 120 innings pitched and his 3.24 ERA in 2014 is the best season mark for pitchers with at least 40 IP. His 61

appearances are second all-time and his 34 games started are fourth. His seven complete games in 2015 are tops all-time and his 12 complete games overall are third on the career DI list. He is third on the career innings list (272) and third in career strikeouts (211).

Kramer, a biology major enrolled in NJIT’s Albert Dorman Honors College, has earned a perfect 4.0 GPA. The Highlanders junior catcher hit .246 in 37 games, including 35 starts.

He recorded 30 hits, 13 runs batted in and five doubles. He notched a .281 batting average in the conference, with 16 hits, 11 runs, five runs batted in, three doubles and home run.

ROBBE SELECTED TO THE 2016 EIVA ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM

Luke Robbe

NJIT redshirt junior Luke Robbe has earned a spot on the 2016 Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA) All-Academic team. A two-time honoree, Robbe is a mechanical engineering major who joins 15 student-athletes from six of the seven member institutions to be honored.

In order to be named to the team, recipients must have participated in at least 60 percent of their team’s sets, maintained a minimum of a 3.50 GPA, and must be in at least their second year academically.

The Highlanders 6-foot-8 middle finished the season hitting a season-best .366, leading the team in total blocks (83) and ranked third in kills (143). Robbe notched five double-digit kill matches, including a season-best 12 kills in the Highlanders 3-2 victory at Princeton March 22 and hit a season-best .909 (10k, 0e, 11a) at No. 9 Penn State and .625 against Princeton, posting 10 kills on 16 attempts with no errors. He added a season-high seven block assists.

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GIVING STORIES OF SUCCESS On April 22, nearly 100 donors came to NJIT to meet with the students whose scholarships they endow at NJIT’s 28th Annual Scholarship Brunch.

At the event, President Joel S. Bloom said that donations have helped NJIT make an annual economic impact of $1.74 billion on the state of New Jersey. In total, donors endow more than $3 million in scholarships that help more than 1,200 students.

Student speaker Raphael Roman ’16, represented the student body and faculty of the Educational Opportunity Program. Roman, who received a B.S. in information technology in May and is working as a technology consultant for a Fortune 500 company in San Francisco, is the recipient of scholarships from the Black Engineering & Technology Alumni Association, Panasonic, and the NJIT Class of 1948. Also speaking was Jaelynne King ’16, an Albert Dorman Honors College scholar who received a B.S. in chemical engineering in May.

Student speakers Raphael Roman ’16 and Jaelynne King ’16, shown here with NJIT President Joel S. Bloom, described how the generosity of donors has impacted their lives at NJIT’s 28th Annual Scholarship Brunch.

A LEGACY OF GIVING Angelica Blanco ’16, who like King received her B.S. in chemical engineering in May, sat next to Vince DeCaprio ’72, a university trustee and a retired president of Vyteris and his wife, Mary Lou. Together the DeCaprios endow scholarships dedicated to helping women who study engineering at NJIT. Blanco holds one of those scholarships.

Mary Lou DeCaprio, a former pharmaceutical chemist who now works as a middle-school science teacher, is on a mission to attract young women to STEM fields.

Blanco, who is now working as an engineer for FM Global, a

Angelica Blanco ’16 with her donors: Vince and Mary Lou DeCaprio

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consulting engineering firm, comes from an immigrant family. She has two siblings also in college, which she described as a “huge financial burden” on her parents.

“I am grateful for this scholarship because it has allowed me to pursue my studies without constantly worrying about my finances,” said Blanco. “It has allowed me to take advantage of all of the resources and opportunities that NJIT has to offer and to develop an understanding and appreciation of engineering and science.”

For Vince DeCaprio, NJIT is a legacy school, with three generations of his family attending the university, beginning with his father, Louis (’54 and ’58), and himself and now his son Michael, who is a sophomore. So when it came time to pick a cause to support, he said they didn’t have to look far, or think twice: “One of the organizations we feel passionate about supporting is NJIT.” When he was a child, he added, his father had returned from the

South Pacific theater of World War II. He worked during the day as a surveyor and draftsman for the city of Paterson. At night, he attended Newark College of Engineering, where he took classes in mechanical engineering. The GI Bill covered his tuition. His mother managed the household, and raised him, his brother and younger sister while all also supporting her husband’s education.

“My mother told us that when dad got his degree that NCE had a dinner for the grads and their spouses (all women at the time),” recalled DeCaprio.

“And the spouses were awarded a Ph.T. degree, which stood for ‘Pushing Hubby Through’. So, it seemed appropriate that we name our scholarships after my mother—the Irene DeCaprio Memorial Scholarship for Women in Engineering. A long title, but it says it all.”

Longtime donor Edward Cruz ’63 ’13 HON, who is recently deceased, was honored during the event with a tribute by his daughter Robin Cruz McClearn. In 2012, with her father, she established The Cruz Family Foundation, which focuses on promoting educational opportunities for young people.

For more information about establishing and supporting scholarships at NJIT, contact: Darlene Lamourt, Director of Donor Engagement at 973-596-3403 or darlene.lamourt@njit.edu. n

Robin Cruz McClearn and Sharon Cruz, daughter and wife of Edward Cruz ’63 ’13 HON, were presented with a special plaque that honored his memory at the Scholarship Brunch.

Make a decision today that will create a better tomorrow.

R. Cynthia Pruett ’55 had originally planned

and included New Jersey Institute of Technology

to go to MIT, but it wasn’t admitting women

in her will.

in the 1950s. However, an excellent institute

“My estate will mostly go to charity — and my education piece will go to NJIT,” Cynthia said.

of technology closer to home was — and in gratitude, the retired engineer has established a scholarship, created a charitable gift annuity,

Become a lifelong 1881 Society member by including NJIT in your will.

“I feel I need to give back something because I got such a great education.”

To learn more, visit njit.edu/giving or contact Monique Moore Pryor, Esq., assistant vice president of planned giving, at 973-596-8548 or mpryor@njit.edu.

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CAN

THERAPY AN ENGINEER AND A VIDEO GAME John Vito d’Antonio-Bertagnolli recalls the precise moment his research project – a device to correct an eye-movement disorder – collided momentously with the real world. He was describing it to a prospective applicant at an open house, when the student surprised him by asking, “Is it possible to see it?”

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A

fter watching him don an Oculus Rift headset and fend off animated bugs attacking in 3D on his computer screen, seemingly with his eyes alone, the student revealed, “I had this exact problem when I was younger, and my therapy felt like such a chore. This could have really helped me.” He’d struggled with schoolwork – and reading in

particular, he’d confided.

“I’d never met anyone affected by the disorder,” recounts d’Antonio-Bertagnolli, a senior at the time, majoring in biomedical engineering. He’d been working on the device for weeks, sometimes playing the role of control, or normal-sighted person, and admits he’d found it repetitious and somewhat abstract. “It put a

EYE

BE

FUN?

DESIGNER TAKE UP THE CHALLENGE human face to everything we were working on. Meeting him – and making that connection – became a big motivator.”

A year later, he is still a member of the vision therapy team – now as a master’s student – who has played a central role in the device’s development. Critically, he and another student, Robert Gioia ’17, helped secure a $10,000 Engi-

neering Projects in Communities (EPIC) grant from IEEE, the international engineering organization, to radically redesign it. Working with Gioia, a video game designer, under the guidance of the project leaders, an NJIT professor and her clinical partners, the two students have converted what was once a room-sized instrument into a computer-based virtual reality

(VR) game they hope will spark both interest – and self-discipline – in youngsters with the disorder.

The device has grabbed the attention of prominent eye therapists around the country who will soon test it in children’s hospitals from Philadelphia to Birmingham to Boston. What has everyone excited is its potential to revolutionize vision therapy by allowing people

to improve their vision at home.

EYES THAT REFUSE TO PLAY AS A TEAM The project began taking shape several years ago when Tara Alvarez, a professor of biomedical engineering who studied convergence – coordination between the eyes as they turn inward to focus on a near object –

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An NJIT team of researchers is studying various visual cues to the convergence system using a custom-engineered Oculus Rift virtual reality headset.

became interested in people whose eyes wouldn’t cooperate. Because each eye sees the image separately, they experience double and blurred vision and have difficulty concentrating. Before even thinking about correcting the problem, known as convergence insufficiency (CI), however, she first had to figure out how to measure it.

“We started developing an instrument that could detect subtle, but significant differences in how eyes track near objects. We are studying various visual cues to the convergence system using a custom-engineered instrument we built with funds from a National Science Foundation (NSF) development grant. Our device measures disparity – the ability to see images as unitary – and accommodation – the ability to see images clearly. We measure the speed and accuracy of eye movements quantitatively,” she explains. “This is an important advance, because the differences in motion, while significant, cannot be evaluated through qualitative observations, simply by looking closely. And you can’t buy an instrument off the shelf to do it.”

Convergence insufficiency affects about five percent of children and adults, about 12 million people in the U.S., who report significant problems when reading or doing close work. For children, the disruption caused by losing their place on a page, difficulty finishing assignments and, more generally, diminished concentration, can have a

devastating impact on schoolwork.

About 50 percent of people who’ve suffered a concussion or blast injury and 35 percent of people who have had a stroke have been found to have CI and also manifest symptoms for varying periods of time.

“You begin to question your own abilities and this can lead you to make important decisions about what you can – or can’t – do in life,” says Mitchell Scheiman, dean of research at Salus University, who has studied the problem for 25 years. He is a co-investigator with Alvarez on a five-year National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to understand the underlying neural mechanism by which vision therapy leads to a sustained reduction in visual symptoms in people with CI. “Several of the symptoms and behaviors associated with CI are related to attention, similar to those reported in children and adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).”

He added, “I’m an example myself. When I was 10 I had an undiagnosed condition and was having difficulties at school. I couldn’t read comfortably. I went from one eye doctor to the next and was told nothing was wrong, because they didn’t test for CI. School nurses don’t identify the problem either because it doesn’t register when children are asked to look at the eye chart. They are able to read the letters clearly.”

While most people can be successfully treated if the problem is correctly identified, Scheiman and Alvarez say, there aren’t enough doctors who provide the therapy.

Studies led by Dr. Scheiman have shown that current home-based therapy is no more effective than

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placebo therapy and is therefore not recommended as a primary treatment option. Some clinicians speculate that a reason for the poorer results is that unsupervised patients don’t comply.

ENTER THE ENGINEERS To measure CI, Alvarez first adapted a haploscope, a multi-part instrument that uses mirrors to send each of the eyes an image separately to see how well they converge – meet by crossing – to see a single one. It is covered in a voluminous black tent, and users must brace their chin on a stiff bar to keep still. It succeeds as a diagnostic device, but is too large, immobile and monotonous to replicate at home.

“We needed to boost motivation by making the therapy fun,” says Alvarez, who chose the Oculus Rift, a virtual reality headset she learned about from students, as an ideal technology. “I was in search of a team to run with it.” She knew d’Antonio-Bertagnolli, a student ambassador for the department, who loved robotics. She sought out Marc Sequeira ’02, coordinator of Game Development for the IT Program of the Ying Wu College of Computing, and he suggested Gioia, who is “an excellent coder and an artist as well.”

The new team encountered its first challenge within the hour.

The application for a provost’s undergraduate research grant to fund Gioia’s part in the project was due the next day and he knew almost nothing about it. Sequeira says he wasn’t worried. “Rob is

Robert Gioia adjusts the Oculus device on a young beta tester.

one of the strongest students in the history of NJIT’s game development program. I was confident that he would get the award, which he did.”

Soon after, the team faced an even stiffer challenge in the form of a milestone development decision. Should they pay a company to build the device they were designing – or build it themselves?

“The eye-tracking device we had was the size of a dorm room, but we needed it to fit in a hand,” d’Antonio-Bertagnolli recounts.

“We estimated it would cost $10,000 to shrink it. We decided to do it ourselves, aiming to spend less than $500.” And so at the end of that summer, at the urging of Newark College of Engineering Dean Moshe Kam, he and Gioia applied for an EPICS grant from IEEE to pay for the parts.

“This was a whole different experience convincing strangers to back us on something we hadn’t done yet,” d’Antonio-Bertagnolli recalled. Once again, they prevailed.

MAKING THERAPY FUN! The game is played by the eyes, while a hidden camera measures their movements. As their technical advisor, Alvarez instructed them to make sure the infrared light used to track eye movements stayed within safety limits so patients don’t burn their eyes. She asked them to include a Gabor patch, a fuzzy image that cannot be kept in focus, in many of the 3D gaming objects, because

it stimulates disparity vergence, the ability to see images as unitary.

Another key criterion was to ensure that 3D objects approach patients along the midline, in line with their nose, so their eyes are crossing equal distances.

“The core requirement was that an object had to move toward the person playing. To succeed at zapping it, they need to stare at it, converging their eyes correctly.

But it also had to be entertaining,” Gioia recounts. “So John and I put our heads together and came up with the idea of classic arcade games like Galaga, a two-dimensional shooter game.

I designed a game with insectbased flying ships coming at the player in 3D that we named Bug Eyez. Using their eyes, the players would launch missiles to defend themselves.”

Gioia said he factored in parents’ concerns about violence.

“There are no guns or blood, but the spaceships do explode on contact with the missiles, so it’s still exciting,” he notes. “To address any further concerns parents may have about violence in the game, there will be an option accessible from the game’s main menu allowing the player to toggle the explosions on and off, so younger children will be able to play a version of the game where enemy ships simply disappear on impact with the missile.”

The team is building a database that captures eye movements as well as the amount of time played.

“By signing into the database, clinicians will be able to follow their patients’ progression remotely as they move through the game,” Alvarez explains, adding that players will log in with a username and password corresponding with a unique account identity in the therapist’s database.

While he was sketching out the first game, d’Antonio-Bertagnolli started on the hardware.

“The eye-tracking part of my job was simple. The pupil is a hole in the eye that doesn’t reflect light, but absorbs it, making it dark and therefore easy to spot and track,” he explains. “My challenge was to fit a tiny eye-tracking camera into

the space between the lens and the screen of the Oculus – the VR device – so that it could pick up eye signals but would not be seen by the person playing the game.

That would be distracting.”

He installed a camera into what seemed the easiest spot to insert and remove it. The game became unplayable.

“We were clearly going to have to get much more creative,” he recounts. “After installing the cameras the first time, we realized that in mounting it, we had changed the distance between the

immersive environment the player can look around and enjoy while preparing to battle. This is intended to encourage excitement and maintain player interest.”

neuroscientists, clinicians and therapists. So changes in any one area have to work seamlessly with the others,” he says, adding, “The therapeutic game sector hasn’t always made great games that people want to play, but this has been changing rapidly.

Developers like Rob, with skill sets in programming and design are increasingly able to work with interdisciplinary teams of scientists and clinicians to achieve fantastic results.”

Virtual reality, with its integration of immersive

Members of the vision therapy research team include: Robert Gioia ’17, Biomedical Engineering Professor Tara Alvarez and John Vito d’AntonioBertagnolli.

lens and the screen of the Oculus, making the game appear out-offocus. So we moved the camera and 3D-printed more and more complicated mounts to hold them in place. We went through about a dozen design iterations until settling on one that worked.”

EDUCATION VS. ENTERTAINMENT Games can be effective as therapy or a distraction, depending on how well entertaining aspects of the game are balanced with the system’s therapeutic requirements, Sequeira notes. Integrating hardware artfully is also critical, he says, because if the peripheral devices players interact with are uncomfortable or cumbersome, they are less likely to use it.

“Therapeutic game design requires close collaboration between game designers, peripheral and hardware developers, and, in this case,

environments, sensory feedback and spatial interactivity, is helping them reinvent the genre.

Gioia has created several new game scenarios to appeal to different tastes, including air hockey, attacking zombie hordes and a dungeon-crawler version resembling Dungeons and Dragons/Legend of Zelda. For the youngest children, he is designing a firefly “catch-and-release” game and an easy mode for beginning players with tortoises trundling slowly toward them to give the players time to get themselves acquainted with the therapeutic movements.

“We’re creating a whole range so everyone has something to play and they can even mix it up for novelty,” says Gioia, who adds that he is continuing to make the games more complex. “In the first prototype we built, the player had to keep his head still.

But the games we have developed since have a more visually rich,

BETA TEST AND BEYOND The game has already passed one crucial hurdle. Kids will play it.

In September, Alvarez brought in her two children as “beta testers.” Christian, 12, has played the game four times over the course of its evolution, sometimes bringing friends along with him to try it, and even spotted a small glitch once the designers have since corrected. In his recent session, he zapped “20 to 30 bugs” over the course of six minutes and pronounced the game entertaining, noting, “I would definitely play this.”

Ari, 6, also gave it a key thumbsup on visuals. “It’s cool how the bugs come close to me.” Later this fall, the device will undergo a first major pilot demonstration at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), where the team will conduct a study of 10 children between the ages of 11 and 17 with CI and compare them with 10 children who participate in conventional therapy.

Christina Master, M.D., a pediatrician and pediatric sports medicine doctor at CHOP who specializes in concussions, will oversee it. As Alvarez and Scheiman, Master says she’s eager to better understand the disorder and determine whether a homebased device can treat it.

“Many kids don’t recognize they have a visual problem. After a concussion, for example, they have difficulty describing the symptoms with any specificity.

Sometimes they’ll just say, ‘I don’t feel well. I don’t like reading. I get tired,’ ” she notes. “We had a hunch about what was going on, but we couldn’t quite put our finger on it. Assessments for CI are not routinely done. Often, kids would see an ophthalmologist and be told they’re normal. Given a specific questionnaire screening for CI, however, they are better able to pinpoint details like trouble reading and skipping lines.”

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PHOTO: THE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA

Master says that for many years, general pediatrics tended to dismiss CI and related vision disorders, thinking that they didn’t warrant treatment.

“In the 90s, it was not a diagnosis that we considered and many kids were left in the gap.

But now, because of the work that Dr. Scheiman has done, it’s an accepted diagnosis and Dr. Scheiman has shown in elegant multicenter studies, that vision therapy is effective. With my concussion patients, vision therapy often gives them a headache and they really have to work at it. And it’s boring. It’s clever is to make the exercises a game by using a mind-trick that makes it feel like mental telepathy, as if the child had superpowers. We are excited about the possibilities that this opens up to us in terms of vision therapy for children with CI after concussion.”

The team, led by Scheiman and with the participation of five children’s hospitals, is looking to study convergence insufficiency related to concussion. Alvarez’s role would be to replicate her custom instrumentation at each of the children’s hospitals, including the University of Alabama, Birmingham (UAB). An epicenter of football culture, the university is a major hub for head injury and helmet research.

“Helmets still only protect the skull, not the brain,” she notes.

“Part of what UAB studies is younger children in Pop Warner football, because their injuries are worse than those in the NFL. Kids don’t know how to brace.”

“We’ll have to do a full clinical

trial to see if the device works without a vision therapist overseeing it,” Scheiman says.

LIFE BEYOND THE LAB The vision therapy team believes there is a potentially large market for an inexpensive therapy device that can be monitored by a clinician.

“There is essentially no technology in the marketplace to do this. There are just simple devices like colored balls on a string and passive computer exercises, but they don’t use eye positions and aren’t games by any stretch,” d’Antonio-Bertagnolli says.

Since they began redesigning the device, the team has won two grants to begin commercializing it, including an NSF I-Corps grant through NJIT that got them out of the office talking to potential customers and toy businesses.

This fall, they won $50,000 in development capital from the New Jersey Health Foundation (NJHF).

“After meeting with Dr. Alvarez to learn about her research, we began to understand that the convergence insufficiency she is addressing can have far-reaching learning repercussions for children with this disorder,” explained George F. Heinrich, M.D., vice chair and CEO of the foundation.

“We were drawn to the idea that Dr. Alvarez is employing a novel way for a child to participate in his or her own treatment, which could prove to be very effective when treating the disorder.”

THE BRAIN IS A BRAVE NEW WORLD d’Antonio-Bertagnolli once felt

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The vision device will undergo a first major pilot demonstration at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

the pull of medical school – both his parents are doctors – but now believes he can achieve important therapeutic goals through biomedical engineering. He is particularly enthusiastic about clinical uses for virtual reality.

“The Oculus is just a screen with two lenses in front of it, but what it’s able to do is so far-reaching in terms of healing vision – and very possibly more. The more I learn about virtual reality, the more intrigued I am by its capabilities. I think we could eventually use it to help treat other vision disorders, detect concussions and possibly even treat psychological problems like post-traumatic stress disorder,” he speculates.

“I don’t know how transformational it will be ultimately, but there is so much down the line to look forward to. I think I will continue to be surprised and excited for the rest of my life,” he says, adding, “There is such a close-knit BME community at NJIT. None of this would have happened if I weren’t here. This was the right place and the right time as this technology takes off.”

Last April, he and Gioia received yet another validation of their work when they were awarded the top prize at NJIT’s TechQuest contest.

Gioia, who arrived at college knowing he wanted to design games but also to “help people” said he is also enthusiastic about the potential of what he calls “transformational games.”

“I’m excited to see where the video game industry goes from here. The genre is so young – as time goes on, we will continue to see additional applications that extend beyond just entertainment,” he says, noting that he is thrilled to have already had a chance to explore this territory, “to use my game-design skills to have a positive societal value. I can’t wait to see where it goes from here and how this experience will lead me into a career in such an exciting

and opportunity-filled field.”

Alvarez, who began her academic career as an electrical engineer, says she switched to biomedical engineering in order to have a more direct and tangible impact on clinical therapy.

“Now that I’m working with clinicians like Mitchell and Tina, I’m starting to see that happen.

The medical field is expanding and these collaborations allow us to help the masses of patients, not just a handful. We’re starting to examine, for example, the number of visual conditions that include improper eye alignment. Our first application is convergence insufficiency, but we have ideas for other eye movement disorders,” she says.

Alvarez is also at the forefront of an exciting field of study that brings together engineers, neuroscientists, clinicians and technologists to explore connections among vision, development and cognition.

“There is so much talk about big data, but people don’t realize how much information there is in the visual environment that the brain is taking in, interpreting and acting on constantly. The brain is a major communications center,” Alvarez notes. Similar to any therapy, the repetitive nature of the vision exercises leads to a sustained reduction in symptoms, suggesting that the brain has rewired or changed in some way.”

Alvarez is working with Bharat Biswal, distinguished professor of biomedical engineering, and Xiaobo Li, an associate professor of biomedical engineering, to use functional MRI to understand how the brain changes after therapy.

“Once we understand how it changes eye movements and brain function, we can use that knowledge to design more effective and personalized vision therapies we hope will lead to better outcomes,” she says. “Our aim is to help more patients recover more vision function in less time, at a lower cost in the comfort of their own home.” n Author: Tracey L. Regan is an NJIT Magazine contributing writer.

NJIT a l u m n i

EMBRACING CHANGE NJIT is alive with activity! With great pride and excitement, the Alumni Association welcomed the largest freshman class back to campus in September. We helped freshmen move in, greeted parents and family, and gave insight on what it means to be a Highlander. Having alumni available to talk with parents put them right at ease, no easy task on move-in day! With growing classes also comes growing change, and we embrace new opportunities for the year ahead.

At the annual Alumni Council meeting in January, alumni representatives defined areas to increase alumni engagement with NJIT. One standout was the area of career development. The Alumni Association has always had career development activities, but they have not been pulled together in a cohesive strategy. This year, we will focus on connecting these services to our current students, adding value and building bridges with alumni.

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The Alumni Association will work with Career Development Services to provide activities and resources focused on career planning for students and alumni. As NJIT graduates, we have a wealth of information and experience that can assist our students as they plan for their future, and benefit fellow alumni in professional advancement.

The first such activity was the September 28 Career Fair at NJIT. Many alumni were on campus representing their companies in search of new talent from the NJIT student population. Later on, we will focus on connecting students to job opportunities, sharing skills and experiences, and providing workshops, webinars, and classroom sessions that are centered on helping our current students bridge the gap between NJIT and the business world.

We need your help! Are you in a job today that you planned for when you were a student? How did you obtain to your current position, and what skills did NJIT provide that have helped you advance your career? What have you learned about the realities of the business world that you didn’t know as a student?

NJIT students and alumni want and need to hear these answers. Now is the right time to get involved.

As always please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or if you want to get involved in NJIT activities. I look forward to seeing you at our next alumni event!

Jack W. Wagner ’74 President

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NJIT a l u m n i

TAKE THE 2016 ALUMNI SATISFACTION SURVEY WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! The Alumni Association of NJIT is working hard to bring you the best services. To better serve you, we have launched the 2016 Alumni Satisfaction Survey, a detailed questionnaire that will help us better connect you with fellow alumni and with NJIT. WHY TAKE THE SURVEY? We know that surveys can be tedious, so we want to make sure this is worth your time.

1) IT’S QUICK! The survey should only take about 10 to 15 minutes.

2) I T’S IMPORTANT! Your answers will have a real impact on programs and services for more than 50,000 alumni.

3) T HERE ARE PRIZES! Once the survey is completed, you will be entered in a randomly-selected sweepstakes for prizes including: • XBox One • Microsoft Surface Pro • Oculus Rift

The survey is open until November 15, so don’t wait—fill it out today!

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NJIT a l u m n i

CONNECT. BENEFIT. ENGAGE. CALENDAR OF EVENTS Register today to enjoy performances, tours, sport outings, fall festivals and networking events. Space is limited

Central New Jersey Alumni Brunch at Oyster Point Hotel

South Jersey/Philadelphia Holiday Party

November 13, 2016 146 Bodman Place Red Bank, NJ

Simeone Automotive Museum 6825-31 Norwitch Drive Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Metro DC Capitol Steps Show

North New Jersey Alumni Holiday Cruise

December 3, 2016

December 10, 2016

Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC

1500 Harbor Boulevard Weehawken, NJ

December 8, 2016

Vampire Lounge Alumni Reception December 6, 2016 9865 Santa Monica Boulevard Beverly Hills, California

SAVE THE DATES CELEBRATION 2016 ALUMNI WEEKEND REGISTER TODAY!

An evening with Vanessa Williams / November 11, 2016 May 19-21, 2017

Registration is first-come, first-served. All major credit cards are accepted.

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alumni.njit.edu/events

973-596-3441

TAKING TO THE SKIES TO REPLENISH THE EARTH A team of NJIT and Rutgers-Newark students is devising a rocket-shaped fertilizer capsule that can reforest remote areas stripped of vegetation.

Few landscapes speak more hauntingly of environmental distress than barren expanses stripped of trees. Felled for farming, fuel and export, their depletion leaves the land prey to topsoil erosion and moisture loss. In the most extreme cases, they become virtual deserts.

Chrystoff Camacho ’17, an engineering technology major from Brooklyn, would like to reforest the world’s denuded acres in a hail of rejuvenating missiles. His biodegradable capsules, containing packets of seeds and mineral-rich soil, would be dropped by planes and drones, perforating the flat, dry ground where they land so it retains water to nurture the seedlings.

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I

dealistic fantasy? Not according to the judges at the regional CleanTech University Prize (UP) competition held at Rutgers University earlier this year, where his Aerial Reforestation Capsule (ARC) captured second place. That finish sent him on to the CleanTech UP National Competition in Denver, where he went up against older, more experienced competitors from MIT and Stanford University.

The contests, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), are designed to “inspire the next generation of clean energy entrepreneurs and innovators.”

David Friedman, the agency’s acting assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy, describes the regional competitions as “a lot like the hit show Shark Tank—students pitch to a panel of experts, explaining why their idea is feasible and how it can make a positive impact.” The top three teams from each win a spot at nationals.

The DOE views reforestation as integral to renewable energy policy because trees function as carbon sinks that take in heat-trapping gases, emitted by fossil fuel combustion and other sources, to power their growth. They can also be used as biomass.

TECHNOLOGY BY NATURE Early on in college, Camacho focused his entrepreneurial aspirations on military applications such as technology to deliver supplies, but a trip to his native Guyana then opened his eyes to a growing problem: widespread decimation caused by

“I’M LEARNING A LOT ABOUT WHAT IT TAKES TO RUN A BUSINESS, TO TALK ABOUT IT ARTICULATELY TO INVESTORS AND POTENTIAL PARTNERS AND TO BE A MORE EFFECTIVE TEAM LEADER. THESE ARE THE SKILLS YOU NEED TO MANEUVER IN THE BUSINESS WORLD.” - CHRYSTOFF CAMACHO ‘17 logging. That got him thinking – and researching rates of tree loss around the world.

“My first idea was about developing some way to make the land in need of rehabilitation more productive. Land stripped of trees becomes dry and flat and can’t hold water, so I was thinking about making conical imprints that would create mini-basins for trees or crops that would be planted by hand,” Camacho recounts. “But that got me thinking about ways to do this by air, using velocity to make the imprint, because doing it by hand is so time-consuming.

And then I had the idea of including the seeds and soil.”

“It’s true that the ARC does look a lot like a missile,” he laughs.

Camacho’s start-up, ParaTrees: Technology by Nature, received a National Science Foundation I-Corps grant for $3,000 to further develop the prototype and to seek out advice and customers through regional business accelerators. It has also caught the attention of tech entrepreneurs, prompting a $30,000 infusion from an angel investor to develop a drone

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platform and business structure.

“The value of the I-Corps grant goes well beyond the funding – it allows us to pair up young entrepreneurs with mentors and advisers who will help them take a cool idea and identify potential customers with real concerns,” said Michael Ehrlich, an associate professor of management in NJIT’s Martin Tuchman School of Management who administers NJIT’s I-Corps site along with Judith Sheft, associate vice president for technology and enterprise development. Camacho has worked with Nancy Jackson, a professor of chemistry and environmental science, and William Marshall, assistant vice president for government affairs and a director of NJIT’s New Jersey Innovation Institute, responsible for its defense and homeland security innovation lab.

A TEAM EFFORT Over the course of this year, he has assembled a five-person team from NJIT and Rutgers-Newark to speed development of a working prototype while also scoping out

potential markets and additional investors. Team members – three engineers from NJIT and two business majors from Rutgers – each bring a different skill to the enterprise.

Matthew Mann ’17, a mechanical engineer from Mount Olive, has been tinkering with the capsules’ design, varying their weight to optimize velocity, as he projects their path and impact in different geographical locations.

They will range in size from 5.5 inches to less than an inch, depending on where and how they are dropped. The larger capsules will be deployed by airplane and the smaller by drone.

“We’re looking at penetrating two different types of soils, including clay silts and grainier turf with debris,” he notes. Having purchased an octocopter drone at the end of the summer to test it, the team is making modifications to perfect precision planting.

Abbas Taiyebi ’17, biology major from Edison, is working in the lab on the growth medium, including soil mixes.

The Rutgers team members

PHOTO: CHRISTINA CROVETTO

Meet the team: Alec Ratyosyan ’17; Kira Antoine ’17 ; Abbas Taiyebi ’17; and Chrystoff Camacho ’17.

the product you’re promoting. I do think the ARC would provide value for a range of customers, from lumber companies, to conservation groups, to government agencies.”

Kira Antoine, a Rutgers junior majoring in psychology, heads up corporate responsibility and social impact.

“I come from the tech side of things and business was foreign to me at first. I realized that if I were serious, I couldn’t do this by myself.

And when it comes to engineering applications, it’s important to have multiple minds,” says Camacho, adding that he is also now thinking

OF MANAGEMENT

about community development and land stewardship as part of what he calls a “post-care” phase after the plants reach maturity.

“There is a lack of education in land management and the idea is to get people locally to start thinking about sustainability, while also boosting seasonal employment.”

While they prepare the ARC for a first major pilot test next year, they continue to bring it before

PHOTO: CHRISTINA CROVETTO

bring business and marketing skills.

Alec Ratyosyan, a senior at Rutgers-Newark from Tenafly who is majoring in marketing and has worked in product sales, said he joined the team because he shares Camacho’s view on the urgency of the problem.

“The technology’s appeal is pretty simple and straightforward —it’s meant to solve a crisis.

Forests play a crucial role in the water cycle, in ecosystems and, more generally, in life on Earth.

We need to preserve them as the population expands,” he notes.

“And from a sales standpoint, it’s important to be able to get behind

“THE VALUE OF THE I-CORPS GRANT GOES WELL BEYOND THE FUNDING – IT ALLOWS US TO PAIR UP YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS WITH MENTORS AND ADVISERS WHO WILL HELP THEM TAKE A COOL IDEA AND IDENTIFY POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS WITH REAL CONCERNS.” ICHAEL EHRLICH, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR -M

Chrystoff Camacho ’17 and Abbas Taiyebi ’17 test their octocopter drone.

outside technology organizations for input. Earlier this year, the team entered a contest put on by the New York City Regional Innovation Node (NYCRIN), a cleantech accelerator in Manhattan. They also joined the Brooklyn-based Urban Future Lab, where they took a 12-week course on business development. Their initial elevator pitch was attended by a range of businesses from Shell to renewable energy companies.

They’ve since received inquiries from prospective companies in the U.S. and South America looking to rehabilitate land, and are applying for additional large grants to continue developing the prototype.

“I’m learning a lot about what it takes to run a business, to talk about it articulately to investors and potential partners and to be a more effective team leader,” Camacho says. “These are the skills you need to maneuver in the business world.”

The team is currently operating out of a studio two blocks from NJIT’s Enterprise Development Center, in the basement of a house they’re sharing.

“Sharing a space fosters team spirit in an organic way and is helping us develop professional habits of focus and hard work,” Ratyosyan says, adding, “We don’t even have cable!” n Author: Tracey L. Regan is an NJIT Magazine contributing writer.

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PHOTO: DIANE CUDDY

Chief Joseph Marswillo is a long-term employee who has advanced through the ranks of NJIT’s Department of Public Safety.

IN GOOD

HANDS While some may consider a long stint on grand jury duty to be somewhat of a nuisance, for NJIT’s Chief of Public Safety Joseph Marswillo, it was a career-changing experience. At the time, Marswillo was employed as an electrician in his father and grandfather’s business and owner of a landscaping firm, but he became fascinated with the judicial process and with the testimonies of police officers in court. He subsequently took several police examinations, started looking for jobs and landed at NJIT in 1997. Over the years, he was promoted to sergeant and then to lieutenant. He served as acting chief following the departure of former Director Robert Sabattis and was appointed to chief in 2014. Marswillo is a graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson University and has received formal training in investigation, compliance, management and internal affairs.

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PHOTO: JOSH SANDERS

T

The Department of Public Safety has engaged in increasingly more meaningful and productive dialogue with Student Senate leaders and as well as other student organizations.

PHOTO: SCOTT JONES PHOTOGRAPHY

- CHIEF JOSEPH MARSWILLO

Police officer bike units, along with newly established public safety officer bike units, patrol interior campus areas and parking lots to provide greater visibility of law enforcement.

PHOTO: SCOTT JONES PHOTOGRAPHY

he challenges of ensuring campus security while balancing the need to maintain an open and welcoming environment are all in a day’s work for the Department of Public Safety. This is accomplished through the concerted efforts of dedicated law enforcement professionals who create a very visible police presence and also through partnerships with all of the key stakeholders throughout the university. Patrolling an area of approximately 0.47 square miles, 24 hours per day, seven days per week, the 78 police and security officers who comprise the department collaborate on many activities with surrounding agencies including the Newark Police Department, Rutgers Police and Essex County College Police, as well as the county sheriff ’s and prosecutor’s offices. This proactive collaboration has proven effective on campus with student organizations as well as with offcampus resources.

As an open campus, with no physical barriers to the surrounding community, NJIT is diligent in its crime prevention and reduction efforts. Educating the campus community about safety is a top priority, as many students come to the university from suburban areas and must be taught—and then constantly reminded—of NJIT’s urban setting.

“Our philosophy has been to open up our campus to the community around us, embrace the diversity, and allow interaction with our neighbors,” Marswillo said. “At the same time, our police and public safety officers must patrol, our card access systems must provide security, and our closed-circuit video camera

“We utilize current technology to analyze internal and external crime statistics and trends so as to maximize the allocation of all law enforcement resources in the reduction of crime.”

Walking or vehicle escort services are provided 24 hours per day, seven days a week upon request, to parking lots, transit hubs, and between and around campus buildings.

systems must monitor the activity to maintain law and order.

Parents of current and prospective students must be confident that our campus is safe and, while our statistics represent that as fact, the perception must stay in front of that reality.”

In order to help foster this type of relationship-building and trust, NJIT uses the Community Oriented Policing and ProblemSolving Philosophy (COPPS) model and its associate programs.

Police and public safety officers are assigned to clubs, student organizations and the neighboring James Street Commons Historic District community group to continuously provide safety education programs, joint safety initiatives and social interaction while fostering trust and partnerships with students, along with receiving feedback on how service can be improved. The officers distribute flyers listing safety and crime prevention tips, host community outreach meetings, provide training on active shooter incidents, and visit offices to evaluate and train on “run, hide, fight” concepts. These efforts have resulted in the highest student satisfaction scores for the Public Safety Department in over six years.

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reduction of crime,” Marswillo said. “This assists in assigning directed patrols and posts to areas requiring a high-visibility police presence. Additionally, police and security walking and bike patrol units are used to enhance presence and promote approachability within the community.”

The department recently deployed body-worn cameras to all NJIT police officers. Cameras can be mounted on the shoulder or center chest even with the badge line; plain clothes officers may wear cameras anywhere from their waistline up to their shoulder line.

PHOTOS: SCOTT JONES PHOTOGRAPHY

POLICE PLUS During his NJIT tenure, Marswillo has received many awards, including commendations for meritorious service and exceptional duty.

When asked what he enjoys most about his job, he notes that “every day is different” and he has the opportunity to perform a wide range of tasks—everything from speaking at new student orientations and participating in Meet and Greet events to partnering with Student Senate leaders and other student organizations on initiatives such as the Challenge Coin, which is awarded to those that volunteer to assist with safety initiatives.

Due to the varied nature of these activities in conjunction with regular safety and security efforts,

The Public Safety Department’s vehicle fleet, shown here in front of the Honors Residential Hall, helps maintain a safe and secure environment for students, faculty, staff and visitors.

Marswillo describes the department as “Police Plus.”

“As Certified NJ Police Training Commission (PTC) Police Officers, we are tasked with the same legal and administrative responsibilities as our law enforcement counterparts,” he explained. “We must enforce all criminal, (Title 2c) motor vehicle (Title 39) laws of the state, as well as city ordinances. We are accountable to abide by and follow all Attorney General and Essex County Prosecutor directives, policies and procedures while maintaining the safety and security of the campus and surrounding community. With that said, ‘Plus’ encapsulates our department’s resolute conviction to foster trust and confidence in our officers. Our officers don their uniform each day not only as representatives of law enforcement but as individuals that strive to connect with our students, faculty and staff as mentors and as leaders.” n Author: Christina Crovetto is editor of NJIT Magazine.

MEASURING UP

T

he Department of Public Safety employs a proactive, goal-oriented policing philosophy where department performance is monitored and compared to internal past performance and benchmarked against other universities as well as Newark and surrounding agencies. In an effort to proactively participate in law enforcement activities, the university monitors communication of surrounding agencies, which allows more efficient operations with its neighbors. Shared and joint police operations across the multi-agency municipalities—including the City of Newark, Essex County, Rutgers University and Essex County College—and the open lines of communication have helped everyone to improve their policing. This proactive collaboration has proven effective on campus with student organizations as well as with off-campus resources.

“Reducing crime both on campus and in the surrounding community has become increasingly challenging as a result of the changing crime trends and the growth of University Heights,” said Andrew P. Christ, P.E., B.S. ’94, M.S. ’01, vice president for Real Estate Development and Capital Operations at NJIT. “However, as we compare our Clery Act crime statistics for 2013 and 2014, we are a safe urban campus and perform very well versus our peers. Our statistics are well below many suburban campuses of institutions similar in size and scope to NJIT.” The department has initiated the process of becoming an Accredited Police Department through the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police, a voluntary statewide law enforcement accreditation program for New Jersey, assisting the agency in determining how existing operations can 2 4 N J I T M A G A Z I N E | FA L L 2 0 1 6

be adapted to meet best practices and industry standards. Additionally, the department spearheads Joint Campus Lighting and Security Surveys with officers certified in Crime Prevention through Environmental Design. These officers walk the campus with students, faculty and staff to pinpoint areas of concern and work with the appropriate university offices to rectify the issues.

As part of its continuous improvement philosophy, NJIT is examining the feasibility of these proposed initiatives: • The creation of a traffic enforcement unit to proactively enforce motor vehicle violations, that may result in other crime suppression activities.

• Increased police officer staffing as the campus grows and expands to maintain a highly visible public safety presence.

• Increase the department fleet for visibility, equipment and personnel deployment, and decreasing response time to incidents.

• Transition from a local dispatch center to a 9-1-1 call center for the campus in an immediately surrounding area.

• Increased joint initiatives with local law enforcement agencies including motor vehicle safety checks, DUI checkpoints, joint patrol and other specialized units.

• Enhanced communication and transparency through continued development of social media to the campus and the surrounding community.

• Increased closed-circuit video camera coverage of the campus and surrounding area to aid in deterring and investigating criminal activity.

CLASS NOTES

Rookie of the Year in his freshman year and All IAC each year from sophomore to senior year, when he was awarded the NJIT Senior Athlete Award. With 1104 career points, Lou is among a select group of players scoring more than 1000 points. He is also in the top 10 in career rebounds, with 640.

MAL & FRIENDS NJIT Magazine invites new correspondents to join Mal Simon in sharing news about class members and alumni organizations.

Professor emeritus of physical education and athletics, Mal was director of physical education and athletics, and men’s soccer coach, for 30 years. In 1993, he received the Cullimore Medal for his service to the university.

If you would like to be a regular correspondent, don’t hesitate to send an e-mail to the editor of NJIT Magazine: crovetto@njit.edu First, the latest news from Mal –

NJIT’s second-consecutive participation in postseason basketball again brought out standing-roomonly crowds. Among the spectators were Walt Cullen ’71, Russ Funari ’79 and Lou Mezzina ’93.

Walt came to NCE from Bloomfield High School where he played basketball and tennis. In addition to being on the varsity basketball team at NCE, Walt refereed intramural basketball and was a swimming Instructor and lifeguard.

Following graduation, Walt kept in shape by playing and coaching basketball, and water and snow skiing.

He was one of a group of alumni who enjoyed weekly basketball in NJIT’s “C” gym.

Walt’s professional employment history includes working as a project engineer at L.K. Comstock in New York City, in technical sales for Hewlett-Packard, and as a technology specialist for the Washington Township, Morris County, School District K-8.

Walt has been a very active member of his community, serving on the Washington Township Committee for six and a half years and on the township’s Recreation Committee since 1983. His many volunteer activities include conducting computer training for the township’s senior citizens, managing a group of 50 volunteers installing a high-speed cable system for

computing in the township’s four schools, coaching and refereeing for a highly competitive AAU girls’ basketball league, and serving as president of the Long Valley Men’s Basketball Association for 33 years.

For the past 18 years, he has volunteered at Project Graduation, an allnight drug- and alcohol-free event, at West Morris Central High School.

As if this wasn’t enough to fill his retirement years, Walt also drove a school bus for Allamuchy Township and Mount Olive. Walt and his wife, Dorothy, have been married for 45 years and live in Long Valley, New Jersey.

Lou gained his interest in basketball while attending his brother’s high school games. His playing career started in Staten Island, New York, playing CYO basketball for St. Charles, where his team won both the Staten Island CYO title and the Archdiocese New York City Championship. When his family moved to Manalapan, New Jersey, Lou played for Manalapan High School. In his senior year, he received many accolades, including the Ed Sexton Memorial Award and the Coaches Award, and being named to the All Monmouth County Second Team and the Shore Conference All Star Team.

Joining the NJIT basketball family, Lou had an immediate impact.

He was named the IAC Conference

Lou Mezzina ’93 (left) in action during his record-setting NJIT basketball career.

Lou was in NJIT’s co-op program and employed by Schering-Plough Corporation, where he was permanently hired after graduation. He was with Schering-Plough/Merck for 17 years, supporting manufacturing operations, facility management and engineering services. He worked on launches for key products, such as Claritin, and was responsible for the startup of the 88-acre Summit campus as site director. Lou is now employed by JLL as an account executive responsible for integrated facilities management projects, occupancy planning and real estate for Merck & Co. throughout North America and Latin America.

Lou is an active alumnus, supporting the NJIT basketball program and attending many games with his family. He now enjoys coaching his children in basketball and other sports. He has coached his daughter’s Manalapan Aftershock travel team and is currently coaching his son’s Manalapan Magic travel team. He has brought these teams back to NJIT to view both men’s and women’s games and to participate in the halftime scrimmages. Lou resides in Manalapan,

New Jersey, with his wife Donna and their three children Sabrina, Amanda and Anthony.

Russ has continued his professional career with PSE&G — 36 years and counting. His primary responsibilities involve environmental policy issues of concern to PSE&G, such as climate change and water use. This provides Russ with an opportunity to interact with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, state regulators like the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and nonprofit environmental organizations.

Russ’ very active undergraduate participation in student activities has been followed by similar engagement in alumni activities. As part of this involvement, he serves on several NJIT advisory committees, including for the College of Science and Liberal Arts. Russ also maintains his Sigma Pi fraternity ties by serving on the alumni board that oversees the fraternity’s house and advising student fraternity members. Russ and his wife Lydia, superintendent of schools in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, live in West Caldwell.

Alumni will remember Oleg Moiseenko ’67, some as a classmate or teammate and some as a coach. Oleg has Parkinson’s disease and lives with his sister, Zena, in Lady Lakes, Florida. His other sister, Elena ’80, lives nearby in The Villages.

Oleg Moiseenko ’67 (right) with soccer teammate and classmate Gerry Kurth ’67, who visited Oleg in Florida.

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Oleg has the distinction of both playing and coaching at NCE/ NJIT. As an undergraduate, he was a four-year member of the NCE soccer and fencing teams, and after working for five years as a chemical engineer, he returned to his alma mater to coach soccer and volleyball. Oleg worked for Dow Chemical in Midland, Michigan, before making a dramatic career change to pursue teaching physical education and coaching athletics.

While gaining his master’s degree in physical education, Oleg taught mathematics at East Orange High School. After earning his master’s, he was hired by NJIT as an instructor of physical education, which included coaching soccer and volleyball. Diane and I, and Fabian ’74 and Jeannie Hurtado also visited Oleg in Florida. He would love to hear from those in the NCE/ NJIT family at 805 Sutton Street, Lady Lakes, Florida 32159.

Now let me Fast Forward from the 60s, literally and figuratively, to Kori Washington ’12 who was a “fast forward” for NJIT’s women’s soccer team. As a four-year starter, she finished her career with 12 goals and five assists in 73 games.

Kori entered NJIT as a manage-

Kori Washington ’12 is building a career in coaching and athletics marketing.

ment information systems major, but her education and career path changed during sophomore year as a result of the opportunity to take part in an Athletics Department work-study program. Excited by myriad new responsibilities and challenges, she changed her major

to marketing. Her performance in the program went above and beyond basic responsibilities, especially with respect to communicating effectively with staff, students and fans. Len Kaplan, NJIT director of athletics, says, “Kori enthusiastically took on new jobs and projects for the department and developed new initiatives that are important for our growing program and campus community.”

After graduation, Kori held various jobs, including substitute teaching in the Trenton School District K-5, coaching girls’ soccer teams and working for soccer academies. She also coached high school soccer and basketball at Princeton High School and her alma mater, The Pennington School.

Being uncertain as to whether to coach or focus on her athletics-marketing career, Kori decided to combine both by continuing coaching plus accepting a position as director of soccer operations for the Rutgers women’s soccer team. The latter position gave her experience in working with the daily operations of the team as well as with marketing the program.

After a year, she moved on to the professional sports arena, working with the Brooklyn Nets basketball program. She then realized that she needed to learn more about sports management and left the Nets to enroll in a master’s program at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona. Currently, she is coaching basketball at The Pennington School and working on the New York Knicks and Liberty fan development and community relations team. Kori lives with her parents in Columbus, New Jersey.

I was saddened to read in a recent “In Memoriam” section in NJIT Magazine about the death of Roland Barth ’60. Roland served his country for 30 years, retiring as a colonel in the U.S. Air Force. A veteran of the Vietnam War, he was awarded the Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, two Defense Meritorious Service Medals and the Air Force Commendation Medal.

In 2009, Roland was inducted into the NJIT Athletic Hall of Fame for his achievements in soccer and fencing. He and his buddies,

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Andy Brown ’63 and Lou DeVito ’60, were on the first few teams

I coached and were key players in building the soccer success story at NCE. After retirement, Roland pursued his passion for photography. He took hundreds of incredibly beautiful photographs for two books he co-authored on wildflowers in the Fontenelle Forest and Neale Woods nature preserves. Roland and his wife, Ingrid, traveled around the globe, and their trips included visits to Cuba and to Brazil for the World Cup. After a one-year hiatus, the Florida Soccer Alumni Reunion will move north to the Cape Canaveral area for its 17th gathering March 11-13, 2017. The reunion will be hosted by Fabian ’74 and Jeanie Hurtado, who hosted the group’s first reunion in 2000 in Lake Mary,

Florida. Reunion activities will include tours of the Cape, cruises and shopping, capped by an evening of food and entertainment with music and dancing. All alumni and friends are welcome. Diane and I look forward to seeing you all. To signify your desire to attend and receive the reunion information please contact Fabian at fabianh3@hotmail.com or 407-334-9832, or me at mjs@njit. edu or 973-706-6626.

Since there is some news I could not fit in this edition, keep your eyes peeled for my next column, which will include stories about Tahsin “Tom the Turk” Karasay ’75, Rich Fifoot ’86, and the true

story about the Great Stone Wall of Warren, Vermont.

In the meantime send me your stories at mjs@njit.edu. n

ANNUAL HONORS FOR ENGINEERING EXCELLENCE Newark College of Engineering marked 18 years in March of honoring the accomplishments of notable alumni, industry partners and high-achieving students at the college’s annual Salute to Engineering Excellence.

This year, Peter J. Abitante ’90 and Brian G. Kiernan ’70 each received an Outstanding Alumnus Award. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) was the recipient of the Outstanding Industry Partnership Award— an award received on behalf of the group by IEEE Executive Director E. James Prendergast.

Like many undergraduate students, Peter Abitante found himself in a position that required him to seek out a job and continue his education on a part-time basis. Before transferring to NJIT, he attended Lehigh University for several years. He obtained a position at White Consolidated Industries as a technician in its Advanced Development Lab, where he designed air handling and refrigeration systems for room air conditioners; subsequently, he was promoted to a nondegreed process engineer on their production line.

Through the aid of the company’s

Robert Cohen ’83, ’84, ’87 and Peter J. Abitante ’90

tuition assistance program, he continued his education at NJIT and graduated with a B.S. in industrial engineering from Newark College of Engineering in 1990.

“I am flattered to be identified for the honor and honestly proud to be an alumnus of NCE,” said Abitante. “I always desired pursuing an engineering career and my

path through my undergraduate study required me to get a job to continue it. NJIT allowed the quality education I wanted but also the flexibility I needed to complete my undergraduate degree.”

Later that year, Abitante accepted a position as a quality engineer at Howmedica, which was a manufacturer of orthopaedic implants responsible for total knee systems.

Again, with the assistance of the company’s tuition assistance program, he continued his education at Stevens Institute of Technology and received an M.S. in engineering management in 1996.

In 1993, Abitante joined Osteonics Corp. (a division of Stryker which later acquired Howmedica) as a senior design engineer, where he again worked on total knee systems. This position was then followed by a series of roles of increasing responsibility in Product Development and Marketing for total knee and total hip product lines. His focus narrowed to an R&D role in 2004 as the organizational structure changed, ending with his current role as vice president of Implant Product Development. In this role, he is responsible for the development of Stryker’s hip and knee implants and instruments.

Abitante credits NCE with playing an important role in his professional development and career trajectory.

“Not only did the course work provide the needed foundation for an engineering career, but working and attending school at the same time demands that you learn to manage multiple tasks,” he says. “I can say that the experience there was a large part of my maturing and ultimately my resulting success.”

His message for students planning to pursue any discipline in engineering is to “look very seriously into the internship programs offered by their school.”

“It is very difficult for young adults without having worked or having exposure to the different career options to truly know which path to take,” he explains. “For me, it ended up being design engineering in the medical device industry,

which is outside of the discipline I studied as an undergraduate.

Luckily, a sound engineering foundation allows for these types of career decisions along the way.”

Kiernan, the retired vice

Brian G. Kiernan ’70 and Robert Cohen ’83, ’84, ’87

president and chief scientist of InterDigital Communications, LLC, possesses a dynamic combination of technical expertise and leadership savvy that has fueled his outstanding achievements in the development of computer and communication standards. He received a B.S. in electrical engineering from Newark College of Engineering in 1970, and an M.S. in management science/operations research from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Kiernan, who was recognized at the 2016 NCE Salute to Engineering Excellence for his achievements since graduation, was directly responsible for InterDigital’s worldwide industry standards activities and aided in the development of new market, product and technology initiatives. In this capacity, he provided strategic technical and marketing support to InterDigital’s sales, marketing and business development efforts as well as the company’s worldwide patent and licensing programs.

Previously, Kiernan was president of USTC World Trade Corporation, an international sales and marketing subsidiary of InterDigital’s predecessor company, International Mobile Machines (IMM). Having full profit and loss accountability for IMM’s international business, he quadrupled international revenues

in two years and opened new markets—primarily in Asia and Latin America—that accounted for over 90 percent of InterDigital’s past product revenue. Prior to his sales position, Kiernan was IMM’s vice president of Engineering and Operations. His product line responsibilities covered all areas of development and sales engineering, manufacturing, product support and quality assurance of IMM’s UltraPhone® TDMA Wireless Local Loop product.

Before joining IMM, Kiernan served as a senior staff engineer at GTE Products Corporation, where he generated and evaluated military communications systems concepts that included mobile and fixed station radio, circuit and message switching, and network management and control. Kiernan also served as Vice Chair of the ATIS Wireless Technologies and Systems Committee Radio Access Networks (WTSC-RAN) subcommittee, the North American Partner of 3GPP. Kiernan’s prior program and technical management experience encompassed TDMA and CDMA voice and data systems, digital and analog switching, and VHF/ UHF and microwave radio. He was also active in both communications and noncommunications Electronic Warfare systems development. He has been a speaker at numerous industry conferences, published numerous papers and articles, and holds 20 patents.

As Vice-Chair of the IEEE 802.16 Working Group on Broadband Wireless Access, Chair of the IEEE 802.16a Task Group on Broadband Wireless Access for Bands from 2-11 GHz, Chair of the IEEE 802.16e Task Group on Mobile Broadband Wireless Access and Chair of the IEEE 802.16m Task Group on Mobile Broadband Wireless Access-Advanced Air Interface, Kiernan shepherded the development of the world’s first 4th Generation Mobile Wireless Standard. For these efforts, he was awarded the IEEE Standards Medallion in 2006 and the IEEE Hans Karlsson Award in 2013 for his extraordinary skill and dedication in chairing the complex task groups

that developed the IEEE 802.16a, 802.16e, and 802.16m WirelessMAN standards, including the world’s first 4G broadband wireless standard. The Hans Karlsson Award honors outstanding skills and dedication to diplomacy, team facilitation and joint achievement in the development of standards in the computer industry.

An active alumnus of NJIT, Kiernan is a charter member of the Interdisciplinary Design Studio (IDS) External Advisory Board, and chairs the Undergraduate Research and Innovation (URI) External Advisory Board, comprised of business leaders who have taken a personal and professional interest in the student teams. In addition, he has co-sponsored a small group of NJIT students for summer research under the IDS program that helped them to develop entrepreneurial skills. He also serves on the ECE Department’s Industry Advisory Board.

Kiernan, who said that he was “surprised and honored” to be named a 2016 NCE Outstanding Alumnus, recalled that his NJIT degree taught him how to “think critically—especially in the nontechnical areas which, at the time, included required courses in labor relations and personnel, industrial management, capitalism and macro-economics.”

What advice would he give to students planning a similar career path?

“The same advice I give them

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when I speak in ECE 101,” Kiernan said. “External events will affect you far more than you realize.

Choose your friends and colleagues well, as they will have a huge impact on your career; and Don’t let yourself get bogged down with excruciatingly detailed plans; it is far more important to stay flexible.”

IEEE, the Outstanding Industry Partner for 2016, is the world’s largest professional association devoted to advancing innovation and technological excellence for the benefit of humanity. The organization and its predecessors, AIEE and IRE, have been present in NCE for more than 120 years.

In recognizing IEEE, NCE pays tribute to the longtime association of the two organizations; the significant contribution of IEEE to the technical and professional careers of NCE’s faculty and students; and our common quest to advance technology for humanity.

Among the NCE student honorees, Kimberly Lam* was named outstanding senior in her major—Mechanical and Industrial Engineering—and outstanding senior of the year. Lam also received the Madame Mau Outstanding Female Engineering Student Award. Other seniors recognized for their exceptional academic achievements were Mohammed Elassa*, Biomedical Engineering; Hathija Noor *, Chemical, Biological and Pharmaceutical Engineering; Kevin Alvernaz, Civil and Environmental Engineering; Nathaneal Hildebrand, Engineering Technology; and Philip Zurek*, Electrical and Computer Engineering. Chem-E Car team members Michelle Vazquez, Sohui Park* and Monica Torralba*, Chemical, Biological and Pharmaceutical Engineering, were recognized with the Saul K. Fenster Innovation in Design Award. Bo Zhang, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, was honored as the outstanding graduate student and Tao Han ’15, Electrical and Computer Engineering, received the Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award. n *Dorman honors scholars

A PH.D. AGAINST ALL ODDS: ART HENDELA ’81, ’88, ’16 The moment when Art Hendela ’81, ’88, ’16 walked across the stage at NJIT’s May 2016 Commencement ceremony to receive his Ph.D. in information systems (IS) marked the culmination of 16 years of hard work and “a lot of life” that interrupted his pursuit of becoming the first in his family to receive a doctoral degree. As an “older” student, Hendela faced the challenges associated with growing older.

“I had 10 eye operations, each of which required a medical leave,” he recalled. “There were grieving periods when 10 close relatives, including aunts and uncles, cousins and both of my parents, passed away. Prior to my mom’s passing in August 2013, there was a period of about four years where I was the responsible party for my mom’s Alzheimer’s care. It was a highly emotional time in my life. After her passing, I faced the daunting task of clearing out my mom’s home, pretty much by myself, and to take care of her estate matters as the executor.”

Several months after his mother’s passing, Hendela came to a crossroads: He either had to allow the grief and the estate tasks to consume him and leave the Ph.D. program for good or he had to somehow dig deep and commit to finishing regardless of how he was feeling.

“I really did not feel like going back to school,” he said. “I made up my mind to return to school based on two thoughts. My dad, who passed away in 2003, was so proud of my pursuit of a Ph.D. that I felt I would disappoint his memory and pride if I did not finish. The second was that my loving mom always supported my education and my endeavors as an entrepreneur. She never would have wanted to be the reason for me not finishing.”

Hendela approached his advisers, Distinguished Professors Murray Turoff and Starr Roxanne Hiltz, with a very strong research

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proposal based on the interruption at his own business by Hurricane Sandy: the modeling of risk factors and corresponding mitigating actions relevant to small-business interruptions due to 16 different types of interruptions including extreme weather events, legal factors such as liability, and utility risks such as power outages. He also approached Dr. Jerry Fjermestad, Dr. Julian Scher, and his outside committee person, Dr. Tom Wilkin of CUNY, to ask if they would be on his committee.

“They all agreed,” Hendela said.

“I reapplied and I am so thankful to Dr. Brook Wu for readmitting me. I needed to take a course to show I was still of an academic mind. I got an A in the Data Analytics class and I knew I was back for good.”

As a doctoral student, Hendela enjoyed NJIT sporting events and when the IS Ph.D. program used to host family movie night. During those nights, he would bring his family to campus to watch a movie and enjoy the company of his fellow Ph.D. students.

If Hendela were to choose one word to sum up his three degree programs, it would be “kind.”

“The professors and staff have always been so kind to give their time and advice freely, even many years after graduation. I remember that Dr. Reginald Tomkins and Dr. Ernest Bart, who I had as professors during my chemical engineering studies, helped steer me toward a master’s in computer sci-

ence. I was torn between an MBA program and a more technical degree. Their advice directed me to the master’s in computer science.

When I was thinking about going back to school 12 years after my master’s to pursue a Ph.D., I went to see Dr. Fadi Deek, the current NJIT Provost. At the time, he was a professor in the Information Systems Department. He gave me good advice on the differences between a computer science Ph.D. versus one in IS. He told me, ‘IS is applied computer science.’ Those words made up my mind. It was the right choice.”

Hendela had many doctoral proposals that were abandoned or rejected as committee members came and went and his research premise changed. After having so many starts and stops in the proposal process, his most memorable moment came in October 2014.

“It was then that Drs. Turoff and Hiltz, my co-advisers, gave me permission to send my proposal to the rest of the committee and to get ready for my proposal defense,” he said. “So many emotions flowed through me at that moment. I knew right then that I was going to become a Ph.D.” After graduation, Hendela applied for professorships at different universities and accepted an offer as a Professor of Practice in Information Systems at NJIT. He currently is teaching the graduate-level Introduction to Information Systems class as well as the undergraduate Database Design, Management, and Application course, which he calls “a great fit.”

“I ran a computer development consulting company, Hendela System Consultants, Inc., for 28 years where I needed to blend technical skills with management skills,” he said. The two courses I am teaching this semester allow me to share a lot of my consulting experiences on both the technical and management sides. When my two sons were young, I enjoyed coaching them in soccer, basketball and baseball. I miss those days of being able to build skills in young people. I look at teaching as another form of coaching where I can help shape their careers

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE CLASS OF 2016!

PHOTO: GRADIMAGES

through the experiences that I have had inside the business world and outside of it, too.”

Looking back, Hendela said that his three NJIT degrees have all shaped his own career in different ways.

“The chemical engineering degree provided me with the skills and confidence to be able to solve even the most difficult technical challenges,” he said. “The master’s in computer science gave me programming skills and a theoretical background on how computers work and how they can be used.

My Ph.D. provided me with management skills and allowed me the flexibility to do mathematical modeling in an area that has not been explored before.”

What advice would he give current students and alumni who are considering doctoral studies?

1. Start younger than I did! I started the program at 42. I really thought I would become a professor by my late 40s. Unfortunately, the early to mid-40s is a time in many people’s lives that family and health events start to occur that you have no control over.

2. Have a very strong idea of what it is that you would like to research. Many topics were of great interest. Unfortunately, many of the early ideas did not capture the needed passion by former advisors, committee people and even myself to follow through with them.

3. You need to have a backup plan when committee people leave for one reason or another. I had several early members leave the university and were not available to help afterward.

4. Build a support network inside and out of NJIT. I could not have done this without the support and sacrifice and encouragement of my family and friends.

5. Don’t give up. In Finland there is a word, ‘Sisu,’ which encompasses the ideas of sticking to a task, not giving up and continuing against all odds. Being of Finnish heritage, Sisu seems to have been in my blood, too. n

Honorary degrees were awarded to Kathleen Wielkopolski (second from left), chair emerita of the NJIT Board of Trustees and retired executive vice president and chief financial officer of The Gale Company; Ying Wu ’88 (far right), chairman of the China Capital Group; and Leonard Kleinrock Ph.D. (second from right), Distinguished Professor of Computer Science at UCLA, who also was the commencement speaker.

New Jersey Institute of Technology added more than 2,700 new alumni to its ranks at the 100th Commencement exercises May 17, 2016, at the Prudential Center in Newark.

Leonard Kleinrock, Distinguished Professor of Computer Science at UCLA who laid out the mathematical theory of packet networks, the technology underpinning the internet, delivered the 2016 Commencement address. Kleinrock, who also received an honorary Doctor of Science, encouraged the graduates to think independently and to break boundaries, something in which he excels. In the early 1960s, while a graduate student at MIT, he developed a mathematical theory known as

1970, 1975 Patrick Natale, P.E. (Civil Eng.),

a member of Newark College of Engineering’s Board of Visitors, was named a Distinguished Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). Natale is one of only nine to be added for 2016 to the ASCE roster of distinguished members. The Distinguished Member designation is reserved for professionals who have attained eminence in some

packet networks, a technology that allowed for the creation of the internet. The first computer message ever transmitted was sent from his UCLA lab.

“From now on, there’s no curriculum and no scripts for your lives,” said Kleinrock. “You must now chart your own path. Make your journey fun, do what you care about. Ignore peer pressure and have the confidence not to follow the pack. When you take chances and break boundaries, you’ll be surprised at how much enjoyment

branch of civil engineering or in related arts and sciences, including education and construction.

Having served as ASCE’s executive director for 12 years, Natale is now a vice president at engineering consultancy firm Mott MacDonald.

1971 John McConkey (Electrical

Engineering) will lead electrical design teams for tunnel and transit

you will feel.”

President Joel S. Bloom, who presided over the ceremony, highlighted the success of NJIT students, as evidenced by academic excellence and service to the community.

“You now join a force of powerful NJIT alumni who make significant contributions nationally and globally,” Bloom said. “I urge you to stay in touch with your alma mater, and to share the accomplishments that I also know will inspire the young men and women who will follow you in preparing to embark on a future of success, service and optimism. Congratulations Class of 2016.” n

projects as a senior engineering manager with WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff, a global engineering and professional services organization. Previously McConkey had a 30-year career with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ). He served as the agency’s chief electrical engineer from 2007, responsible for all electrical design work, including power substations, lighting systems, closed-circuit television, security,

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radio communications systems, fire alarms, emergency power and diesel generators, low-voltage building systems and airfield lighting. He managed the in-house design of a substation for the PATH system and the rehabilitation and redesign for resiliency of traction power substations damaged by Hurricane Sandy. He also served as chairman of the Port Authority High Tension Safety Board.

1973 Charles E. Larsen (Mechanical

Engineering), managing director of Accuitive Medical Ventures, has been appointed to the Femasys board of directors. Femasys Inc. is a developer of innovative medical devices for the women’s health care market. Larsen has over 35 years of operating and technical experience in the medical device industry. He co-founded Novoste Corporation and The Innovation Factory and through his role at The Innovation Factory, he co-founded additional companies including: Acufocus, AqueSys, Halscion, LipoSonix, Neuronetics and Sebacia. He holds over 30 issued U.S. and international patents on medical devices.

1980 Daniel Lenehan (Electrical

Engineering) has been elected to the board of directors of O2Micro® International Limited (OIIM), a global leader in the design, development and marketing of high-performance integrated circuits and solutions.

Lenehan has more than 30 years of experience in semiconductor product development, technical marketing, foundry management and engineering experience at a wide variety of technology companies in various director and VP level positions. Lenehan was one of the key contributors to Intel’s expansion of the notebook market by assuming a number of director roles including leadership positions in the areas of systems development, industry initiatives, mobile architecture, chipset design and R&D labs. As VP of engineering at Xilinx Corp, he led the Spartan

Field Programmable Gate Array development team responsible for architecture, design, layout, product and test engineering across North America, Ireland and Asia.

1982 Ken Peters (Electrical Engineering) has been named as chief nuclear officer for Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant. Peters has been serving as acting CNO at Comanche Peak since December and joined Luminant in 2012 as site vice president at the plant.

Peters has more than 30 years’ experience in nuclear energy generation. Before joining Luminant, he held various managerial roles at other nuclear power stations around the country, including plant manager and vice president, engineering and projects.

Paul Urban (Computer & Info

Science) has joined Eccella Corporation, a leading data management and analytics company, as head of business intelligence and analytics. Urban brings more than 15 years of experience helping organizations deploy business intelligence and analytical solutions. He has a long list of clients ranging from middle market to Fortune 100 companies across a wide variety of industries. Before joining Eccella, Urban founded DataONE to bring business intelligence and analytical solutions to midsized organizations. He also founded Analytics Today, a professional forum dedicated to advancing the value that data, business intelligence and analytics brings to organizations.

1983 Kevin McDonald (Mechanical

Engineering) has been appointed vice president of programs at Chemring Ordnance, part of the Chemring Group PLC. Most recently, McDonald held the title of vice president of operations at National Technical Systems. Before that, he was senior general manager for General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems (GD-OTS) Large Caliber Operations. His

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career with General Dynamics began in 1984 when he accepted a position with General Defense Corporation (later acquired by General Dynamics) as a manufacturing engineer. McDonald rose in the company through various R&D engineering roles, eventually becoming a program manager for the 120mm Tank Ammunition Second Source Program in 1989.

From there, he continued growing within the tank ammunition sector and was promoted in 2011 to general manager of the Munition Services operations in Joplin, Missouri.

1984 William Condon (Computer &

Info Science) has been named technical sales and marketing manager at 4IT Inc. He will be responsible for managing strategy and operations for the sales and marketing division. Condon was previously national sales director for software at Lanyon Solutions.

Joan Janulis (Chemical

Engineering) has been appointed senior vice president of regulatory affairs and compliance at Vensun Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a privately held generic pharmaceutical company. Janulis will oversee the regulatory affairs, quality and compliance functions. Janulis was most recently vice president and head of the regulatory practice at Lachman Consultants, a premier pharmaceutical consulting company. She also served on Lachman’s board of directors for the past three years.

1986 John Casalaspi (M.S. in Computer Science) has been named senior vice president of sales and business partner development at Sourcing Solutions LLC. Casalaspi is tasked with growing the company’s product portfolio and sales channels.

Before joining Sourcing Solutions, Casalaspi was the vice president of Americas sales and marketing at Seagate Technologies in Cupertino.

Previously, he served as a vice president at Worldwide Global OEM Sales, at Seagate. Before Seagate he

was the worldwide sales leader for Xyratex, Inc. He has also held executive roles at Adaptec, Lantronix and Western Digital.

Greg Kiraly (Industrial Engineering) has been appointed to the role of chief operating officer at Hydro One Ltd., Ontario’s largest electricity transmission and distribution company. Kiraly will oversee planning, engineering, construction and operations.

He most recently held the role of senior vice president, electric transmission and distribution for PG&E in San Francisco, and also served in several other key executive assignments over the past eight years. Before joining PG&E, Kiraly worked for ComEd in Chicago from 2000-2008 during which time he held senior roles in the areas of distribution system operations, construction and maintenance and energy delivery.

Mark L. Lavach (Engineering Science) has been named chairman of ASTM International Committee D20 on Plastics. Lavach has been with Arkema, Inc. since its creation in 2006, having previously served as a manager at Atofina and a scientist with Elf Atochem, both legacy companies of the current Arkema, Inc. Lavach has previously been the recipient of the Award of Appreciation, two Awards of Recognition, the Outstanding Achievement Award, the Award of Excellence and the Award of Merit, all for his work on D20.

1988 Philip Cosgrove (Civil Engineering) has joined Paragon Commercial Real Estate Brokerage.

Previously he was senior vice president and project executive for Jones Lang LaSalle. Cosgrove has played an instrumental part in a wide variety of projects across the United States including commercial, hospitality, restaurant, retail and recreational facilities. Cosgrove has managed construction projects from New York to California with an emphasis on civil, seismic and tenant improvements.

1989 Robert K. Fullagar (Civil

Engineering) has been awarded the Harold V. Florence Meritorious Operator Award by the American Water Works Association–New Jersey section (AWWA-NJ). The award recognizes an individual who has brought a higher degree of excellence, learning, initiative and resourcefulness to the operation of a public water supply system.

Fullagar joined Middlesex Water in 1997 and serves as director of distribution as well as vice president of operations for its Pennsylvania subsidiary, Twin Lakes Utilities, Inc. He was recently named water and wastewater systems sector chair by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities Division of Security and Reliability to represent the state’s water and wastewater systems on the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness Infrastructure Advisory Committee (IAC).

Shail Khiyara (M.S. in Civil

Engineering) has been appointed chief marketing officer at Qualys, Inc., a pioneer and leading provider of cloud-based security and compliance solutions. Khiyara will lead all elements of the company’s worldwide marketing strategies, including branding, end-to-end marketing functions, product marketing, corporate communications, demand generation and other go-to-market initiatives.

Michael Schnoering

(Architecture) was awarded fellowship by the American Institute of Architects, (AIA), College of Fellows this year. Schnoering is the first graduate of NJIT’s College of Architecture & Design (CoAD) to receive this award. Schnoering, of Mills + Schnoering Architects, LLC, has made significant contributions to architecture in rehabilitating theatres, civic buildings, and higher education buildings such as the historic Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank.

1991 Gregory Kelly (Civil Engineering)

has been appointed to the CEO Council for Growth in Philadelphia, a group of business, higher education and civic leaders committed to enhancing economic growth and prosperity in the 11-county region across northern Delaware, southern New Jersey and southeastern Pennsylvania. Kelly is president and chief executive officer of the U.S., Central and South America region of WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff. Active in the infrastructure services industry, Kelly frequently speaks on engineering and construction issues and is a member of the executive boards of many leading industry organizations. Elected to the National Academy of Construction in 2014, he is also a member of the Construction Industry Roundtable and on the board of directors of the New York Building Congress, Regional Plan Association, the Association for the Improvement of American Infrastructure and the Design Professionals Coalition.

1993 Kerri Tyerman (Civil Engineering,

M.S. Transportation Engineering ’95) has been promoted to associate at Dewberry. Tyerman is a highway project manager and has extensive knowledge in the design of roadways and transit facilities from conceptual design to the preparation of final contract documents. She has served as the project manager for various projects for the New Jersey Department of Transportation and New Jersey Transit. Tyerman is a professional engineer in New Jersey and New York and a member of the Women’s Transportation Seminar, the Metropolitan Railway Club of New York, the American Society of Highway Engineers and the American Society of Civil Engineers.

1994 Mark Bak (Architecture) has

been named director of design and project management at HQW Architects LLC. Bak’s diverse architectural background spans over 30 years. His first professional position was with HQW, then

known as Houghton Quarty Warr Architects. Following his internship, Bak went on to expand his knowledge of the construction process by accepting a position with KLEA Construction. Several years later, Bak joined the firm of Charles Schaffer Associates. There he designed many familiar projects in Sussex County, including InterCar-Mercedes-Benz, Sparta Fire Department Headquarters and Highlands State Bank.

1996 Nancy Chin (Civil Engineering) was named as senior vice president of Clune Construction. Chin has over 19 years of experience in the construction industry.

Anthony Matti (Mechanical Engineering) has been hired as general manager of stamping company Bettcher Mfg. LLC. He has more than 27 years of quality, engineering and operations management experience. Matti worked most recently at Tarkett, North America, as director of engineering. Before that, he spent 15 years with Koch Industries, beginning as quality engineer and progressing through several positions to operations manager.

Jean Simeon (Chemical Engineering, M.S. Biomedical Engineering ’98) has joined Actinium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. as executive director of quality assurance. Simeon joins Actinium from Qualitest, an Endo Pharmaceutical Company, where he held the position of director of quality, external manufacturing with a focus on commercial products and generics R&D. Before Qualitest, Simeon was associate director, quality management commercial operations & products for Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc. Before Otsuka, Simeon worked at Cephalon, Inc. for almost eight years in several quality assurance positions, culminating as associate director, quality assurance.

1997 Judith Donnelly (M.S. in

Architecture) has been elected as the second vice president of the New Jersey chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA-NJ). Donnelly was formally installed during AIA-NJ’s annual awards gala at The Park Savoy in Florham Park. Donnelly has been an active member of AIA-NJ for over a decade and has been a member of several of the organization’s committees. Previously, she served as secretary and she also served the organization’s Newark and Suburban Architects local section in several positions, including the 2010 president. Donnelly is the principal owner of Hackettstownbased Donnelly Architecture, LLC, which works on both residential and commercial projects.

1999 William J. Quinn III (Chemical Engineering) has been elected as a trustee of Enable Inc., a nonprofit that serves more than 400 individuals with disabilities, seniors, and their families in New Jersey. Quinn is vice president of operations for Roscom, where he is directly responsible for managing all daily aspects of Roscom’s operations. He serves on the board of Churchill Captive Insurance Group and adviser to the board of Rocky Mountain Colby Pipe.

2000 Eric Wang (M.S. in Civil

Engineering) has joined HNTB Corporation as principal tunnel engineer. At HNTB, Wang’s responsibilities include investigating complex technical problems and serving as a senior technical specialist on major underground projects. He also will provide independent analysis and quality control of underground work performed by other professionals.

2001 Mark Boucot (M.S. in Management), president and CEO of the Garrett Regional Medical Center, is the newest member on the Maryland Rural Health Association board of directors.

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Boucot also has been appointed to the American Hospital Association’s Regional Policy Board for Region 3, which includes Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia and North Carolina.

Boucot has been with the organization since December 2013.

He holds the Fellow certification with the American College of Healthcare Executives.

2002 Todd Hay (M.S. in Civil Engineering) has been promoted to regional vice president at Pennoni. In this role, Hay will be responsible for the business development, profitability and project management in northern New Jersey, New York and New England.

Hay joined Pennoni in 2005, and since then, he has held a vital role in Pennoni’s growth and development in the Northeast region. Hay has held a number of positions at Pennoni, including senior engineer, division manager, office director and associate vice president. With more than 20 years of experience as a municipal engineer, Hay has served over 25 municipalities, four counties, and 10 public school districts as the on-call engineer. He currently serves as the president of the New Jersey Society of Municipal Engineers (NJSME) and is on the transportation council of the Newark Regional Business Partnership. Additionally, Hay serves as the commissioner for the Somerset-Raritan Valley Sewerage Authority; appointed city, planning, and zoning board engineer for the City of East Orange; the township, planning, and zoning board engineer for the Township of Nutley; and as the appointed

board of education engineer for Springfield Board of Education.

Yves L. Henry (Electrical

Engineering) joined Castle Lanterra Properties as a senior accountant, assisting the controller with partnership and property-level accounting, including the review and consolidation of financial records, tracking and maintenance of accounts payable records, management of vendor files and coordination of the tax compliance process.

2005 Joseph Cianflone (Management) has joined JK Design, a full-service advertising agency, as director of web development. Cianflone manages a team of front-end and back-end developers and is actively involved in client projects. He held a variety of web and application development positions before joining the agency, and has built large enterprise sites and custom content management systems for brands like Exxon.com and H&RBlock. com. He also is an active contributor to several open source projects such as the Grasswire Platform project and the Heisenberg Toolkit.

Hile Trotman (MBA in

Management of Technology) has been elected to the South Mountain YMCA Camps board of directors. Trotman is an information technology program manager in Penske Truck Leasing who manages the delivery of information technology products and services for the enterprise and its customers. Her current assignment is a program aimed at enhancing customer experience and increasing service shop and labor

productivity via the deployment of new technology solutions across all Penske service locations in U.S. the and Canada.

seminars, workshops and courses and coached entrepreneurs.

Joe Warakomski (Management)

has been promoted to deputy CIO at FlightSafety International.

Warakomski joined FlightSafety in 2005 as business systems security manager. He was promoted to director of information security in 2008 and became managing director of business systems in 2012. He has led FlightSafety’s technology and digital strategy as executive director of IT since 2014.

Brian Veneri (Architecture) has joined Avison Young as a project manager. In this role, he will be responsible for project management and construction management activities on various commercial interior and redevelopment projects. Veneri was previously the director/associate of architecture and interiors at Kimmerle Group and served as the firm’s operations manager.

2006

2010

Karen Forst (Environmental Science) has been named director of grants and fundraising at Laura Bishop Communications (LBC), LLC. Previously, Forst was a development and grants consultant at LBC. Forst spent eight years with the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary (PDE), where she most recently was the director of institutional giving.

Richard Uniacke (MBA in Management of Technology) was named vice president of the Community FoodBank of New Jersey-Southern Branch. Uniacke has been with the food bank for nearly 15 years. During his tenure, he has worked in fundraising and in marketing.

Thomas Jardim (Architecture) joined Guernsey Tingle Architects of Williamsburg, Virginia, as a designer/technician, currently working on projects for Busch Gardens Williamsburg and the Hampton Roads Sanitation District. Jardim previously worked for five years designing and rebuilding communities in Haiti.

Chike Uzoka (Information Technology) joined Weichert Commercial Brokerage as a sales associate. Previously, Uzoka was the founder and CEO of Valentine Global, where he designed and facilitated entrepreneurial

2009

2014 Brandon Warshofsky

(Architecture) will serve as 2016 regional associate director of the New Jersey Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA-NJ). In this role, Warshofsky will be responsible for increasing membership in AIA-NJ and providing support for the local regions. He currently is co-chair of the board of AIA-NJ’s emerging professionals committee (EPiC) and previously served as the EPiC representative for AIA-NJ’s Newark and Suburban section.

IN MEMORIAM Frank Navratil Sr. ’49 Otmar Schreiber ’49 Anthony J. Galioto ’51 Holger Teodor Daniel (Ted) Sjoberg ’51 Augustus (Gus) Mocerino ’52 Joseph Ricciardi ’52 Robert L. Taetzsch ’52 3 2 N J I T M A G A Z I N E | FA L L 2 0 1 6

John Robert Attwooll ’53, ’58 Ronald Nicholls ’57 Richard D. Brooks ’58 Sam Kandel ’59 Chester J. Pentlicki ’61 Robert George Conklin ’62, ’68 Robert Gere ’62, ’65 Edward Joseph Corcoran ’65

Axel W. Lohninger ’65 Richard Carlsen ’66 Raymond O’Brien Jr. ’66 Lester S. (Garry) Garris Jr. ’68 John T. Stefanowicz ’73 Manuel Fernandes ’74 Robert M. Haas ’77 William E. Donohue ’80

Brian Gleason ’83, ’85 Clovis G. Baaklini ’85, ’86 Michael G. Popper ’85 Bruce C. Studley ’86 Michael Tait ’88 Valentine M. Gonzalez Jr. ’94 John D. Sherwood ’99 David Porto ’00

CONCLUSION IN

A biomechanical character design by Will Busarello was featured as the cover image for the exhibit announcement in the SIGGRAPH 2016 program. ________________________________________

Conover, Nathalie Carrasco, Amos Dudley, Adriana Eteson, Brenda Loja, Monica Nelson, Carl Ravensbergen, Mark Sanna, Harry She, Ryan Sokoloski and James Stochel.

DESIGN DISTINCTION The work of 43 students of NJIT’s School of Art + Design (A+D) was featured in the Student Work Exhibit at the 43rd SIGGRAPH conference, the Association of Computing Machinery’s (ACM) annual meeting on computer graphics and interactive techniques. This marks the fifth consecutive year that A+D was represented in the exhibit, curated and sponsored by ACM’s Education Committee.

Held this past July in Anaheim, California, the conference accepted work from 17 schools that included such international institutions as National Taiwan University of the Arts, Paderborn University in Germany, Thammasat University in Thailand and Tongji University in China as well as NJIT and other American universities.

The NJIT work at the SIGGRAPH 2016 exhibit, from A+D’s Foundation Year and fourth-year Collaborative Design

Studio, ranged from character design and algorithmically derived geometric animation to physical computing applied to games and interactive displays to interior-design projects that included a nightclub and culinary school. NJIT was the only school to have work exhibited from both the interior and industrial design disciplines.

Foundation-Year work was created by Rebecca Cestaro, Samantha Dimaano, Giovanni Gagliano and Kathleen Nguyendon. Industrial Design students who had work shown were Raschelle Almonte, Luz Cabrera, Michael Feldman, Qiushi Jin, John Radil, Natalia Szabla and Juan Trapp. Interior Design students included Alexandra Adam, Tess Albyn, Marina Attalla, Kevin Chen, Sara Ebrahim, Jessica Galati, Emily Gutierrez, Stephanie Jen, Viktoryia Kiruschanka, Angelica McKenzie, Stephanie Marczak, Arianna Milla, Pamela Ospina, Jihad Peoples, Florencia Pozo, Isabella Rizzo and Maria Romo. Digital Design was represented

by Danielle Archibold, Hideyoshi Azami, Will Busarello, Stephen Chiang, Maisah

SIGGRAPH 2016 is the third time Chen, Dudley, Marczak, McKenzie and Romo had work selected for exhibit, and the second time for Albyn, Attalla, Busarello, Eteson, Jin, Kiruschanka and Milla—demonstrating a sustained level of externally recognized excellence. Additionally, Carrasco, She and Stochel each had three pieces accepted for exhibit, and one of two pieces created by Busarello, an example of biomechanical character design, was given the honor of being the cover image for the exhibit announcement in the SIGGRAPH 2016 program.

The work, which can be viewed online at https://issuu.com/njit/docs/njitsiggraph-2016, was produced during the 2015-2016 academic year in classes and studios taught by Jobe Bobee, David Brothers, Glenn Goldman, Matt Gosser, Taro Narahara, Polina Zaitseva and Andrzej Zarzycki.

Author: Julie Jacobs is a staff writer/editor at NJIT. design.njit.edu

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