NEWARK , April 17, 2000 -For the third consecutive year, Yahoo! Internet Life magazine has ranked New Jersey Institute of Technology the "most wired" public university in the nation in an annual ranking of America's most wired colleges. Yahoo! Internet Life ranked NJIT the third most wired university overall, second only to Carnegie Mellon University and University of Delaware.

     NJIT is the only university to rank among Yahoo's top 5 over the past three years.

     According to New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman, "NJIT's success is the result of visionary leadership and a bold plan that tied the development of information resources to the university's strategic directions."

     "I challenge NJIT to continue providing leadership as we work to harness information technologies to make New Jersey a better place in which to live, work and raise a family," said Whitman.

     "Being 'most wired' is only a step in NJIT's commitment to excellence in information technology," said NJIT President Saul K. Fenster. "We need to continue to anticipate ways in which computing will influence continuing US innovation, and prepare students for their role in a computing intensive society."

     NJIT is a computing-intensive university with a "port-to-pillow ratio" of 1:1 which translates to high speed Internet access for all residents, and significant amounts of server space available to all students for posting web pages, course notes, and files. Computing is an intrinsic part of the university culture.

     "At NJIT the issue is not the ranking but what the ranking means about the quality of services the university provides to our students, faculty and staff. We appreciate the validation of being ranked as the most wired public university for three consecutive years by Yahoo! Internet Life," said Fenster.

     "Undergraduates are as interested in a college's technology resources as in its curriculum or social life," said Rob Bernstein at Yahoo! Internet Life. "It's an increasingly Internet-dependent world, which is why it's critical that schools of higher education wire up."

     According to Fenster, "Yahoo! Internet Life Survey has raised the bar for investment in computing and information technology at colleges and universities throughout the nation. The competition has been good for higher education."

     NJIT recognized the impact of computing in higher education more than two decades ago, and has since built an impressive legacy of firsts. NJIT was the first public university to provide incoming freshmen with computers; NJIT researchers developed the first computerized conferencing system, later pioneering the Virtual Classroom ™ for distance learning, and NJIT's School of Architecture has been a pioneer in computer assisted design.

     Computers play a role in virtually every task performed on campus, from cutting-edge research to parking-space reservations. Computers assist in teaching and independent study, campus communications, library research, engineering and architectural design. University computers facilitate technology transfer to industry. Students can access the tools they need to design new buildings, develop complex solutions to engineering problems or compile detailed management analyses -- all by logging on to the NJIT network. NJIT provides graduates with free lifetime e-mail.

     Intent on maintaining its strong position in information technologies, NJIT launched a $50 million spending plan that reflects a progression of investment in cutting edge technology. Initiatives in the first phase of NJIT's computing plan include:

• Developing a virtual private network giving faculty, staff and students access to campus-based proprietary information resources, such as course registration, course notes, grade book, library holdings and purchasing from anywhere via the Internet.
• Augmenting high-performance computing services for long running, computing intensive projects generated by faculty and students.
• Expanding research facilities for doctoral students and researchers who need access to real-time interactive visual graphics and information processing.
• Providing technology-enabled "smart" classrooms, fully equipped with network connectivity.
• Providing web enabling access to the university's student information systems for faculty, staff and students.

     NJIT is a public research university enrolling over 8,200 bachelor's, master's and doctoral students in 87 degree programs through five colleges: Newark College of Engineering, New Jersey School of Architecture, College of Science and Liberal Arts, the School of Management and the Albert Dorman Honors College. Research initiatives include manufacturing, microelectronics, multimedia, transportation, computer science, solar astrophysics, environmental engineering and science, and architecture and building science.

     Yahoo! Internet Life magazine has ranked NJIT "America's most wired public university" for three consecutive years, U.S. News and World Report's 1999 Annual Guide to America's Best Colleges ranked NJIT among the nation's top universities, and Money magazine's most recent issue of Best College Buys rated NJIT as the sixth best value among U.S. science and technology schools and among the top 100 overall. In September 1999, Mademoiselle ranked NJIT as the second most Internet-connected university in the nation.