During next week’s holiday lull, four NJIT researchers who are experts on traffic congestion, e-commerce, recycling and global warming will be available to discuss trends, especially the mpact of technology. Contact the researchers directly or from December 23 through January 1, call NJIT Director of Public Relations, Sheryl Weinstein at her home office 973-994-3257.

• A recent study at the National Center for Transportation and Industrial Productivity (NCTIP) analyzed the cost of New Jersey traffic to be $4.9 billion annually. As traffic continues to grow, so will the cost. "I expect it to increase exponentially with an increase of 34 percent in costs to $6.6 billion in 2005 and by 105 percent in costs to $10.0 billion in 2015," says Lazar Spasovic, NCTIP. Among the solutions: Funding approved highway improvement projects, integrating high-tech traffic systems with new highway and transit facilities, and establishing a stable source of transportation funding. Call Spasovic at (NJIT) 973-596-6420 or (home) 973-522-1419.

• Reggie Caudill, executive director of the Multi-Lifecycle Engineering Research Center (MERC), expects an estimated 315 million computers to become obsolete by 2004 in the nation. MERC researchers are investigating ways to recycle the old cathode ray tubes (CRT) in both television sets and computer-monitors. Among their many solutions are to turn them into glass walls, floor tiles, and even a material to soundproof airplane cabins. Contact Caudill at (NJIT) 973-596-5856 or (home) 609-252-0441 or (cell phone) 609-577-4717.

• "The mainstream media have not really focused on why major e-tailers are failing," says School of Management Professor William Rapp, Henry J. Leir Professor of International Trade and Business. Next spring, Oxford University Press will publish his new book, Owning the Future. Contact Rapp at (NJIT) 973-596-6414 or (home) 914-945-0630.

• The costs of international pollution will again be front and center throughout 2001 as 150 nations discuss emissions trading at the upcoming Kyoto Treaty discussions. "Greenhouse gases" like carbon dioxide and methane are expected to be reduced by five percent overall by 2012, said Dan Watts, executive director, Otto H. York Center for Environmental Engineering and Science. He can be reached at (NJIT) 973-596-3465 or (home) 732-274-3420, or (beeper) 888-898-6875.

NJIT is a public research university enrolling more than 8,800 bachelor's, master's and doctoral students in 80 degree programs through its 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.

According to Yahoo! Internet Life magazine rankings, NJIT has been America's "most wired" public university for three consecutive years. U.S. News and World Report's "2000 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.