New Jersey Institute of Technology Student Wins Two Academic Awards and a Free Ride to MIT: Second NJIT Grad in Two Years to Attend MIT
Daniel Perez, a senior at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) who recently received two of NJIT’s top academic awards, will attend MIT this fall on full scholarship to study chemical engineering.
“Danny is the first graduating senior from our department to be directly admitted to the doctoral program at MIT in at least 20 years,” said Basil Baltzis, Ph.D., chairman of the Otto York Department of Chemical Engineering at NJIT. “We are very proud of him and certain he will have an outstanding career.”
For the second consecutive year, NJIT’s top undergraduate got into MIT. Last year, Rocco Ciccolini, of Newark, then a senior at NJIT, won a fellowship to pursue a master’s degree in chemical engineering.
The two NJIT academic awards that Perez won include the Otto H. York Department of Chemical Engineering Outstanding Senior Award and the Newark College of Engineering Overall Outstanding Senior Award.
Perez, 21, is an Albert Dorman Honors College scholar and a Ronald McNair scholar. He excelled academically at NJIT, with a near perfect grade point average of 3.961. He’s been on the dean’s list at for seven semesters.
Perez’s academic excellence was matched by his involvement in the college and outside associations. He has served as president of student chapter of Omega Chi Epsilon, the chemical engineering honors society, treasurer of the American Institute of Chemical Engineer’s (AIChE) student chapter and editor of AIChE’s newsletter, the Tiernan Express. He is a small group leader of the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship and a writer for the Dorman Honors College newsletter.
Perez belongs to Tau Beta Pi, an engineering honors society, Phi Eta Sigma, a national honor society for college freshmen, and the Hispanic Organization of Students in Technology/Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers. He is also vice president of the youth group at his church, the Spanish-American Baptist Church of Elizabeth. He graduated from Elizabeth High School in 2000.
Come August, Perez will move into an MIT dorm. Asked how he feels to be headed to MIT, Perez said, “I’ve had a really good time at NJIT. I’ve made a lot of good friends and studied with many great professors. But I’m excited as I start the next chapter of my life.”