One student is developing a smart-campus technology that will allow NJIT students to use wireless devices to instantly locate their friends at their college. A second student is helping build a Terahertz imaging system that can detect concealed weapons and explosives, while a third student is changing the chemical characteristics of carbon nanotubes -- microscopic tubes that once altered can be used to make new films, coatings and paints.

These are just three research projects that will be highlighted on this day. Altogether 40 graduate students, from four of NJIT’s colleges, will use poster boards and laptops to illustrate their research. The student research covers an array of fields such engineering, math, computing, chemistry, architecture, environmental science, etc.  The students will present their research projects from 1-3 p.m. The Graduate Student Association at NJIT is sponsoring the event. 

“NJIT students are engaged in research to reveal the edge in knowledge on many frontiers, sharing the intellectual excitement of discoveries that will ultimately benefit society as a whole,” said NJIT President Robert A. Altenkirch. “These graduate students are expanding the horizons of technological research - one of the core missions of NJIT.”

At 3 p.m., a panel of graduate students and professors will give the student deemed to have the best research a $500 prize. Four other students with outstanding projects will receive $150 prizes.

The day will begin at 11:30 a.m. with a short talk from Altenkirch. Priscilla Nelson, NJIT provost, Donald Sebastian, senior vice president for research and development and Ronald Kane, dean of graduate studies, will also speak.

Jorge Cham, the creator of the Piled Higher and Deeper comic strip, which chronicles and satirizes the lives of graduate students, will be the day’s keynote speaker. At noon, Cham will give offer a lecture titled “The Power of Procrastination.” Cham is also a research associate at the California Institute of Technology.