“We’re thrilled to receive the money because it allows us to encourage students to study and look into careers in this area,” said Layek Abdel-Malek, PhD, associate dean of engineering for administration and academic affairs at NCE.

The career opportunities available to material handling professionals are enormous particularly in today’s global supply chains for both engineers and managers,” he continued. These opportunities range from jobs in the manufacturing sector, airline industry, and retail services to couriers such as UPS, Fed EX, and DHL, as well as warehousing and shipping.

Material handling activities integrate knowledge acquired in several fields of studies including design of conveyors, automated guided vehicles, robotics, cranes, and lift trucks to their electronic computer controlled systems and the identification protocols of bar codes, pattern and voice recognition, and radio frequency identification. Additionally, the field requires knowledge of logistics and operations research for implementing efficient material handling systems.

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce and Bureau of Labor Statistics, material handling and logistics is one of America's largest and fastest growing industries. The consumption of material handling and logistics equipment and systems in America exceeds $156 billion per year, and producers employ in excess of 700,000 workers.

At NJIT on a very practical level, students who take these classes have become involved in improving the layout of the food services. The discipline also involves mathematical analysis and simulations.  The money was awarded following a tour of the Distribution Center of Volkswagen/Audi in Cranbury.