NJIT in the News

The NJIT Campus Center and the Association of College Unions International (ACUI) are co-sponsoring a talk by Kristi Burnham, director of volunteer and community partnerships for the US Fund for UNICEF, on Saturday, Nov. 7 at 10:30 a.m. in the Campus Center Ballroom. Everyone is invited to attend to learn more about UNICEF and how their efforts help children around the world.

Imagine beaming electric power from space as a viable solar energy option.  Engineer and researcher Martin Hoffert, professor emeritus and former chair of the department of applied science at New York University, will discuss this theory further in a free lecture, open to the public, on Nov. 4, 2009 at NJIT,  from 3-4:30 p.m. in the NJIT Campus Center Ballroom. The NJIT Campus Center is located at Central Ave. and Summit St. Parking is available on the street.  

Architect Martin Hamm will discuss strawbale construction at a seminar on Oct. 12, 5:45 p.m. at NJIT's College of Architecture and Design, Weston Lecture Hall 1. Co-sponsored by the NJIT Campus Center and the student chapter of the US Green Building Council, the talk is free and open to the public.

NJIT’s Executive Chef Peter Fischbach, of Toms River, will represent New Jersey this summer for the second time in the Sixth Annual Great American Seafood Cookoff on July 18, 2009 in New Orleans. Fischbach is director of food service for Gourmet Dining Services at NJIT. This summer and fall, he is spearheading an effort to plant and maintain a rooftop garden on the university's Campus Center that will supply produce for the kitchen.

NJIT placed 46 out of 210 college campuses who participated in the Recyclemania 2009 competition with 3.35 lbs. recycled per person (in 2008 NJIT recycled 1.67 lbs. per person). "Thanks to everyone who helped promote recycling and the many incentive activities we offered," said NJIT Campus Center Director Donna Minnich Spuhler. The winners of RecycleMania and the Energy Reduction contest will be announced today at NJIT's Earth Day Green Fest.

NJIT expects a surprisingly strong turn-out for both students and companies at next week’s upcoming annual Career Development Services Spring Career Fair. Registered companies include Johnson & Johnson, Verizon, Telcordia, AT&T as well as federal agencies ranging from the FBI in Newark to the US Patent and Trademark Office in Washington DC.   

NJIT wraps up Black History Month with an unusual three-dimensional interactive art installation, celebrating diversity and created by a group of more than a dozen diverse architecture students of Latino, Asian and African American descent.    

More than 300 people and 30 companies are expected to attend the sixth annual biomedical engineering showcase and career fair on March 13, 2009 at NJIT. The annual event, to be held from 7:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. in NJIT’s Campus Center, unites industry professionals and academics interested in the applied-life sciences.   

NJIT has joined more than 400 colleges and universities in RecycleMania 2009, a national recycling competition to determine who can reduce and recycle the most campus waste. Over a 10-week period ending March 28, NJIT will compete in various categories measuring the success of campus recycling and waste prevention efforts. "This is our second year competing, our first as the entire university," said Campus Center Director Donna Minnich Spuhler. We are working closely with Residence Life to promote recycling and are hoping to make it to the top 25 percent of schools participating." NJIT’s progress can be checked on the RecycleMania website and on posters in the Campus Center.  

New Jersey Monthly magazine this month named NJIT President Robert A. Altenkirch one of New Jersey’s most important people to watch in 2009. 

“We came together as a NJIT community on this historic day,” said Humberto “Humby” Baquerizo, NJIT’s assistant director of Greek Life and Wellness, as more than 1000 NJIT students, faculty and staff gathered at several campus locations on Jan. 20 to watch live broadcasts of the presidential inauguration ceremonies. President Obama’s comments on science and technology elicited spontaneous applause from the NJIT audience. “We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age.” 

Members of the NJIT community will have the opportunity to view live broadcasts of the historic Presidential Inauguration on Jan. 20, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. in the Campus Center Ballroom A (light refreshments provided) and in the Highlander Pub. Inaugural Bash evening events include a band and other activities in the Guttenberg Information Technologies Center 1400 (broadcast only) and in Weston Lecture Hall 2 (broadcast only). 

Faculty, staff and students at NJIT found time to brighten the holiday season for needy children in and around Newark. More than 22 organizations, clubs and departments collected five boxes of new toys and over $500 in donations during the third annual campus-wide Toys for Tots drive. Beneficiaries of all the activities included the Salvation Army, Harmony House, FOCUS, La Casa and other agencies in the greater Newark Area. Members of the NJIT community gave cash donations, dropped off toys or children's books, attended athletic home games, baked and bought cookies or joined the Wall of Fame plaques benefiting the Toys for Tots campaign. “Once again, the NJIT community demonstrated its commitment to the service of others in these hard financial economic times,” said Humberto "Humby" Baquerizo, NJIT's Assistant Director of Greek Life and Wellness Programs. "I am thankful for all the faculty and staff, student organizations, Greeks, and the Athletic Student Activity Board, who continue to assist with this program by bringing the holiday spirit to those families in need." 

In recognition of World AIDS Day 2008, the NJIT Campus Center is hosting panels of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt. "The Campus Center is proud to host the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt in observance of World AIDS Day," said Joseph Rios, assistant director for Leadership and Diversity Programs at NJIT. "In the US, people under 25 are at the highest risk for contracting the disease and one-third of the people who have HIV don’t know it. We hope that by continuing to talk about HIV and AIDS that our community members will look out for themselves and others. World AIDS Day celebrated its 20th anniversary this year, all the more reason for NJIT to continue to recognize this important world-wide observance.”

Dealing effectively with climate change presents political challenges that can be even more complex than the science involved. David W. Orr, PhD, the Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics at Oberlin College and the James Marsh Professor at the University of Vermont, will explore critical climate-change issues in the context of U.S. politics and policy decisions in "Some Like It Hot—Many More Don't," the final Fall Technology and Society Forum presentation on Nov. 12, 3-4:30 p.m. in the Campus Center Ballroom.

NJIT students boarded special shuttles and walked in an organized march headed for local polling sites yesterday to cast their votes in this year’s presidential election. The event was coordinated by NJIT’s Residence Life, Campus Center and the Alumni Association. Paula Krongard (pictured at left, center), senior associate director in NJIT's Office of Alumni Relations, sponsored an Election Day information table in the Campus Center assisted by alumni volunteers James Sharpe, Jr. and Lanre Tomori.

Look for 50 new blue plastic recycling containers that will be placed in classrooms and in Kupfrian and Tiernan Halls over the next few weeks. NJIT was chosen as one of 75 grant recipients from 1,100 applicants throughout the country to receive the containers as part of The National Recycling Coalition and The Coca-Cola Company Spring 2008 Recycling Bin Grant program. 

NJIT's Campus Center collected 25 boxes of used books donated by the NJIT community this summer for the Better World Books book drive. The books will benefit the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL), which provides services and advocacy for the more than 6,000 family literacy programs across the country.

AIG in conjunction with the New Jersey Business Force (of which NJIT is a member) will conduct a one-day symposium on July 14 in NJIT's Campus Center Atrium to address the implications of a Category 3 hurricane on critical infrastructure in the NYC/NJ region. James Eberwine, Lead Forecaster at the National Weather Service in Mount Holly, NJ will be the keynote speaker. For registration and additional information, contact Col. (Ret.) Hank Straub, 609-577-5373, hstraub@bens.org.

Ralph Avallone, president and co-founder of the International Green Energy Council, will discuss the Council’s Shades of Green Initiative on April 16 at 3:30 p.m. in the Campus Center Ballroom A. The event is sponsored by Students Concerned with Efficient Environmental Design (SCEED) and the Campus Center. 

NJIT has joined more than 400 colleges and universities in Recyclemania 2008, a national recycling competition to determine who can reduce, reuse and recycle the most campus waste. Over a 10-week period from Jan. 27 to April 5, 2008, the NJIT Campus Center will compete in various categories measuring the success of their recycling and waste prevention efforts. "This is our first year competing, but we hope to make a good showing," said Campus Center Director Donna Minnich Spuhler.

Benjamin Griffin, a sophomore majoring in architecture at NJIT, designed the award-winning artwork in the Little Green Monster logo contest sponsored by NJIT’s Go Green Initiative. Developed by Campus Center Director Donna Minnich Spuhler, the Go Green Initiative proposes to increase and promote recycling, non-carbon-emitting transportation, and eco-friendly products. Benjamin’s design, called R3ufus, was chosen after polling numerous students, faculty, staff and visitors and will be featured on Go Green promotional materials.  

Halloween is no longer a holiday for the young children, believe student service professionals at NJIT. "We see the holiday as a wonderful opportunity to tell our students that it is okay to take a break," said Humberto "Humby" Baquerizo, assistant director for the NJIT Campus Center.

James Yee, a former prison chaplain for the US Army who was falsely accused of aiding alleged Taliban and Al Qaeda prisoners and held in the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will discuss his ordeal on Feb. 27, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., in the NJIT Campus Center Atrium. The lecture is free and open to the public.

The first annual NJIT Student Appreciation Day will be held on Feb. 9, 8:30 a.m.–5 p.m., Campus Center Lobby. Activities include open houses at each of the colleges, refreshments and more. A complete schedule of events can be picked up at the Campus Center Information Desk.

A soaring, two-story circular dining hall, part of the new Campus Center, has become the talk at NJIT. Sheathed in gleaming, double-pane, energy-conserving glass, the building, opening Sept. 1, completes the university's three-year, $83.5-million central campus makeover. "A center with the right stuff says life outside the classroom is as important as life within it," said Thomas Levering of Gwathmey Siegel and Associates Architects.