NJIT in the News

NJIT’s College of Science and Liberal Arts (CSLA) recently honored faculty, staff, students and alumni for outstanding work.

Maurie J. Cohen, director and associate professor in the Graduate Program in Environmental Policy Studies in NJIT's Department of Chemistry and Environmental Science, is a co-convener of the 2009 Inaugural SCORAI Workshop: Individual Consumption and Systemic Societal Transformation, on Oct. 15-17 at Clark University. NJIT is serving as a cosponsor of the project and workshop. 

Sergiu M. Gorun, PhD, an associate professor in the department of chemistry and environmental science at NJIT, has been invited to give the keynote lecture at the combined 19th International Symposium on Fluorine Chemistry and 2009 International Symposium on Fluorous Technologies on August 23–28, 2009, in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Zeyuan Qiu, associate professor in the department of chemistry and environmental science at NJIT, will discuss "Protection of Critical Source Areas for Achieving Long-term Sustainability of Water Resources" on June 8, 2-3 p.m. (EST) as part of the Collaborative Science and Technology Network for Sustainability (CNS) webinar series. CNS is an EPA grant program offered through the National Center for Environmental Research (NCER) Science To Achieve Results (STAR) program that supports collaboration between science and engineering researchers and decision-makers to pursue regional sustainability. Call in: 866-299-3188; Passcode: 202-343-9759. Webinar access: http://portal.epa.gov/webconference; Conf. ID: 411720. Slides from the webinar series and the schedule of upcoming talks are posted on the CNS science connector page.

Ornthida Sae-Khow, a doctoral student in the department of chemistry and environmental science at NJIT (shown here with advisor Somenath Mitra), took first place and received a $1000 cash award in the North Jersey Chromatography Group (NJCG) Student Research Poster Competition. Her poster was entitled  "Micro Scale Solid Phase Extraction Using Carbon Nanotubes as Adsorbents."

Susana Addo Ntim, a PhD student in the department of chemistry and environmental science at NJIT, has been awarded a Faculty for the Future fellowship from the Schlumberger Foundation. The Faculty for the Future awards are open to women academics in science and engineering from developing and emerging countries and provide funding for advanced graduate study. The long-term goal of the program is to generate conditions that result in more young women pursuing scientific disciplines.

Bonnie J. Dunbar, PhD, president and CEO of The Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington, will be the guest speaker at a Biomedical Engineering Seminar on April 23 at 11:30 a.m. in Kupfrian Hall Rm. 118. Dunbar recently retired from the NASA Johnson Space Center, where she was Associate Director, Technology Integration and Risk Management for the Space Life Sciences Directorate.

“Long-range solid-state ordering and high geometric distortions induced in phthalocyanines by small fluoroalkyl group,” by lead author Sergiu M. Gorun, PhD, an associate professor in the department of chemistry and environmental science at NJIT, will be the cover article and artwork published in the Feb. 21, 2009 print edition of Dalton Transactions, An International Journal of Inorganic Chemistry.

Judith Sheft, associate vice president for technology development at NJIT, has been awarded funds from the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology to assist faculty researchers with the most promising patentable inventions with funding grants of up to $50,000. 

Maurie J. Cohen, PhD, an associate professor in the department of chemistry and environmental science at NJIT, will discuss "The Unsustainability of American Consumer Society" at NJIT's Green Lecture Series on October 22 at 3 p.m. in Kupfrian 117.   

Talented high school students from throughout North Jersey will test their knowledge in performing timed laboratory experiments, writing computer programs, designing chemical apparatus, and more at the New Jersey Chemistry Olympics on May 21 in Tiernan Hall. The one-day competition is co-sponsored by NJIT and The North Jersey Section of the American Chemical Society-Teacher Affiliates.

Edgardo Farinas, PhD, an assistant professor in the department of chemistry and environmental science at NJIT, has received a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER award for his project "New Tools for High-Throughput Screening of Protein Libraries: Engineering Metalloproteins Displayed on Bacillus Subtilis Spores." The prestigious career award recognizes teacher-scholars most likely to become the academic leaders of the 21st century.

Lev N. Krasnoperov, PhD, a professor in the department of chemistry and environmental science at NJIT,  will speak at the joint seminar of the Chemical Engineering Department and Chemistry and Environmental Science Department on April 14 at 2:45 p.m. in Kupfrian Hall Room 117. “The Negative Temperature Dependences in Simple Metathesis Reactions and the Modified Transition State Theory” is the title of his lecture.

Somenath Mitra, PhD, professor of chemistry and environmental science at NJIT, discussed his current research on "Organic Solar Cells" and "Smart Coatings" on Engineering TV. 

Martha Greenblatt, PhD, a professor in the department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Rutgers University-Piscataway, will discuss "Novel Electronic Materials Synthesis and Structure-Property Relationships" on March 25 at 11:30 a.m. in Tiernan Hall, Room 373. 

“Nanotechnology-based Solutions for Hydrogen Storage, Fuel Cells, and Solar Power” is the topic of a lecture by Zafar Iqbal, PhD, professor in the department of chemistry and environmental science at NJIT, on Feb. 4 at 2:45 p.m. in Kupfrian Hall Rm. 117. The lecture is part of the Chemical Engineering Department Graduate Seminar Series.

Dan Watts is on a crusade. The NJIT research professor would like the pharmaceutical industry to adopt safer, greener, more efficient and more effective manufacturing processes. Last week Watts brought his crusade down to the grass roots level at a five-day workshop at which 16 faculty from universities around the nation developed ways to encourage their students to pursue careers in the pharmaceutical industry so this new way of thinking can flourish.

A breakthrough patent awarded to an NJIT researcher will enable manufacturers to create a device to uncover miniscule amounts of airborne pollutants. Using computer chip technology, Somenath Mitra, PhD, professor and chair of NJIT’s Department of Chemistry and Environmental Sciences, has developed and patented what could eventually become a simple keychain device to detect tiny, though potentially lethal, amounts of airborne carcinogens.

Lev N. Krasnoperov, PhD, a professor in the department of chemistry and environmental science at NJIT, in collaboration with Jingping Peng and Paul Marshall of the University of North Texas, has made an important advancement in the theory of reactions that exhibit negative apparent activation energies. In their paper entitled "Modified Transition State Theory and Negative Activation Energies of Simple Metathesis Reactions: Application to the Reaction CH3+HBr --> CH4 + Br" that appeared in the Journal of Physical Chemistry (March 2006), they developed a modified transition state theory (MTST) for such reactions, which explained the "negative temperature dependences" and provided quantitative agreement with the experiment. The controversy surrounding "simple metathesis reactions" that exhibit negative apparent activation energies has been an issue in chemical kinetics for about 20 years. The works of Dr. Krasnoperov, Peng and Marshall are an important contribution in understanding of the phenomenon and may also further provide support for the accurate determination of energies of chemical bonds based on kinetic measurements.

Researchers at NJIT are leading an effort to improve water quality in the Neshanic River Watershed in Central New Jersey. “We all need clean water for drinking, recreation and other purposes,” said team leader Zeyuan Qiu, PhD, an assistant professor of environmental economics in the department of chemistry and environmental science at NJIT. “The grant will improve water quality in watershed communities by mapping out an integrative and comprehensive restoration plan.”

Guido Pez, PhD, chief scientist at Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. Materials Research Center, will discuss "Hydrogen Storage in the Context of a Liquid Carrier Infrastructure" on Oct. 17 at 11:30 a.m., Tiernan Hall Rm. 373.

“What I think they were talking about today were liquid explosives based on nitroglycerines,” said Daniel Watts. Watts, a professor in the department of chemistry and environmental science at NJIT, is among five NJIT scientists and specialists available through Aug. 14, 2006, to discuss on the phone or in person the science and more of the thwarted terrorist plot in London.

In less than 20 minutes, researchers at NJIT can now seed, heat and grow carbon nanotubes in 10-foot-long, hollow thin steel tubing. “The work took us three years to develop and get right, but now we can essentially anchor nanotubes to a tubular wall. No one has ever done anything like this before,” said lead researcher Somenath Mitra, PhD, professor and acting chair of NJIT’s Department of Chemistry and Environmental Science.

Thirty Albert Dorman Honors College Students and Assistant Dean Inducted Into Phi Eta Sigma
Thirty Albert Dorman Honors College students were inducted into the Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society at NJIT, which recognizes outstanding academic achievement among members of the freshman class. In addition, Shane Y. Williamson, assistant dean for academics, was inducted as an honorary member for her assistance to Honors College freshmen. NJIT Chemistry Professor Presents Research at International Symposium
Dr. Lev N. Krasnoperov, a professor in the department of chemistry and environmental science at NJIT, in collaboration with Jingping Peng and Paul Marshall of the University of North Texas, has made an important advancement in the theory of reactions that exhibit negative apparent activation energies. In their paper entitled "Modified Transition State Theory and Negative Activation Energies of Simple Metathesis Reactions: Application to the Reaction CH3+HBr -> CH4 + Br," which appeared in the Journal of Physical Chemistry Analysis in March 2006, they developed a modified transition state theory (MTST) for such reactions that provided quantitative agreement with the experiment.  In addition to the published journal article, Dr. Krasnoperov recently presented this research at the 19th International Symposium on Gas Kinetics in Orleans, France, July 22-27, 2006.

The Department of Chemistry and Environmental Science at NJIT will host an Ionic Liquids Conference on July 13, 10 a.m.-3  p.m. in the Campus Center. Contact: Sylvana Brito at 973-596-5241.

Carol Venanzi, PhD, a distinguished professor in the department of chemistry and environmental science at NJIT, will discuss “Mathematical Modeling of Drugs To Treat Cocaine Abuse” on April 25 at 4 p.m., Cullimore Hall, Room  611.

Dr. Maurie Cohen, a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Environmental Science, was profiled in the June newsletter of the New Jersey Higher Education Partnership for Sustainability.

Dr. Donald Getzin of the Department of Chemistry and Environmental Science has been named Associate Professor Emeritus effective June 1, 2005. The designation is in recognition of his many years of service to NJIT and his continuing involvement with its students.