NJIT in the News

Better building practices for structures in hurricane-prone regions will be the focus of a paper next month in Caribbean Construction Magazine by NJIT architecture professor Rima Taher, PhD.  Taher has written extensively about best building design and construction practices to reduce wind pressures on building surfaces and to resist high winds and hurricanes in residential or commercial construction.

The New Jersey Chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has presented the Educator of the Year Award to John Schuring, Stabile Professor for Innovation and Technology at NJIT. (ATTENTION MEDIA: To interview Schuring as an expert, contact Sheryl Weinstein at 973-596-3436.)

A team of 25 NJIT civil engineering students—including many seniors—will be working round-the-clock through graduation to ready a 20-foot-long model steel bridge for a prestigious national competition.  The team qualified for this important event by taking first place in the recent Metropolitan Region Steel Bridge Competition.

The NJIT ASCE Steel Bridge Team has once again proved their engineering prowess by winning the 2009 Metropolitan Region Steel Bridge Competition held on April 4 at Polytechnic University in Brooklyn. In addition to winning first place overall, the team placed first in Structural Efficiency and Stiffness. The team now advances to the 2009 Steel Bridge Nationals scheduled for the Memorial Day Weekend at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. 

The newly-established Academy of Geo-Professionals, established by the American Society of Civil Engineers, will induct NJIT professor of civil engineering Priscilla Nelson, PhD, the former provost, into its inaugural class on March 18, 2009. 

NJIT will host tomorrow morning the first of three statewide meetings to discuss the state of New Jersey’s infrastructures.  According to the New Jersey American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) 2007 Report Card for the State’s Infrastructure and the recent national ASCE 2009 Report Card, New Jersey’s infrastructure systems are in critical need of repairs. 

Priscilla P. Nelson, PhD, has announced that she will resign her position as provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at New Jersey Institute of Technology, effective November 28, 2008, to pursue the university’s special projects related to international program development.

A structural engineer and world-renowned expert on how structures respond to natural disasters, M. Ala Saadeghvaziri, PhD, a professor at NJIT, has been named a Fellow by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).  Saadeghvaziri, of Basking Ridge, researches the effect upon buildings and other structures due to time, usage and loadings or the outcome of disasters such as earthquakes or explosions.

Peter Papanicolaou, the president of J.F. Contracting Corporation, a Brooklyn construction and engineering firm, will receive NJIT’s Edward F. Weston Medal for Professional Achievement at NJIT’s annual University Convocation on Sept. 3, 2008, 3 p.m. at NJIT. A reception follows.

NJIT Provost Priscilla P. Nelson, of West Orange, received the Kenneth R. Row Award from the American Association of Engineering Sciences on May 5 for promoting unity among engineering societies. She accomplished this goal through her current work at NJIT coupled with earlier leadership positions at the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Much whooping and cheers could be heard for miles along the New Jersey waterfront as a team of NJIT civil engineering students ascended to the throne for the third consecutive year as top civil engineering students in the New York Metropolitan Region.     

For the third year in a row, the NJIT Steel Bridge Team captured first place overall in the 2008 Metro Region Student Steel Bridge Competition on April 5 at Stevens Institute of Technology. The team now advances to the Steel Bridge Nationals to be held at the University of Florida in Gainesville during the Memorial Day Weekend.

Two New Jersey Institute of Technology infrastructure experts are available to discuss steel arch truss structure; metal fatigue; deteriorating infrastructure and more.

Certain home shapes and roof types can better resist high winds and hurricanes, according to a researcher at NJIT. Civil engineer Rima Taher, PhD, special lecturer in  NJIT's New Jersey School of Architecture, spent two years examining the findings of research centers that have studied the best designs, construction materials and methods needed to withstand extreme wind events and hurricanes.

The NJIT steel bridge team ranked 14th overall, 10th in construction, 15th in lightness, 6th in stiffness and 10th in efficiency in the National American Society of Civil Engineers/American Institute of Steel Construction Student Steel Bridge Competition held this weekend at California State University in Northridge, Calif.

Britain Materek earned a degree in economics four years ago. But upon graduating, he realized he’d made a mistake. He’d rather be a civil engineer. Three scholarships, two honor societies and one almost-perfect grade-point average later, Materek will receive on May 17 his coveted civil engineering degree.

A way to provide electricity to New York City in the next century garnered a national award for a team of students at NJIT. The “City of the Future” contest sponsored by IBM, The History Channel, and the American Society of Civil Engineers named four NJIT electrical and computer engineering students “IBM Engineers of the Future.”

A team of civil engineering students from NJIT took home the award for best overall bridge in the National American Institute of Steel Construction & the American Society of Civil Engineers Collegiate Bridge Competition at the New York City College of Technology.

Bruno A. Boley, PhD, professor emeritus in the department of civil engineering and applied mechanics at Columbia University, will discuss "Some Reminiscences on Raymond D. Mindlin on the Centennial of His Birth" on Feb. 5, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. in the Mechanical Engineering Center, Rm. 224.

 NJIT civil engineering professors John Schuring and Walter Konon are available to discuss the structural safety of the New York City building hit yesterday by a small aircraft.

Robert Jenny, founder and chief executive officer of Jenny Engineering Corp., a civil engineering firm that pioneered the use of innovative tunneling techniques in America, was recently appointed to the NJIT Board of Overseers.

NJIT Provost Named Honorary Member by ASCEPriscilla P. Nelson, PhD, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at NJIT, was elected an Honorary Member by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Board of Direction. Honorary Members are those who have demonstrated achievement and contributed noteworthy services in any field of endeavor who have adhered to high standards of conduct, and whose efforts have benefited their communities, the nation and humanity. The Class of 2006 of 11 Honorary members will be inducted during the ASCE Annual Conference in October.Graduate Student Awarded a 2006 SPIE Educational Scholarship  Aysegul Ergin, a doctoral student in biomedical engineering at NJIT, was awarded an  Educational Scholarship in Optical Science & Engineering by SPIE-The International Society for Optical Engineering. The Scholarship Committee selected Ergin for her potential long-range contribution to the field of optics and photonics. Student Places Third in First Annual Electronic Trading Olympiad Yanzhi Bai, a graduate student in the College of Computing Sciences at NJIT, placed sixth in the first annual Electronic Trading Olympiad sponsored by the Interactive Brokers Group (IBG). IBG created the Olympiad to highlight the growing need for engineers and computer science professionals in the financial services industry.  

The NJIT community mourns the loss of Herbert M. Iris, ’51, a major benefactor to the athletics program at NJIT and the national chair of the Highlanders Athletics Campaign. Iris served in the Navy after graduating from high school and received a BS degree in civil engineering from the Newark College of Engineering in 1951. He started Iris Construction Co. in 1959, building industrial and office complexes across northern New Jersey.

Herbert M. Iris, a civil engineer whose firm has helped to design and construct major commercial, industrial and office facilities throughout the state, will receive the Edward F. Weston Medal for Professional Achievement during NJIT's University Awards ceremony today at 4 p.m. in the Jim Wise Theatre.