NJIT in the News

A free, day-long terrorism preparedness symposium covering counter-terrorist strategies and highlighting new and developing technologies to combat threats and regional concerns will be held at NJIT on Nov. 14, 2009, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.  

Some 75 NJIT students—almost double last year's number—joined 300 volunteers who helped care for the historic cherry blossom trees in Newark's Branch Brook Park on Oct. 3 as part of Prudential Financial's 15th annual Global Volunteer Day. Prudential's long-time partnership with the Branch Brook Park Alliance has spawned the park's own volunteer day, which coincides with the Prudential event. 

Dickson D. Despommier, a professor of environmental health sciences at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, discussed vertical farms, the agriculture for the 21st century, at the NJIT Technology and Society Forum Series yesterday.  Vertical urban farms could help to repair many of the world’s damaged ecosystems and moderate global climate change, says Despommier. Social benefits include fostering a sustainable urban environment that encourages good health, new employment opportunities, fewer abandoned lots and buildings, cleaner air, and an abundant supply of safe drinking water. Despommier’s lecture drew a large number of community organizers, including Newark Councilman Donald M. Payne, City of Newark Sustainability Officer Chelsea Arbusher, and Greater Newark Conservancy Executive Director Robin Dougherty, in addition to representatives from the Trust for Public Land, Newark Public Schools, Rutgers University and the Ironbound Community Corporation.

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." 

“Developing Newark: Which Direction is Forward?”—a multi-university symposium on planning, design, economy and community will be held tomorrow, Nov. 8, 2008, at NJIT.  The theme will be revitalizing Newark and its region.

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.

Architect Gregory Minott, a graduate of the New Jersey School of Architecture at NJIT, will share with two other architects a $10,000 prize for Best Design for Building in the Dudley Square Community Charrette and Design Competition.

NJIT's Office of Greek Life received the Community Spirit Award for the largest civic team in attendance on the 10th Annual Jersey Cares Day on May 3. More than 100 NJIT students and staff, including the NJIT soccer and volleyball teams, Albert Dorman Honors College, and the Office of Greek Life painted murals, cleaned parks and planted trees around the city and its public schools. NJIT donated a total of more than $1,200 and more than 650 hours of community service as part of The Big Give program. “I am thankful for all the support of the students, faculty and staff who donated or volunteered for this new initiative,” said Humberto Baquerizo, assistant director of Greek Life.

Jonathan James, a junior majoring in industrial engineering, and Yvan Christophe, a senior majoring in biomedical engineering, were among a group of NJIT students who participated in Beautiful Newark Day this week at the West Side Park Community Center. The activity was part of NJIT's “The Big Give” community service campaign during the month of April.

NJIT”s Division of Career Development Services hosted an extensive, six-day and evening training seminar on campus earlier this month for the Wachovia Bank/NJ Department of Community Affairs Housing Scholars Program, a partnership between Wachovia Bank, the NJ Department of Community Affairs, and NJIT. Six of the 24 students selected this year were NJIT students. They created a redevelopment plan for a pre-selected neighborhood that included many of the components found in a formal redevelopment plan. Accompanied by NJIT staff as well as planning professionals, they studied the Lower Clinton Hill neighborhood of Newark and produced several maps using GIS technology. Following the training seminar each scholar will complete a 10-week paid internship at a New Jersey nonprofit community housing agency.

In a strong show of collaboration to strengthen the City’s public safety, Newark’s newly inaugurated Mayor, Cory Booker, held a press conference for two major announcements: the Safe Neighborhood Summer Initiative and the appointment of Anthony Campos as acting police chief.  NJIT’s Department of Public Safety was personally invited to participate. “I’ve known Chief Campos for a long time and he is a good friend to this department,” said NJIT Chief of Police Michael Kirk, director of NJIT’s Department of Public Safety. “We look forward to working with him on this new community initiative.” The initiative will involve all surrounding agencies including federal, state, Campus Police and Transit Police, as well as the Prosecutor and Sheriff’s offices.

A group of 50 students from NJIT’s New Jersey School of Architecture will spend spring break cleaning out houses in a flood-ravaged neighborhood in New Orleans. "Helping people rebuild their houses, and their lives, is an amazing feeling and a great experience,” says Thomas Reynolds, a senior at NJIT who helped organize the trip. “I’d much rather spend my vacation helping these people than sitting on a beach in Florida.”

Local nonprofit organizations in and around Newark will benefit from an increased number of NJIT students who volunteer technology assistance through a new partnership announced this week by the Division of Career Development Services’ Civic Engagement Computer Center (CECC) and the College of Computing Sciences’ Senior Capstone Course. “This partnership enables us to sustain an increased number of project teams needed to advance the work of the Center,” said Gregory Mass, Executive Director, Career Development Services. Through the Civic Engagement Computer Center @ NJIT, students work in project teams to design websites, databases, and other technical support projects for several community organizations including most recently the Newark Literacy Campaign and the NJ All-City Hoops. Students enrolled in the Senior Capstone Course will be assigned to the CECC to facilitate community-based projects for nonprofits.

The Community Environmental Awareness Group (CEAG) at NJIT invites volunteers to join a community-wide effort to help clean up Riverside Park in North Arlington on November 20, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. For more information, contact Caitlin Weaver, CEAG President, at sait26@hotmail.com. 

Beginning this fall, NJIT will offer master’s-level courses in engineering management and computer information sciences at Camden Community College (CCC). A signing ceremony to formalize the collaboration was held last week on CCC’s Cherry Hill campus.