Big Bear Solar Observatory reopened Monday November 3 after a six-day shutdown cause by California’s wildfires.  Mandatory evacuation mean the center’s director Philip Goode had to leave his home on Big Bear Lake and return to New Jersey, where the observatory is managed by the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) in Newark. But no harm came to observatory staff, property, or equipment. >>

A major solar flare, possibly the second largest ever recorded, erupted today at 6:30 a.m. The intensity of the flare has sent a space storm careening towards the Earth. If the storm’s magnetic field is in the right direction – opposite that of the earth – it could cause problems when it reaches us Wednesday. It could knock out power grids, upset satellites and disrupt GPS signals. More benignly, if the weather is clear, people who peer into the northern sky on Wednesday night could see a shimmer of lights known as an aurora,” says NJIT physicist Dale Gary. >>

Keeping small businesses alive in a down economy is tough.  But it’s easier if you know New Jersey Institute of Technology’s (NJIT) Dolcey Chaplin.  Since 1986, Chaplin, an attorney, who’s a resident of Ridgewood, has directed a successful program at NJIT. >>

 “This storm is predicted to be a strong event, but events of this size are not too unusual,” says Dale Gary, Ph.D., professor of physics at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT).  “We don’t expect to see it cause an unusually large amount of activity on earth. We see an event of this sort happening on the average of once every 30 days or during an 11-year solar cycle, about 200 times.” >>

Something plastic, something new, is always cooking in Marinos Xanthos’ first floor polymer engineering laboratory at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). Xanthos, a chemical engineering professor who has directed since 1988 the Polymer Processing Institute at NJIT, is best known for developing energy efficient manufacturing methods with low environmental impact. >>

If an act of terrorism were to occur again in the New York City region, the Global Positioning System (GPS) base station, located at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) would go into immediate action. The system, which was used extensively by rescuers during the World Trade center recovery effort, provides very high accuracy positioning, says Joshua Greenfeld, Ph.D., professor of civil and environmental engineering at NJIT. >>

Department of Transportation Acting Commissioner Robert Lettiere recently appointed New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) President Robert A. Altenkirch, Ph.D., to a seven-member, Blue Ribbon Transportation Commission. The Commission, chaired by Lettiere, will make recommendations to the legislature within one year regarding transportation funding and priorities. The information will help the State renew the Transportation Trust Fund that expires in 2004. >>