Student entrepreneurs have the opportunity to participate in Randal Pinkett’s Campus CEO Challenge as part of the IFEL North Jersey Business Plan competition.  For additional details please click here.  Deadline for submission of executive summaries is January 14, 2009.  The Competition will culminate with an awards luncheon on April 30, 2009 at New Jersey Institute of Technology Campus Center. The business plan competition is part of the North Jersey Partners WIRED (Workforce Innovation for Regional Economic Development) grant.   >>

Members of the northern New Jersey business, nonprofit and academic communities joined Jeanne C. Meister, founder of the New Learning Playbook blog, to discuss the training and development challenges that employers face in dealing with the new generation of workers on Dec. 11 at NJIT. Meister, an internationally recognized consultant in designing and implementing learning organizations for Fortune 1,000 firms, will be leading this project with Gale Tenen Spak, Associate Vice President, Continuing and Distance Education at NJIT. The group of human resources professionals was convened as part of the North Jersey Partners Life Long Learning Initiative with the goal of transitioning the northern New Jersey area into a continual learning region through training and workforce development. All of the information regarding this project can be found on the North Jersey Partners website. >>

The New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology has awarded almost $100,000 as part of its SBIR bridge grant program to two start-up companies based in NJIT’s high technology business incubator. Applechem Inc. and Lenterra, located in NJIT’s Enterprise Development Center (EDC), each received Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) bridge grants. >>

The Department of Justice has awarded NJIT $254,889 to continue developing childproof child-safe gun technology. US Senators Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and US Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-08) earmarked the grant in last year’s annual Congressional appropriation bill. >>

NJIT received $27,000 from Bridgewater-based National Starch and Chemical Foundation to support two NJIT’s pre-college programs, both benefiting women. The Women in Engineering Technology Initiative FEMME received $12,000 while a similar initiative to promote positive changes in the educational environment in Newark classrooms received $15,000. >>

NJIT postdoctoral students and companies in the Enterprise Development Center (EDC), NJIT’s high technology business incubator, were awarded eight grants totaling $480,000 from the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology to bolster company growth and jumpstart the careers of young scientists. >>