NEWARK, June 20- New Jersey Institute of Technology bestowed 1,080 degrees during its 116th commencement exercises held May 18 at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark.

NJIT awarded 544 bachelor degrees, 480 masters and 56 doctorates; some 124 students graduated with honors.

Surgical professor Victor Parsonnet, of Milburn, and executive Victor Pelson, of Chester, both received honorary degrees during the ceremony.

NJIT Professor Daniel Watts was selected to receive the Panasonic Endowed Chair of Sustainability, whose role will be to protect the environment while promoting economic progress. Watts is the executive director of the Otto York Center for Environmental Engineering and Science at NJIT.

The Hashimoto Prize was awarded to two students who earned doctorates: Wei Zhong and Pingping Zong, two distinguished scholars who earned the degree of doctor of philosophy through research in electrical engineering.
EDITORS: Attached is a copy of the May 18, 2001 graduation list from NJIT sorted by hometown and a key to the abbreviations designating students' major field of study.

NJIT is a public research university enrolling over 8,200 bachelor's, master's and doctoral students in 80 degree programs through its five colleges: Newark College of Engineering, New Jersey School of Architecture, College of Science and Liberal Arts, the School of Management and the Albert Dorman Honors College. Research initiatives include manufacturing, microelectronics, multimedia, transportation, computer science, solar astrophysics, environmental engineering and science, and architecture and building science. According to Yahoo! Internet Life magazine rankings, NJIT has been America's most wired public university for three consecutive years.

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