June 15, 1999

$700,000 FEDERAL GRANT TO NJIT AND NJTPA
PROMISES BOOST TO NORTHEAST ECONOMY

NEWARK - June 15, 1999 -

      The North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA) and New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) have received a $700,000 federal grant to attract freight businesses to abandoned industrial "brownfield" sites, a plan designed to boost the economy of northeastern New Jersey.

      U.S. Representative Bud Shuster (R-Pa.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, made the presentation June 14 to NJIT President Saul K. Fenster and Paul Sauerland, NJTPA Chairman. The grant will be used to evaluate the redevelopment potential of hundreds of vacant North Jersey properties. Once reclaimed, these sites will accommodate anticipated explosive growth in port sites along the Hudson River and environs.

     NJIT's Northeast Hazardous Substance Research Center will recommend to developers cost-effective ways to improve the properties, which will play a key role in North Jersey's future economic success.

     NJIT is a public research university enrolling nearly 8,200 bachelor's, master's and doctoral students in 76 degree programs through its five colleges: Newark College of Engineering, 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.

     Yahoo! Internet Life magazine ranked NJIT the "most wired" public university in the nation for 1998 & 1999, U.S. News and World Report's 1999 Annual Guide to America's Best Colleges ranked NJIT among the nation's top universities, and Money magazine's most recent issue of Best College Buys 1998 rated NJIT as the sixth best value among U.S. science and technology schools and among the top 100 overall.