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NJIT CELEBRATES BLACK HISTORY
Robert Barney Newton, NJIT's first African-American student, arrived at NJIT in 1922 from Cleveland High School. The Bayonne resident excelled at NJIT, both academically and socially. Since that time, the university and its graduates are proud to recognize the strength of its diverse student body, and the extraordinary accomplishments of our African-American graduates.
Read about some of their stories below, or submit your own!
Lysa Banks '05H is an IBM Distinguished Engineer, and the Chief Technology Officer of Watson Media Cognitive Solutions. At IBM, she is known as the "Mother of Cloud Video" for founding the video business unit within IBM which offers cloud base live and on-demand video processing, streaming, distribution and IPTV/OTT solutions.
Listen to Lysa discuss addressing racial injustice with technology.
Robert Okojie '92, '93, '96 was inducted to the NASA Inventors Hall of Fame in 2020. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE, member of the Scientific Research Society (Sigma Xi) and published over twenty peer reviewed papers in scientific journals and conference proceedings relating to his field, and a contributing author to the CRC MEMS Handbook. He currently holds 12 patents relating to high temperature device technology and four pending applications.
Sherry Harris '78 was the first black woman, and the first LGBTQ woman, elected to the Seattle City Council. Harris chaired the Council’s Housing, Health, Human Services and Education Committee and served on the Transportation and Utilities Committees. She also helped to raise over $1 million to fight anti-gay ordinances in the state. Growing up in Newark spurred her to promote downtown Seattle projects like the expansion of the Washington State Convention and Trade Center.
Clifford Samuel '88, '19HON oversaw Gilead Sciences ongoing development and implementation of innovative manufacturing, distribution and business models to make the company’s HIV, viral hepatitis and fungal medicines available at affordable prices in resource-limited and evolving economies
Quovella Spruill '94 began her law enforcement career in 1998 as an officer with the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office in Newark, worked in the Homicide, Special Victims, Juvenile, and Internal Affairs Units, and in 2015 was the first African-American, and the first woman, elevated to Chief of Detectives, a role in which she managed over 150 detectives while overseeing criminal investigations of financial crimes, homicides, sexual assaults, narcotics, cyber-crimes, and police-involved shootings. She serves on the Executive Board for the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE) NJ Chapter, among other roles.
Nadene Taylor '12 joined the Architecture, Construction and Engineering (ACE) program for high-school students, which connects professional mentors in the field with young students, often working together in firm and offices, and always for several consecutive weeks, with a team comprised of architects, engineers and construction professionals, on a real-world project. When presenting her final project work at a local community college, a representative from the Hillier College for Architecture and Design (HCAD) recognizing her talent and potential, encouraged Nadene to apply. She did apply, and was admitted to the 5 year Bachelor of Architecture program. This experience ignited her passion to use architecture and design to help people.
Rita L. Thornton, Ph.D. '06 graduated from Monmouth College in 1973 with a double major in chemistry and biology. She worked as a chemist, chaired a secondary school’s science department, and then spent 17 years at New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in Trenton, rising to become section chief for the Division of Solid and Hazardous Waste, earning a law degree along the way. In 2006, she fulfilled her father’s wish--not with an M.D., but a Ph.D. at NJIT.
Her doctoral research in environmental science brought education and cleaner air to underprivileged preschoolers, but her success carries a message for all students: that age, race, and disability need not be barriers to higher education.
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