Hrishi Sidhartha ’15, has turned an elective into a career to envy. As a game designer with Grinding Gear Games, he spends his day shaping Path of Exile 2, one of the most anticipated action role-playing games on the market. He had to relocate to the other side of the world — or at least down under — to join the Auckland, New Zealand-based company, but making necessary life adjustments was literally in the name of the game when offered a once-in-lifetime opportunity.

By Jesse Jenkins and Tracy Regan

Chao Yan, who holds both a master's in chemistry and doctor of philosophy in physical chemistry combustion from New Jersey Institute of Technology, is the founder and chief executive officer of Princeton NuEnergy, which develops advanced technologies for recycling lithium-ion batteries. Since 2017, he has also served as a research associate at Princeton University’s Keller Center for Innovation in Engineering Education.

It has been close to 50 years since Bob Medina ’75 graduated from NJIT as an engineer, and when he looks back at his journey, he marvels at how NJIT gave him the tools to excel. In fact, he still has the slide rule he used in class, in the days before calculators were allowed and laptops existed.



Alina Emeilianova worked right up to her Ph.D graduation ceremony. Appearing as first author in a paper in Langmuir, a peer-reviewed journal published by the American Chemical Society, it is fitting that she snuck in one more notch of success in the twilight of her research career at New Jersey Institute of Technology. Technically this was submitted after her defense — some people just can’t turn it off.

Celebration, NJIT’s annual fundraiser for campuswide scholarship funds, was a huge success and raised more than $370,000 this year. Celebration is NJIT’s single-largest fundraising event. Since it was established in 1995, this black-tie gala has raised more than $8 million in scholarship funds.

Parth Mehta ’19, doesn’t believe in the question of “where do you want to be in five years?” According to him, since you cannot predict the future, don’t aim to build for five years ahead – build it now. When the information technology graduate founded Startup Tribes, his effort to bring startup and entrepreneurial support to the masses, he primarily relied upon sheer will and the conviction to settle for nothing less than 100%... the rest would be learned over time. 

NJIT’s Wellness and Events Center (WEC) has been dedicated with a new name — the Joel and Diane Bloom Wellness and Events Center — for outstanding contributions made by the university’s eighth president and former first lady that span more than three decades.

On Oct. 6, the campus community came together for the naming of NJIT’s world-class 220,000-square-foot multipurpose building, as Joel and Diane Bloom were honored with a dedication ceremony recognizing their “visionary leadership, steadfast advocacy, and years of exemplary service to the university community.”

New Jersey Institute of Technology has several of its own honored in ROI-NJ’s inaugural Champions of the C-Suite. 

President Teik C. Lim and alumni Marjorie Perry, LeRoy Jones and Jeff Milanaik are among the honorees. Board of Trustees member Gary Dahms is also recognized.