Michael Higgins ‘90 believes the true measure of architecture is not the building itself, but what happens around it over time. The families who move in. The storefronts that open. The sidewalks that fill. The community that grows.

As managing principal and CEO of MHS Architecture, he oversees large-scale mixed-use and transit-oriented developments that are reshaping communities across New Jersey and beyond. His work spans entire blocks, neighborhoods and public spaces. Yet the philosophy guiding that work began years ago in the studios of NJIT.

On a normal day, Trooper Zoe Welch ’24 pulls out of her station and steers her cruiser along the pine-lined highways and backroads cutting through southern New Jersey. For Welch, it’s a routine patrol — but also a very different path from NJIT peers who graduated with STEM degrees alongside her just over a year ago.

In fact, Welch is the first graduate of NJIT’s forensic science program to join the exclusive ranks of New Jersey’s State Police.

For many alumni, NJIT has been more than a place to earn a degree. It’s where careers began — and, for many Highlanders, where lifelong partnerships did, too.

Late nights in Redwood Hall. Study sessions in the Campus Center. Cafeteria lunches that turned into something more. For decades, NJIT has been a place where the futures take shape. For some alumni, it’s also where they met the person they would build that future with. 

When Kaylin Wittmeyer first began applying to colleges, she didn’t have a single, narrow career path in mind. What she did know was that she loved animation, but she also loved math, physics, and the technical side of how things worked. Rather than choose between art and technology, she sought a place where both could coexist — and found that balance at NJIT.

Following a long period of diminishing gun violence in New Jersey’s urban areas, researchers from New Jersey Institute of Technology are now applying engineering methods to the data, as they evaluate the effectiveness of red flags laws that can temporarily prevent dangerous people from possessing weapons.

Rafael Abreu ’25 (Computer Science) came to the U.S. alone as a high school student from the Dominican Republic because he believed in the American dream: work hard, confront obstacles with grit and determination and create your destiny. He knew it would not be easy. But without risk there is no reward. Thanks to the S-STEM scholarship program and other forms of support he received while at NJIT, he was able to transform his ideas and ingenuity into a new — and better — reality. 

New Jersey Senator and NJIT alumnus Paul Sarlo ’92, ’95 recently published an op-ed calling for a balanced and affordable energy strategy for the state. In the piece, Sarlo raises concerns about rising utility costs and highlights the need for a diversified energy mix to meet New Jersey’s growing demand.

Liliana Torres’s architecture has always been about people. 

“The way I want my story to be told is through how everything I learned at NJIT continues to translate into my professional life — the values, the sense of responsibility, and the commitment to helping others never stopped at graduation,” she said.

Torres '17, '18 is an undergraduate and graduate alumna of the Hillier College of Architecture and Design (HCAD), as well as a scholar of the Albert Dorman Honors College.

As the nation gears up for its 250th birthday, New Jersey Institute of Technology recalls that Martin Tuchman ‘62 — the namesake of NJIT’s Martin Tuchman School of Management — is among the select Americans whose success stories have been preserved at the Smithsonian Institution, America's keeper of history.

Three-time NJIT graduate Mohab Hussein has returned to his alma mater as a university lecturer after holding significant engineering roles on two of New Jersey’s most closely watched infrastructure efforts: the Hudson Tunnel project and the Route 80 abandoned mine collapse emergency response.