NJIT biologist Eric Fortune and a team of scientists called “Limelight Rainforest” have won the five-year XPRIZE Rainforest Competition, securing half of the competition's $10 million prize purse. 

If she isn’t teaching advanced courses in applied genetics, NJIT University Lecturer Mary Konsolaki is rarely relaxing. In fact, she’s recently finished competing in one of the most challenging endurance races on the planet — the Ironman World Championship.

Brooke Flammang, a biologist at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), has been awarded nearly $680,000 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as part of a growing nationwide effort to save the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis).

Here, we conclude a two-part series in which winners of the Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award at this year’s College of Science and Liberal Arts Awards share memorable experiences that highlighted their path to success at NJIT, while they also look ahead to plans after Commencement 2024.

Isaiah Rejouis, B.A. Biology

This story is republished with permission from Saint Michael's Medical Center

By the time she was in seventh grade, Pooja Datir’s teachers ran out of grade-level material to give her. Her teachers suggested she start taking college courses.

Her brother Rohit maxed out in fifth grade and also started taking college courses.

Over 86 billion neurons are in the human brain, roughly 450,000 of which generate dopamine — a powerful neurotransmitter that drives motivated behavior, learning and habit formation. Now, researchers say one brain region, the cerebellum, may hold more influence over these dopamine neurons than realized.

Researchers have created tiny biological robots that they call Anthrobots from human tracheal cells that can move across a surface and have been found to encourage the growth of neurons across a region of damage in a lab dish. 

NJIT students Aliya Laliwala and Mrunmayi Joshi have been selected to be part of this year’s Governor’s STEM Scholars class, which includes 128 scholars from 20 New Jersey counties — the program’s largest cohort ever.

The Governor’s STEM Scholars program was created to engage the next generation of research and innovation leaders in the state’s vast STEM economy early. Sixty-four percent of the class identify as female and 83% as students of color. When they graduate in May 2023, they will join an alumni cohort of over 700 Scholars.

A U.S.-based team of scientists joined by NJIT biologist Eric Fortune is inching closer to the $10 million XPRIZE Rainforest Competition’s grand prize for improving our understanding of rainforest ecosystems, having recently been named semifinalists.