Known as a chemical manufacturing by-product of many cosmetics and home cleaning products, the industrial solvent 1,4-Dioxane is now considered by the Environmental Protection Agency to be an “emerging contaminant” and “likely human carcinogen” that can be found at thousands of groundwater sites nationally — potentially representing a multi-billion dollar environmental remediation challenge.
The Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) program at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) now ranks second in the nation, according to College Factual, an outcomes-based data analytics and research company.
NJIT jumped six places from last year, landing behind Georgia Tech (1) and ahead of MIT (3), on the list of the 206 programs evaluated. The university's CEE program ranked in the top 20 in numerous areas, including education for veterans, popularity and graduates’ earnings, among others.
“Providing Dorman Scholars with unique educational opportunities has always been our mission,” noted Professor Louis Hamilton, dean of NJIT’s Albert Dorman Honors College (ADHC). “And the scholars we admit to the college are highly capable and motivated young people who crave challenges and hands-on learning experiences.”
While not featured on most product ingredient labels, the organic chemical stabilizer and manufacturing byproduct, 1,4-dioxane, can be found in countless everyday household items — from shampoos and cosmetics to laundry detergents and antifreeze.
Partly due to its widespread use over many decades, the chemical has now been implicated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as an “emerging contaminant of concern” at groundwater and drinking water sites across the U.S., with no effective method for its removal yet established.
This month, the work of NJIT’s top student researchers was put on display at the 2018 Knox Student Research Showcase, “A Glimpse Into the Future”.
The showcase, which annually honors outstanding research done at NJIT by its graduate and undergraduate students, awarded Najmaddin Akhundov first place among this year’s graduate researchers for developing a computational model to track and control invasive species that threaten the environment.
New Jersey Institute of Technology’s civil engineering program now ranks among “the top 10 nationally”, according to the latest data published by College Factual.
