A generous scholarship enabled Charu Arya to attend New Jersey Institute of Technology, and her professors helped solidify her career path. Indeed, both financial assistance and academic support fueled her success.

Arya ’21 reflected on that fruitful journey during NJIT’s annual Scholarship Brunch, sharing a pivotal moment during her sophomore year when she reconsidered her initial decision to study medicine. 

All-time highs in freshman applicants are being reported this year at NJIT’s College of Science and Liberal Arts (CSLA), according to the university’s latest admissions report for fall 2021.

NJIT’s Office of Admissions says CSLA’s freshman applicants this year (approximately 2,500) have risen more than 15% from 2020 and 25% compared to pre-pandemic totals in 2019 (1,850).

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a constant motif embraced by the members of the Highlander community: Unrelenting generosity and support.

Undergrads Suzanne Hlinka ’21 and Nada Boules ‘21 have been applying the skills in game development and interior design that they’ve picked up at NJIT, and Mother Earth is thanking them for it. This past year, the pair of students began artistic projects promoting a more sustainable planet, and now, their creative talents have been recognized with the “Jim Wise Scholarship for Theatre: Communicating the Environment Through Art.” 

Donald “Will” Andrews, NJIT’s first-ever recipient of the Humanity in Action Fellowship, attributes his selection for the distinguished summertime program to his choice of study at the university: industrial engineering.

“There probably weren’t that many engineers that applied … so that made my application stand out from the start — like, ‘hey, look, we have an engineer from Kentucky applying for this social sciences fellowship in Europe,’” said Andrews laughingly.

Each spring around Commencement, NJIT’s College of Science and Liberal Arts holds its very own celebration, awarding its standout student and faculty stars from across the college’s diverse academic spectrum of art, history and humanities to physics, biology and chemistry.

As a kid growing up in Omaha, Neb., Chloe Jelley ’20 had a major aversion to insects that many can relate with.

“I was one of the more careful kids and I was not into bugs at all when I was young … actually, I was really afraid of all bugs,” recalled Jelley.

NJIT undergrads continue to earn the nation’s top academic honors, the latest being a new university record of four students named Goldwater Scholars this year by the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation. The scholarship is recognized among the country’s most prestigious for STEM undergraduates pursuing research careers.

Jenan Abu-Hakmeh’s dream career is in law and public policy, and the May 2019 graduate has got it all mapped out. An Albert Dorman Honors College alumna who majored in business with concentrations in finance and international business and minored in legal studies, she plans to attend law school, practice in the field for several years and then work perhaps as a lobbyist or in a governmental capacity.

Casey Diekman, associate professor of mathematics at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), has been named recipient of a prestigious Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program Award to the United Kingdom in Mathematical Biology.