Scholarships help many students get to college, but for Jonathan Kozlik a scholarship to New Jersey Institute of Technology led him to a technical conference in Florida, where he found inspiration to form his own company testing the security of other people’s artificial intelligence applications.
student success
A team of NJIT architecture and urban systems students has taken first place in the 2025 American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Setty Family Foundation Net Zero Energy Design Student Competition, one of the most competitive international student design challenges focused on sustainability and energy efficiency.
Vibha Venkataraman ’26 (Data Science) and Tina Thai ’26 (Computer Science), two students in NJIT’s Ying Wu College of Computing (YWCC) and both Albert Dorman Honors College scholars, will have added their respective first and second place wins during this year’s Bank of America (BOA) Codeathon to an already impressive list of achievements when they graduate in May.
When the FIFA World Cup kicks off next summer, all eyes will be on the 16 host cities across North America — especially East Rutherford, New Jersey, where the tournament’s final will be played at the 80,000-seat MetLife Stadium. But for Tatiana Florexil ’25, a recent graduate from New Jersey Institute of Technology’s (NJIT) Hillier College of Architecture and Design (HCAD), the true potential of the World Cup lies beyond the stadium walls. It lives in the streets, parks and plazas of local communities.
Melissa De Cunto and Nalan Kus, both seniors in NJIT’s Martin Tuchman School of Management, are recipients of this year's New Jersey Business & Industry Association’s Rising Star Award.
“NJBIA’s Rising Star Awards honor students who have demonstrated a passion for their career path, academic success and a commitment to their communities during their undergraduate careers,” association CEO Michele Siekerka stated.
The Hillier College of Architecture and Design, through a public-private partnership formed between NJIT, the city of Newark and the logistics real estate company Prologis, gave second-year architecture students the opportunity to complete a studio design-build of custom cabanas for Newark’s public pools.
When Larissa Cavalcante walked across the stage to receive her civil engineering degree from NJIT, she didn’t just celebrate personal achievement. She sent a message to the next generation of girls who dream big but might not yet see themselves in the picture: You can do this and more.
Gabriel Rapoport’s journey into industrial design began long before he knew the field had a name. From a young age, he was curious about how everyday objects were designed, constructed and refined to improve life.
That childhood fascination evolved into a drive to become one of the creators shaping that world. Now, as he prepares to graduate from NJIT’s Hillier College of Architecture and Design, Rapoport reflects on a college experience marked by resilience, creativity and growth.
A bolt bounced off the floor and echoed throughout the makeshift construction zone erected in NJIT's Central King Building. The former theater hall has been repurposed into an engineering playpen, and sitting front-and-center is a 20-foot long bridge — and a cadre of frenetic undergraduates racing against a stopwatch to finish the build.
"That's a deduction," said Thomas Hickey, the faculty advisor and former two-time student captain holding a stopwatch and click counter. A few more bolts wandered away from the bridge. A couple more clicks of the counter.
Students from Albert Dorman Honors College’s courses – Introduction to Research Writing, Introduction to Research Methods, Introduction to Entrepreneurship and Science, Technology and Urban Transformation – presented their semester's research during the fourth Honors Interdisciplinary Research Forum, with topics ranging from housing affordability crisis in New Jersey to an analysis of cartographical and textual evidence of Pope Joan.
