Biochemistry senior Alejandra Lopez-Diaz hasn’t wasted much time during her past three years at NJIT. Outside of class, she’s spent most of her free hours inside the university’s labs researching an aspect of time itself — our circadian clock, or the internal biological clock that helps takes us through various phases of the day from morning to night.

It isn't an easy balance between working and going to school — especially for students determined to excel in the challenging studies they take on at NJIT.  

But even considering the double-life that many students endure to help pay their way while earning their coveted degree, Darius Singletary has gone beyond the call of duty in his five years at NJIT.

Members of NJIT's string, jazz and wind ensembles are showcasing their collective spirit with a new inspirational performance for the university community.

Student-musicians of NJIT’s Music Initiative have collaborated to digitally stage a performance of Journey's "Don’t Stop Believin’," featuring an original arrangement by Dave Rimelis, NJIT jazz ensemble conductor and artist-in-residence for the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. 

It all started with an email sent by NJIT/Albert Dorman Honors College (ADHC) alumnus, Biren Bhatt, M.D., to Louis Hamilton, ADHC dean, as the coronavirus pandemic was spreading with lightning speed throughout the New York-New Jersey area. Dr. Bhatt, an attending emergency physician at Hackensack Medical Center (HMC), asked the dean to put out a call to Dorman Scholars to design and create a prototype for a face shield, vital personal protective equipment (PPE) for health care workers.

For the latter half of 2019, Charles Auriemma was working double-time — spending 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. as an audit analyst for Fidelity Investments in Jersey City, and evenings completing his degree in financial technology at NJIT's Martin Tuchman School of Management (MTSM), through a full and final semester of both online and on-campus classes. He didn’t get many zzzs.

“Yes, [I was] very tired,” he said with a laugh. But, “I got lots of sleep in January.”