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Spring 2009 Colloquium Series

All Colloquia are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted. More Colloquia and Study Tours may be added, so please check regularly for any additions or changes.


Wednesday
January 28, 2009
2:30-4:00 p.m.
Fenster Hall, Room 425

 Interactive Discussion Session (select majors only)
Dr. Brian J. Colandreo
Holland and Knight LLP

Dr. Brian Colandreo is a partner at Holland & Knight LLP, a company employing 1000 attorneys nationwide, including 198 equity partners.  This year American Law ranked Holland & Knight 27th for total revenues and 84th in the country for compensation per partner ($700k).  (For more information: http://www.hklaw.com/).

Brian Colandreo is an alumnus of NJIT (BS in EE ‘92).  He started his career working as an engineer but found that the higher up he went in management the less he had to do with engineering.  So he changed course and studied law.  At Holland & Knight LLP he now leads a group of 20 attorneys working in intellectual property and patent law.  And he made the discovery that, as an attorney,  he is now using his engineering skills and knowledge far more than ever before.

During the Interactive Meeting, Dr. Colandreo will not only answer questions but also explain just how many career opportunities there are in his area and at a law firm like Holland & Knight for engineers.  He will also show how many opportunities are available for students already in pre-Law or seriously considering studying law.


Wednesday
January 28, 2009
3:00-4:30 p.m.
Campus Center Ballroom A

 Sustainability Energy Policy for Urban Areas
Ralph Izzo, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (PSEG)

Ralph Izzo believes energy on its current path is not sustainable.  He argues that the impacts of climate change and an uncertain economy make it necessary to redefine energy.  In his presentation, he will discuss how energy can be the public works project of our time.  And he envisions our cities as prime places to lead the sustainability revolution – with conservation and efficiency, with renewables such as solar power, and with a future green workforce that excels in providing green energy services.

Ralph Izzo was elected chairman and chief executive officer of Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (PSEG), in April 2007. He was also named as the company’s president and chief operating officer, and a member of the board of directors of PSEG, in October 2006. Prior, Mr. Izzo was president and chief operating officer of Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G).
Since joining PSE&G in 1992 Mr. Izzo was elected to several executive positions within PSEG’s family of companies, including PSE&G senior vice president – utility operations, PSE&G vice president – appliance service, PSEG vice president – corporate planning, Energis Incorporated senior vice president – finance and information services, and PSE&G vice president – electric ventures.  In these capacities, he broadened his experience in the areas of general management, strategic planning and finance.
Mr. Izzo is a well-known leader within the utility industry, as well as the public policy arena.  His public policy experience includes service as an American Physical Society Congressional Science Fellow, in the office of U.S. Senator Bill Bradley.  He also served four years as a senior policy advisor in the Office of New Jersey Governor Thomas H. Kean, specializing in energy, science and technology.
Mr. Izzo’s career began as a research scientist at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, performing numerical simulations of fusion energy experiments.  He has published or presented over 35 papers on magnetohydrodynamic modeling. Mr. Izzo received his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in mechanical engineering and his Doctor of Philosophy degree in applied physics from Columbia University.  He also completed the requirements for a Master of Business Administration degree, with a concentration in finance from the Rutgers Graduate School of Management. He is listed in numerous editions of Who’s Who and has been the recipient of national fellowships and awards.
Mr. Izzo is chairman of the board for the Center for Energy Workforce Development (CEWD), as well as for the Drumthwacket Foundation. He serves on the board of directors for the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, the American Gas Association, the New Jersey Utilities Association, the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), and the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI). Mr. Izzo is also a member of the Council on Competitiveness – Energy Security; Innovation and Sustainability Initiative Steering Committee; Business Roundtable, and on the board of trustees for the New Jersey Network Foundation.

Co-Sponsored by NJIT Technology and Society Forum and Sigma Xi.

Wednesday
February 18, 2009
4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
GITC 3740/30/20

 Passing The Torch
Networking with Alumni

The Colloquium offers honors students an unusual and valuable opportunity to interact face to face with individual alumni of the Dorman Honors College.

Why unusual and valuable? Because we have invited Honors alumni and alumnae who would like to share their wide experience with you and whose professional careers are in fields of interest to a whole number of you:  medicine, law, engineering, science, management and architecture. These men and women who studied at NJIT will each sit at a separate table with their names and areas of specialty clearly posted. So, it is completely up to you to choose at which table you would like to start networking – there will also be opportunities to move around to other tables during the event.

You can ask the alumnus or alumna at your table of choice, for instance, to explain how their education at NJIT has helped them personally in their professional development and careers.  You may also want to ask their advice on what would in their view be the best steps you should take now  while still a student to enhance your own career prospects.  Whether there are certain other outside interests you should cultivate and whether experience in other countries and knowledge of other languages would make you more attractive to future employees are other examples of the many subjects you could discuss with them.  Incidentally, the Colloquium can also help you to widen your network of professional contacts for the future, another advantage not to be underestimated.

Monday
February 23, 2009
11:30 – 1:00 p.m.
Campus Center Ballroom A		 Entrepreneurship, Cloud-Computing, and The Future
Dwight Merriman, Chairman and Co-founder of Alleycorp
Dwight is one of the leading engineering minds in the Interactive industry, possessing a particular knack for solving the most complex problems. His latest venture, 10gen, is an open object-oriented application server designed to help developers and IT pros more easily build, test and deploy complex scalable Web applications hosted on large, managed grid computing environments.

Prior to AlleyCorp and 10gen, Dwight co-founded DoubleClick and served as its CTO for ten years. He was the architect of the DoubleClick and serving infrastructure DART, which still serves billions of ads per day.

In 2005, he co-founded both Panther Express and ShopWiki, at which he serves as chairman. He is also a board member of the web photo/video sharing company Phanfare. Dwight received a B.S. with honors in System Analysis from Miami University of Ohio.


Wednesday
February 25, 2009
3:00-4:30 p.m.
Campus Center Atrium

 In Concert [I]
New Jersey Symphony Orchestra
Brett Deubner, Viola
Kathleen Nester, Flute
Barbara Allen, Harp
Tharanga Goonetilleke, Soprano

Music is an expression of our creativity that spans all times and cultures and that this In Concerto Colloquium will once again celebrate here on campus. Artists from the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO) will perform selections from the works of five noted composers, each one stemming from a different country and cultural background: C.P.E. Bach, Sonata in a Minor; Claude Debussy, Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp; Alphonse Hasselmans, The Fountain; Niccolò Paganini, Caprices; and William Schuman, In Sweet Music.

NJSO performers will be Brett Deubner, viola; Kathleen Nester, flute; and Barbara Allen, harp. They’ll be joined for “In Sweet Music” by soprano Tharanga Goonetilleke.

Brett Deubner received his bachelor’s in violin and master’s in viola from the Eastman School of Music. A recipient of the prestigious “Performer’s Certificate in Viola,” he was a member of the Rochester Chamber Music Society as well as the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Currently principal violist, Princeton Symphony Orchestra, Deubner is also a member of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.

Kathleen Nester, who joined the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra during the 1990-91 season, has performed with the New York Philharmonic and the New York City Opera. She has been a soloist with Solisti New York and the Stamford Symphony, and has toured Japan as soloist with the New York Symphonic Ensemble. A member of the flute faculty at New York University, Nester received her master’s in music from the Manhattan School of Music and her bachelor’s from City College of New York.

Barbara Allen, who brings her preeminent talent to special NJSO performances, is principal harpist of the American Ballet Theatre Orchestra and the Greenwich Symphony. She has performed with the New York Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic and American Symphony Orchestra. Allen holds degrees from SUNY Purchase and The Julliard School.

Soprano Tharanga Goonetilleke, the first Sri Lankan to be awarded a full scholarship for singing to an American University, is a graduate of the Petrie School of Music at Converse College. An outstanding student of voice since the age of 12, she is continuing graduate study in voice and opera at The Julliard School.

Co-sponsored by the NJIT Technology and Society Forum Committee and Sigma Xi.

Thursday
March 5, 2009
The Jim Wise Theatre
Kuprian Hall, NJIT Campus
7:00 p.m.

 Theatre[I]

Spring Musical – PIPPIN
Book by Roger O. Hirson
Music & Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
Directed by Michael Kerley
(Originally produced on the Broadway stage
by Stuart Ostrow and directed by Bob Fosse)

A troupe of players led by the Lead Player find an unsuspecting young man, Pippin, and draw him into a story of magic, history, fantasy, and drama in order to convince him to ….. “walk into a box of fire”.
This fantastical musical is full of the most upbeat songs ever heard on the Broadway stage.
For more details about the story and song list:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pippin_%28musical%29

Monday
March 16, 2009
(during spring break)

 Study Tour of FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center, Atlantic City, NJ

The FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center is the nation’s premier aviation research and development, and test and evaluation facility. The Technical Center serves as the national scientific test base for the FAA. Programs at the Technical Center include testing and evaluation in air traffic control, communications, navigation, airports, aircraft safety, and security. They also include long-range development of innovative aviation systems and concepts, development of new air traffic control equipment and software, and modification of existing systems and procedures. The Technical Center not only serves as a cornerstone for aviation advancements, but is also a key focal point for Homeland Security. You can learn more about some of the programs at the Technical Center by viewing videos at:  http://www.tc.faa.gov/TC_videos.html and to learn more about last year’s visit to the FAA Technical Center see the article published in Inside the Fence.
Here are a few comments by students who took part in the Study Tour:
  • “I think the tour was excellent and have no suggestions on how to improve it.  The people there were very nice and very welcoming.  No matter how many questions we had, they were always helpful and genuinely wanted us to enjoy ourselves.”
  • “I was surprised how much I learned on this tour.”
  • “The experience in a nutshell was one of a kind.” “I actually never knew the Government did so much work to protect the citizens of the U.S.  It was very reassuring as well as informative.” “The study tour gave me a once in a lifetime opportunity to personally experience what it is like to work with new and cutting-edge technology. 
  • The study tour gave me an idea of life after years of study.”
  • “Even though my future career plans are related to medicine, I found viewing the lab testing equipment used by the FAA exciting.”
  •  “After the tour of the FAA, I became aware that the government not only conducts research but is a pioneer in some of its research.  I am definitely considering a career doing research for the government upon graduation.”
    As space is limited, please register for the course early. (honors@njit.edu and pjdine@njit.edu)


Wednesday,
March 18, 2009
(during spring break)

Study Tour of Digital Stone Project, Hamilton Township, New Jersey
Bridging Art & Technology

This Colloquium will demonstrate how high technology can be employed to help artists realize their vision.  The Study Tour will highlight the unique way the Digital Stone Project (DSP) [www.digitalstoneproject.org]    collaborates with artists, designers and architects in the development and production of their work, utilizing digital technologies such as laser scanning, 3 D modeling and CNC machining.  Christoph Späth, the Executive Director of DSP, will provide a tour of the facility and its unique equipment and then discuss ongoing projects by several artists at various stages of completion.  A presentation demonstrating the processes utilized on previously completed projects will follow. After the DSP program, the group will then visit the nearby Grounds for Sculpture, a 35-acre public sculpture park with many works by international and American artists on display [www.groundsforsculpture.org].

Chistopher Späth has had an extensive career as a sculptor, working primarily in stone and glass. His work demonstrates the influence of his early architectural studies, as well as a minimalist aesthetic. He has exhibited extensively throughout the US, as well as in Europe and Mexico and has been awarded numerous public art projects. His work can be found in many public, corporate and private collections, as well as in sculpture parks and public spaces.

Späth was born in Stuttgart, Germany. He studied architecture in Aachen and later apprenticed as stone sculptor in Düsseldorf. Späth has more than 10 years of experience with digital sculpture and CNC machining of sculpture in stone. Späth was the Managing Director of the former Johnson Atelier Stone Division. In 2004, he helped to found, and became the Executive Director of, the Digital Stone Project, a non-profit, New Jersey corporation located in Mercerville. The Digital Stone Project collaborates with artists, architects and designers in utilizing digital technologies such as laser scanning, 3D modeling and CNC milling to produce works in stone.

Späth has taught sculpture and led sculpture workshops for more than 30 years. In addition to workshops at the Johnson Atelier and the Digital Stone Project, he has led workshops at international sculpture conferences, the Carving Studio in West Rutland, Vermont and at public and private schools. He was an Adjunct Professor of Sculpture at Green Mountain College in Poultney, Vermont, and Castleton State College in Castleton, Vermont.

Späth possesses a unique ability to combine his understanding of advanced technologies and sculpture in creating his own art, as well as in collaborating with artists to realize their visions.

Thursday
March 20, 2009
(during spring break)

From Drawing Board to Finished Arena ─ An Inside Look at Prudential Center, Home of the NJ Devils 

Prudential Center is the cornerstone in the revitalization and renaissance of downtown Newark. In addition to the arena, Newark will soon add scores of condominiums, restaurants, themed bars, and mixed retail establishments. Prudential Center will be recognized among the finest arenas in the country and is New Jersey’s home for hockey, college basketball, indoor soccer, concerts, family shows and special events. A public/private partnership between the City of Newark and Devils Arena Entertainment made the $375 million Prudential Center a reality that is changing the face of downtown Newark and making it a destination place for sports and live entertainment in the region. The Prudential Center hosts the NHL’s New Jersey Devils, Seton Hall Men’s Basketball, MISL’s New Jersey Ironmen indoor soccer team, concerts, family shows, and NJIT events as well as other professional, collegiate and amateur sporting events.Tour agenda includes:

• Tour of the facility with a focus on the architecture, construction, amenities, and technology.

• Discussion of the business plan – capital, facility and operational expenditures, and revenue.

• Why did the Devils’ organization choose Newark and how do they envision the Devils’ future and its impact on the greater Newark community?

Wednesday
March 25, 2009
Campus Center Ballroom A
3:00 – 4:30 p.m.

 Sustainability – The challenge of Changing our Institutions
Leith Sharp, Founding Director, Harvard Green Campus Initiative

Leith has worked with universities for the last 14 years to achieve organizational change in the pursuit of environmental sustainability. In 1995 Leith established one of the world’s first green campus programs at the University of New South Wales, Australia. In 1999 Harvard recruited Leith to be the founding director of Harvard’s Green Campus Initiative (recently renamed the Office for Sustainability). Over nine years Leith utilized various organizational change and entrepreneurial business strategies to develop a largely self-funding model for igniting large-scale organizational change across Harvard’s decentralized structure.
By 2007-8, Harvard had the largest green campus organization in the world and was a recognized global leader in campus sustainability, receiving the highest national green campus ratings from the Princeton Review, the Sustainable Endowments Institute, the Sierra Club and Grist. Specific achievements include over 50 LEED building projects (mostly Gold), a $12 million revolving loan fund (funded over 200 projects), wide-scale behavioral change, a significant GHG reduction commitment, environmental purchasing and much more.
Leith has consulted to over 100 organizations, and teaches organizational change and green building design at Harvard. Leith has received numerous awards for her work including a Churchill Fellowship and Young Australian of the Year, NSW Environment Category.

Co-sponsored by Murray Center for Women in Technology and the Society & Technology Forum

Wednesday
April 1, 2009
3:00 – 4:30 p.m.
Campus Center Atrium

 In Concert [II]
Why Whales and Birds Sing
David Rothenburg: Solo Concert

Rothenberg’s music connects the living sounds of the natural world to the traditions of global rhythmic innovation and improvisation.  Inspired by the melodies and beats of birds, insects, whales, water, and wind, he blends spontaneous musical inventiveness with a sense of rhythm, exuberance, and listening to nature.

His book and CD Why Birds Sing have received much attention in the USA, England, and Australia.  The book is soon to come out in Italian, Spanish, Mandarin, Taiwanese, and Korean.  It was turned into a BBC feature documentary featuring Laurie Anderson, Beth Orton, and Jarvis Cocker (our photograph of David Rothenberg is taken from that documentary).  Rothenberg has performed many concerts of his music interwoven with natural sounds all over the world.

As a clarinetist DAVID ROTHENBERG has performed and recorded with Adam Rudolph, Jan Bang, Scanner, Hamid Drake, Glen Velez, Karl Berger, Peter Gabriel, Ray Phiri, Nils Økland, and the Karnataka College of Percussion.  He has seven CDs out under his own name, including "On the Cliffs of the Heart," named one of the top ten releases of 1995 by Jazziz magazine.   He is the author of several previous books on music and nature, including Sudden Music and The Book of Music and Nature.  His latest CD Whale Music and book Thousand Mile Song came out in the spring of 2008.

In 2009 he will release a record of duets with pianist Marilyn Crispell on the prestigious ECM label.

Co-Sponsored by NJIT Technology and Society Forum

Wednesday
April 8, 2009
2:30 – 4:00 p.m.
Campus Center Atrium

 Navigating Life beyond NJIT Successfully
Clifford Samuel, Gilead Sciences, Inc.

After graduating from NJIT as an EOP student in Mechanical Engineering, Clifford Samuel started on what has turned out to be a truly remarkable career – providing you with an excellent example of what you too can achieve after graduation.  In his talk Mr. Samuel would like to help you by showing you the tools and skills you need beyond a core engineering degree in order to successfully navigate such a career.

Clifford Samuel is Gilead’s Senior Director of International Access Operations. Under his leadership, the program is pioneering the development of innovative manufacturing, distribution, and support infrastructure models to accelerate treatment access across the developing world.

He joined Gilead in March of 1996 as a Therapeutic Specialist. In 2001, he was promoted to National Accounts Manager (NAM) and in this function he developed and exponentially expanded the NAM team into three distinct divisions in order to keep pace with Gilead’s growth within the antiviral marketplace. Mr. Samuel was later promoted to Senior Director of National Accounts. In 2004, he was appointed as Gilead’s Senior Director of Commercial Operations where he focused on expanding critical business functions in areas such as Analytics and Forecasting, Business Operations and Contract Compliance, Market Research, Training and Development.

Prior to joining Gilead Sciences, Mr. Samuel was a sales representative at ICI and Glaxo Pharmaceuticals, focusing on the cardiovascular market.  Following his tenure at ICI, he joined Glaxo Pharmaceuticals in 1992, where he represented various products in the antibiotic, CNS, oncology and respiratory markets.  In 1995, Mr. Samuel was promoted to Glaxo’s HIV/Oncology Specialty Division, where he launched 3TC and represented AZT.

Mr. Samuel earned his degree in Mechanical Engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology. He serves on the Community Advisory Board for UCSF AIDS Health Project (AHP) and the New Jersey Institute of Technology Honors Program Board.


Monday
April 13, 2009
11:30 a.m – 1:00 p.m
GITC 1400

 Clean Water for Haiti – An  NJIT Service Project
Jay N. Meegoda, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Faculty Advisor of NJIT Chapter of Engineers without Borders

Professor Jay Meegoda believes that NJIT students should improve the quality of life for people with what they learn, while also earning college credits. He is the faculty advisor of the NJIT chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB). The NJIT-EWB is affiliated with EWB-USA (http://www.ewb-usa.org), a non-profit humanitarian organization established to partner with developing communities in order to improve their quality of life. This partnership involves the implementation of sustainable engineering projects, while engaging and training internationally responsible engineers and students.

The NJIT-EWB is currently working on their first project to improve the quality of life of a community of 30,000 people in Haiti. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere with an annual income of $350.00 per family and a 75% unemployment rate. Moreover, 75% of the population does not have running water. Hence we propose to provide the citizens of Milot, Haiti with potable water. By providing clean water we proposed to create a healthier environment and substantially reduce the medical problems associated with waterborne diseases. A team of medical doctors from NYC are already helping this community and they are associated with Hôpital Sacré Coeur. They believe that by providing clean water their case load can be substantially reduced and in return they could provide effective quality service to the residents of Milot. 

Based on the information we gathered from our first trip to Milot, a special class was offered during spring 2008 to design and construct a filtration unit capable of supplying 5-10 gallons of clean water with no bacteria for less than $100.  The nine students who took this course aided by several others proposed  bio-sand filters as the best solution. During our second trip we started constructing these bio-sand filters, and we will be distributing them this summer.

The EWB-USA project participants are asked to promote high engineering standards by following the American Society of Civil Engineers' Code of Ethics. There are also many non-engineering aspects of those projects, and that is why they also incorporate volunteers with backgrounds in business, journalism, health, education and much more. They are supposed to incorporate the subject matter learned in their majors to improve both the content and the implementation of our projects. This makes NJIT-EWB truly an interdisciplinary student society representing NJIT as a whole.

Dr. Jay N. Meegoda, P.E., has been working as educator, consultant and researcher in engineering for over 25 years. He utilizes scientific concepts and engineering technologies in his research to provide solutions to real world problems. Dr. Meegoda has worked with state and local governments as well as foreign governments to provide technical input for a broad range of problems. At NJIT, Dr. Meegoda as PI has successfully concluded several multidisciplinary research projects worth over $5M from agencies such as NSF, USEPA, US Army, FHWA, NJDOT and NJDEP that had a broader impact on society. Some of those technologies are now extensively used while others are to be commercialized.  He has published over 150 papers. He has received the best practice paper award from the Environmental and Water Resources Institute of ASCE in May 2001 for the paper describing the results of one USEPA SITE demonstration project.

Co-Sponsored by NJIT Civil and Environmental Engineering Department.

Thursday
April 23, 2009
Bradley Hall Theatre,
(3rd Floor Bradley Hall)
Rutgers-Newark Campus
7:00 p.m.

 Theatre[II]
Our Lady of 121st Street
By Stephen Adly Guirgis
Directed by Louis Wells

In this play, the people who cared most for Sister Rose, a nun known for her needle-exchange, anti-alcoholism and anti-gang violence programs, gather at a funeral home in Harlem to pay their last respects, only to find that the body has been stolen.  One of those whose life she had affected is the police detective assigned to investigate the disappearance of the corpse.  The stories of the mourners are explored during the long night awaiting the scheduled funeral.
In her review in the Washington Times, the critic Jayne Blanchard described  Our Lady of 121st Street as “Stephen Adly Guirgis’ rancorously funny play”.

Tuesday May 19 to Wednesday May 20, 2009.
Leaving early on the 19th and returning on the evening of the 20th.

Sixth Annual Honors Study Tour of Washington, DC

The purpose of the trip is to expose you to the federal policymaking process and to explore a range of professional fields in both the executive and legislative branches of our government that could provide career opportunities for you further down the road.

Our host is Mr. Robert Cottingham, a long-time Washington veteran who will get us inside legislative and executive-branch offices and set up meetings with top policy-makers. Also included will be a visit with NJIT alumni in the DC area.

Students are charged a small cost of $25, which includes all transportation, hotel accommodation and meals. Space is limited, so if you would like to sign up for the Study Tour, either come by the Honors College office or please e-mail honors@njit.edu as soon as possible. Be sure to include the following information when you sign up: name, year, major, address, SS# and DOB (for the security check). Kindly come by the office and pay the same charge of $25 in cash. Thank you.

If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact Dr. Dine. (pjdine@njit.edu)
TBA Study Tour of Naval Area Of Engineering Station, Lakehurst, NJ
Copyright 2009 New Jersey Institute of Technology     University Heights, Newark, New Jersey 07102     (973) 596-3000 Maintained by Albert Dorman Honors College.
Date of last update: 09/02/2009 13:15:27