Five of the students recently named Outstanding Seniors by the Newark College of Engineering belong to the Honors College. Each year, NCE selects a top senior in each engineering major – one who has excelled academically.

And each year, unsurprisingly, most of the seniors who win the NCE awards are honor’s scholars.  What’s most impressive this year about the five honor’s college winners is that four were born abroad.  That means at some point in their young lives, they were uprooted from their country and had to work doubly hard to understand American culture master English and excel in school. 

Take, for example, Jumanah Yasmin, who won two NCE awards: Outstanding Senior in Biomedical Engineering and the Outstanding Female Engineering Student. Her parents left Bangladesh for America when she was 3-years-old.  Her family had a good life in Bangladesh – her father was a policeman – but the schools there weren’t good.  So her parents left the warm embrace of their extended family to come to America, where they started their lives all over again.

They at first lived in a small apartment in a Paterson and Jumanah’s father took a menial job working in a convenience store.  She attended a gritty city school not known for its academics. But her parents insisted that she excel in school and that’s precisely what she did, graduating from John F. Kennedy High School as class valedictorian.  That success led to a bigger one: She won a scholarship to attend the Honors College, where her academic excellence was rewarded the two NCE awards.  After she graduates, Jumanah will work on her master’s degree in biomedical engineering at NJIT.  She’s happy that when a senior in high school she decided to come to NJIT:

“The Honors College was fantastic,” she says. “We students got together in the honors lounge and we had great honors classes and lectures and seminars.  I also had a generous honors college scholarship, which was a huge help to my family.” 

Whereas Jumanah came to American when she was three-years old, Tai Anh Duong, the Outstanding Senior in Mechanical Engineering, came when he was 17. But unlike Jumanah, who arrived with her family, Tai came all alone.  He left his village in Vietnam to spend his senior year as an exchange student at Beaverton High School, in Michigan. He arrived with only an elementary grasp of English. But he worked hard to learn the language and was a wiz at math and science.

In Vietnam, he had attended a rigorous high school that emphasized math and science. His father, moreover, is a mechanical engineer who shared his passion for engineering with Tai. So Tai did well in Beaverton High and when it came time for him to apply to college, he knew what he wanted: To attend a top-ranked engineering college with a strong mechanical engineering department.  He applied to the Honors College and was accepted. NJIT is known for its diversity and tolerance, and it Tai, an energetic and gregarious student, fit right in.   

“When I first came to NJIT,” Tai recalls, “I made a lot of friends in the Honors College.  It’s a very accepting college community.  My friends also helped me improve my English and do well here.”

Tai did so well here that in the fall he’ll attend the University of Texas, in Austin, where he’ll begin a doctorate in mechanical engineering.  After that, he might return to Vietnam to work for his father’s company, or he might work for an international company that does business with both America and Vietnam.  Either way, his career prospects are bright and he’ll never forget all that the Honors College did to help him. 

“The Honors College gave me generous scholarships,” says Tai, “which helped me get my degree.  Therefore, when I’m working, I’ll join the Alumni Club and donate money to NJIT.  I hope the university will use that money to recruit talented students who will achieve more than I did here.” 

Like Tai and Jumanah, Joseph Gonzales, NCE’s top industrial engineering student, was also born abroad. He grew up Peru, where early he learned the value of business efficiency.  Both his parents ran small businesses -- his mother a bakery, his father a distribution warehouse -- and if they did businesses efficiently, they made money. If they did it inefficiently, they lost it.

Much of business efficiency has to do with numbers – pricing products and managing inventory and, growing up in a business environment, Joseph took an early interest in math -- a subject he always excelled in.

In Lima, he attended an elite military high school that, like Tai’s school, focused on math and science.  The school was strict and efficient and Joseph, a lover of efficiency, excelled there. One year, students from his school competed in a nation-wide math and science competition: Joseph took first place.  Peru ranks its high school students by subject and during his sophomore year Joseph ranked 12th in the nation in mathematics.

But when he was 14, his family decided to leave Peru. The economy had grown unstable and his parents believed America would be more stable. The family settled in Carteret, N.J.  Joseph, who knew little English, enrolled as a junior in Carteret High School.  But he did so well in his advanced math and science classes that he eventually graduated at the top of his senior class.

After he graduated, Joseph enrolled in Middlesex County College and later in Essex County College. His parents, who were middle class in Peru, were struggling to find their way in America and he was still struggling to learn English.  But he aced his math and science classes in county college and transferred to NJIT.

It was the best decision he ever made. At NJIT, he majored in industrial engineering (IE), a field that stresses quantitative precision and efficiency – his two loves.  After his first semester at NJIT he made it onto the dean’s list – a list his name has continually appeared on.  He maintained a near perfect grade-point average of 3.909 and during his second year here, he enrolled in the Honors College. He’s done so well in IE that he’ll soon begin taking graduate-level classes. Those courses, offered through the BS/Ph.D. program, will count towards his doctorate, a degree that Joseph is determined to get. 

This summer, he’ll intern at Intel, the world's largest semiconductor company. He’ll work in Intel’s Arizona office, where he’ll focus on fulfillment, planning and logistics.  He’ll travel to Intel’s West Coast offices, helping Intel become more efficient in planning and logistics -- a job he’s ideally suited for. Wal-Mart Stores and Texas Instruments offered him summer internships, but he opted for Intel, where he feels he can best call upon his life-long love of efficiency.  If at the end of the internship Intel offers him a full-time job, Joseph says he’ll take it. But he will continue to study, in the evenings, for his doctorate.

“Ever since I was a little boy,” he recalls, “my parents told me ‘a good education was the key to a successful life. Nobody can ever take your education away from you.’ I’m thankful to the Honors College for giving me an education that no one will ever take away from me.”

Whereas Joseph was born in Peru, Diego de Veyga, the Outstanding Civil Engineering Student, grew up in Argentina. But he dreamed of one day studying in America, whose colleges, he believed, were the best in the world. In Argentina, he always studied English, hoping he’d eventually attend a top-ranked America university.  And after he finished high school in Argentina, Diego got his wish.  His family moved to America and settled in Teaneck, N.J.  He enrolled in Bergen Community College, majored in Engineering Science and graduated with a near perfect grade-point average.

He transferred into the Honors College, majoring in civil engineering.  He was so successful in his studies here that two of his professors said Diego was the best student they’ve encountered in ten years.  One summer, he applied for and got an internship at Schiavone Constructors and Engineers. He did so well that summer that his superiors asked him if he could keep working at Schiavone during the school year.  He agreed. And this semester, he worked there full time while taking night classes. He continued to excel on the job, so much so that Schiavone offered him a full time job after he graduates, when he’ll start working there as a Staff Design Engineer – a job that is perfect for him. 

“I think they offered me the job,” says Diego, “since I have always been eager to learn, ask questions and I respect my colleagues. The Honors College and NJIT not only gave me a great education, but also helped me get a terrific job.  I’m very grateful for that.”   

Matthew De Zaio, the Outstanding Electrical Engineering Student, also has a great job lined up after he graduates.  A few weeks after he graduates in May, Matthew will begin work as an electrical engineer for ITT Corporation (ITT), the international engineering company.  He’ll help design electronic warfare equipment for the U.S. military. It will be his job to assure that the military’s e-communications and radar systems cannot be jammed or intercepted. 

It’s a great job that will pay him well while allowing him to work on leading-edge technologies.  It will also give him a chance to climb up ITT’s corporate ladder. He got the job because he had great grades, was involved at the university and had terrific work experience. For two summers and even part-time into his senior year, Matthew interned at Fort Monmouth.  During the internships, he worked on high-frequency communications systems and electronic warfare. The ITT managers saw that he had the experience they needed. So they hired him.

“I appreciate all the opportunities that the Honors College gave me,” said Mathew. “The faculty gave me a great education, the Career Center helped me get internships and a job and the Honors College and donors gave me generous scholarships. I couldn’t ask for more.”

(By Robert Florida, University Web Services)