The Albert Dorman Colloquium Series

11:30am - 1:00pm | GITC room 2311 (Dieter Weissenreider Lab) (Registration required - register here)

Speaker: Justin Suriano, Assistant Director of Experiential Learning and Making

MAKE104 is an interactive training that will cover the basics of 2D & 3D modeling utilizing Autodesk Fusion 360 software, offered for free to students. Participants will learn to navigate Fusion 360 software and its features, as well as the basics of creating 2D sketches and the 3D modeling operations that can be done with them. Focus is placed on how modeling software plays a part in manufacturing, specifically at the Makerspace! Participants are strongly encouraged to bring to training laptops with Fusion 360 installed and an active Autodesk account. A 3-button mouse is also strongly encouraged. You must have taken Make 101 prior to taking this course.

Justin Suriano is the Assistant Director of Experiential Learning and Making of the New Jersey Institute of Technology’s academic Makerspace, which opened December 2018. Prior to managing the NJIT Makerspace, Mr. Suriano could be found on the sets of major motion pictures and television shows in Los Angeles, working as a set lighting technician. He returned to school in the summer of 2014 for a bachelor’s and master's degree in mechanical engineering, completing both degrees at NJIT by December of 2020. His background is in all forms of additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing.

Newark College of Engineering (NCE) - ADHC co-sponsored colloquium

Maximum 24 participants

2:30pm - 4:00pm | Atrium, NJIT Campus Center (Registration required - register here)

Speakers:  Paulo B. Pinho, MD, FAAP, FACP – VP and Medical Director of Innovation; Availity & Owais Aftab, BS, MS2 – 2nd year medical Student at Rutgers-NJMS

This colloquium will focus on:

1. The ubiquity of electronic health records (EHRs) in clinical practice for the documentation of care journeys
2. Trends in science, technology, medicine and data and how medical knowledge has advance, data volumes have increased, patient volume and complexity has increased
3. Are standards and technology truly harnessing the full potential of developments in science and medicine the way they do in other industries?
4. Reasons and challenges posed by data volume, velocity and variety in clinical data
5. Why EHR is the answer and explain solutions that are necessary to enhance EHR usability
6. Data equity based on a study performed based on the collaboration of Diameter Health and students at Rutgers Medical School

Dr. Paulo Pinho is currently the Vice President & Medical Director of Innovation for Diameter Health (now part of Availity). He provides clinical expertise and thought leadership on existing and emerging regulations, quality measures, healthcare data standards and technologies relevant to Diameter Health solutions.
Prior to his current role, he was the Chief Medical Officer at Optimum Life Reinsurance and the Lead Medical Director for Prudential International Insurance responsible for global innovation for Prudential’s markets in Asia and Latin America.
Paulo has practiced Medicine for close to 20 years – he is dual board certified in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics and is a Diplomat of the Board of Insurance Medicine. He remains clinically active, while also heavily involved in public speaking and publication in industry journals.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in Engineering Science from New Jersey Institute of Technology and his medical degree from Rutgers – New Jersey Medical School. He is an active volunteer in local and national leadership roles with the Arthritis Foundation and in an organization that provides on-site and remote care to a village-based clinic near Leogane, Haiti. He enjoys running and has completed a half marathon in all 50 states.

Owais Aftab is a second-year medical student at the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in Newark, New Jersey pursuing an M.D. with a Distinction in Urban Health that matriculated as a part of the seven-year medical program in coordination with the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Owais graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering and worked at Johnson & Johnson: Ethicon as an engineering intern in supply chain mastering data management and in research & development for a year. Owais also won a Best Early-Stage Startup Award from Nokia Bell Labs for an automated auditory diagnostic app idea, and he worked as an intern at the New Jersey Health Foundation’s Foundation Venture Capital Group. Owais is interested in the intersection of medicine, technology, and business, and he hopes to use his medical education to both serve patients while driving broader societal impact through innovation.

Medical Humanities Colloquium

11:30am - 1:00pm | IDS1, 2nd floor Honors Hall (Registration required - register here)

Speaker: Farid Alisafaei, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering

Physical changes in the extracellular environment, due to aging or diseases such as fibrosis, obesity, and diabetes, affect various cellular functions such as gene expression, proliferation, and differentiation. Understanding how cells sense and respond to physical changes can lead to novel therapeutic modalities and pathways against diseases. In this talk, an integrated theoretical and experimental approach is presented to elucidate how cells sense and respond to mechanical signals from the extracellular environment, enabling us to understand and harness the role of force and mechanics in physiological and pathological processes.

Dr. Farid Alisafaei came to NJIT from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was an NIH-T32 (National Institute of Health) postdoctoral fellow and member of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Center for Engineering Mechanobiology. His lab develops integrated computational and experimental tools to understand and harness the role of mechanics in physiological processes such as wound healing and stem cell migration as well as in pathological processes such as fibrosis and cancer progression.

Newark College of Engineering (NCE) - ADHC co-sponsored colloquium

Medical Humanities Colloquium

2:30pm - 4:00pm | Atrium, NJIT Campus Center (Registration required - register here)

Honors first year scholars will present their proposals for increasing and sustaining biodiversity through a campus planting. The NJIT Urban Ecology Lab and Real Estate Development & Capital Operations teams will provide the context for this project and select the winning team. Join us to support the scholars and learn about our sustainability efforts.

City Leadership & Civic Engagement Colloquium

3:00pm - 4:30pm | NJII Agile Strategy Lab (CKB L-70) (Registration required - register here)

At the start of your career, raising a salary offer by just $2,000 can yield $480,000 in incremental earnings across your working lifetime! Knowing how to advocate for yourself can be tough, especially for those transitioning out of college. This workshop will empower you through key mindset shifts and strategies for compensation research & conversations, with ample time for Q & A.

Workshop Highlights:
 Perspective shifts to reduce fear and deepen your confidence
 Understanding elements of compensation beyond annual salary
 Avenues for compensation data research, including hidden gems
 Anticipating tricky recruiter conversations and how you’ll respond
 How bias affects pay for women in tech
 Your rights under New Jersey’s Equal Pay Act & other local legislation

Shell Bobev is the founder of Disrupt The Gap, a platform to empower women’s lifelong financial independence through a multi-front disruption of the gender pay gap. After more than a dozen years of corporate experience, she recognized a calling to address this pervasive issue in inclusive and innovative ways. Among other degrees, Shell holds a Masters of Adult & Continuing Education from Rutgers, a Certification in Human Resources Development from Rutgers, and a Certification in Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion from CADIA. As an educator, she has developed thousands of people across corporate, university, and community settings, and is a frequent presenter at NJIT.

www.WeDisruptTheGap.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/shellbobev/

Ying Wu College of Computing (YWCC) - ADHC co-sponsored colloquium

Women With STEAM (WWS) Colloquium

11:45 am - 1:00pm | Newark Museum of Art (49 Washington St, Newark) - meet at the museum at 11:45am

(Registration required and spaces are limited - register here)

Join us for a guided tour at the Newark Museum of Art featuring museum highlights. Advanced registration required. Max. 25 participants. Meet at the Newark Museum of Art at 11:45am.

City Leadership & Civic Engagement Colloquium

1:00pm - 2:30pm | Tiernan Lecture 2 (Registration required - register here)

Speaker: Dr. Manuel de Lera Ruiz, Principal Scientist, Discovery Chemistry, Merck

Malaria is a devastating disease that directly effects over half a million people each year with the most devastating and debilitating effects on young children.
Antimalarial drug discovery by and large is focused on the identification of novel drugs to treat and prevent the disease due to the emergence and spread of Plasmodium strains resistant to existing medicines. In particular arteminisin resistance which has now spread from SE Asia and is firmly established in Africa (as reported at ASTMH in Seattle Oct 2022).
The Merck Research Labs and the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI) (led by Prof. Alan Cowman), have teamed up on identifying novel drug candidates by targeting the Plasmodium parasite via newly identified essential aspartyl proteases. The team has been greatly assisted in this endeavor with generous funding for the collaboration from the Wellcome Trust. The team was successful at identifying potent dual protease targeting hits that lead to the identification of an important tool compound WM382 with subnanomolar inhibitory potency in vitro. This was accomplished through targeted phenotypic screening and structure-guided medicinal chemistry to optimize orhan (MoA unknown) hit compounds. WM382 was also used to establish impressive in vivo proof-of-concept efficacy not only on blood stage parasitemia but also potent pharmacodynamic effects in the sexual/mosquito and liver stages of replication. Finally, Justin Boddey’s team determined that defective parasites under WM382
drug coverage yield some interesting immunological effects in vivo that may be discussed. This work was supported by The Wellcome Trust (109662/Z/15/Z, 2027/Z/16/Z).

Manuel de Lera Ruiz received his B.Sc. in chemistry from the Universidad Autónoma of Madrid in 1997. After completion of his Ph.D. in 2001 from the University of Nottingham, he joined Professor Leo A. Paquette research labs as a postdoctoral fellow. In 2003, he started a career in Medicinal Chemistry at Schering-Plough
Research Institute in New Jersey. Manuel moved to Merck's West Point site in 2012 where he worked for three and a half years in Discovery Process Chemistry. In 2016 he moved back to medicinal chemistry at West Point where he is currently co-leading the Malaria plasmepsin inhibitors program.

CSLA - ADHC co-sponsored colloquium

Medical Humanities Colloquium

7:00pm | Jim Wise Theatre, Kupfrian Hall, NJIT (Registration and ticket purchase required - register here)

Purchase tickets here ($15)

In a Gotham-like city, a terrible water shortage, caused by a 20-year drought, has led to a government-enforced ban on private toilets. The citizens must use public amenities, regulated by a single malevolent company that profits by charging admission for one of humanity's most basic needs. Amid the people, a hero decides that he's had enough and plans a revolution to lead them all to freedom! 

11:30am - 1:00pm | Atrium, NJIT Campus Center (Registration required - register here)

"The Metaverse” was one of the top buzzwords for 2022. Following Facebook’s re-branding to Meta and extensive advertising for Virtual Reality, many have been wondering what exactly the Metaverse is, when it will be real, and what it will mean for their day-to-day experiences. This colloquium will breakdown where “The Metaverse” comes from, what it might be like, what the technologies are that will make it possible, and how they are already impacting our day to day.  

Maggie Smith is an Experience Design Lead at Avanade (a global consulting firm created by Accenture and Microsoft). She grew up on Long Island and began her career with Avanade as intern during her study of Business Administration and Visual Arts. Maggie specializes in experience strategy and user research and has experience designing digital products for a variety of industries. In her spare time, she experiments with emerging technologies and exploring cognitive psychology research.

Martin Tuchman School of Management (MTSM) - ADHC co-sponsored colloquium

2:30pm - 4:30pm | Atrium, NJIT Campus Center (Registration required - register here)

11:30am - 1:00pm | Campus Center Ballroom A (Registration required - register here)

NJIT’s annual Women Designing the Future Conference takes place on March 31 this year and focuses on the theme “Artificial Intelligence/ Real Human Lives: making technology work for all of us.” Conference speakers will drill below the surface of the current hype about an imminent AI takeover and explore genuine ethical concerns about fairness, accountability, and transparency in data science practice—exploring the ways in which we can prevent advances in A.I. from exacerbating existing systemic discrimination and social injustice. 

Conference speakers include Dr Julia Stoyanovich, Associate Professor in NYU’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the Tandon School of Engineering, and the Center for Data Science.

Women With STEAM colloquium

11:30am - 1:00pm | GITC 1400 (Registration required - register here)

Hear from current and former students about why and how to apply for prestigious fellowships that help you to travel internationally and gain research experience. They will share tips about the process and how it is has helped them to think through and write about their goals.

2:30pm - 4:00pm | Weston Gallery, second floor of Weston Hall, NJIT campus (Registration required - register here)

"Passing the Torch" is a networking roundtable event for Honors alumni and students.

7:00pm | Warren Street Theatre, 3rd Floor, 110 Warren Street, Newark, NJ (Registration and ticket purchase required - register here)

Ticket purchase is required ($15)

Stories From Home consists of twelve often-heard tales from their countries of origin. Most of these tales are rarely recounted here in America. Characters from these pieces include: the West Indian trickster, Anansi, who outwits even himself; an Egyptian thief who tries to cheat the Angel of Death; and the American folk hero Harriet Tubman, who walks a perilous line to freedom. The tying factor that connects the stories are personalized monologues from the 'actors' experiences, and related films/videos of current affairs that follow the themes of each story such as global warming, war, social movements, greed, etc. 

1:00pm - 5:00pm | (Registration required and spaces are limited - register here)

Join us for a tour of NJ's Great Swamp led by a naturalist from the Somerset County park's Environmental Education Center. We will tour the land and learn about topics including the local ecology, biodiversity, sustainability and environmental threats. 

We will depart by bus from the Honors College hall at 1:00pm and return to campus around 5:00pm.

This tour is limited to 30 scholars.

2:30pm - 4:30pm | Atrium, NJIT Campus Center (Registration required - register here)