2019 Spring Colloquium Series
Spring 2019 Colloquia
The following events have been scheduled for the Spring 2019 semester. More events are being scheduled; please check back regularly to see the full list.
The Albert Dorman Colloquium Series focuses on the interface between Science, Technology and Society. Colloquia normally meet during university common hours 8-12 times each semester. They feature talks by - and conversations with - industry, academic, and government leaders on a wide range of topics. Field trips to corporate, scientific, cultural, and community organizations are also included. In addition, some important campus political and cultural events are co-sponsored by the Honors College and regarded as part of the Colloquium Series.
Honors students must attend at least 2 colloquia each semester and are strongly encouraged to attend more than the required amount. Please click on the colloquia titles below for more details.
You are welcome to review past colloquia topics and speakers here.
Spring 2019 Colloquium
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Saturday, February 2 9:30am - 3:00pmCampus Center Ballrooms, Gallery, and Conference Rooms |
NJIT L.E.A.D.S. Keynote speaker: Harlan Cohen NJIT L.E.A.D.S. is NJIT's very own student conference for professional and personal development focusing on Leadership, Engagement, Advocacy, Diversity/inclusion, and Service hosted by the Office of Student Life. Harlan Cohen is a New York Times bestselling author, nationally syndicated advice columnist, and speaker who has visited over 400 college campuses. He is the author of five books including, The Naked Roommate: And 107 Other Issues You Might Run Into In College, The Naked Roommate: For Parents Only, and Dad's Expecting Too!. His newest book, Getting Naked: Five Steps to Finding the Love of Your Life While Fully Clothed and Totally Sober, was recently released by St. Martin's Press. Harlan is a frequent guest on television and radio programs and has appeared on the Today Show. Harlan will be visiting the NJIT L.E.A.D.S. Conference from Chicago, Illinois. Attendees can expect a full day of excellent keynotes and workshops, along with plenty of networking opportunities with NJIT students, staff, and conference presenters. Students who attend will also have the opportunity to win various door prizes at raffles throughout the day. Breakout Session topics will include the themes of the conference, which are Leadership, Engagement, Alumni connections, Diversity/inclusion, and Service. Some of our presenters will include Career Development Services; Alpha Phi Omega; Jason Rodriquez, Assistant Director of Student Life for Diversity & Inclusion; and Louis Wells, Theatre Department Professor. Our Keynote Speakerr Harlan Cohen will also do a follow-up workshop during one of the breakout session blocks. Registration for the NJIT L.E.A.D.S. Conference is open! Students who register by Friday, January 25 will receive bonus chances to win raffle prizes at the conference! Register here!
Co-sponsors and partners for this conference include Student Senate, Alpha Phi Omega, Albert Dorman Honors College, Dean of Students and Campus Life, Career Development Services, Theatre Department, and more. |
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Friday, February 22 11:30am-1:00pm Atrium |
New York City - Our Journey to Becoming a Smart City by Samir Saini, CE '97 H; Commissioner and Citywide CIO
Samir Saini was appointed Commissioner of the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) and Citywide Chief Information Officer (CIO) by Mayor Bill de Blasio in January 2018. As Commissioner of the largest municipal IT organization in the country, Saini is responsible for delivering tailored technology solutions to more than 100 City agencies and entities, enabling them to serve and empower millions of New Yorkers. Saini has broad experience across the public and private sectors building, streamlining, and strengthening complex and customer-centric IT systems. He most recently served as Chief Information Officer and IT Commissioner for the City of Atlanta, transforming the Information Management department by improving and expanding its service portfolio while strengthening partnerships across all City agencies to ultimately deliver more than 500 IT projects across 20 agencies. During his tenure, Saini improved reliability, efficiency, and security of the city’s technology systems and core infrastructure, established a centralized Project Management Office, and spearheaded the development of the city’s first-ever Smart Cities initiative in partnership with City Leadership, academia, and external partners. The SmartATL program brought several influential projects to life on Atlanta’s streets, using IoT sensors, big data analytics, and other civic innovations to significantly improve public safety, mobility, and overall City operational efficiency. Previously, Saini served as CIO of the Atlanta Housing Authority, where he modernized the agency’s IT operations to significantly reduce operating costs, enhance regulatory reporting, and improve overall service delivery and business productivity. Saini held a number of leadership positions in the private sector prior to his service to the City of Atlanta, including Vice President for Corporate Systems for MGM Resorts, where he successfully implemented the largest back-office technology standardization initiative in the gaming sector across 17 casino resorts, and the General Electric Company (GE), where he stood up technology for the $250 million GE Energy Rentals initiative.
Saini’s service to the City of New York began over two decades ago as an aide to the Bridge Design Bureau while a student at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, where he received a B.S. with honors in Civil Engineering. He lives in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. |
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Wednesday, February 27 2:30-4:00pm IDS rooms, ADHC |
Virtual Aerospace Panel
Students will have the opportunity to interact virtually with alumni in the aerospace industry.
Panelists include: Michael Anderson ME/COE '13 H Design Engineer Scaled Composites LLC Mojave, CA
Michael Anderson started at NJIT and the Albert Dorman Honors College in 2008, and participated for 2 years on the SAE AeroDesign team, in addition to doing internships at General Electric Aviation and Gulfstream Aerospace. He graduated in 2013 with dual bachelors in Mechanical Engineering and Computer Engineering, and moved to California to work at Mojave-based Scaled Composites. A small company of <500 employees, Scaled specializes in rapid prototyping of new airframes and averages one first-flight of a new aircraft type every year. Scaled was responsible for such legendary aircraft as Voyager, Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer, SpaceShipOne and SpaceShipTwo. Scaled Engineers are encouraged to get their hands dirty in the manufacturing process and never design anything they can't build themselves. At Scaled, Michael began his career as a payload integration and flight test engineer on the Proteus high altitude research aircraft. He then moved on to the Stratolaunch program, where he worked for four years, designing flight controls and avionics and as the responsible engineer for the braking system on the world's largest aircraft. He now works in the control room for the Stratolaunch program and as a systems design engineer on smaller programs.
Wilfredo Alvizures CE '15 Structural Design Engineer | Landing Gear Design Center at Boeing Greater Seattle Area
Wilfredo Alvizures started at the New Jersey Institute of Technology where he completed his Bachelors of Science in Civil Engineering with a focus in structural engineering. During his junior year of college, he landed an internship with The Boeing Company in the wing structures design department during the SHPE national conference in Indianapolis. Following his internship, He was given a fulltime position as an aerospace structures design engineer and moved out to Washington State after graduation. Now a little less than 4 years later, Wilfredo has moved around experiencing several facets of the company with the goal of having a better understanding of the responsibilities for each function. He started his career at Boeing on the design automation product life cycle team (KBIT) looking simplify routine to complex tasks to reduce flow time. Later, he joined a rotational program which allowed him to work on several teams including the 787 Stress interiors analysis team analyzing composite structure utilizing FEM and classical analysis, the 767 wing design team where he was re- designing existing structure to eliminate non conformances and finally on the 767 Liaison engineering team where he worked on numerous repairs on the aircraft prior to it leaving the factory. Wilfredo also worked on a side project with product development on a new composite material that could reduce cost and weight on the aircraft. He is now currently an Aerospace Structures Design Engineer in the Landing Gear Design Center working on the levered main landing gear for the 737 MAX 10 from product development to now production release. He has also recently joined a special side project looking at a different mode of transportation. Throughout his career at Boeing so far, he has been awarded several recognitions including: 737 Team of Year (2018), Boeing Pride Awards (Several), STEP Participant 2018-2019 (Structures Top Talent) and Boeing Enterprise Recognition (2018). Wilfredo has also published a community of practice on Kinematics for New hires utilizing CATIA V5 that is only internal to the Boeing Company. Aside from work, he is involved with the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), and has attended the SHPE national conference as a professional looking to increase diversity within the company and find premier talent. Alvizures began his journey with SHPE at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) where he served as a Local Chapter Executive Board Member. He also enjoys soccer, salsa dancing, traveling and continuous learning.
Tina Scott ME '10 H Account Manager 737 Customer Engineering Asia team at Boeing Greater Seattle Area Tina Scott is an Account Manager in the 737 Customer Engineering Asia team at Boeing in Seattle, WA. As a Customer Engineering Account Manager she is the technical liaison between airlines and Boeing. She works with airlines from sales campaign to delivery to configure their aircraft to meet their needs. Prior to her current role, she was a Stress Lead in 777X development program, a Flight Test Engineer and Design Engineer at Boeing. She also interned with Boeing and the US Army Corps of Engineers. Tina graduated from New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) in 2010 with BS in Mechanical Engineering and Columbia University with MS in Mechanical Engineering 2011. She is also currently pursuing her MBA from the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington. In her free time she enjoys yoga, climbing, backpacking and exploring the Pacific Northwest with her husband.
Eglie Stavrinou MS CE '12 Structural Analysis Engineer Boeing Greater Seattle Area
Eglie Stavrinou is a structural analysis engineer at Boeing. She is currently on the Fuselage Integration team in the New Middle of the Market Airplane Program. Eglie spent her first 6 years at Boeing in the Composite Structural Methods and Allowables group where she worked on composite laminated and sandwich honeycomb structures. She holds a Bachelors in Civil and Structural Engineering from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in England and a Master of Science in Structural Engineering from New Jersey Institute of Technology. While attending graduate classes, Eglie worked for the NJDOT performing structural evaluations for the New Jersey bridges. Prior moving to the United States, Eglie worked for a year designing and analyzing residential and commercial buildings for a local architectural firm in Cyprus. Eglie was born in New York City and raised in Cyprus, a beautiful historic island in the Mediterranean Sea. Outside of work she enjoys the outdoors, time with her family and friends, traveling, and learning new languages. |
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Wednesday, March 6 2:30-4:00pm Ballroom A |
NJIT Digital Humanities Showcase NJIT Digital Humanities Showcase aims to introduce students and the NJIT community at large to the field of Digital Humanities. Members of the Digital Humanities at NJIT (DH@NJIT) group will present their research in the form of lightning talks under topics such as Archive, Sound, Spatial Analysis, Gamification, and Digital Language. Students will get the opportunity to learn about the research of individual faculty members and are encouraged to reach out to them if they are interested in participating in their research. DH@NJIT brings together faculty members and staff from across the institution whose work employ computational methods that address issues in the humanities broadly defined. Its 36 current members come from units such as CSLA, CoAD, YWCC, ADHC, and the Van Houten and Littman Libraries. The group’s major objective is to foster interdisciplinary collaboration and share methods/approaches across disciplines. |
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Tuesday, March 12 7:00-10:00pm Ballroom A |
#chicagoGirl Screening #chicagoGirl depicts the life of an American teenager using social media to run a revolution in Syria. She helps reveal the atrocities of the regime, but this brings about a debate on which is the more effective weapon: Facebook or AK-47s |
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Friday, March 29 9:00am-12:45pm; AND/OR 12:45-2:00pm Campus Center Ballrooms |
Women Designing the Future Conference 2019 NJIT’s Murray Center for Women in Technology extends a special invitation to NJIT students to attend the March 29 Women Designing the Future Conference—“Game Changers! Technological Innovations that Will Transform Our Lives.” You’ll have an opportunity to interact with leading women scientists, government leaders, and entrepreneurs as they discuss technological innovations that will both disrupt and improve our lives over the next ten years--including new applications of artificial intelligence; robotics, e-commerce and the future of work; next generation genomics; and break-through personalized medical technologies. The conference also includes a special Leadership Workshop on the power of personal branding—“What Makes You Stand Out.” (See speakers list below.) Intrinsic interest aside, here are some more reasons why you’ll want to attend: --ADHC students earn Colloquium Credit for attending either the morning or afternoon conference sessions—or both; -You get a free breakfast and a ticket to the conference lunch by attending the 9:00 am-12:45 session; -For each session you attend, you get a raffle ticket for a chance to win high-thigh-tech gear, including wireless earbuds, an Amazon Echo, a gaming headset, and Raspberry Pi3 and Arduino UNO R3 kits. There will be three drawings during the day; you have to be present to win. [See conference schedule below.]
CONFERENCE SCHEDULE 8:30 am- Pre-Registered Students Check In at the Conference Desk Enjoy A Free Continental Breakfast 9:00-12:45 Welcome by President Bloom & Provost Deek
ROBOTICS, E-COMMERCE & THE FUTURE OF WORK THE FUTURE (OF) WOMEN IN STEM DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION IN MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY
12:15-12:45 LUNCH PICK UP
12:45-2:00 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND HUMAN INTELLIGENCE
2:00-3:00 PARALLEL WORKSHOPS: (A) THE FUTURE OF THE FUTURE: NUCLEAR WAR (B) PERSONAL BRANDING
To attend the March conference, you must pre-register at: Sponsored by the Murray Women's Center |
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Tuesday, April 2 10:00am-11:30am Campus Center Ballrooms |
Faculty Research Showcase Keynote Talk: NSF Perspectives: Challenge and Opportunity in Bioinstrumentation Research Speaker: Dr. Chenzhong Li, Director, Biosensing Program, CBET, National Science Foundation; Professor, Nanobioengieering/Bioelectronics Lab, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Florida International University. Abstract: Research funding, as is true of many opportunities, undergoes shifts. As funding levels change, priorities are altered, and application numbers vary, applicants should employ savvy strategies when seeking support. In this presentation, I will present my perspective of developing and sustaining collaborative research projects with particular emphasis on the research in the field of Biomedical Engineering and Bioinstrumentation such as biosensors. The presentation is based on my 25 years experiences gained during my own research, my service as a program director to the NSF Biosensing program and as an editor and reviewer of several flagship journals in the field of bioinstrumentation. While the emphasis is on the funding opportunity of NSF Biosensing program, which supports fundamental engineering research on devices and methods for measurement and quantification of biological analytes, in keeping with the main aim of this talk of providing a perspective on sustainable project development, other research opportunities within the Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems (CBET) Division's “Bio clusters” within the Engineering Directorate of the National Science Foundation (NSF) will be provided. In addition, information about NSF crosscutting initiatives and training grants such as NSF Career Awards, NSF Engineering Research Center (ERC) and NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) will also be discussed. Students are encouraged to attend the networking lunch from 11:30-12:15. For colloquium credit, students must be present from 10:00am-11:30am, not just for the luncheon. |
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Wednesday, April 10 2:30-4:00pm WEC |
Aviation at the Extremes - RED BULL AIR RACE By Michael Goulian and a special guest. More information about Michael Goulian: http://mikegoulian.com/ Description TBA. |
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Friday, April 12 6:00pm NJPAC |
Chick Corea Trilogy with Christian McBride and Joey Alexander at NJPAC This is a special jazz performance offered to a limited amount of students.
Students who have sent their RSVP, and who have been given tickets, will receive a complimentary buffet at Tier 3 at NJPAC. The buffet opens at 6pm. For more information about the performance, click here. |
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Sunday, April 14 9:00am-5:00pm WEC |
Steps to a Nuclear Weapons-Free World Conference Keynote speakers: Daniel Ellsberg and Jay Lifton (live stream) Join a renowned group of experts to discuss the control and elimination of nuclear weapons from diverse perspectives. Current events make a nuclear launch due to accident or intention a real possibility. At present, the president has the legal right to launch a weapon without input from anywhere else in the government or military. This and many other aspects of our present nuclear weapons policies will be discussed at the conference. You can see the other speakers and their bios on the conference website, where you will register for FREE! Registration includes a continental breakfast, lunch, refreshments, and a conference booklet containing articles and papers by conference speakers and other experts. |
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Wednesday, April 17 2:30-4:00pm Atrium |
Passing the Torch of Knowledge: A Women with STEAM/Honors Alumni and Student Networking Colloquium Students will have the opportunity to meet with our Honors Alumni in a roundtable networking format.
Business casual attire is recommended.
Passing the Torch Honors Alumni members as of April 8, 2019: Yousef Abbasi IS ‘14H Iftach Bashan CS/APMT ‘04H John Vito d’Antonio BME ‘16H / MS ‘17 Sean G. Duffy ME ‘95H Sam Elmalak CS ‘04H/MS CS ‘05 Michael Hanrahan B Arch ‘96H Marie Jackson, DMD ESC ‘05H Aivars E. Krumins CHE ‘75 Michelle Melucci CS ‘02H Dr. Richard M. Mohring APPH ‘93 Stephanie Monteiro CME ‘08H James Murphy CHE ‘91H Kiera Niessen CE '18H Trevor Summerfield CS ‘16H Chang Yaramothu BMED ‘13H / MS ’14 / PhD ‘17 Sean Yazdi CIS ‘89H (tentative) |
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Wednesday, April 24 2:30-4:00pm WEC, Perry Theater |
JerseySTEM Panel: Leadership, Diversity, and Inclusion Students will have the opportunity to learn from and network with professionals in the STEM field, who volunteer their time with JerseySTEM. JerseySTEM is a non -profit, grassroots network of local STEM professionals, educators, college students and allies that offer innovative STEM enrichment and education programs to middle school students. |
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Thursday, April 25 7:00pm Bradley Hall |
Heartland, Theater Show Heartland by Michèle Raper Rittenhouse and directed by Louis Wells. This original drama produced at the Levin Theatre in New Brunswick and the Heartstone TheatreProductions at the Access Theatre in New York City. Katherine, a professional woman in her middle years, has entered a family planning clinic to terminate her third pregnancy. She meets a person from her past who brings back unwanted memories from her childhood. These memories cause her two younger “selves” to come to life and relive her early choices and to look more closely at her present course of action.
To purchase tickets: https://heartlandplay.eventbrite.com |
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Friday, May 3 11:30am-1:00pm Atrium |
Is Technology the Cure for Health Care Inequities? Case Studies Involving the Engineering World Health Organization The life expectancy in Chad is less than 50 years. In Swaziland 26% of the population is HIV positive. These incredible statistics are just indicators of a much larger global health crisis. But what possible role can technology play in addressing this crisis and what can biomedical engineers do to help? Can simply donating medical equipment from developed countries to underdeveloped regions solve the problem? Answers to these questions are addressed in the talk including examples of the work conducted by the Engineering World Health (EWH), an extraordinary fusion of engineers, scientists and physicians who use a scientifically based approach to positively impact the quality of healthcare in disadvantaged areas around the world. Volunteer engineers and students return to the same hospitals year after year to ensure that their medical equipment and technological infrastructure remains in good working order and to train local engineers and technicians to maintain their own equipment. Speaker: Mohammad F. Kiani, Ph.D., F.A.H.A. Dr. Mohammad F. Kiani is a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, with joint appointments in the Department of Bioengineering and Department of Radiation Oncology, at Temple University. He served as the chair of Department of Mechanical Engineering at Temple University (2004-2014) and Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (2003-2004). He, along with Dr. Robert A. Malkin, co-funded Engineering World Health (EWH) in 1999 and continues to serve on the EWH board of directors. Dr. Kiani received a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Oklahoma in 1983 and M.S. and Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Louisiana Tech University in 1987 and 1990, respectively. The current focus of his research is the development of a “tissue on a chip” and development of novel techniques for targeting drugs to irradiated tumors and pro-angiogenic compounds to infracted cardiac tissue. Dr. Kiani received the prestigious Established Investigator Award from the American Heart Association. He is also a fellow of the American Heart Association and a senior member of IEEE. Technology and Society Forum |
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Monday, May 6 4:00pm-6:00pm Ballroom A |
International Service Projects- A Town Hall Presentation for Approval of Designs The Engineers without Borders (EWB) chapter of NJIT is working on two international service projects: a water supply project for Maca Grande, in Ecuador, a small agricultural community tucked away in the Andes Mountains; and, a Bicycle charging station for cell phones in Milot, Haiti. Nine students, with the help of the EWB-NJIT chapter, were engaged in three separate designs over the spring 2019, and they will be presenting their designs for approval to a group of Judges in a typical Town Hall type presentation. Each presentation will provide detailed designs and a cost estimate for implementation. Town Hall Evaluators (Judges): Drs. Jay Meegoda, Nancy Jackson, Lucia Rodriguez-Freire and Ms. Stephanie Santos
Problem in Ecuador: Approximately 300 residents of Maca Grande are facing the problem of obtaining safe drinking water. Currently, their main water source is a natural spring a half a mile away from the community. It takes close to an hour round trip to retrieve the water and they need multiple daily trips to collect their water. In addition, this water is also contaminated because the spring is shared with animals. Problem in Haiti: Approximately 1000 residents of Milot are facing a problem charging their cell phones as there is no electricity in Milot. During May 2018, NJIT-EWB chapter designed and installed a human powered cell phone charging station. However, that design can only charge one phone at a time and residents requested a charging station to charge many phones at one time.
Presentation #1, Above Ground Solution: In this design, students are proposing to use the existing spring, after capping the spring to take care of the filtration and contamination problems, and then design an above ground pipeline in order to bring the water to each home in the village. Presentation #2, Below Ground Solution: In this design, a well would be drilled deep enough in order to reach a groundwater aquifer, and then the water would be pumped up to a storage tank. The water from the storage tank would then be gravity fed to each family's home though a regular below ground pipeline. Presentation #3, A Multi Phone Charging Station: In this presentation, students would demonstrate the improved Light Cycle for Haiti. In this project, NJIT-EWB designed and fabricated a bike that can transfer mechanical power into electrical power to charge several cell phones. |
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Wednesday, May 8 |
Wind and String Ensemble NJIT Music Initiative that features 80 wind musicians and 25 string musicians. |