P r e s i d e n t ’s R e p ort
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F o s t e r i n g N at i o n a l R E c o g n i t i o n i n B i o m e d i c i n e
With NSF support,
Cheul Cho, assistant professor of biomedical engi-
Marino Xanthos,
neering, also received a Coulter Foundation
Translational Award to develop a device that uses
liver cells derived from stem cells for the treatment of liver failure. His invention provides for a
rapid, direct differentiation method that yields a
homogeneous population of endoderm-like cells,
which can then be further differentiated into
hepatocyte-like cells with hepatic morphology,
functionality, and gene and protein expression.
professor of chemical
engineering, is
leading a project to
develop a drug
manufacturing
technology based
on Hot-Melt
Extrusion (HME).
The goal is to help
commercialize
numerous drugs
that never
progressed to
the marketplace
due to poor
bioavailability.
Donald H. Sebastian, senior vice president for research and development, is principal investigator
on a grant of more than $23 million from the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
to achieve widespread meaningful use of health IT
and facilitate use of an electronic health record for
every person by the year 2014. The university created the New Jersey Health Information Technology Extension Center to assist New Jersey’s health
care providers in their significant use of health information technology through outreach, consultation and user support for the state’s primary
care providers serving at-risk population centers.
With NSF support, Marino Xanthos, professor
of chemical engineering, is leading a project to
develop a drug manufacturing technology based
on Hot-Melt Extrusion (HME), a process widely
used in the plastics industry that holds the potential of improving the bioavailabilty of poorly soluble drugs. The goal is to help to commercialize
numerous drugs that never progressed to the
marketplace due to their solubility-caused poor
bioavailability, and change the delivery route of
some drugs from injection to oral.
Somenath Mitra, professor of chemistry, is
collaborating with Frank Witzmann, professor of
cellular and integrative physiology at the Indiana
University School of Medicine, in an NIHsponsored study to assess the potential biological
and toxicological impacts of carbon nanotubes.
The NJIT team will synthesize and characterize
reproducible nanotubes in order to generate protein biomarker candidates of the biological and
toxicological effects on the digestive system.
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SHAPING THE AGE OF “DIGITAL EVERYWARE”
“D
Somenath Mitra,
professor of
chemistry, is
collaborating in an
NIH-sponsored
study to assess the
potential biological
igital Everyware” is NJIT’s name
for the ubiquitous computing
that has changed the way we work,
the way we learn, the way we play, and even the way
in which we interact with others. Computer chips
are adding functionality to just about everything,
from musical greeting cards to cars and appliances
to “smart” homes. Wireless technology adds mobility and flexibility, and voice, data, video and Internet are available everywhere, from tinier and
tinier devices. Social networking is part of the fabric of daily life, as are concerns about online security. NJIT researchers are working to create the tools
to help the digital world function and to evaluate
the impact of new technologies on society.
and toxicological
impacts of carbon
nanotubes.
NJIT’s Center for Communications and Signal
Processing, directed by Yeheskel Bar-Ness,
distinguished professor of electrical and computer
engineering, works to develop the infrastructure to
enable the next generation of wireless telecommunications. The group addresses such issues as privacy and security, interference and jamming, everheavier user traffic, and rapid transmission of data
through wireless networks. Current studies focus
on the concept of cooperative communications for
wireless networks, such as cellular networks, sensor
networks, and wireless ad hoc networks.
Osvaldo Simeone, assistant professor of electri-
cal and computer engineering, is leading a team
developing enabling technologies, and transmission models and protocols, and for cognitive
radio. In this wireless technology, either network
or wireless node itself changes particular transmission or reception parameters to execute its
8
“
D
igital Everyware”is NJIT’s name for the ubiquitous
computing that has changed the way we work, the way
we play, and even the way we interact with others.
NJIT’s School
Louis Lanzerotti
of Management,
(below), distinguished
Associate Professor
research professor of
Katia Passerini (above),
physics, was named by
investigates the atti-
the National Research
tudes and perceptions
Council of the National
that people bring to
Academies of Science
online learning, social
and NASA to study elec-
networks and even elec-
tronic systems used in
tronic health records.
the automotive industry.
P r e s i d e n t ’s R e p ort
Osvaldo Simeone
(far left in photo on
facing page), assistant
professor of electrical
and computer
engineering, with
graduate students
Tariq Elkourdi,
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S h a p i n g t h e A g e of “ D i g i ta l E v e ry wa r e ”
tasks efficiently without interfering with the
licensed users. The team is working to address
technical drawbacks in the current frameworks
used in cognitive radio by introducing a novel
framework of distributed spectrum leasing via
cross-layer cooperation (DiSC) to guide the
design of medium access control/data link (MAC/
DL) – physical layer protocols in decentralized
cognitive radio networks. He hopes to gain a
theoretical understanding of the approach’s potential from the standpoints of network information theory and networking theory, as well as
designing protocols that effectively implement
DiSC in a complex wireless environment.
Namjeong Lee and
Keonkook Lee, is
leading a team
developing enabling
technologies, and
transmission models
and protocols, and
for cognitive radio.
Christian Borcea,
associate professor
of computer
Realizing that networks in the digital age no
longer require linked computers — or any
computers at all — Christian Borcea, associate
professor of computer science, designs software
architectures and applications for large-scale
mobile networks. MobiSoC is a middleware —
software that connects people with individuals
— for mobile social applications, which capture
the social state of human communities, learn
previously unknown patterns from emergent
geosocial data, and share these data with applications while respecting users’ privacy concerns.
The applications supported by MobiSoC run on
Smart Phones and allow anytime, anywhere collaboration and coordination among community
members. With an NSF grant, he is currently
working on an infrastructure for mobile social
computing in collaboration with the University
of South Florida.
Borcea is also working with Guiling Wang,
assistant professor of computer science, to
develop inter-vehicular networking, computing,
and sensing technologies to improve driving
safety. Today’s vehicles have embedded computers,
GPS receivers, short-range wireless network interfaces, and potentially access to in-car sensors
and the Internet. In the NSF-funded project,
these would interact with road-side wireless sensor networks to warn drivers of accidents or
congestion ahead, estimate potential delays, and
even send a message ahead to alert others that
the driver is delayed.
science, designs
software
architectures and
applications for
large-scale mobile
networks.
From NJIT’s School of Management, Associate
Professor Katia Passerini investigates the attitudes and perceptions that people bring to online
learning, social networks and even electronic
health records. With Starr Roxanne Hiltz, distin-
guished professor emeritus of information systems, she compared the privacy concerns of
members of Facebook and MySpace. They found
that although members had significant concerns
about privacy, they were willing to share information and meet new people and concluded that
trust is not as necessary in the building of new
online relationships as it is in face to face encounters. She and Diane Walsh, senior university
lecturer of law, looked into current practice and
concerns about privacy related to medical
records, particularly electronic health records
(EHRs). She and Elizabeth Gomez, senior university lecturer in information systems, considered the benefits of team-based learning and how
it can be adapted to an online setting.
Quentin Jones, associate professor of information systems, researches social computing and
social software, particularly how various social
computing system designs can both enable and
constrain interpersonal and group interactions.
He directs the SmartCampus project that is developing hardware and
software to help students to connect better
with other students
and the NJIT campus.
With an NSF grant, he
is currently looking at
interpersonal communication channels such
as texting, instant messaging and mobile phone
conversations to coordinate social activities, such
as the planning of a future face-to-face meeting
— what he terms “outeraction” — and how
appropriate software could improve the process.
He hopes to provide the infrastructure to improve people’s ability to engage in social activities of interest and coordinate with others in a
simple way to increase social connectivity.
Louis Lanzerotti, distinguished research professor of physics, was named by the National
Research Council of the National Academies and
NASA to study electronic systems used in the
automotive industry with a view to identifying
possible causes of unintended acceleration in
vehicles in the aftermath of the recent large-scale
recalls. The panel will look at software, computer
hardware design, electromagnetic compatibility
and electromagnetic interference and make
recommendations to the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration.
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