Representative Graduate Student Success Stories

This page contains stories of current graduate students or graduate alumni who have gone on to do great things in the world. It contains stories of students from all walks of life and from all corners of the globe, propelled to greatness by drive and determination.

• Zhenlu Qin, Ph.D. ’24, Assistant Professor, Auburn University.
   
• Jinzhen Wang, Ph.D. ’24, Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina-Charlotte.
   
• Weiqi Liu, Ph.D. ’24, Assistant Professor, Auburn University.
   
• Pragya Bharti, MS EE student, NJ Wind Institute (NJ-EDA) Fellow (2024-25).
   
• Moutasim Rahal, MS EE student, NJ Wind Institute (NJ-EDA) Fellow (2024-25).
   
• Xiaopeng Jiang, Ph.D. ’24, Assistant Professor, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.
   
• Yonjie Guan, Ph.D. ’24, Assistant Professor, University of Maine.
   
• Xueyu Hou, Ph.D. ’24, Assistant Professor, University of Maine.
   
• Alperen Abaci, Ph.D. ’24, Postdoc, Harvard Medical School.
   
• Keven Alkhoury, Ph.D. ’24, Postdoc, Brown University.
   
• Ella Ivanova, Ph.D. ’24, Postdoc, University of California-Riverside.
   
• Yassine Tissaoui,  Ph.D. ’24, Postdoc, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
   
• David Eisenberg, Ph.D. ’24, Assistant Professor, Montclair State University.
   
• Nasreen El-Rayes, Ph.D. ’24, Assistant Professor, Georgia State University.
   
• Sumona Paul, Ph.D. '24, received NJIT's inaugural Outstanding Ph.D. Dissertation award bestowed annually upon a doctoral candidate and acknowledges their exceptional scholarly achievements.
   
•  Yasser Almoteri, Ph.D. ’23, Assistant Professor, Al-Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
   
• Jorge Alberto Medina, Ph.D. '23, AT&T, https://news.njit.edu/phd-graduate-jorge-alberto-medinas-passion-electronics-started-his-native-honduras
   
• Maria Castagnola, PhD student in Chemistry, Fulbright Scholarship, starting Fall 2023.
   
• Smita More-Potdar, Ph.D. student in Biological Sciences, awarded the Executive Women of New Jersey’s (EWNJ) PSEG Graduate Merit Award, 2023.
   
• Amani Webber-Schultz, Ph.D. student in Biological Sciences, awarded Department of Defense Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation (DoD SMART), 2023.
   
• Michelle Hernandez, MS EE student, Mickey Leland Fellow with the U.S. Department of Energy (2023); GEM Board Fellow (2023); NJ Wind Institute (NJ-EDA) Fellow (2023).
   
• Alina Emelianova, Ph.D.  '23, PostDoc, Princeton University. https://news.njit.edu/exploring-intricate-world-cellular-processes-phds-path-moscow-princeton-njit
   
• Ogo Enekwizu, Ph.D. '20, PostDoc Brookhaven National Lab, NJIT Alum Ogo Enekwizu Brings Soot-seeded Clouds into Brookhaven National Lab (2023).
   
• ​John Stefan, Ph.D. Student in Applied Physics, https://news.njit.edu/njit-student-unveils-shock-sunquake-discoveries-sc22-nasa-exhibit (2023).​
   
• Fernando Vera Buschmann, PhD student in Computer Science, Fulbright Scholarship, starting Fall 2022.
   
• Rakibul Hafiz, Ph.D. '22, Post Doctoral Visiting Scientist in the Quantitative Medical Imaging Lab at National Institutes of Health (NIH) / National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), 2022
   
• Akhyurna Swain, Ph.D. student in Electrical Engineering, NJ Wind Institute (NJ-EDA) Fellow (2022 & 2023).
   
• Sindhu Sai Sree Parimi, MS student in Electrical Engineering, awarded a NJ Wind Institute (NJ-EDA) Fellowship (2022).
   
• Gabriela B. De Carvalho, Ph.D. student in Biomedical Engineering, Awarded a Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation (2022).
   
• Ayushi K. Sangoi,  Ph.D. student in Biomedical Engineering, Awarded a Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation (2022).
   
• Ayushi Sangoi, Ph.D. student in Biomedical Engineering, Tau Beta Pi (national engineering honor society) Graduate Fellowship, (2021). 
   
• Audrey Biondi Kellogg, Ph.D. student in Biological Sciences, awarded Department of Defense Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation (DoD SMART) Scholarship. NREIP: https://biology.njit.edu/newsroll/phd-candidate-audrey-biondi-receives-naval-research-internship-award DoD SMART: https://biology.njit.edu/newsroll/phd-candidate-audrey-biondi-receives-awarded-smart-scholarship (2021).
   
• ​Ryan Allaire, Ph.D. '21, Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at United States Military Academy, West Point
   
• ​​​​Connor J. Robertson, Ph.D. student in Mathematical Sciences, Department of Energy Graduate Student Research Award (Oak Ridge National Laboratory), 2021.
   
• ​Fangzhou Liu, Ph.D. student in Environmental Engineering, Modern-Day Technology Leader Award, BEYA STEM Conference, 2021.
   
• ​Xiaonan Shi, PhD student in Environmental Engineering, Graduate Student Award in Environmental Chemistry (ENVR) Division of the American Chemical Society (ACS), 2020.
   
• Huiyan Cao, PhD '20, Research Scientist, Facebook
   
• Victoria Harbour, MS '20.  Awarded a Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation (2019). 
   
• Kuriakose Kunnath, PhD '20, Senior Associate Scientist, Biogen
   
• Mingda Li, PhD '20, Machine Learning Engineer, Pinterest
   
• Gayani Sasendrika Gunarathna Karunarathna Mudiyanselage, PhD '20, Geotechnical Engineer, WSP USA
   
• Mandeep Pokhrel, PhD '20, Senior Engineer, Thornton Tomasetti
   
• Xin Yin, PhD '20, Research Scientist, Facebook
   
• ​Pengyi Zhao, PhD student in Chemistry, Student Research Award, Eastern Analytical Symposium, 2020, https://eas.org/2020/?page_id=2624,
   
• Alireza Bagheri, PhD '19, Machine Learning Engineer, American Express AI Labs
   
• Andrew J. deStefan, PhD '19, Senior Research Scientist, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
   
• Kerri Lee Chintersingh, PhD '19, Assistant Professor, Chemical & Materials Engineering, NJIT
   
• Xiaoyuan Liang, PhD '19, Research Scientist, Facebook
   
• ​Nandakumar Sasidharan Rajalekshmi, PhD '19, Post-Doctoral Researcher, IBM Research
   
• Vatsal Shah, '08H, MS '09, PhD '14. In 2019, he is named Young Engineer of the Year.
   
• Fei Tan, PhD '19, Research Scientist, Yahoo Research
   
• Wei Wang, PhD '95, recipient of the Albert Einstein Award for Innovation, 2019.
   
• Viacheslav Sadykov, PhD student in Applied Physics. Awarded a NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship (2018-2019).
   
• Chao Ya, MS '13, PhD '18, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Princeton NuEnergy, https://news.njit.edu/njit-alum-develops-tech-recycle-lithium-ion-batterie
   
• Dina Ayman, BS  '17, MS  '18, Intel (https://news.njit.edu/intel), Dina Ayman, NJIT Alum and Professor, Named to Forbes 30 Under 30 in Enterprise Tech
   
• Branislav Dimitrijevic, PhD ’18, Assistant Professor, NJIT
   
• Michael Lam, PhD ’18, Research Staff, US Army Coastal Hydraulics Lab
   
• Jasmine Morrison, MS '18, Changing the charter school conversation in Newark  
   
• Bharath Babu Nunna, PhD '18,  Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Harvard Medical School (https://news.njit.edu/biosensor-co-inventor-bharath-nunna-phd-18-joins-novel-organ-chip-research-harvard-med)
   
• ​Diego Rios,  PhD student in Mathematical Sciences.  Designated as an Associate Fellow by the National GEM Consortium (2018).
   
• Pelin Salem, PhD '18, Radio Compliance Technical Leader, Cisco Systems
  ​
• Jianchen Shan, PhD '18, Assistant Professor, Hofstra University
   
• Branislav Dimitrijevic, PhD '18, Assistant Professor, Civil & Environmental Engineering, NJIT
   
• Maedeh Soleimanifar, PhD student in Environmental Engineering. Awarded the 2018 Samuel Luciano Scholarship from the Utility & Transportation Contractors Association. 
   
• Xiang Sun, PhD '18, Assistant Professor, University of New Mexico
   
• Axel Turnquist, PhD student in Mathematical Sciences.  Awarded a Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation (2018).
   
• Phuoc Vu, PhD '18, Sensor Fusion Algorithm Engineer, Aptiv
   
• Chang Yaramothu, PhD '17, MS '14, BS '13, Assistant Professor, School of Applied Engineering and Technology, NJIT. https://news.njit.edu/newly-minted-njit-engineering-professor-named-fellow-academy-optometry and https://news.njit.edu/rojas-cessa-yaramothu-named-senior-members-national-academy-inventors
   
• Randolph Leiser, PhD ‘17, Postdoc, Sanofi
   
• Pejman Sanaei, PhD ‘17, Courant Instructor, NYU
   
• Ivana Seric, PhD ‘17, Data Scientist, Philadelphia 76ers (NBA). NJIT Alum and 76ers Data Scientist on Joining the NBA's Data Revolution
   
• Tong Shu, PhD ’17, Postdoc, Argonne National Laboratory
   
• Rajveer Sidhu, MS '17, Senior Software Engineer, REZI
   
• Turki Turki, PhD ’17, Assistant Professor, King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia
   
• Dongliang Chu, PhD ’16, Postdoc, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
   
• Lenka Kovalcinova, PhD ’16, Data Scientist, Google
   
• Ha Pham, PhD '16, NJIT Ph.D. Candidate Wins Graduate Student Award From NJ Inventors Hall of Fame
   
• Daqing Yun, PhD ’16, Assistant Professor, Harrisburg University
   
• Liuhui Zhao, PhD ’16, Postdoc Research Associate, University of Delaware
   
• Mohammad Elgammal, MS ’15, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
   
• Ali Fouladgar, PhD '15, Principal, Systems Engineering, TATA Communications
   
• Cynthia Hassler, Graduate Certificate '15, http://news.njit.edu/certificate-alumna-adds-valuable-skills-her-resum​
   
• Tao Han, PhD ’15, Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
   
• Rogerio Henriques '15, MBA alumnus carves global career path in medical technology 
   
• ​Megan Litwhiler, PhD ’15, Research Communications Associate, Museum of Science, Boston
   
• Zhe He, PhD ’14, Assistant Professor, Florida State University
   
• Bo Chen, PhD '14, Assistant Professor, Michigan Technological University
   
• Behzad Ahmadi, PhD '13, Data Scientist, Walmart Labs
   
• David Daudelin, MS ‘13, Amazon, https://news.njit.edu/alumnus-implements-customer-facing-features-amazon/
   
• Chen Chen, PhD '12, Senior DSP Engineer, SpaceX
   
• Tariq Elkourdi, PhD '11, RF Performance Engineer, Nokia
   
• Abhishek Prasad, PhD '11, Assistant Professor, University of Miami 
   
• Ashish Borgaonkar, PhD '11, Assistant Professor, School of Applied Engr & Tech, NJIT
   
• Rajath Nagaraja, MS '07, Vice President, Goldman Sachs
   
• Xiaofang Wang, PhD '05, Associate Professor & Chair, Villanova University
   
• Kalpesh G. Kapadia, MS '97, https://news.njit.edu/playing-his-cards-right-kalpesh-g-kapadia-ms-9
   
• Gunjan Samtani, MS '97, Global Chief Operating Officer of Engineering at Goldman Sachs and Country Head of Goldman Sachs Services India
   
• Fadi Deek, PhD '97, NJIT faculty member (former Provost and Senior Executive Vice President)
   
• John Pelesko, PhD '97, current Provost and Senior Vice President.