School of Engineering Annual Impact Report
Fiscal Year 2024
Dean's Message
Dean's Message
Alberto Cuitiño, PhD
Continuous Pursuit of Excellence
As one of the leading engineering schools in the nation, we believe it is our responsibility to be at the forefront in educating the next generation to address complex and multifaceted global challenges and to advance through innovation and collaborative research realistic, workable and equitable solutions for our communities, nation, and planet.
Our path forward includes engaging students across the entire state and beyond and increasing access to our programs, research, and community. We are developing academic programs in collaboration with industry that anticipate future career paths. We are advancing next-level research that envisions and innovates for what’s coming next and how to adapt it to make life better for all of us.
The Future Must Be Built
As we look to the future, we will continue to strengthen our school’s reputation as an academic leader in engineering, recognizing the impact of education and the value of well-educated young engineers.
Our expansive research program is department-focused and transdisciplinary in areas including cybersecurity, energy storage, smart infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, robotics and AI, and more. Pushing beyond our boundaries, we collaborate with industry and government partners, other Rutgers schools and divisions, national lab partners, and external university teams.
Research and Innovation
With its five nationally recognized research centers, $70 million in FY 2024 research awards, and recognition by Reuters as one of the nation’s Top 100 innovative universities, Rutgers Engineering is a place where big ideas come to life.
Our School's research leaders build teams and partnerships that drive and develop transformative technologies in AI and machine learning, cybersecurity, healthcare sciences, infrastructure, sustainable energy systems and materials, advanced manufacturing, and more.
Wireless and Autonomous Systems
SoE engineers have received significant federal funding for innovative research projects to advance next-generation wireless network research, transform manufacturing for future smart factories, remove barriers to the physical challenges of working with robots, and more.
NTIA Consortium Next-gen Wireless Innovation
Smart Manufacturing
The NSF has awarded Rutgers Engineering researchers nearly $3 million for a four-year project to develop “NextG-Enabled Manufacturing (NextGEM) of the Future” to improve advanced manufacturing efficiencies.
Researchers Are Investigating Wearable Robots to Expand Job Opportunities
Two teams of researchers are working to remove barriers to the physical challenges of work.
Climate and Sustainability
Discovering solutions to today’s most pressing climate, energy, and sustainability challenges is a key priority for SoE researchers—who have received grants for collaborations within the School and across the university.
Rutgers Engineering faculty are part of the university's Megalopolitan Coastal Transformation Hub to fortify New Jersey's coast against climate change and extreme weather events and develop the next generation of climate resilience experts by providing hands-on experience for Rutgers graduate and undergraduate students.
Researchers will investigate the use of steel slag and its potential to help decarbonize the nation’s transportation sector.
Researchers from eight institutions and an industry partner will develop technologies to transform the seaweed into a feedstock of the future, capable of producing valuable materials including fuels, chemicals, fertilizers, and other products.
USDA funding will spark innovations in plant growth from urban areas to outer space.
Assistant Professor Aziz Ezzat’s wind energy research efforts have been supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Offshore Wind Research & Development Consortium (NOWRDC), and the New Jersey Wind Institute.
The Rutgers-designed, hybrid reef-mimicking experiment could provide protection from storms and coastal flooding.
Health and Medicine
Rutgers engineers are revolutionizing healthcare by improving ways to monitor infections, administer vaccines, heal skin, efficiently manufacture injectable pharmaceuticals, and more.
This point-of-care biomedical platform is designed to monitor a patient’s response to surgical site infections so they can be promptly diagnosed and treated.
Super sensitive technique could revolutionize treatment during pandemics like COVID-19
The process could usher in an era of shot-free vaccines, researchers say
Rutgers–New Brunswick engineer and students create patch that combines sensors and bacteria to interact with the body
By studying novel biomolecular structures, Rutgers–New Brunswick scientists hope to better understand their role in health and disease
Project’s Phase 1 to determine feasibility of proposed mobile system for manufacturing injectables.
Rutgers Engineers and Scientists Launch Wind Energy Research Center
A Rutgers research project focused on offshore wind energy is poised to make New Jersey a global leader in the field in less than a decade.
International Hub and Talent Pipeline in Glass Science and Technology
Rutgers is a world-class glass and ceramics research hub working towards solving issues relevant to our sustainable future and creating a well-trained and skilled workforce for the global glass and ceramic industry.
Improving Bridge Safety Through AI-Powered Database
Rutgers Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation (CAIT) received $5 million over five years from the U.S. Department of Transportation to develop a clearinghouse of the latest bridge safety innovations incorporating artificial intelligence technology.
Active Start-ups
SoE launched four start-ups during 2023-2024, two of which are highlighted below:
Queens Carbon will receive $14.5 million in government funding to advance its groundbreaking technology that aims to eliminate carbon emissions from the cement industry.
A Rutgers researcher, through his spinoff company RizLab Health Inc., has led a team to design and test a device that quickly counts a person’s white blood cells with a single drop of blood, similar to the way glucometers rapidly scan for blood sugar levels.
Student Achievement
Leaving Her Mark as an Advocate for Indigenous Peoples
Katie Lynch, a biomedical engineering student, has spent much of her time at college in leadership roles and representing Native Americans.
Engineers in Action Build Bridge in Africa
Student members of the Rutgers Engineers in Action (EIA) chapter journeyed to Eswatini in southern Africa and embarked on an eight-week Mandlakhe suspended footbridge project.
Students Earn Prestigious Goldwater Scholarships
Faculty News
Rutgers Engineering faculty are recognized world-class leaders in their fields who are seeking innovative technological solutions to some of today’s most pressing societal problems. Supported by more than $70 million in research expenditures, cutting-edge research is conducted in five nationally recognized research centers and in dedicated specialized labs and facilities.
Associate Professor and Mary W. Raisler Distinguished Teaching Chair Jonathan Singer’s project focuses on developing composite materials to help tune the mechanical and reactive properties of solid rocket propellant. Assistant Professor Steven Berg’s project seeks a way to enable sustained flight at VLEO – very low Earth orbit.
Distinguished Life Membership in the American Ceramic Society (ACerS) recognizes Klein for significant contributions to ceramic science as both a mentor to students and junior scientists and a leader in the society itself.
Guo was selected as the 2024 medalist, according to ASME, for “fundamental contributions to hard machining process development, surface integrity characterization, and functionality validation, which have generated a significant economic and sustainability impact in the machining industry.”
Yingying Chen Named ACM Fellow
The Association for Computing Machinery named Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor Yingying Chen to its most recent class of fellows for her contributions to computing science and technology that support daily life.
Alumni Achievement
Since earning his bachelor’s degree in electrical and computer engineering, Peter Pupalaikis has enjoyed a distinguished career as an inventor, textbook author, and current founding member and director of signal integrity at Nubis Communications. He was recently elected to the National Academy of Engineering for his pioneering work in DSP and microwave techniques.
The 2024 Medal of Excellence cohort—Bruce Dunn, Mike Haberman, Ken Johnson, Whitney Muse, Parth Oza, and Vasant Padmanabhan—have excelled in aerospace and defense, materials innovation, transportation, clean energy, wireless technology, and medicine.
Jilian Melamed is a member of the Weissman Lab at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, where her research focuses on targeted lipid nanoparticles for messenger RNA, or mRNA, delivery. The Weissman lab is led by Drew Weissman, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2023 along with Katalin Karikó.
About the School of Engineering
