28th Annual Salute to Engineering Excellence

April 16, 2026

Stone House at Stirling Ridge
50 Stirling Road, Warren, NJ 07059
 
Faculty, Staff, and Student Ceremony: 5:00 PM
Cocktail Hour: 6:00 PM
Alumni Awards and Dinner: 7:00 PM
 

Join us in congratulating this year's outstanding alumni, students, faculty and staff honorees:

 

Alumni Honorees

 
Newark College of Engineering Outstanding Alumnus
 
Manuel A. DaSilva, 'BS CE '93
 
Chief Executive Officer
New Jersey Schools Development Authority

 
Newark College of Engineering Spirit Award

Rolando E. Acosta, Esq. 
President and CEO
 
JAG Companies

 
Newark College of Engineering Outstanding Industry Partnership Award
Pennoni
 

Student Honorees

 
Newark College of Engineering Outstanding Senior Award
Samantha Montalbine
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering

 
Newark College of Engineering Departmental Outstanding Senior Award
Adam Mariano
Helen and John C. Hartmann Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
Samantha Montalbine
Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering
Kaily Peixoto
School of Applied Engineering & Technology
 Pia Piazzi
Otto H. York Department of Chemical & Materials Engineering
Krish Poudel
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Enzo Suarez
John A. Reif, Jr. Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering

 
Saul K. Fenster Innovation in Design Award
 
Machine Learning Enhanced Electromyography (EMG) Prosthetic Arm 
By: Cheyenne Campos, Chris Davorson, Edward Hernandez, 
Brandon Lee and Amiyah Stephens
 
Helen and John C. Hartmann Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

 
Madame Mau Outstanding Female Engineering Student Award
 
 Iniobong Ofonime
Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering

 
Newark College of Engineering Outstanding Graduate Student Award
Mohammad Jafari
Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering
 
Newark College of Engineering Outstanding Student Organization Award
 
Engineers Without Borders (EWB)
   John A. Reif, Jr. Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering

 
Newark College of Engineering Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award

Dr. Charbel Abou-Khalil
John A. Reif, Jr. Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
 

Faculty and Staff Honorees

 

Newark College of Engineering Excellence in Teaching Award
Ashish Borgaonkar
School of Applied Engineering & Technology

 
Saul K. Fenster Innovation in Engineering Education Award

Swapnil Moon
Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering 

 
Newark College of Engineering Outstanding Advising Award

Faneza Hoossain-Ally
Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering  

 
Newark College of Engineering Excellence in Teaching by an Adjunct Award
 
Lucas Dorazio
Otto H. York Department of Chemical & Materials Engineering
 
 
Newark College of Engineering Rising Star Research Award
 
Prateek Shekhar
School of Applied Engineering & Technology

 
Newark College of Engineering Outstanding Administrative Staff Award
Byron Chen
Helen and John C. Hartmann Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
 
Newark College of Engineering Dean's Service Award

Alexandra Carreras
Campus Planning, Design & Construction
 

 

Questions? Please contact salute@njit.edu

 

 

Every Spring, NJIT's Newark College of Engineering (NCE) hosts its annual gala reception and networking event for over 150 people that will celebrate and recognize outstanding members of the NCE Family. 

The goal is to support efforts to educate, research, improve and expand programs for students.  All proceeds of this event go toward the NCE Board of Visitors Endowed Scholarship and Dean's Fund.

NCE is one of the oldest and largest professional engineering schools in the United States and offers 18 undergraduate degree programs, 20 master's and 10 doctoral degree programs.  NCE has recently introduced 5 new master's MS programs responding to the needs of the industry and the students.  Undergraduate enrollment is more than 4,500 and more than 2,500 are enrolled in graduate studies.  The 144-member faculty includes engineers and scholars who are widely recognized in their fields.