In Living Memory: Fatima Kasaem

As Muslims it’s on of our responsibilities to protect the environment. The MSA planned to take a small step towards helping the environment by planting a tree in front of the athletic center. What was planned to be a simple action soon turned into something incredible.

On April 12th 2010 our 24 year old sister Fatima Kasaem passed away. She graduated from NJIT, she walked the same halls that we walk, she sat in the same seats that we sit in and she took the same classes we take but she did so in away that touched the hearts of countless people.

Fatima’s influence reached everybody from her closest friends and family to people that never had the chance to meet her. Even when she was in a coma she spoke to people in away that woke everybody up and sent out a wake up call to everybody, we need to change.

Nobody could’ve guessed that we were remembering her. We laughed, we joked and we cheered as we dug the hole for the tree. If you passed by the gym between 2:30 pm and 4:00 pm you would have seen a large group of brother digging the hole while the sisters sat near by taking pictures and giving the brothers instructions on what should be done for the tree, it was truly a family event.

During our digging we came upon a rather large rock stubbornly lodged in the ground. Even though the rock didn’t pose any threat to our plans we joked by attempting to take out the rock. Omar Awad (Fatima’s Husband) kept joking saying who ever pulls the rock from the ground will be president of the MSA. It was a hard rock but Mousa and myself had a harder head; we refused to let the rock remain in its place.

As NJIT students we did what comes naturally, we started yelling out answers on how to pull the rock as if it were a physics problem. We all took turns shoveling and pulling the rock, an hour and a broken shovel later we finally pulled out the rock and everybody cheered. As we all went to put the tree in the whole a brother said “that was fun guys, let’s dig deeper and find another rock!” Laughter burst from all directions.

After planting the tree and watering it, we set a plack in memory of Sister Fatima. The tree which was at first planned for environmental reasons only was now a symbol of hope. Every time I walk by that tree now I cant help but stand by it for a bit to remember Fatima whom I never meet, to remember what she left us and to know that we have a beautiful family.

Even though some people usually think of death to be a sad event we saw it in a different light, we saw how beautifully you can live your life, how much good you can do in a short life time and to see the family that you have had all along. It is extremely difficult to describe the feelings and lessons that came out of this so I would like to share with you a short dialogue that I had with brother Omar a few hours after burying Fatima. Omar approached me and asked “are you doing okay?” I couldn’t believe it, this man who just lost his wife is asking ME if I’m okay so I said “yes thank god, how are you?”

His response was beautiful, with a smile he said “She’s fine and I’m fine.”

In Memory: Dr. William Spillers

Dr. William Spillers, distinguished professor and former chairman of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering passed away Tuesday, April 20, 2010. Bill began his career at NJIT as a professor and chairman of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in 1990 and served in that capacity until June 1998. Prior to joining the NJIT faculty he was a professor of civil engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He received the Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1961.

A pillar of the NJIT university community, Dr. Spillers was an expert in structural mechanics and design theory. He was a registered P.E. in both New York and New Jersey and participated widely in professional activities including the American Society of Civil Engineers, the NSF Foundation Workshop on Computational Foundations of Architectural Design, and the Second International Conference on Civil and Structural Engineering Computing. Professor Spillers was named “Educator of the Year” by the Consulting Engineers Council of New Jersey, received a Guggenheim Fellowship and was a member of both Sigma Xi and Chi Epsilon. During his recent sabbatical leave (2008-2009) he completed a new book entitled Structural Optimization published by Springer-Verlag.

Always very active in every aspect of university life, Bill will be missed by his many students and colleagues not only for his numerous scholarly contributions, but for his sharp wit and never failing sense of humor. He is survived by his wife Joy and his children. Information regarding a memorial service will be announced shortly.

There will be a memorial service for Dr. William Spillers on Wednesday, May 5, 2010 from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in Ballroom B, following the NJIT faculty meeting. The Spillers family has requested that donations in Bill’s memory be made to the Breast Cancer Network of Strength charity (http://www.networkofstrength.org/information).

Please take a moment to visit Bill’s memorial blog (http://rememberingbillspillers.blogspot.com/), where friends, students, and colleagues can post their memories of Bill .

In Loving Memory:

Nia Haqq & Michael Muchioki

Michael, 27, and Nia, 25, had just returned from their engagement party in New Brunswick when they were slain on April 4, 2010.

Michael Muchioki worked for a software company in Downtown Jersey City. He was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and attended New Jersey Institute of Technology, as a student in the Albert Dorman Honors College. Muchioki loved the Dallas Cowboys and played football for Marist High School in Bayonne.

He had been dating Nia Haqq for five years after meeting her at Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority while she attended The College of New Jersey. Nia Haqq worked as an Associate Producer for the Digital Team of Nickelodeon.

The couple was engaged in December and were planning to marry in April of next year in Aruba.

Family and friends of the young couple, including Muchioki’s fraternity brothers, created a website in their memory: www.Lovemikenia.com. Visitors can also donate to the memorial fund to help pay for funeral costs for the couple by visiting the website.

Memorial services for Haqq and Muchioki occurred on April 7 and April 9 respectively. Nia’s was in Jersey City while Michael’s was in Newark, where the couple was buried together.

There will be a memorial for Michael Muchioki on May 2 on the Lower Green at 9 pm.

Tom Flusk

Copy Editor

After months of preparation, Michael Lowry of NJIT has won the 2010 American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Design Competition for District A, held last Saturday at Drexel University in Pennsylvania. Lowry won with his recycling robot named “RUFUS.” This year’s competition was called “Earth Saver.” Students had to create a robot that would sort glass, plastic, metal and aluminum recyclables. The competition usually consists of teams of up to four, but Lowry competed as a team of one.

According to Lowry, the ASME competition is, “Really a game to try and create these attributes in this design…  We want to create a product that is smaller, uses less power, and has a minimal weight.” All of these factors are given certain point values for judging, along with successful sorting, not sorting, incorrect sorting, size constraints, weight, and sorting speed, (There was a five minute time limit.).

Lowry said of his robot’s performance, “It sorted six items correctly, three items incorrectly, one item was in the unsorted bin, and two items remained in the robot.” He continued, “The next most successful device sorted three correct items, one incorrect, and then got jammed. It was a great challenge for all of us to keep from getting jammed.”

Since Lowry won the District competition, he now qualifies for the Finals, which are to be held at the ASME International Council and Exposition in Vancouver, Canada. The event will last one week, from November 12-18. There he will compete against the other district champions to be the overall winner. Lowry said, “I kind of feel like I got my ticket to the Super Bowl.”

Lowry said of winning, “It is a great personal satisfaction to have brought home the first place trophy.” He went on to say, “It was great to have all of those people there to support me, and to share in this victory.” He thanked all of his family who was there with him, and also thanked, “All the people who weren’t there who had given me support… The Vector staff, the Nucleus staff, Jack Gidney from the robotics lab, and Professor McDermot from the IE department next door.” Lowry also wanted to thank the members of the other NJIT team; Phong Pham, Tina Narine, and Faizan Naqvi, who he said helped him, “quite a bit.”

This is not Lowry’s first taste of success in the ASME Student Design Competition. He won third place in the 2009 competition, with a “Mars Rocks” theme. For that competition, he designed a mars rover type robot named “BRUCE,” that could pick up “space rocks.” Like he did in this year’s competition, he competed as a team of one.

Jamil Wilkins

Staff Writer

The Student Athlete Advisory Committee (S.A.A.C.) hosted their 5th  annual 24-Hour Relay this past week on the Lubetkin field. Unlike traditional relay races and charity events that involve a minimum of four participants for no more than twelve hours, this event lasted for 24 hours straight, and involved the entire NJIT community.

“I am more than happy to help out anyone who’s willing to run for 24 hours,” said director of Gourmet Dining Services Peter Fischbach, who donated more than 80% of the food for last year’s relay.

Beginning at 12:00pm on Thursday, April 22 and ending at noon on April 23, 2010, the committee started the fundraiser by jogging the track and then passing the baton to the faculty, staff, students, and team members throughout the day.

The objective of the fundraiser was to keep one of the two starter batons on the track for the entire event. The student athletes were all sponsored by their professors, employers, and community members for their involvement in the project – in which a pledge was sworn to walk or jog the designated laps to raise money for the Boy’s and Girl’s Club of Newark.

The relay held up strongly despite the participants remaining outside as the weather decreased to a low 40 degrees. Most of the people left behind after midnight were wrapped in sleeping bags or cuddled within their fleece jackets. Throughout the course of the race members of the track and field team spent a copious amount of the time between midnight and 6am exercising their iron chef techniques by barbequing delectable dishes for the runners to replenish with.

According to S.A.A.C. Vice-president Katherine Joseph, “this is a positive event to help raise a sufficient amount of money for local or well-known charity organizations. The entire athletic staff, student-athletes, faculty, and staff came out to show their support by donating and walking/running laps around the track. This is why we have continued to host this event.”

The student-athletes were interested in choosing a local organization within the Newark Community. “We are trying to build a relationship with the city of Newark so NJIT can promote its name, and we chose an organization that helps the youth in our community. The Boy’s and Girl’s Club of Newark is a second home for some of the youth in the Newark community keeping them off the streets. If we can help to keep today’s youth off the streets and be involved in an extra-curricular activity, S.A.A.C. is in full support,” stated Joseph.

Each year the S.A.A.C. arranges a goal to fundraise for an organization. Last year the organization raised over $2,000 for St Jude’s Children’s Hospital. “Not only did we bring together the whole school and athletics, but came together to raise money and raise awareness for a good cause,” Joseph continued. “24 hours is a long time to keep an event going, but each year more people continue to show their support throughout all hours of the night.” The large numbers of support is what drives the S.A.A.C. to continue this event.

The planning process is a challenge within itself. Each Division 1 sport has 1 to 2 representatives who sit in on the meetings. They each discussed the charity, the time, and date of the event (usually the last Thursday and Friday prior to Greek Week). Joseph felt the relay ran smoother than previous years since the student-athletes were more dedicated to filling the early morning slots.

Megan Higgins of the track and field team was wide awake at 2:30 am with her teammates and the women’s soccer team. “It makes me proud to be a part of track and field even more with all the athletes.”

“The relay is amazing. I love my team,” freshman Ewelina Marut closely validated. The S.A.A.C. felt that athletes were the most valuable part of the event’s success. They bring in the most money and show how much they care by sacrificing their time and energy for a cause.

The relay, however, wasn’t all work and no play. Despite the cause, the participants were able to enjoy different activities and games set up around the field. The goal of the S.A.A.C. was to raise money greater than or equal to the amount earned last year.

Frank Perrotti of Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity was satisfied to be up passed 3am to support the cause. “I was born in Newark. The Boy’s and Girl’s Club is important, and I’m happy to serve the community by contributing – even if it was ten laps.”

That was the goal of Coach Adalberto Alonso of the NJIT Men’s and Women’s Cross Country / Track and Field team when he started the 24-Hour Relay in 2005. He wanted to reach out to the community in a way that would involve every sports team as well as the university, through running.

In spring of 2007, Coach Alonso passed the torch to the Student Athlete Advisory Committee so the student athlete populous could ultimately control the project. The 24-Hour Relay will continue in the next term with the Student Athlete Advisory Committee striving to improve Newark by exercising their potent constitutions on the track.

Jamil Wilkins is a senior Communications and Media major and can be reached at JWilkins@njitvector.com.

Mike Lowry

Editor in Chief

Last Friday night, the annual semi formal masqueraded through The Bethwood in Totowa NJ, as NJIT students, staff, and administrators gathered to celebrate the end of another year. The dance has been an ongoing yearly affair organized by the Senior Class committee of the Student Senate.

“I think people were just ready to have fun,” said Annacler Harris-Blevin, Senior Class President for the class of 2010. “Everything around here has been so stressful. Maybe it’s just me because I’m a senior and everyone around me is stressed, but people, I think, were just ready to get dressed up.”

The event has been a long standing tradition for NJIT seniors, Athletes, Greeks, Club Members, staff members, and administrators. “There were 6 or more Greek organizations; there were people from the guys soccer team, the girls soccer, team, the guys and girls volleyball team, a lot of the girls basketball team, the Nucleus, the Vector, EOP—Everyone. I think there was a [wide] variety of people, so everyone was happy and dancing.”

The ambiance was that of a vibrant Venetian Carnival, with bright colored feathers, masks, and centerpieces. Many guests took time to decorate their own customized masks for the party, and some took the theme to the extreme. Overall the attendance at this year’s event seemed in the mood for a party.

“I don’t know [if] semi formal has been bigger or smaller in the past, but I really think that it’s getting bigger,” said Harris-Blevin. “Some people still don’t know what the NJIT semi formal is. When they see signs, they’re like ‘what on earth is this?’ I know in my freshman year, I [thought], ‘what is this, prom? Who’s going to go to this?’ but it’s actually a really good experience. “

Despite dinner being served at almost 9:30pm, there was still plenty of time for dancing and partying while still leaving time at the beginning for appetizers and casual socializing. “Honestly, every other NJIT function I’ve attended, there were never that many people dancing,” said Harris-Blevin. “ I looked around and there were so many empty seats…I was really happy with the DJ [too], he was actually an NJIT student.”

When asked how they arrived at the theme for the party, Harris-Blevin explained, “We had to plan things way in advance. [We] had a committee meeting last semester, and each idea that people came up with had already been used. Mara Crespo was the one who actually came up for the idea with the idea for a Venetian Carnival [theme], and I actually didn’t know what it was. So we looked it up and I was like ‘It’s perfect! Like a masquerade.’ It seemed like something fun.”

Many guests were regular attendees of the event through their years at NJIT, and had a lot to look forward to. “People had been telling me weeks in advance: I can’t wait till semi formal’. I think it was just a good place where people could get together with their friends.”

But pulling off such an event seamlessly to yield such a great experience is no simple task, attested Harris-Blevin. “It took more than six hours just to pick out the glassware. We had to deal with the florist, find a DJ, [etc].  We spent so much time just Googling [everything]…It took [about] six hours a day for like three weeks.”

Behind the scenes, there are always challenges and unexpected kinks in the planning process. “The one huge problem was the day that we were leaving,” said Harris-Blevin. “Other people had sold tickets for the bus and written [their information] on the receipt but not on the list…so we were [about] 20 people over.” However, with the addition of a second last minute bus, the problem was resolved and all was well.

When asked what advice she would give to the next Senior Class president, Harris-Blevin said ““Write everything down, and make lists so that you have everything covered, because every part of the night is important, and you don’t want to forget anything. Also, make sure that you have a good committee [and] have people who are committed. … It was so helpful this year to have [good] people. I would recommend getting people who are really dedicated, because then they really care … [our committee] would do whatever we needed to make it a successful event. “

After the music stopped and the people went home, the work of the senior class committee came to a close. “I’m happy that so many people came and that everyone had fun. I’ve been getting facebook messages and compliments…and that was really nice. … After it’s all over … I feel really good about it. “

Lori-Ann Sciachitano

Distribution Manager

NJIT started Green Week with two NJIT collection drives. The Soles for Souls shoe drive for Haiti, sponsored by Track and Field, with collection boxes spread throughout campus, provided plenty of opportunities for students to drop off gently used shoes. According to Team Service Representative Jamil Wilkins, the team has already collected about 100 pairs of shoes and is looking for more. Collections end May 7th.

The second collection drive is the Better World Book Drive for Literacy which accepts numerous books. The book drive coincides with the Book Stores Buy Back program and allows for books that cannot be sold back to be donated instead.

Other events that happened during Green Week were Rotaract’s Campus Clean-Up held during common hour; members of the club walked around the campus picking up trash. According to club member Bryan Ehnes, the club plans to continue their cleaning efforts throughout the year by cleaning up the NJIT campus every other Wednesday.

The Nucleus decided that, instead of being only an organization that documents events on campus, they wanted to create an event for the campus community to participate with them in the creation of this year’s yearbook. By allowing students to express “Why They Go Green” Nucleus got a broader range of students to participate in the yearbook while showing the many ways that NJIT students go green.

NJIT’s chapter of Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Honor Fraternity and the newly formed Craft Club members of both organizations collaborated by tabling and selling plants in hand painted terra cotta pots. The pots were painted by members of the craft club as well as students who were interested in helping out. The sale ended on Monday.

Some students from NJIT ended Green Week with a great opportunity to participate in one of the largest Earth Day events in the country. On a rainy Sunday morning 80 people boarded two buses in mid-town Manhattan to head to Washington DC for the 40th anniversary of Earth Day.

The bus was sponsored by the Earth Day Network and was offered for free to anyone interested in attending the rally. It was a diverse group of people, including men and woman, old and young, black, white and every color in-between. The minute we stepped on the bus a community was being formed. People began talking about where they were from, why they were on the bus, and what they were looking most forward to from the day.

These 80 people joined up with the estimated 200,000 other attendants to enjoy the sun and blue skies. The day was filled with speeches from many different people involved in the environmental movement. From famous President Obama, Reverend Jesse James, football star and TV personality Dahani Jones, Olympic gold medalist Johnny Spillane, and James Cameron to grassroots organizers from organizations such as Greenpeace, Operation Free, League of Conservation Voters, the Coal River Mountain Watch, and The Peace Corps.

Many of these organizations had booths along the Mall where they were giving out further information about their organizations. The most popular tent was definitely the Avatar Home Tree Initiative. It was giant tent where people would pledge to plant a tree in the year, and get their face painted to look like a Na’vi native.

The best part of the day was definitely the musical performances, which really pulled such a diverse group of people together for the event; styles like R&B singers, funk, blues, classic rock, and electronic were all brought together.

The highlight of these performances was defiantly The Roots. The band not only played their own set (where they blew out the sound system three times) they also played back up for the remaining artists of the afternoon; John Legend and Sting.

From our own Green to The Mall of Washington DC students showed their support for the many Earth Day events in both big and small ways. As many of the speakers said, it is the small movements that occur at home that create the ripples that make big changes in DC; NJIT is truly doing its part.

Lori-Ann Sciachitano is a sophomore in Science Technology and Society and can be reached at LSciachitano@njitvector.com.

John Fostek

Managing Editor

After a relatively short and vibrant campaign, the winners of the Student Senate Elections held last Monday and Tuesday have been announced. Roughly two weeks before the elections, the Senate held nominations for candidates, and later held a public debate at their weekly meeting prior to elections.

NJIT Senate Executive Board elections often coincide with a vast amount of executive board elections among clubs and Greek organizations. In an effort to reduce slanderous campaigns and tactics, the campaign cycle of most organizations on campus is rather short lived. But this is not to say that some campaigns in the Senate were not highly scrutinized and intensely debated. Naturally the candidates for President of the Student Senate received much attention, as well as those running for the Vice President of Finance.

For the position of Student Senate President, Dominick Cirillo won against his opponent Muhammad Elgammal. “I want to thank everyone who supported me, the people who encouraged me to run for the position in the first place, and all of my campaign managers,” remarked Cirillo after the elections. Cirillo will be a senior next year, and currently serves as the President of the Alpha Phi Omega Service Fraternity chapter at NJIT.

Cirillo commented about his prior leadership experience, and how it would benefit him as President, “Something that I’ve learned just from being a leader in general is actually listening and following through. If I don’t listen I won’t be able to work, so I need the students to speak up.” He continued by saying that student participation in the senate government process is vital, as indicated by this past election’s results.

The results of all the other executive board positions of the Student Senate are:

Vice President of Administration, Tessy Thomas, Vice President of Finance, Jessica Pereira, Vice President of Student Affairs, Luis Gonzales, Treasurer, Elizabeth Benoy, Recording Secretary, George Scoullos, and Corresponding Secretary Jamil Wilkins.

Leean Orama, current President of the Student Senate, showed that overall he was pleased with the results of the senate executive board positions. “I’m very happy with the turnout of the election and very confident with the new e-board and my successor,” stated Orama. With regard to Cirillo specifically, Orama said, “Dom’s work ethic speaks for itself. He’ll keep up the good work. He has a solid e-board.”

When asked about how students not involved in senate activities can find other ways to be active, Cirillo stated, “I would encourage them to actually get involved on campus. There are a lot of opportunities to practice leadership and communications skills. If they see something they aren’t happy with, they should speak up. Our duty as senators is to make sure students have the most enjoyable experience possible.”

Finally, Cirillo claimed that, “All students should feel free to approach myself or any other senator to see what’s going on at our school. I want them to feel confident that they have qualified people leading them.”

The entire list of results for the Student Senate Elections can be found at: senate.njit.edu

WONHO RHEE
STAFF WRITER

Recently, US News, one of the well-known college rating agencies named, NJIT the 19th popular school in America. According to US News, the ranking was based on student’s yield rate. Yield rate is the percentile of admitted students accepting admission. High yield rate means large numbers of students are accepting admission once they get admitted.

The first place for this category was taken by Brigham Young University (78%). Harvard University (76%) took the second and Stanford University (71%) was placed third. With 50% yield rate, NJIT surpassed top popular schools like University of Virginia (48%), Dartmouth College (49%), University of Michigan (46%) and Cornell University (46%).

Kathryn Kelly, Associate Vice President for Enrollment Service and Dean of Admissions believes that well-known name of NJIT in New Jersey is responsible for high yield rate. “Most applicants know NJIT very well. The close distance to home and NJIT’s expertise in technology education are the main reasons, students apply to NJIT. As the result, when students get admitted, they are more than likely to accept the admission.” said Kathryn Kelly.

Robert Altenkirch, the president of NJIT thinks, outstanding marketing strategy and “CRMS” (Customer Relations Management Systems) performed by NJIT admission office and colleges are main factors that drove high yield rate. “We have continued each year for the past 4 years to increase applicant pool by a variety of recruiting and marketing tactics. We also have added more tactics to follow-up with our admitted students including using “CRMS” (Customer Relations Management Systems), and asking faculty to communicate with these prospective students in their respective disciplines at open houses, via email, and other social networking tools. This has helped us to increase our yield of admitted students.” said President Altenkirch.

In addition to these, he also named expanded degree programs, notable achievements in research and increase in value of NJIT diploma as elements that resulted high yield rates.

On the other hand, Eugene Deess, the director of official of institutional research and planning argued that US News calculation is simply wrong. He said yield rate has been stabled for years due to uniqueness of NJIT. He thinks that US News should not be used as absolute comparison since he believes that there is a flaw to US News ranking calculation.
Dr. Deese’s argument is that there is too much ambiguity in admission acceptance and as a result there is no absolute way to calculate yield rate. He believes that the NJIT yield tells us how special NJIT students are, not how special the recruitment process is.

Lori-Ann Sciachitano

Distribution Manager

In October of 2009 the university-wide minor in Environmental Studies and Sustainability was instituted. The minor is one that crosses many programs at NJIT; everything from Engineering and Architecture to History and Philosophy are included. This broad range of courses allows for students from all majors to get something out of the program.

While there are other minors like Environmental Engineering (offered by the Engineering department), and Environmental Science and Policy (offered by the Chemistry and Environmental Science department), the minor in Environmental Studies and Sustainability is not offered by a single department but rather The Green Academic Council which has members from 16 different departments.

There are over 36 different courses already offered that will fulfill the requirements for the minor. These include popular courses like History of Medicine and Earth in Space, which will help promote the minor to the student population at large. This spring 5 students have already registered for the program, including students from Architecture and Science, Technology and Society.

Robert Friedman, the Green Academic Council Designee said, “They don’t need to hire new faculty because we are using classes that already exist today.”

This helps the school save money in the long run while offering students an extra leg up in their degree programs. By incorporating the green minor into their program it gives students the ability to compete in the numerous green jobs that have appeared in recent years.

If students are interesting in enrolling in the Environmental Studies and Sustainability minor for the 2010-2011 academic year they should contact Robert Friedman in person at Cullimore Hall room 332 or by email Robert.s.friedman@njit.edu.

Lori-Ann Sciachitano is a sophomore Science Technology and Society major and can be reached at distribution-manager@njit.edu.

Matan Shavit

Entertainment Editor

Last Friday, WJTB presented their third annual Awesome Music Fest. Performances included Score 24, Blameshift, The Dangerous Summer and Cash Cash. The music was fun and varied, and even though the crowd wasn’t incredibly enthusiastic, the consensus seemed to be that it was a great concert.

Awesome Music Fest is an annual event sponsored by the school’s radio station, WTJB. Each year they find some lesser-known bands and some who have a modest following to play a free concert on campus.

In previous years the event had been held on the Green; this year it was in the Campus Center Ballroom. This may have contributed to a more modest attendance, about 60 people overall. Nevertheless, those people were treated to an array of interesting bands.

Score 24 has a typical pop rock sound and look consisting of tight cloths and long swooshy hair (emo bangs). The songs were upbeat and well-put together, and they engaged the audience very well.

Blameshift is easy to compare to Paramore and Evanescence because they have a female lead singer. However, their music sets them apart. They have a distinct rock style, reminiscent of the music one could hear on K-Rock “back in the day.” The lead singer has an amazing voice and expresses her range very well.

Though less interactive with the audience, they still had a lot of showmanship, including copious hairography. They were a good example of older style rock, with a very solid sounding vocalist to back it up.

The Dangerous Summer had a heavier sound and a plainer look. Grundgier tones were accompanied by plain black clothes and a distant performing style. While the songs were somewhat technically proficient, the rock generic. While they were pretty good overall, they’re hard to pick out of a crowd of sound-alike hard rock bands.

Cash Cash the  were most well known band to perform, and they had possibly the most distinctive sound and look. Heavily electronic and autotuned to the extreme, their music was catchy and dance-able. Their look, while not completely original, had many interesting stylistic elements characteristic to the alternative, do-it-yourself music scene. While they are not the first band to play greatly upbeat electronic pop, they pull it off very well. Both their original songs and covers were fun and funky.

The whole event was a raucous good time, even though it was not as well-attended as it perhaps should have been. Now we can look forward to next year’s show.

Matan Shavit

Entertainment Editor

Anyone who’s ever lost an iPod, laptop or cell phone knows how nerve-wracking the experience can be. Even worse, it can be hard to reclaim your items from Public Safety if the only way you can describe it is the brand.

This is where Your Everything Tracking Inventory (YETI) comes in. Developed by IT Capstone students Kaushal Patel, Dan Rose and David Holl, YETI allows students to register their valuable property with NJIT Public Safety. If it is ever lost or missing, they will be able to associate the registered items with their owners.

This simple idea will provide two very important functions: if anyone loses a registered item, they will be able to stay updated if Public Safety recovers it, and if Public Safety finds a registered item, they can easily track down the owner.

YETI has fields to enter the type of item, company, brand, model, serial number, color, user-applied numbers, and further description. According to Office Joseph Marswillo, these are the most important characteristics to identify a lost item and successfully return it to its owner, especially the serial number.

Allowing Public Safety to identify owners of items by serial number, YETI is straightforward system for returning lost property. According to Office Joseph Marswillo, when people come in to retrieve valuable, they don’t know what the serial number is. “Most people just don’t have that information.”

YETI will also be used with a National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database. This is one reason why it is so important to record the serial number of an item; it is the only required field for the database.

Using the database will ensure that if an item is found anywhere in the U.S. by a law enforcement agency, they will be able to see that it was registered to the database by NJIT Public Safety.

Effectively, if you lose a registered item anywhere in the country, YETI can help you get it back.

YETI was developed by Patel, Rose, and Holl as the main project of their IT 491 class, the IT Capstone. According to the NJIT catalog, IT491 is “an opportunity for students to integrate the knowledge and skills gained in previous information technology work into a team research project.”

Public Safety originally conceived of the project and brought the idea to Jim Robertson, Director of University Web Services. Robertson then decided to introduce it as an option for an IT Capstone project.

Three teams wanted to be assigned to the project initially. According to Patel and Holl, they and Rose were selected based on their background in working with PHP and web applications.

Once selected, they worked for about two to three months during the Fall 2009 semester to create the system. They reported directly to Jim Robertson as their project supervisor, and also worked closely with Public Safety to ensure the requirements for the system were met.

Patel was pleased with the experience. He said that it was as important as his other internships. Holl said it was the best IT class he has taken at NJIT. “It was an interesting dynamic. It’s looser than working for an actual company. It’s like if you’re a contractor for a company. You handle the day to day, but you have to report back and deliver in the end.”

According to Patel, the technologies used for YETI include HTML, CSS, PHP, SQL and AJAX.

Patel and Holl both said that they had to make something “web 2.0.” They aimed to combine the functionality with an easy to use and good looking interface, both for the students and Public Safety.

A lot of emphasis was also placed on a system that could be maintained and modified by Public Safety. Holl says that Web Services did not want to have to modify it or manage it on a day to day basis. Most of the management would have to be done by Public Safety. Public Safety can change what are suggested items that you might register, and can also view statistics about what has been registered, what has been lost and what has been returned.

Public Safety is happy with how the system turned out. “The students did a great job,” said Marswillo. “We’re committed to it, and we’re going to spend a lot of time encouraging students to use it. Public Safety has been promoting use of YETI with posters around campus and by talking about it during their Coffee with Cops.

Officers have seen other property registration systems, and they have not been as impressive. According to Marswillo, “they didn’t have that polish.”

Marswillo says about 50 students have already registered items on YETI at this time. “Mostly electronics” have been registered, including many laptops, cell phones, and mp3 players.

Anyone with a UCID can register items with YETI at yeti.njit.edu.

Matan Shavit is a junior in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science and can be reached at entertainment@njitvector.com.