Cranford Native Wins Prestigious Scholarship

New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) undergrads continue to earn the nation’s top academic honors, the latest being a new university record of four students named Goldwater Scholars this year by the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation. The scholarship is recognized among the country’s most prestigious for STEM undergraduates pursuing research careers.

One of these scholars is Cranford native Sydney Sweet.

Sweet is a junior majoring in chemical engineering, whose nanoparticle research is aiming to improve health care for Type 2 diabetes patients. During a first-year NJIT Provost Summer Research Fellowship with her professor Xiaoyang Xu, she began a study of hydrogels for the delivery of heart regenerative therapeutics, and contributed on a review paper on nanotechnology-mediated devices to treat obesity published in the journal Advanced Healthcare Biomaterials.

Since then, she’s earned a $3,000 seed grant for research to improve diabetes drug delivery — work she’s presented at the 2019 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) national conference in Orlando, Fla. “My research is exciting because I am developing a novel oral delivery system using nanoparticles that can offer a safer way to deliver drugs than how they are typically administered now via subcutaneous injections, therefore improving outcomes and quality of life of diabetes patients,” said Sweet, an Albert Dorman Honors College scholar.

Through NJIT programs, she’s also landed her current co-op at Infineum, and a study-abroad opportunity in Melbourne, Australia, last year, which she says has shaped her future career plans.

On Her Scholarship and Future:

“Living in Melbourne for six months greatly expanded my worldview. … The city’s sustainability efforts and wildlife conservation inspired me to pursue nanomaterials research in the future that could improve alternative energy sources to combat climate change. I am grateful for the opportunities that may arise from being a Goldwater Scholar, but my greatest takeaway is the empowerment that it’s already sparked in me to pursue my own research path.”

About New Jersey Institute of Technology:

One of only 32 polytechnic universities in the United States, New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) prepares students to become leaders in the technology-dependent economy of the 21st century. NJIT’s multidisciplinary curriculum and computing-intensive approach to education provide technological proficiency, business acumen and leadership skills. NJIT is rated an “R1” research university by the Carnegie Classification®, which indicates the highest level of research activity. NJIT conducts approximately $170 million in research activity each year and has a $2.8 billion annual economic impact on the State of New Jersey. NJIT is ranked #1 nationally by Forbes for the upward economic mobility of its lowest-income students and is ranked 53rd out of more than 4,000 colleges and universities for the mid-career earnings of graduates, according to PayScale.com. NJIT also is ranked by U.S. News & World Report as one of the top 100 national universities.