Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Katherine Ji
Returning to Campus
On March 8, almost a full year after NJIT’s unexpected move to online learning following the COVID-19 pandemic, President Joel Bloom sent an email to the community announcing that the university is planning for an in-person Fall 2021 semester. This in-person return would include primarily in-person instruction with full residence halls, events and activities and active research labs, with all buildings and other facilities operating at full or nearly full capacity.
Students Respond to Rise in Anti-Asian Hate Crimes
Catherine Yong, third year science, technology and society student and Chinese American, said she would frequently assist her father to the grocery stores on weekends in order to prevent him tripping and hurting himself. According to Yong, “that trip could have been from a misplaced shoe or unexpected elevation on the sidewalk.
Grouplove’s New Album “This is This” is a Lazy Middle Finger
Gone are the days of Grouplove’s “Tongue Tied” and their superior 2013 album “Spreading Rumours” with their recent release of their latest album, “This is This.” Featuring nine songs, “This is This” displays seemingly painfully obvious themes following the COVID-19 pandemic, without any of Grouplove’s previous charm.
Trust in Media
National trust in traditional news and media has hit an all-time low, according to Edelman’s 2021 trust barometer report. For millions of Americans, trust in our governing institutions, including businesses, government and media has decreased significantly in the past decade, despite an increase in prioritizing information literacy.
Changes in Contact Tracing at NJIT
Many students are aware of contact tracing methods for students utilized by the Dean of Students, a significant tool used in limiting further spread of COVID-19 once a person has tested positive. However, new changes in contact tracing protocols have been implemented for the spring semester, including more freedoms given to exposed students’ during their length of quarantine. Such changes beg the question of exactly how the contact tracing system at NJIT works.
Overrated/Underrated: Cow’s Milk
February 17, 2021February 17, 2021 By Katherine Ji Sabastian Fernandes Overrated – Katherine Ji Whole Milk? Yeah, I have a whole jug of almond milk right here, what’s the problem? Wait, you mean… from a cow?! Long should be the days in which meat eaters and vegans alike still delight in the stained, dirty process of extracting cow secretions. In all honesty, drinking cow’s milk has always been cringeworthy.
Our 2021 Predictions
By Vector Editorial Board Between threatening foreign relations, wildfires, a devastating pandemic and perhaps one of the most intense presidential elections in our lifetime this past year, you could hit us with anything in 2021, and we wouldn’t even bat an eye. So what do the twisted writers of 2021 have in store for us? Here are our predictions for the upcoming year at NJIT. Absolutely none of these predictions should be taken seriously. Unless of course, we predicted correctly.
Waking up at 5 AM: The Cold, Dark Truth
I’ve always said that I’m a night owl, that I preferred to work at night when everyone was asleep. The problem was, I wasn’t always working. When it’s so late at night, 2 AM looks exactly the same as 3 AM, and 3 AM looks exactly the same as 4 AM. I would only really head to bed when I was exhausted. Eventually, it got so bad that I was preparing my midnight snack as the sun was coming up. Except, it wasn’t really a snack, it was a full pot of buttered noodles.
21 Days to Form a Habit: The Vector Newspaper Takes on Lifestyle Changes
What does it take to form — or break — a habit? A common habit-forming tool amongst self-help communities revolves around the 21 Day Challenge. Many coaches and blogs utilize this formula. The concept is simple: commit to a task for 21 days straight if you want to cement a habit into your life, or to get rid of it altogether. Although more recent studies have revealed this key number is more of a myth, we wanted to test the hypothesis.
Post-Election Anxiety: NJIT Students Experience Confusion and Celebration
“I was in the car driving when I heard the news,” said Alexandra Griffith, senior Biomedical Engineering student, regarding when the election was called in favor of former Vice President Joe Biden, securing him the presidency. “And I heard it, I thought, okay, this looks official. But it didn’t feel official yet.” Many students shared this feeling of drawn-out hesitance while following the results of the election. For four long days following election night, mail-in ballots continued to be counted.
Testing and Tracking: Virus Detected in Wastewater in Cypress Hall
On the night of Sept. 16, NJIT was alerted to the news that wastewater testing done in Cypress Hall yielded a positive result for viral SARS-CoV-2 RNA material. It’s dirty work, but it may have prevented a potential COVID-19 outbreak on campus. Among other testing methods taking place on campus, certified industrial hygienist consultants have been analyzing the sewage exiting residential halls twice a week, searching for traces of the virus.
New Residence Hall on Warren Street
Earlier this year, the University announced a plan for a new dormitory that would join NJIT’s little forest of undergraduate residence halls. The new hall will add an estimated 500 beds to NJIT’s undergraduate and graduate housing inventory. The new hall, temporarily named Vue on Warren, is slated to be built on the Southwest corner of Wickliff and Warren Street. Building at this site will require the demolition of the Warren Street School, which closed in 2006.
Off Campus Fraternity Party Leads to COVID-19 Concerns
On Saturday, Aug. 22, just one week from the start of the semester, a party was held at an NJIT affiliated fraternity house. Time-stamped photographs reveal the party was held at Kappa Xi Kappa’s fraternity house on Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard. NJIT Police responded to a noise complaint at the party on Saturday night, and the compliant was resolved. However, due to the layout of the house, officers did not see how many individuals were in the house at the time.
Multicultural Festival
On March 4, as the sun set and silence fell over NJIT just outside, the Campus Center Ballroom was brimming with the reverberations of Filipino tinikling sticks, the pounding of West African djembe drums and the swishes of Russian sarafan skirts. This night, students and faculty celebrated almost 20 different cultures during Student Senate’s inaugural Multicultural Festival. Altogether, this event garnered over 400 attendees to delight in food, music, dance and fashion from various cultures.
Plastic Bag Ban Fails in New Jersey Legislature
On Jan. 13, 2020, the end of New Jersey’s legislative session, the New Jersey Senate passed bill S2776 to end plastic pollution. The bill would completely prohibit single-use plastic bags, paper bags and polystyrene (Styrofoam) use in New Jersey. This news was quickly overturned the same day as State Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin failed to post the bill for a vote in the Assembly, declaring the bill dead.
Hong Kong Street Protests Curb Study Abroad Experience for NJIT Students
Home /Galleries/Hong Kong Street Protests Curb Study Abroad Experience for NJIT Students When David Balcon began planning a study abroad trip in September of last year, Hong Kong was still a picture of stability. “We chose Hong Kong in the first place because… it’s just a hub in Asia where you can go to many other places like Macau,” said the Computer Science junior about how he made the decision.
Climate Protest Comes to Newark
On Friday, Dec. 6, 2019, the New Jersey Climate Coalition invites everyone to walk out of schools, out of jobs and out of homes to join in the North Jersey Climate Strike in Newark. This week’s upcoming climate strike comes after a huge win in October, in which Governor Phil Murphy announced he would not endorse a proposal for a North Bergen power plant to be built in the Meadowlands. Murphy’s decision followed months of activism and protests.
NJIT Embraces Sustainability
Sustainability has become a priority at NJIT, becoming a major theme in the latest drafts of NJIT’s Strategic Plan 2025 Vision. Endeavoring to improve this commitment to sustainability, NJIT has become a member of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). AASHE is a nonprofit membership organization with a vision to inspire institutions of higher education to be the foundations of ecological change.
Culture @ NJIT
NJIT hoists a number of taglines prominently such as: “Top 1% Nationally for Return On Investment,” “Number 1 Nationally for Student Upward Economic Mobility,” and “R1 Research Institution.” A single Google search of NJIT’s Admissions Department reveals that we are unashamed to take pride in what makes our university great—the ability to prepare students to thrive professionally in high-tech careers.
How to Be a Vegan on Campus
This past summer marks four years of being a vegan for me, and—what I believe to be even more of an accomplishment—one full year of eating plant-based on a college campus with relative ease. I first went vegan when I began to focus more on my fitness with swimming and weightlifting. Skeptical, I was sure to track my macronutrients closely and was met with unbounded energy that filled my previously more drudging days.
NJII Hosts Pop Up Health Clinic
The New Jersey Innovation Institute (NJII) is making community service in business the norm. On Oct. 19, the healthcare division of NJII went to the Barringer High School of Newark, NJ to host its second pop-up health clinic for Newark residents.
How and Why to Get Involved on Campus
In periods of stress throughout high school, I’ve always turned towards arts and activism for comfort: buoyed by books, transported through writing and grounded in my support for animal rights and environmental advocacy. From this, in my freshman year, I had reservations about attending NJIT as a technology-centered school.
The Sinister Politics of E-Cigarettes
In 2015, Juul began releasing USB-rechargeable e-cigarettes and cartridges (called pods) with 5% nicotine content—the equivalent of one pack of cigarettes—while competing companies offered products at 1-2% concentrations. Since then, Juul’s popularity has exploded: by targeting a younger demographic, Juul found a seemingly unwitting niche market and as of October 2018, occupied over 75% of the e-cigarette market.
Movie Review: “Bandersnatch”
The Netflix anthology “Black Mirror” has earned its spot as my favorite television show for its ability to predict how the more technologically advanced society we are striving towards will meld with human nature, and often, the consequences of this interaction.
Veterans’ Affairs Hit Home: Thousands of Veterans are not Receiving Benefits
On November 12, 2018, NJIT joined millions across the country in celebrating and thanking veterans for our freedom, with the Dean of Students and Campus Life holding a ceremony in the Campus Center Atrium. However, in some circumstances, this appreciation may be the extent of the benefits veterans at NJIT are now receiving. For several months, the Department of Veterans Affairs, or the VA, has had thousands of delays on education and housing payments to veterans across the nation.
Amazon’s New HQ2: It’s Not Newark
On November 13, Amazon’s 13-month-long, nationwide search for a new headquarters finally came to a close. This new headquarters, or rather, multiple, new headquarters, termed “HQ2”, will be located in Arlington, VA. and Long Island City, Queens, NY. Amazon plans to invest $5 billion dollars into these headquarters, predicting the creation of 25,000 jobs in each location with an average salary of over $150,000. Nashville, Tenn.
Commercial Fishing Banned Across Arctic
With continuously rising temperatures, it’s no wonder polar scientists recently reported the sixth lowest extent of ice on record. Climate change points to diminishing ice cover and thickness in much of the Arctic, converting areas of ice to clear-sailing waters. Additionally, climate change is pushing fish populations north as lower latitudes warm.
Light: With the College of Architecture and Design
A twisting tower of glowing scissors, shadowed footsteps under a door, and a model of natural light streaming through a bedroom over one day. Curated by M. Gosser, these art pieces and more litter the exhibition named Light, held at the College of Architecture and Design from October 4 to November 19.
“Cat’s Cradle” by Kurt Vonnegut
Cat’s Cradle is an incomparable satirical comedy on modern man and his undertakings. However, it must be said that the novel was only acceptable because of Kurt Vonnegut’s use of humor. Cat’s Cradle takes on two heavy and relatively uncorrelated themes- religion and man’s inevitable misuse of science and explores them in the most twisted way possible, with remarkable (or unremarkable) characters and a terrifying apocalyptic ending.
Beijing AI
Artificial intelligence can now represent the difference between life and death for patients in a coma. In Beijing, China, human doctors deemed that at least seven patients in a vegetative state had no chances of regaining consciousness. However, an artificial intelligence algorithm developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and PLA General Hospital, predicted that these patients would awaken within a year.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Katherine
Contact Katherine, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack