Research, Impact on Economy, Touted at Rutgers Day in Trenton

While legislators and staff  rushed through the tunnel between the State House and the State House Annex on May 2, they passed by Arlette Santana and Frank Amatucci, grounded happily in centuries of mud. The two Rutgers-Newark seniors stood by a poster representing their research on carbon sequestration in two New Jersey marshes.

Also waiting in the tunnel to showcase Rutgers research were the Olga Boukrina from the Rutgers University Brain Imaging Center (RUBIC) in Newark; Kimberlee Moran of the Center for Computational and Integrative Biology (CCIB) in Camden; and Carolyn Worstall, a member of Team New Jersey, the group of Rutgers and New Jersey Institute of Technology students building a solar house as an entry in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon. Worstall is a master’s degree student in the Edward Bloustein School of Public Policy and Planning.

Rutgers Day in Trenton, an annual event in its 7th year, gives Rutgers the opportunity to showcase its programs and contributions to the state. James Boyd, senior program coordinator in the Office of Public Affairs, said this year’s event emphasized the impact of the university research on the New Jersey economy.

In addition to the posters describing research, the hall was lined with posters explaining that impact. For example, the federal and state government, corporations, and foundations committed $433.9 million during fiscal 2010 to fund Rutgers research. Other posters pointed out that Rutgers graduates often made good salaries, and thus paid considerable taxes. For every dollar the state invests in Rutgers, the posters said, $6 are generated for the economy.