Sponsored by
NSF ART (Accelerating Research Translation) Program at NJIT
National Academy of Inventor (NAI) – NJIT Chapter

Co-organizers and Co-Chairs
Atam Dhawan, Senior Vice Provost for Research, NJIT; Executive Director – Center for Translational Research
Nick DeNichilo, Vice Co-Chair, NJIT Board of Trustees; Former President &CEO at Mott MacDonald – North America (retired)
Siavash Isazadeh, Ph.D., P.E., Sr. Technical. Director, Technical, Strategy & Innovation, Veolia-North America
Richard Calbi Jr. P.E., P.P., Director of Operations – Ridgewood Water – Distinguished Guest

Date and Venue: April 24, 2026, 9.00 AM – 5.00 PM; Campus Center Atrium

Registration Requested: Please Register by April 2, 2026 (Link: TBA)

Brief Description: The Center for Translational Research is committed to promoting excellence in collaborative research, innovation partnerships, entrepreneurial pathways, education, training and infrastructure development to translate technology into applications with a high societal and economic impact. To follow up on the CTR mission to enhance the research, innovation and technology entrepreneurship ecosystem at NJIT, we have initiated a series of workshops on pathways to translational research and innovation partnerships, with panel discussions and breakout sessions giving faculty, postdocs and students an opportunity to interact with experts on early and advanced translational research, tech transfer, licensing and funding strategies for entrepreneurial activities. This CTR workshop is focused on translational research and innovative technologies for detecting and managing PFAS related contaminants in water, soil, air, infrastructure and consumable products.

Who Should Attend: Faculty, research staff, undergraduate and graduate students and postdocs and external partners including major NJ universities, industry, utilities, business accelerators, government and community stakeholders who are pursuing or are interested in translational research and innovative technology development for removing the PFAS related contaminations in water, soil, air, infrastructure and environment for sustainable societies should attend and would be benefited from the workshop.

Why You Should Attend: As a follow up to the 2025 CTR PFAS Workshop on PFAS Challenges, the 2026 CTR workshop will focus on the recent advances and developments in PFAS detection, monitoring, destruction and remediation technologies with a new strategic initiative of establishing the New Jersey PFAS Partnership Innovation Consortium (NJ PFAS-PIC) as an industry-university-government-community ecosystem.

The CTR 2026 workshop attendees will have the opportunity to learn about recent developments and current and future challenges in PFAS decontamination technologies and associated regulatory policies for its societal impact from the leaders in industry, academia and government sectors. Featured keynote presentations and panel sessions include stimulative and interactive discussions from:

• Government leaders addressing PFAS challenges and specific actions to safeguard public health and environment including elected officials and federal, state, regional departments and agencies.
• Industry leaders pursuing the development of PFAS decontamination and management technologies at global and start-up companies.
• Leaders from major research foundation and private organizations.
• Experts in academia from NJIT, Princeton University, Rutgers University, Rowan University and Stevens Institute of Technology

In addition, the Industry-University-Community Showcase on Technology Innovations in PFAS Decontamination will feature more than 30 companies, academic research centers and laboratories, and global, national, state and regional utilities working in the cutting-edge of technology innovations and deployment for addressing the critical challenges of PFAS management in environment, soil, water, consumable products and infrastructure.