- We are joined by one of the great leaders in higher education, Dr. Teik Lim, who is president of NJIT.

That's the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Good to see you, doctor.

- Good to see you, Steve.

Thanks for having me here.

- You got it.

NJIT is one of our higher ed partners.

And one of the issues that you don't need me to tell you about because parents, particularly students and faculty members and others in higher ed are dealing with it every day.

AI and higher ed.

In fact should we be concerned, is it an opportunity?

What is it?

Talk to us.

- Sure yeah.

Before I get into AI, I'll do a deeper dive.

Let me just say, you know, in spite of all the headwinds from geopolitical landscape, dropping high school graduating demographics, public procession of the value of higher ed, session that you've done before, we are doing really great, especially in the field of AI, we continue to rise in enrollment.

Our research, our reputation, our ranking, all those are arising and doing great.

In AI, we have been doing AI, before AI was a buzz word.

You know, we are a faculty member, about 30 or so of them are working on AI.

We have, we do about $50 million in AI research.

We have numerous initiatives in AI that all involve students.

So we're doing a lot in AI.

In addition to that, we are also looking at the impact of AI in our day-to-day life.

You ask a question about where the students and parents are concerned.

- Right.

- Rightfully so, there is concern because with any tools, there's always gonna be people are bad actors.

Someone, a professor actually asked me, what do I think about ChatGPT?

You know, one of the tools of AI.

I say ChatGPT is nothing more than just like a pen.

You know, you have a pen here, I'm gonna show you.

Okay a pen.

A pen is a tool you can write, you can use it to sign checks and make somebody happy.

Or you can use to poke in somebody's eye.

Don't do that right?

Same with AI.

And someone asked me if ChatGPT would encourage more cheating.

Not really- - Yes.

That's where I was going doctor.

- Yeah.

- So you're saying ChatGPT does not encourage cheating.

It's the cheater who chooses to cheat.

- Yes that's my opinion, because ChatGPT is another tool that the cheater can use.

And with any tools, you know, we are able to counteract with that.

So I remember when I was in my younger days when I was a professor, a student used Xerox machine to cheat.

They would take someone's homework, xerox it and turn it in.

I actually flunk both of that because I say, you know, not that because you cheat because how stupid you can in cheating.

- So this is a more sophisticated cheating tool, but it's not as if higher education hasn't had to deal with plagiarism and cheating before.

- Right and the truth is that, Steve, we have not seen a significant or any kind of measurable rise in cheating since AI came into picture.

We have not seen it.

- Shift gears for us, Dr. Lim.

Talk to us about the PSEG Foundation.

A long time underwriter of public broadcasting, and frankly, a whole range of educational initiatives.

There is a grant that I believe happened in 2022.

This was a grant from the PSEG Foundation to NJIT to promote STEM science, technology, engineering, and math career pathways.

Now we're three years into this.

What progress has been made and what needs to be done Dr. Lim?

- That's a good question Steve.

Now PSE&G obviously is one of our greatest corporate partners.

You know, part of our strategic plan is to really engage the corporate world because education today is very holistic, and we need the engagement with corporation to help us educate students better, to make students the best version of themselves when they leave here okay?

And this particular grant does exactly that.

The grant is benefiting in part, The Center for Pre-College programs at NJIT.

And the award is about $800,000 over five years, to STEM, as you say, STEM career pathways.

It has several components to this grant.

Number one okay The PSE&G, what we call the PSE&G Opportunity Scholarship, funds that support scholarship for underserved and underrepresented students to enroll in early college and preparatory program, summer offering.

That includes the ExCITE Program that talks about energy, sustainability, environmental science and engineering.

That's part of our strength here.

Electrical and computer engineering, chemical and materials engineering.

If you look at all these area, these are the areas that are germane to PSE&G business, - Excuse me, doctor.

And many of these students are from the Newark Public Schools.

- Many of them are from Newark Public School, not exclusively, but many of them from Newark Public School.

In fact, the last few years, even when Dr. Bloom was here, we have seen- - Dr. Joel Bloom.

- Dr. Joel Bloom yes.

We have seen an increase in the number of Newark students studying at NJIT.

And really the goal is that we want to double that at some point in time.

And this grant does help that.

- And, and in many ways, doctor, sorry for interrupting again, but many of these students would not have the opportunity to have that higher ed experience, if not for that support, is that fair?

- I think so.

Of course, you're preaching to the choir.

I think this grant makes it possible, especially for students that come from limited means family.

A scholarship makes it a whole lot of differences because parents might say, okay, you're gonna go to school and we have to pay.

Well, maybe you should go rather than go to school.

But with the scholarship, and again, I think parents are more willing to send their kids to school, especially at NJIT.

- Doctor, before I let you go, let me ask you this, you said earlier, 'cause look, look, you don't need me to tell you that people are questioning, some people are questioning the "value" of higher education and the value of a college degree.

Minute or less make the case.

- Yes.

- What's the payoff?

- Right.

The value, part of the issue with the value of higher education is we're lumped together with all of higher education.

Obviously with any sector there are bad actors, people who are, so a program that really doesn't lead to a job or something that they can use to support themselves.

But at NJIT, you know, we're the greatest technological talent and knowledge producer.

Almost every one of our graduates get multiple job offers when they leave here.

And the fact that enrollment is increasing here, even though we are experiencing nationwide a demographic cliff, okay, our undergraduate enrollment is just skyrocketing each year, every year, is because people see the value of an NJIT STEM education.

- Doctor listen, there's so much more to talk about, we'll continue talking about higher ed issues moving forward with you.

Dr. Teik Lim is president of New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Thank you Dr. Lim.

We appreciate it.

- Well, thank you Steve.

Anytime.

- You got it, stay with us.

We'll be right back.

- [Narrator] Think Tank with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by Valley Bank.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

Atlantic Health System.

PSEG Foundation.

Newark Board of Education.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

NJM Insurance Group.

PSE&G.

And by Johnson & Johnson.

Promotional support provided by The New Jersey Business & Industry Association.

And by New Jersey Globe.