Dr. Robert W. Van Houten (January 31, 1905–January, 1986,[1] class of 1930) was the 4th President of New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) from 1947 until 1970.
(New Jersey Normal School is the old name of Kean University) He studied at Newark College of Engineering (NCE which is the old name of New Jersey Institute of Technology) from 1926 earning his master's and graduated with a PhD in Civil Engineering in 1930.
He received his degree with highest academic honors and was a member of Beta Alpha Theta local fraternity.
While pursuing for his BS degree at NCE, he also worked and gained valuable engineering experience during the summers in the engineer's office at Irvington, New Jersey, and later with A. C. Widsor Construction Co., H. R. Goeller, Inc., and Wallace and Tiernan Company in Belleville.
Allan R. Cullimore, the 3rd President of NCE, saw something in Robert and offered him an Instructorship in Mathematics during his senior year with small pay and no promises.