[12][13] Founded in 1881 with the support of local industrialists and inventors, especially Edward Weston,[14] NJIT opened as Newark Technical School (NTS) in 1885 with 88 students.

Originally introduced from Essex County, New Jersey, on March 24, 1880, and revised with input from the Newark Board of Trade in 1881, an act of the New Jersey State Legislature drew up a contest to determine which municipality would become home to the state's urgently needed technical school.

A second fundraiser, the institution's first capital campaign, was launched to support the construction of a home for Newark Technical School.

In 1886, under the leadership of the school's first director, Charles A. Colton, the cornerstone was laid at the intersection of High Street and Summit Place for a three-story building later to be named Weston Hall in honor of the institution's early benefactor.

Due to the Depression and World War II, only the former Newark Orphan Asylum, now Eberhardt Hall, was purchased and modestly renovated in the succeeding decades.

With the addition of the New Jersey School of Architecture in 1973, the institution had evolved into a technological university, offering a widening range of graduate and undergraduate degrees and an increasing focus on research and public service.

William Hazell, president at the time, decided the school's name should be changed to more clearly reflect its ongoing evolution.

The establishment of a residential campus and the opening of NJIT's first dormitory (Redwood Hall) in 1979 began a period of steady growth that continues today under an evolving Master Plan.

Also, three residential halls, Cypress, Oak, and Laurel which house about 1500 students in total, were placed in service in the 1990s.

[26] In September 2011 Altenkirch elected to return to the South having been offered the presidency of the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Construction of a new Atrium, Bookstore, Dining Hall, computer lab, Information Desk facility, and new student organization offices continued into 2004.

In 2006 construction of an near-campus residence hall by American Campus Communities began in the chop shops' location.

Also in 2005, Eberhardt Hall was fully renovated and re-inaugurated as the Alumni Center and the symbolic front door to the university.

Wall Street itself (lower Manhattan) is twenty-five minutes away via Newark Light Rail and the PATH system's Newark-World Trade Center line.

The collaboration involves the Rutgers and NJIT business schools; their federated departments of Biology and History; and the joint Theater Arts Program.

Since then the high school building was extensively renovated, preserved, and updated per the Campus Master Plan.

[34] Between 2016 and 2018, several facilities opened, including a 209,000-square-foot (19,400 m2) multi-purpose Wellness and Events Center, "The WEC", which features a retractable-seating arena that can accommodate 3,500 spectators or 4,000 event participants; a 24,000-square-foot (2,200 m2) Life Sciences and Engineering Center; a 10,000-square-foot (930 m2) Makerspace, and a parking garage with spaces for 933 cars.

[35][36] Comprising five colleges and one school, the university is organized into 21 departments, three of which, Biological Sciences, History, and Theater Arts are federated with Rutgers-Newark whose campus abuts NJIT's.

[57] With a student population that is 20.6% international, 20.2% Hispanic, 8.8% Black and 19.1% Asian (2022), NJIT is ranked among the most ethnically diverse national universities in the country.

In 1986 its name was changed to the College of Science and Liberal Arts as a result of a more sharply defined mission and direction.

[76] It is also the largest computer science department among all research universities in the New York metropolitan area.

It offers programs in finance, accounting, marketing, management information systems, international business, technological entrepreneurship, and corporate communications in conjunction with Rutgers University.

[81] A key agent in regional economic development,[82] NJIT hosts VentureLink, formally the Enterprise Development Center (EDC), an on-campus business incubator that houses over 90 start-ups, and the New Jersey Innovation Institute (NJII) which offers R&D services to business.

[83][84] The university has engaged in research in nanotechnology, solar-terrestrial physics, polymer science, and the development of a smart gun technology.

One of the foremost developments of EIES was that of the "Virtual Classroom", a term coined by Dr. Starr Roxanne Hiltz in the context of Connected Education.

It houses a core collection that includes print and electronic books, journals, maps, drawings, models, e-images, materials samples, and over 70,000 slides.

Dr. Weston's collection of artifacts and rare books is housed in the Van Houten Library and is available to scholars interested in the history of science and technology.

A new almost-on-campus resident hall known as University Centre (run by American Campus Communities) was completed in 2007.

Many students from local institutions find housing in nearby neighborhoods and towns including Harrison, Kearny, Fairmount and East Orange.

NJIT's teams compete at the NCAA Division I level primarily as members of the America East Conference (AEC).