As Chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology Dr. Siginer directed the complete revision of the M.E. undergraduate curriculum in 1998-1999. The required number of semester based credits for B.S. degree in M.E. at NJIT has been reduced from 136 to 128 without sacrificing the integrity of the curriculum and the quality of the education received by the students. A number of courses were phased out and new computer intensive, design experience oriented courses have been introduced to bring the curriculum in line with the drastically changed demands of the workplace, and the evolving needs of our students and of the industry and also to better address the requirements of ABET 2000 criteria.
	As Chair of the M.E. Department at NJIT Dr. Siginer managed a yearly budget in excess of $2,500,000 between 1.1.1998 - 8.31.2000, and supervised 28 faculty and a support staff of 7 made up of 4 clerical and 3 technical personnel.
	The clerical and technical staff line-up has been rearranged, and two new positions, one at the clerical and the other at the technical level were created and personnel hired.
	Five new faculty have been hired in M.E. at NJIT on 1998-1999.
	At NJIT Dr. Siginer initiated and led to successful conclusion the drive for the appropriation of $450,000 for the renovation and refurbishing of the undergraduate teaching laboratories to bring them to nothing less than the state-of-the-art level. $200,000 out of the total $450,000 has been appropriated in the fiscal year 2000 and the remaining amount is allocated to M.E. in the fiscal year 2001 starting on July1, 2000.
	The research funding picture in M.E. has been drastically improved by identifying areas of strength and directions of research thrusts and focusing on them with an emphasis on and commitment to teamwork.
	External research funding increased 3-fold under the supervision of Dr. Siginer from $35K/faculty /year in the Spring of 1998 to $105/faculty/year in the Spring of 2000. New research funding received in the academic year 1999-2000 exceeds $2,000,000.
	Archival publications of the faculty more than doubled from 0.75/faculty/year in the academic year 97-98 to 1.7/faculty/year in 1999-2000.
	The ME Advisory Board was rebuilt in 98-99 from two active members to 12 actively engaged and committed members of senior executives of mid-cap companies headquartered in New Jersey.
	As a result of the intensive recruitment efforts initiated the precipitously falling FTFTF(first time fall time freshmen) numbers showed a dramatic increase of 61% in the Fall of 1999, from 31 in the Fall of 98 to 50 in the Fall of 1999.
	Dr. Siginer supervised Departmental efforts for readiness for the ABET visit scheduled to take place in 2001.
	With the help of the ME Advisory Board Committee Chair Mr.Robert Hemler, who is providing the services of his company's architect free, plans are laid out in the Spring of 2000 to remodel parts of the Mechanical Engineering Center.
	The administration is committed to renovating the Mechanical Engineering administrative offices. Plans have been developed and construction will start in 2001. Estimated cost $200,000.
	The ASME(American Society of Mechanical Engineers) Student Chapter at NJIT accomplished in the Spring of 2000 what no other Institution in ASME history has been able to do : win ALL FOUR MAJOR COMPETITIONS at the regional Student Conference in Region II ( New Jersey & New York) competing against 19 Colleges. Those competitions included: the Old Guard Oral Presentation, the National Student Design Contest, the Old Guard Technical Poster Contest and the Ingersoll-Rand Contest. The winners represented Region II at the ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition in November 2000 in Orlando, Florida where they competed with the winners from ASME's other 14 regions.
	The SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) Student Chapter at NJIT took first place in the Spring of 2000 and placed fourth in the Spring of 1999 in the Aeroplane Design Competition held in Deland, Florida. The 2000 competition was among 79 teams from world over.