Meet Our New Makerspace Coordinator

POSTED ON: March 23, 2021

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Image: Isa Vento

Image: Isa Vento

Isa Vento is an educator and maker from Italy, based in Red Hook, NY. Their education began in DIY spaces and multimedia studios in London and has continued to manifest through the exchanges they have with all their students. They hold a BA in Media & Communications from Goldsmiths University of London and graduated from NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program in 2019.

Since then, Isa has been committed to using computational tools to tinker, worldbuild, and problem-solve with young folks across New York City. Before joining the Cooper community, this pursuit formally began with their work at the Beam Center - a youth education non-profit that activates STEAM and project-based learning within and beyond public schools. Their personal projects have included interactive and educational installations, humorous and audiovisual performances, and unconventional workshops in public spaces. 

"I am deeply inspired by the lineage of the STEM outreach programs at the Albert Nerken School of Engineering and humbled to grow as an educator by contributing to their evolution as a faculty member. In my pedagogy I seek to create inclusive spaces that cultivate peer-to-peer learning, collective risk-taking and hands-on encounters between young folks and their wildest curiosities. I believe Cooper's community and mission foster these approaches and I hope to expand their reach further to prospective inventors from all walks of life. I thank all the folks who have welcomed me here, those who have supported me in my path, and I look forward to collaborating with the colorful spectrum of students and faculty at The Cooper Union!"

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.