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Joseph C. Cataldo

Professor of Civil Engineering, PE

P.E. New Jersey and New York State

At Cooper, Dr. Cataldo teaches in the undergraduate and graduate civil engineering curricula in fluid mechanics and hydraulic engineering. He is also responsible for the development and operation of The Hydraulic Engineering Laboratory in the Civil Engineering department.

Dr. Cataldo has been conducting experiments on jet dynamics, the interaction of a jet and a wave, thermal plume behavior, and oscillatory phenomena in the Hydraulic Laboratory, as well as, infiltration studies in a semi arid climate.

Dr. Cataldo has been doing research on sustainable design of green roofs and greenstreets. He has developed a program to determine the thermal behavior of a green roof for a number of storms for varying seasons. He has been experimentally modeling green roofs in the laboratory under varying thermal and hydraulic conditions. Professor Cataldo is studying the hydrologic and hydraulic conditions on green streets in the Bronx and Queens to determine the effects of reducing CSO.

Major Publications:
Over 30 publications in major journals, the ASCE Power Division, Physics of Fluids, Review of Scientific Instruments, Plasma Physics, Fluid Dynamics Transactions, Journal of Fluids Engineering, ASME, The Open Hydrology Journal.

Professor Cataldo has been awarded the 1999, 2006, and 2007 Chi Epsilon Excellence in Teaching. He has advised approximately three dozen Masters Dissertations.

  • 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.