Yashodhan (Yash) Risbud

EE’92/MEE’94

Cooper Union has given me a gift. At Cooper, I learned how to learn, both on my own and with others. As an alumnus, I feel an obligation to use this gift in my professional and personal life, and to ensure that future students receive the same benefit. One of the reasons I give so much of my time and energy to Cooper is to help nurture the sense of community that was such a rewarding part of my experiences at the school. I also want to spread the knowledge about the number of ways that one can give back.

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.