The Cooper Union Grant Program

The Cooper Union is committed to providing funding for projects that enhance our students’ learning experiences; our faculty’s teaching, scholarship, and practice; new ideas for our future; and opportunities for our community to come together in addressing the critical societal issues of our time through the CU Grant Program.

See the lists of funded projects from previous years:

Grant Application Process

The Cooper Union Grant Program is now open for applications. 

The following provides an overview of eligibility, funding availability, selection criteria, selection process, guidelines for submission, and reporting requirements. If you have any questions, please email them to CUGrants@cooper.edu.

Eligibility

Any employee or current student of The Cooper Union can apply for the grant, individually or as part of a team. 

Funding Availability

Applicants may request funds ranging from $500 to $15,000 per year.

This year, the application process includes a new option: applicants may now apply for either a one-year or two-year grant.

Selection Criteria and Application Details

Cooper Union Grant Program projects must advance Cooper Union’s institutional goals and strategic priorities. Special consideration is provided to the following types of proposals:

  • Proposals that foster interdisciplinary collaboration across at least two of our four academic areas—architecture, art, engineering, and humanities and social sciences, including curriculum development or workshops open to all students, regardless of school.
  • Projects that support the broader community well-being, open and constructive dialogue across the college, and student, faculty shared  governance, 
  • Projects that utilize the Civic Projects Lab as a convening space.
  • Projects that utilize the AACE Lab, digital fabrication and other maker space resources as core components of their concept, process, or research. 

You will be asked to provide:

  • Name and affiliation (student, faculty, staff) of all team members.
  • A brief summary of the project (250 words or less). 
  • Proposed itemized budget.
  • Amount of funding requested (which may be the same or less than the budget for the entire project).
  • Length of term (up to two years). 
  • Description of any facility/space use or equipment/machinery requested to complete the project
     

Completed applications are due by Friday, September 11, 2026. No exceptions can be made to this deadline.

Selection Process

A review committee will make recommendations to the president, who will consider the recommendations and make the final selections. Reviewers will be selected after proposals are submitted to avoid conflicts of interest.

Agreement and Reporting Requirements

Approved applicants will be asked to sign a grant agreement outlining the terms of the grant, including regular reporting.

Reports are required every six months throughout the duration of the project. For projects lasting less than six months, a single final report is required at the conclusion of the project.

At each reporting interval, you will be asked to submit a brief summary (250–500 words) describing the project's progress, outcomes, and any significant accomplishments to date.

If you have questions about the process, send an email to CUGrants@cooper.edu

As in previous years, The Cooper Union’s organizational goals and strategic priorities guide the selection process:

Organizational Goals

  • Create an institution of excellence that:
    • Engages students in an academic program that is rigorous, supportive, and dynamic
    • Fosters a culture of curiosity, agency, compassion, and engagement
    • Is tuition-free and financially resilient
  • Prepare students to question and lead in a complex world
  • Develop leading-edge models for higher education that consider the ethical,
  • cultural, and environmental contexts and consequences of technical and creative disciplines
  • Lead by example to promote civil discourse and engagement on important civic issues
  • Advance the fields of Architecture, Art, and Engineering, and foster intersections of study and practice among them

Strategic Priorities

  • Fortify our rigorous professional schools
  • Return Cooper Union to full-tuition scholarships
  • Create opportunities for experimentation at the intersection of disciplines
  • Increase compositional diversity and diversity of thought, background, and experiences
  • Balance budget, build reserves, instill financial discipline
  • Develop programs, activities, and physical space to increase student engagement and improve student, staff, and faculty life
  • Set a leading edge standard for the integration of professional, practice-based education with a humanities and socio-political education
  • Integrate debate, public discourse, and public service orientation into academics, and actively contribute to the betterment of NY
  • Position the Great Hall as a premier forum to advance critical issues of our time

As these goals and priorities were developed, an outpouring of exciting and creative ideas emerged from the faculty, staff, and students of The Cooper Union. Grant support for these ideas launches or propels vital lessons, discoveries, partnerships, and other creative expressions, while providing important experience from the process. The grants have been made possible by generous donors who value and seek to support the bright and inquisitive minds of Cooper Union’s students, faculty, and staff.

 

  • 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.