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Engineering Advisory Council

In 2020, the Albert Nerken School of Engineering assembled an advisory council of experts from industry, academia, and government for the School of Engineering as a whole and the four ABET accredited engineering majors: Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering. The purpose of the Engineering Advisory Council (EAC) is to provide direct input to the School of Engineering and individual departments regarding current and future needs for our graduates. The EAC will:

  • Provide insights and recommendations that can assist in the development, execution and attainment of the strategic direction of the Albert Nerken School of Engineering.
  • Provide insights and recommendations that can assist each of the academic departments within the School of Engineering.
  • Periodically evaluate individual ABET accredited degree-granting department’s program educational objectives for meeting graduate’s needs within a few years of graduation.
  •  Provide feedback on specific aspects of modern engineering programs, leading-edge educational pedagogy and their current outcomes.

ENGINEERING ADVISORY COUNCIL MEMBERS

  • Leah Jamieson – Chair of the EAC. John A. Edwardson Dean Emerita of Engineering and Ransburg Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University. Member National Academy of Engineering.
  • Bernie Meyerson – Vice President for Innovation and leads IBM’s Global University Relations Function. In that role he leads the creation of major IBM collaborative initiatives with companies and governments around the globe. He is also responsible for the IBM Academy. Member National Academy of Engineering.
  • Rick Stamper – Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. Previous positions include area manager at Proctor & Gamble and Design Team Leader at General Electric, and he also formed a small company to develop medical devices. He was named one of America’s ‘Best 300 Professors’ in 2012 by Princeton Review.

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING ADVISORS

  • Lynn Cusack ChE ’04 - Corporate Strategy Director, Infineum USA L.P.
  • Heather Kulik ChE ’04 – Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
  • Lisa Liu ChE ’13 – Leaders for Global Operations Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
  • Margot Vigeant – Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bucknell University. Fellow of the American Society for Engineering Education.

CIVIL ENGINEERING ADVISORS

  • Gregory L. Biesiadecki CE ’81, MCE ’83 – Principle, Langan Engineering & Environmental Services; As a geotechnical engineer he leads the waterfront and marine engineering team. Former Chair of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Metropolitan Section Geotechnical and Forensics Groups and former member of the Board of Directors and Treasurer.
  • Jessica Friscia CE ’11 – Project Environmental Engineer, Langan Engineering & Environmental Services. ME MIT. Named a Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation Emerging Leader and received the CREW NY Impact Award for Economic and Community Improvement.
  • Nicholas Tsapatsaris – President & CEO, Nick Tsapatsaris & Associates. BSCE 1986 and MSSE 1987 Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). MS in Real Estate, MIT. Large scale architecture, engineering, construction and ownership of real estate.  Member of WPI’s Architectural Engineering Advisory Board and the Engineering Dean’s Council.
  • Anne Dudek Ronan CE ’83, MCE ’84 – Ph.D. Stanford University, Industry Professor at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering. 2015 recipient of the NYU School of Engineering Distinguished Teacher Award which is the university's highest teaching honor.

ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING ADVISORS

  • Sankar Basu – Program Director at the National Science Foundation. Prior to NSF at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center. After receiving a PhD from the University of Pittsburgh he served on the faculty of Stevens Institute of Technology. Served on editorial boards of about 10 journals including being the Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems, and currently serves on the editorial board of Proceedings of the IEEE.  Fellow of IEEE and AAAS.
  • Bryan Conroy EE, MEE ’05 – Senior Research Scientist, Philips Hospital & Health Care.  Ph.D. EE Princeton University, 2010.
  • Kamran Mahbobi EE ’89, MEE ’91 – Cofounder and Managing Director of MaXentric Technologies, LLC. Previously, Chief Technology Officer of Tetra Tech Wireless. 2009 Cooper Union President’s Citation Award.
  • Nadia Pervez EE ’99 – COO Chromation. Former CEO. PhD in Electrical Engineering, UCSB. Postdoc at Columbia University, 2008-2010.

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING ADVISORS

  • David Barrett – Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Olin College. Previously Vice President of Engineering at the iRobot Corporation, Director of the Walt Disney Imagineering Corporation, Research Engineer at MIT's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, and Technical Director at Draper Laboratory.
  • Neil Muir ME ’14, MME ’16 – Arup (Arup is an independent firm of designers, planners, engineers, architects, consultants and technical specialists, working across every aspect of today’s built-environment).
  • Gunnar Tamm ME ’96 – Professor of Mechanical Engineering, U.S. Military Academy, West Point, NY. MS Rutgers University, Ph.D. University of Florida.
  • Paige Holland Thielen ME ’11 – Lead Operations & Automation Engineer, Muon Space.  MSME University of Washington.

  • 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.