Apply to the School of Engineering

IDC Foundation Funds Undergraduate Scholarships For Second Consecutive Year

POSTED ON: July 24, 2019

The IDC Foundation, a New York City-based nonprofit organization with a mission of encouraging and supporting education in architectural design, engineering, and building construction, has for the second consecutive year awarded a $130,000 grant to The Cooper Union.  The IDC Foundation grant will continue to fund scholarships and student travel experiences related to those fields as part of Cooper’s historic commitment to increasing fair access to an inspiring education.

Of the total grant amount, $100,000 is to be allocated to scholarships for undergraduate students in The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture and the Albert Nerken School of Engineering for the 2019–2020 academic year.  These IDC Foundation Scholarships will help reduce the financial burden on exceptional architecture and engineering students, allowing them to focus on their studies, internships, research, and extracurricular activities.

The remaining $30,000 in grant funding will support opportunities for architecture and engineering students to participate in courses and research projects abroad.  These students will be selected by the deans of the School of Engineering and the School of Architecture and will be awarded funding based on their academic interests.  The renewed grant makes it possible to enrich these opportunities, extending students’ knowledge of foundational concepts and principles of their discipline while connecting them to their global community.

The IDC Foundation grant is part of a total $650,000 that the organization has awarded this year to institutions of higher education in Greater New York City, bringing the Foundation’s total grantmaking to $7.95 million since it began awarding the grants in March 2018. Cooper received $2 million from the IDC Foundation to create a new multidisciplinary lab space. 

“The Cooper Union is an extraordinary leader in the education of architects and engineers, and the IDC Foundation is pleased to be able to support Cooper’s commitment to those fields and to interactions among them,” said Raymond R. Savino, President of the IDC Foundation. “In doing so, the Foundation extends the legacy of the Institute of Design and Construction by advancing opportunity in Greater New York City to new generations seeking to study, join, and lead those industries.”

More News from 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.