The Albert Nerken School of Engineering is excited to welcome three new faculty members for the Fall 2020 Semester.

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING.

Dr. Cynthia Lee, received her Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, where her research focused on probabilistic methods for improving critical infrastructure resilience. Specifically, she developed frameworks to increase infrastructure monitoring capabilities with nontraditional data sources through data integration and machine learning classifiers and investigated the impact of network parameters on component vulnerabilities. 

During her Ph.D., Dr. Lee received the first-place paper award in infrastructure at Resilience Week 2018, completed Georgia Tech’s Tech to Teaching certification through the Center for Teaching and Learning, and received nominations to participate in several workshops for promoting diversity and interdisciplinary collaboration in research and academia. 

Prior to her Ph.D. work, she received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Civil Engineering from Tufts University and Stanford University, respectively. In her spare time, Dr. Lee enjoys rock climbing, hiking, and exploring new cities through eating.

“I am so excited to join the engineering faculty at the Cooper Union! My research interests are in improving infrastructure resilience, especially in urban environments, and New York City is full of opportunities to explore the impacts of civil infrastructures on our daily lives. 

I am also passionate about teaching and building up students’ confidence in their own abilities, and I am excited to work with the students at Cooper. I had the pleasure of meeting students during my visit, and seeing their enthusiasm, engagement, and curiosity was one of the most important factors in my decision to join the Department of Civil Engineering at Cooper. I am looking forward to being on campus and meeting the students and faculty in person someday soon!” – Cynthia Lee

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING.

Dr. Ja-beom "JB" Koo, earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees in 2006 and 2008 respectively from Korea University in South Korea. After graduation, he worked at SK Hynix Semiconductor Inc. in Korea until August 2011, as an Analog Circuit Design Engineer. There, he focused on designing High-speed input/output (I/O) circuit for 512GB Graphic Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) memory chip with 45nm CMOS technology. 

Dr. Koo received his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Washington, Seattle, in March 2016. He then joined the Analog I/O design team at Intel Corporation in Hillsboro, OR for i5/i7 CPU design. After the first tape-in with CMOS 10nm technology, he moved to the RF technology team in Advanced Design group. He is currently working as a RF/Analog Circuit Design Engineer and participating in 140GHz Transceiver/Receiver system design for server chips communication. He also has additional responsibilities as a lab manager controlling all measurements for Intel 22nm FinFet technology development. His current research interests are in the area of RF IC design for wireless applications.

“I have long admired the belief of the founder, Peter Cooper, that emphasizes the importance of quality education for all. I am excited to join the Electrical Engineering department of Cooper Union and to take part in fulfilling such belief. I am also thrilled to share what I have learned from my experience in the industry as an engineer with the students. I believe that I can help EE students grow into extraordinary engineers as well as researchers in the field.” – Ja-beom "JB" Koo

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY.

Dr. Fabiola Barrios-Landeros’ passion for science and thirst for adventure has motivated her to live and conduct research in Mexico, Canada, Switzerland, France and the USA. She received her B.S in Chemistry from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). 

While an undergraduate student, she spent one year as an exchange student at McGill University in Montreal. She earned her M.S. and Ph.D. in Organometallic Chemistry from Yale University followed by two years of post-doctoral training at the University of Basel in Switzerland. Her research work focused on elucidating mechanisms of reactions catalyzed by transition metals and isolating reaction intermediates. 

Dr. Barrios-Landeros moved to New York City in 2009 to join Columbia University as a Frontiers of Science Fellow where she conducted organic chemistry research and taught core curriculum science. She was a faculty member at Yeshiva University for nine years where she taught dozens of chemistry courses and conducted research with undergraduate students and mentored 5 honors theses. Her main research project aims to develop a novel aromatic acyloxylation reaction catalyzed by copper compounds. She was a 2014 recipient of the Cottrell College Science Award by The Research Corporation for Science Advancement. In 2015, she spent one sabbatical semester in Paris conducting research at the École Normale Supérieure. Prof. Barrios-Landeros lives in Manhattan with her husband and three kids; she loves DIY projects, gardening, sewing and cooking without a recipe.

“I am thrilled that Cooper Union holds diversity and inclusion as core values because, as a Latina, these topics resonate with me. I have a deep personal sense of duty to nurture an inclusive campus, to support underrepresented minorities and to bridge the gender gap in STEM.

It is an honor to join the Cooper Union faculty and I am eager to make meaningful contributions to the Chemistry Department and the Albert Nerken School of Engineering. I am getting ready to tackle the unique challenges that this Fall semester will bring, and I am looking forward to meet the cohort of extraordinary Cooper students.” – Fabiola Barrios-Landeros