After nearly 40 years of service to The Cooper Union's Albert Nerken School of Engineering, Professor Fred L. Fontaine is retiring, concluding a distinguished career marked by academic leadership, dedicated teaching, and lasting contributions to the field of electrical engineering.

A member of Cooper's engineering faculty since 1987, Fontaine, the Jesse Sherman Professor of Electrical Engineering, has played a pivotal role in shaping generations of engineers through his work as an educator, mentor, and departmental leader. Most recently, he served as Chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering, where he helped guide the department’s academic vision and supported student success.

Throughout his tenure at Cooper, Fontaine taught more than two dozen undergraduate and graduate courses and advised over 60 master’s theses. In addition to his teaching and mentorship, he chaired both the engineering admissions committee and the curriculum committee, contributing significantly to the school’s academic development and mission. He was also academic director of the Retraining Program for Immigrant Engineers, a free program that provides free classes to highly skilled engineers new to the United States.

Fontaine’s research interests span machine learning, statistical and multidimensional signal processing, and adaptive algorithms, with applications in wireless communications, radar systems, medical imaging, and quantitative finance. His work has reflected a career-long commitment to advancing both theory and practice in electrical and computer engineering.

A proud Cooper Union alumnus, Fontaine holds both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in electrical engineering from the institution. He also earned a master’s degree in mathematics from the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University and a doctorate in electrical engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology. He is a member of Tau Beta Pi and Eta Kappa Nu, and a senior member of IEEE.

While retiring from Cooper, Fontaine will begin a new chapter at Yeshiva University (YU), where he will serve as director to develop a new electrical and computer engineering pathway. In this role, he will help build new opportunities for students in emerging and interdisciplinary areas of engineering and technology, and YU undergrads who complete this work will receive guaranteed graduate admission to the school's Department of Computer Science and Engineering. 

The Cooper Union community thanks Professor Fontaine for his many years of service and wishes him all the best in his retirement.