Happy 2021 and welcome to the second School of Engineering Newsletter. I want to begin by sharing that we finished fall semester strong. The initial preparations and continuous refinement and evolution of pedagogy and delivery by our faculty and staff paid off. In the Fall 2020 Semester, the Albert Nerken School of Engineering delivered 100 unique courses with 164 sections across seven academic departments. Of these courses, all lecture courses were online with 10 having an in-person component. The in-person courses were predominately laboratory and capstone courses. In addition, nine project-based courses integrated CU@Home kits that were shipped to each student to build and test the project and thereby retain the rigor and authenticity of Cooper. Throughout the semester, we progressively increased student access to our shops and maker spaces for course, project and extracurricular activity fabrication. The Spring 2021 Semester will look very similar to Fall 2020, a hybrid modality with 93 unique courses and 161 sections. I invite you to join me on Shoop’s Stoop as I share some of the highlights of the great things that are happening in the School of Engineering.

During the fall semester, in addition to executing our primary teaching mission, we continued to innovate, improve and progress. Throughout the semester, we continued the bi-weekly faculty pedagogy workshops as well as the monthly diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) townhalls that we began in the summer of 2020. We experimented with several different formats for the townhalls including open forums, student-led focused topical discussions and we even expanded several to the entire Cooper community including one led by Adrianna Farmiga, Associate Dean for the School or Art, who introduced a racial equity definition project and our final townhall which was a distinguished lecture by Lynn Conway, an advocate for transgender rights who led a revolution in microchip design. You can find details of these DEI town halls in one of the articles in this newsletter. Early in the semester, we expanded our partnerships by formalizing a collaborative agreement with Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Center to provide practical experience and joint research projects for Cooper students. MSK recently established a computational oncology group providing rich opportunities for applications of machine learning and artificial intelligence. Additionally, in November, the full-time faculty unanimously approved the strategic plan assessment plan which provides measures of performance by which we will assess our strategic plan. In December, we had nine students successfully complete our graduate program and receive Master of Engineering degrees. Finally, this semester saw an increase in the number of alumni and children and grandchildren of Cooper alumni who are inspired to financially support the exciting renaissance that is occurring in the School of Engineering. Looking ahead, I’d like to give a shout-out and foreshadow several engineering alumni who will be recognized at the CUAA Founder’s Day Award Ceremony on February 10, 2021 – Jennifer Fenton Weishaupt ChE’95 will receive the Peter Cooper Public Service Award, Stephen P. Welby ChE’87 will receive the Gano Dunn Award, and Anna Brook BSE’04 will receive the Young Alumna of the Year Award. Please join me in congratulating these engineering alumni!

In late October, after over a year long process, the Albert Nerken School of Engineering received a nearly $1.6M grant from a foundation that wishes to remain anonymous to unify and raise awareness of bioengineering and biomedical education, research, and project activities. This three-year grant provides funding for a Distinguished Professor of Bioengineering, summer salaries and research expenses for five faculty researchers, five Graduate Research Fellowships, and five undergraduate research assistants. I led the development, submission and presentation of the proposal with the support of Professors Ben Davis, Eric Lima, Oliver Medvedik, Ruben Savizky, Neveen Shlayan, Jennifer Weiser, and David Wootton.

In our October newsletter, I reported that we have four tenure-track faculty searches being conducted this academic year with one in Physics, one in Math, and two in Mechanical Engineering. I am pleased to report yet another first for Cooper Union – we have entered into an agreement with the Center for Computational Astrophysics (CCA) of the Simons Foundation’s Flatiron Institute for a joint faculty position. The Simons Foundation is a private foundation established in 1994 in New York City by Jim and Marilyn Simons. With an annual grants and programs budget of $300 million, the foundation’s mission is to advance the frontiers of research in mathematics and the basic sciences. The foundation pursues its mission through its grant-making division, comprising programs in Mathematics & Physical Sciences, Life Sciences, Education & Outreach and autism research, and through its internal research division, the Flatiron Institute. The position is generally a 50-50 joint appointment between The Cooper Union and CCA, with the appointee spending half of their effort in each place. The appointment at CCA will last for the duration of three years; afterwards, the joint appointment will end and the person in this position will continue with their faculty appointment at The Cooper Union. We are excited about this joint faculty position and the research collaboration with the Simons Foundation.

Thank you for spending some of your valuable time with me! You should know that these are just a few of the highlights – the tips of the waves. There are many more great things happening in the Albert Nerken School of Engineering. I look forward to sharing additional updates in future editions of Shoop’s Stoop!

Barry L. Shoop, Ph.D., P.E.

Dean of Engineering

Albert Nerken School of Engineering

Welcome to the inaugural School of Engineering Newsletter. I chose the title of “Shoop’s Stoop” for my column as a literary metaphor for the staircase in 41 Cooper Square where I have often found students in conversations, sharing thoughts and ideas, and where I have joined some and invited others to share my Shoop Stoop. So, if you would care to pull up a step on Shoop’s Stoop, I will share some of the great things that are happening in the School of Engineering.

Over the summer, we had seven faculty who participated in the 2020 Olin College Virtual Summer Institute which was focused on the design of student-centered learning experiences. This workshop served as the launching point to reimagine our Freshman Engineering Course, EID101 Engineering Design and Problem Solving, integrating a consistent design process across all six-sections, with common milestones, deliverables and rubrics and the addition of 18 student mentors for project teams to help with community building and student support as well as technical assistance on the projects.

The composition of the engineering faculty has changed as we hired three new faculty in the School of Engineering. Cynthia Lee joins the Civil Engineering Department after receiving her Ph.D. from the Georgia Institute of Technology, JB Koo joins the Electrical Engineering Department coming from very relevant industrial experience at Intel Corporation, and Fabiola Barrios-Landeros joins the Chemistry Department having recently taught at Yeshiva University. We have four additional tenure-track faculty searches being conducted this academic year with one in Physics, one in Math, and two in Mechanical Engineering. Additionally, on the personnel front, Professor Ruben Savizky who has served as Acting Associate Dean over the past two years accepted the position as Associate Dean of Academic Affairs.

Over the summer, we continued bi-weekly virtual meetings that began in the spring semester focused on educational pedagogy, particularly online learning. We also conducted bi-weekly virtual townhalls with faculty, staff, and students focused on racial justice and equity. We will continue both important activities throughout this academic year.

Our incoming freshman class is strong, despite the uncertainties associated with COVID-19 and online learning. We admitted 139 students into the Class of 2024, exceeding our target of 135. There are 38 students majoring in Civil, 22 in Chemical, 28 in Electrical, 36 in Mechanical, and 15 in General Engineering.

The start of a new academic year marks a renewal, a continuation of a journey of learning, exploration and growth. While this fall semester feels very different under the continuing oppression of the coronavirus pandemic, the start of the semester with classes back in session brings at least a minimal sense of normalcy. Even though we are predominately online this semester, we have worked hard to maintain the quality and authenticity of the Cooper educational experience. For a number of our project-based courses, we have developed and are shipping CU@Home project kits so students will be able to get the hands-on experience of building and testing projects. We are also working to provide limited student access to shops and maker spaces for some fabrication. Finally, we plan to continue to support student professional development activities in the form of virtual attendance at conferences and workshops, where available.

For the first time, The Cooper Union is offering a new type of course structure known as Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP). VIP courses engage students in a project-based experience over multiple semesters to apply disciplinary knowledge and gain important professional skills. Introduction of VIP courses into our curriculum demonstrates our commitment to educational innovation, problem-based learning, and ensuring that Cooper Union is at the leading edge of educational pedagogy. This semester, we are offering three VIP courses: one on the topic of Smart Cities, another focused on Solar Decathlon, and the final one is Cooper Union Motorsports.

In September, the 2021 US News & World Report rankings were released. This year is one of the first times in recent history that all of our ABET-accredited engineering majors are ranked in the top ten (for schools where doctorate is not offered). The school continues to be #10 in Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs with individual rankings being #1 in Chemical, #7 in Civil, #7 in Computer, #8 in Electrical/Electronic/Communications, and #7 in Mechanical.

Our students continue to excel and succeed in amazing ways. Alexa Jakob, a junior electrical engineering student, recently received awards from both The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and the National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals (NOGLSTP). Alexa was one of 14 recipients to receive the SWE GE Women's Scholarship and was also awarded the NOGLTSP 2020 Inphi Scholarship in Physics and Engineering.

And finally, the School of Engineering has begun a comprehensive curriculum review with the goal to assess the engineering curriculum with an eye toward ensuring the engineering curriculum is at the leading-edge of undergraduate engineering education.

Thank you for joining me! You should know that these are just the highlights – there are many more great things happening in the Albert Nerken School of Engineering. I look forward to sharing additional updates in future editions of Shoop’s Stoop!

Barry L. Shoop, Ph.D., P.E.

Dean of Engineering

Albert Nerken School of Engineering

Watch this space for a new Albert Nerken School of Engineering blog, including regular contributions by Dean Barry Shoop!