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The STEM Saturdays Program

STEM SATURDAYS invites New York City High School students to design and engineer "Technology for Good".  This fall students will reimagine public spaces. Whether redesigning a monument to share untold stories or creating a place for people to gather and celebrate, students will learn skills from Civil, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering.  The skills will range from computer aided design to data analysis to electrical circuit design. Each session ends with a celebration and student showcase highlighting progress made towards developing skills and addressing community needs.

Applications for the winter program open November 20, 2023. To be notified via email, complete the STEM Interest Form.

Program Information

  • Classes meet on Saturdays from 10 am to 4 pm at 41 Cooper Square.
  • Students are required to attend all class meetings. 
  • There is no cost for admitted students. Students also receive materials, lunch and snacks, and metrocard.
  • Students can apply if they: 
    • Live in New York City
    • Are currently in 9th, 10th, or 11th grade
    • Are Low or middle income

Priority given to students with no prior experience in engineering and no access to engineering at their school.

Women and individuals who identify with groups historically excluded from STEM careers, including Black, Latino/a and LGBTQ+ people, are strongly encouraged to apply.

The Cooper Union STEM Outreach program is supported through generous donations from the The Pinkerton Foundation, John Ben Snow Memorial Trust, Thornton Tomasetti, and The Henry Sterne Trust.  

  • 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.