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The STEM Saturdays Program

2022-2023 School Year Program: 

Session 3: World-building using VR starting Spring 2023

Application is open at  https://connect.cooper.edu/apply/ 

  • To start an application go to First-time users > Create an account

Applications due February 8, 2023

Complete the STEM Outreach Interest Form to be notified when applications open for Fall 2023.

Program Information:

  • Spring classes meet Saturday, March 25, April 1, April 15, April 22, April 29 and May 5.
  • Classes meet on Saturdays from 10 am to 4 pm at 41 Cooper Square.
  • Students are required to attend all class meetings. There will be optional office hours.
  • Students enrolled in a New York City high school or living in New York City can apply.
  • 9th, 10th, and 11th grade students can apply.
  • Priority is given to students with no prior engineering experience.
  • Priority is given to students that identify with a group underrepresented in engineering careers, including Black, Latino and LGBTQ+ people.
  • Cost: There is no cost for admitted students. Students also receive materials, lunch and snacks, and metrocard.

STEM Saturday Students develop design, engineering and entrepreneurial skills as they create "Technology for Good" to solve a current or emerging problem or opportunity for their community.

This year students will develop assets or objects for AR/VR/XR applications using computer aided-design (CAD), design community based applications using a human-centered engineering design process, and collaborate on world-building in VR to solve problems within The Cooper Union and New York City communities. Students will also work on developing their engineering network and planning for college and career through workshops with Cooper Union staff and alumni and engineering professionals from technology and engineering companies. Each session ends with a celebration and student showcase highlighting progress made towards developing skills and addressing community needs.

The Cooper Union STEM Outreach program is supported through generous donations from the The Pinkerton Foundation, John P Dugan, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, John Ben Snow Memorial Trust, Cross Ridge Foundation, Thornton Tomasetti, Hyde and Watson Foundation, 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.