Full-Time Faculty

Dr. Wootton teaches fundamental courses in mechanics and mechanical engineering (fluid and solid mechanics, engineering mechanics/dynamics), and bioengineering electives (Biotransport, Injury Biomechanics and Safety, Tissue Engineering).  He has advised a variety projects for seniors, freshmen, master’s degree, and independent studies, including: exercise equipment for overweight teens; experimental systems for impact injury, bone interference screw strength, knee mechanics, and upper airway mechanics; folding bicycle design; microchannel blood platelet inhibition assay; bone and osteochondral tissue engineering scaffold manufacturing; bone interference screw testing, and atomic force microscopy. 

Dr. Wootton’s main research interests are biofluid and biosolid mechanics and biotransport modeling,  Current research projects in this area include magnetic resonance image-based upper airway fluid and solid mechanics models to better understand anatomic and neuromuscular factors contributing to obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, and novel (often CAD/CAM based) manufacturing methods for tissue engineering scaffolds and constructs.  His past studies in this area include models of flow, near-wall platelet concentration, and platelet accumulation in arterial thrombosis, which linked the flow field features typically found in advanced atherosclerosis (artery disease) with the enhanced rate of blood clot formation (thrombosis) associated with many heart attacks and strokes.  He also developed an experimental and computational model of thrombolytic (“clot-busting”) drug therapy in remnants of thrombus adhering to a vessel wall after blood flow is reestablished.   His research is currently supported by federal grants from the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation, and he has been supported by the American Heart Association.  Dr. Wootton is also interested in introducing novel experiments and demonstrations in the engineering curriculum, and participates in an NSF-sponsored project to bring microfluidics experiments into the introductory courses in fluid mechanics and Biotransport.  He is collaborating with Professor Delegrammatikas and Cooper Alum and ME lab manager John Consiglio to introduce particle image velocimetry (PIV) to undergraduate student courses and  projects (funded by NSF).

Dr. Wootton studied Mechanical Engineering Cornell University (BS 1987), MIT (MS 1990), and Georgia Tech (PhD 1998), and Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech (PhD subject area) and Johns Hopkins University (Postdoc 1998-2000).  His professional experience includes Crashworthiness and Safety Engineering at General Motors, environmental noise and vibration (Harris Miller Miller and Hanson), and musical instrument repair and restoration (Reuning and Son Violins).

See David Wootton's full CV.

Fabiola Barrios-Landeros

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

B.A., Kalahandi College, India
M.A., Sambalpur University, India
M.A., Ph.D., SUNY at Stony Brook

Loujaina Abdelwahed joined the faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences as an assistant professor of economics in September 2019.

Professor Abdelwahed is an applied economist with interest in empirical macroeconomics and development economics. Her research focuses on foreign aid and natural resources windfalls and their impact on public  finance. Her recent work focuses on the relationship between fiscal dependency on natural resources and individual wellbeing in terms of income and consumption inequality. 

Prior to joining Cooper Union (and starting her Ph.D.), she worked as an economist at the Macro Fiscal Policy Unit at the Egyptian Ministry of Finance.  

Professor Abdelwahed received her B.A. in economics from the American University in Cairo and her Ph.D. in economics from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Empirical macroeconomics
International Development
Foreign aid
Natural resources
Inequality

Academic Background

Ph.D., Economics
University of Illinois at Chicago

B.A., Economics
American University in Cairo
 

  • 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.