Irene Cheng is an associate professor in Architecture at the Cooper Union. An architectural historian and critic, her research explores the entanglements of architecture, culture, environment, and politics in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Cheng is author of The Shape of Utopia: The Architecture of Radical Reform in Nineteenth-Century America, and co-editor of Race and Modern Architecture: A Critical History from the Enlightenment to the Present (with Charles L. Davis II and Mabel O. Wilson) and The State of Architecture at the Beginning of the 21st Century (with Bernard Tschumi). Her book The Shape of Utopia received the On the Brinck Award in 2024. She is currently working on a book that explores the political ecology of Arts and Crafts architecture, as well as a related collaborative project called the Materialities of Empire.

Cheng received a B.A. in Social Studies from Harvard University, and M.Arch and Ph.D degrees from Columbia University. She previously taught at Columbia University, UCLA, and the California College of the Arts, where she served as chair of the Graduate Architecture program and as a founding co-director of History Theory Experiments, a platform for advanced interdisciplinary research and critical engagement in architecture.

Cheng is the recipient of a Diversity Achievement Award from the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture and an AIA SF Community Alliance Award. Her work has been supported by fellowships from the Graham Foundation, Whiting Foundation, McNeil Center for Early American Studies, MacDowell Colony, and National Endowment for the Humanities.

Previously Cheng worked as an architectural designer for Bernard Tschumi Architects before launching her own firm, Cheng + Snyder, with Brett Snyder. Cheng + Snyder’s project Museum of the Phantom City was exhibited at the Venice and Chicago biennials. The firm’s work has been published in Metropolis, Architectural Record, The Architect’s Newspaper, The New York Times, and in numerous books and blogs.

Cheng's CV is available here. 

Mike Essl A'96 was a partner at the award-winning design firm The Chopping Block, Inc., which he cofounded in 1996 with a fellow graduate of the Cooper Union. During his six years with the firm, Essl's clients included Sony, Nickelodeon, National Geographic, MTV, Intel, Microsoft, Roadrunner Records, the band They Might Be Giants, and the rapper Warren G. After receiving his MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Essl went on to work for Columbia University, Chronicle Books, and DC Comics.

Essl has taught at Parsons School of Design, School of the Visual Arts, and is now an Associate Professor at the Cooper Union. Essl's work has been recognized in numerous publications and by the AIGA and the Art Directors Club. In 2003 his work with the Chopping Block was featured in the National Design Triennial. Essl was recently a juror for PDN Pix magazine as well as ID magazine's Media Design review. He also loves Mr. T.

Jennifer Packer received her BFA from the Tyler School of Art in 2007 and her MFA from Yale University in 2012. She was a 2012-2013 Artist-in-Residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem and a Visual Arts Fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, MA, from 2014- 2016. Her work was most recently featured in two major solo exhibitions: The Eye Is Not Satisfied With Seeing, a 10-year survey at the Serpentine Galleries in London and Whitney Museum of American Art, and Every Shut Eye Ain’t Sleep at LA MOCA. Her first solo institutional exhibition, Tenderheaded, was shown at the Renaissance Society in Chicago in 2017 and at the Rose Museum at Brandeis University. Her work was included in the 2019 Whitney Biennial and P.5 - Prospect New Orleans (2021).

Professor Davis is an expert in sustainable chemical process design - the study of how to model and create safe, efficient, and environmentally-friendly manufacturing facilities.  He has published on identifying performance limits for networks of batch-wise (time-dependent) chemical reactors and on modeling and assessing the sustainability of corporations.

His research work is currently focused on sustainability assessment, sustainable process design (the economic, environmental, and social impacts of manufacturing or energy generation facilities), bioprocess design, biofuels, and operations research.  He teaches three required courses for chemical engineering undergraduate students regularly: Material and Energy Balances, Process Simulation and Mathematical Techniques for ChEs, and Process Evaluation and Design II.  Based on his research experience, he has offered elective courses on Advanced Chemical Reaction Engineering, Convex Optimization Techniques, and Sustainability and Pollution Prevention.

Professor Davis has been an active member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) since 2004 and has given many presentations at their Annual Meetings.  He has been a member of the Education Division of AIChE since it began and has served as Secretary/Treasurer, 2nd Vice-Chair, Vice-Chair, and Chair of the division.

Professor Davis has been at Cooper Union since his graduation from UCLA in 2009 with his Ph.D. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.  He is originally from Grand Island, NY and received his B.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from Cornell University.  His hobbies include board games, brewing beer, and ultimate frisbee.

See Professor Davis's faculty page here.

See Professor Davis's full CV here.