It’s that time again when I usher you back to New York City and the East Village for a chat about the Albert Nerken School of Engineering on Shoop’s Stoop! The start of a new academic year marks a renewal, a continuation of a journey of learning, exploration and growth. On the first day of Fall Semester, at our Convocation in a packed Great Hall, outgoing President Laura Sparks surprised the community with the news that, for the next four years, all graduating seniors will be tuition free! It was truly an electrifying moment and start to the academic year!

The first-year class is yet another amazing group of talented individuals who will bring diverse lived experiences, contribute to the richness of our learning environment, and add to the vibrancy of our community. We had 112 entering engineering first-year students join our ranks with 18 ChE, 29 CE, 30 EE, 24 ME, and 11 BSE. Women comprise 44% of this class, 10% identify as underrepresented minorities, 21% self-identify as the first in their family to attend college and 10% are international.  Additionally, even though our admissions process is test-optional, over 80% submitted SAT scores, with an average SAT score of nearly 1500/1600 and average Math SAT score of 770/800. Qualitatively, the class includes individuals who have already conducted research in a diverse range of fields, from developing cancer-fighting nanoparticles to investigating the effects of sleep deprivation on therapy and replicating the energy efficiency of penguins in robotic designs. Among them are also accomplished artists in piano, ballet, ceramics, jazz, sculpture, and painting.

From September 29 through October 1, we hosted an onsite visit of a five-member ABET Team to complete our reaccreditation process. The team toured our lab facilities, spoke with the administration, faculty, students, alumni, and members of our Engineering Advisory Council (EAC), and reviewed student work. Although the visit ended on October 1, ABET has a lengthy review process, culminating in their annual meeting in mid-July. We are confident that we will receive notification of reaccreditation in August 2025. It has been over a year-and-a-half of heavy work, and I want to publicly acknowledge the team effort that made this reaccreditation a success. Associate Dean Lisa Shay led the effort and applied her expertise of the ABET reaccreditation process from years of being an ABET Program Evaluator (PEV). Our ABET Department Chairs deserve special recognition for leading the development of their individual self-studies and answering individual PEV questions – Ben Davis for ChE, Cosmas Tzavelis for CE, Fred Fontaine for EE, and Melody Baglione for ME.  

The ABET Team was impressed by how strongly the Albert Nerken School of Engineering supports undergraduate research. It is well known that undergraduate research is a high-impact practice that has been demonstrated to benefit student learning, persistence, and career preparation. As part of my overview presentation to the ABET Team, we collected some data that identified our commitment to undergraduate research and academic excellence. The average number of students taking a research independent study course averages 60/semester – this is 12% of the engineering student body! Additionally, in 2019 when I arrived at Cooper Union, the amount of funding allocated to student travel to conferences was less than $5,000. In 2024, that number rose to nearly $50,000!  

At the start of Fall Semester, we welcomed Abhishek Sharma to the Albert Nerken School of Engineering and the Department of Chemical Engineering. Abhishek received his Ph.D. from Cornell University in 2021 and since that time has been a postdoctoral scholar at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago. His areas of academic interest include thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, molecular simulations, chemical kinetics, and statistical mechanics-derived molecular simulation of phase transitions.  Over the past four-years, I have now hired 11 new tenure-track faculty, nearly one-third of the tenured and tenure-track faculty in the School of Engineering. In 2013, the composition of the tenured and tenure-track faculty in the School of Engineering was 6.3% women and in Fall 2024 it is 42% women! This academic year we will be hiring five new full-time faculty members – two in electrical engineering, one in civil engineering, and two in computer science.

Finally, I encourage you to take some time to read the articles included in this newsletter. You will find inspiring articles highlighting the accomplishments of students, faculty and staff, and a sampling of the vibrancy of all that is going on in the School of Engineering.

Thank you for sharing a seat and some time with me on Shoop’s Stoop! It continues to be an exciting time to be part of the Albert Nerken School of Engineering. I look forward to sharing additional updates in future editions.

Barry L. Shoop, Ph.D., P.E.  |  Dean of Engineering  |  Albert Nerken School of Engineering