It’s that time again when I usher you back to the East Village for a conversation on Shoop’s Stoop! The start of the academic year brings new beginnings, renewal, and the start of the next chapter. For our students, this new beginning is filled with excitement, anticipation, uncertainty and even apprehension. The incoming first-year class is an 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. Like our returning students, they have a voracious appetite for learning and are anxious to engage with our community. I want to share some of the things that happened in the Albert Nerken School of Engineering since our last update in June.

This academic year is our ABET Record Year. We will submit a request for evaluation to ABET by January 31, 2024, that will initiate our reaccreditation.  In preparation for the visit, a Self-Study Report for each of the ABET accredited programs must be submitted to ABET by July 1, 2024. The reaccreditation evaluation will be a comprehensive review with an on-site visit scheduled for Fall 2024. Over the summer, we had 10 faculty members from across our four ABET-accredited departments begin the draft of their self-studies, so we are off to a strong start! 

In addition to our focus on ABET, another emerging theme for this academic year is on the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI). In June, I attended the American Society of Engineering Educators (ASEE) Annual Meeting in Baltimore and participated in a session on generative AI in engineering education. There is a very broad spectrum of impact from faculty concerns about academic dishonesty to improvements in student tutoring, support for students with English as a second language to faculty use to create quizzes, reference letters, virtual teaching assistants, and more. Additionally, at our last meeting in April, our Engineering Advisory Council (EAC) admonished us to prepare our students to understand and gain experience using AI tools, which will be prevalent in their professional futures. As a result of these and a growing number of articles about this technology, I am organizing several activities throughout the year. At our first faculty meeting on September 5th, Professors of Electrical Engineering Sam Keene and Carl Sable conducted a workshop that provided an overview of how generative AI works and introduced ChatGPT to our faculty. Later this semester, our Engineering Student Council will organize an open forum for students and faculty to discuss uses of this technology, now and in the future. On the theme of generative AI, Mike Essl, the Dean of Art here at Coper Union, and I visited the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) to see the Refik Anadol exhibition Unsupervised that uses artificial intelligence to interpret and transform more than 200 years of art at MoMA https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/5535. We are using New York City as our laboratory! And finally, in December we will host Mark Vasquez (ME’88), Senior Program Manager of IEEE TechEthics, again for an IEEE TechEthics panel discussion, this year on the ethics associated with generative AI.

The beginning of the academic year also brings several new appointments, Dirk Martin Luchtenburg, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering was appointed the C.V. Starr Distinguished Professor of Engineering. Awarded by the Deans of the Albert Nerken School of Engineering, the named professorship goes to mid-career, tenured, associate, or full professor faculty members with documented research accomplishments including peer-reviewed journal, conference papers, and presentations as well as evidence of scholarly collaboration with other institutions and/or corporations. The distinction lasts two years and comes with a $20,000 annual stipend for research activities such as travel, research assistants, equipment, and supplies. Additionally, Sam Keene, Professor of Electrical Engineering, was appointed the inaugural John and Mary Manuck Distinguished Professor of Design. This newly endowed distinguished professor will raise the visibility of design as a unifying element in interdisciplinary approaches at the intersection of art, architecture, engineering, and the humanities and social sciences, and collaborate across disciplinary boundaries to create innovative solutions to societal challenges. Professor Keene will serve as the John and Mary Manuck Distinguished Professor of Design for a three-year tenure, after which the appointment will rotate to another professional school at The Cooper Union.

At the start of Fall Semester, we welcomed two new full-time faculty members to the Albert Nerken School of Engineering and the Department of Civil Engineering. Hejintao Huang joins us after receiving her Ph.D. from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a geotechnical disciplinary focus. She received her bachelor’s degree from Bucknell University and her research focuses on the beneficial use of waste materials. Jeong Eun Ahn received her Ph.D. from NYU Tandon School of Engineering in 2019 with a hydraulics disciplinary focus. She comes to us with four years of teaching experience at Rowan University and her research focuses on developing sustainable water systems and increasing the resiliency of coastal communities. The face of the full-time engineering faculty continues to evolve. Over the past three years, I have hired 10 new tenure-track faculty, nearly 1/3 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 2023 it is 42% women!

Earlier in September, Washington Monthly released their 2023 rankings and Cooper is ranked #1 Bachelor’s college (#3 in 2022) as well as 22 as best bang for buck in NE.  Also in early September, in the New York Times article The College Access Index Returns | A new look at economic diversity in higher education, Cooper Union was identified among the Largest Increases in the Share of Pell Grant Recipients at Selective Colleges, going from 13% in AY2011 to 29% in AY2021. Additionally, on September 18, the 2024 U.S. News & World Report rankings were released. The school has sustained its overall ranking of #9 in Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs where a doctorate is not offered. In the Regional Colleges North category, Cooper continues to be #1 Best Value Schools and #2 in Regional Colleges North. Finally, Niche released its 2024 Best Colleges in New York ranking of 228 four-year private and public colleges in New York State and Cooper Union was ranked #6 with an A+ overall Niche grade.

Finally, I invite you to explore the articles included in this newsletter. You will find inspiring articles highlighting the accomplishments of students, faculty, staff and alumni, an indication 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

Welcome back to the East Village, 41 Cooper Square, and Shoop’s Stoop! We successfully completed yet another academic year and I want to share just a few of the exciting things that happened in the Albert Nerken School of Engineering since my last update.

The end of our academic year ended much like the beginning, on a somber note. On Saturday, May 27, I had the sad duty to inform our engineering faculty, staff, and students that Professor Daniel Lepek passed away on the morning of May 26, 2023, after a very private and intense year-long battle with cancer. Daniel was a kind, gentle, talented, and creative person who made immense contributions to Cooper Union and the profession. One could rightly characterize him as a renaissance man. He was a Professor of Chemical Engineering and his research interests included particle technology, fluidization and multiphase flow, pharmaceutical engineering, modeling of transport and bio transport phenomena, and engineering education. He was also a Fulbright Scholar. In addition, Daniel was an accomplished pianist, composer, and musical director. He regularly performed at the Cooper Union Talent Show. When I first arrived at Cooper Union in the spring semester of 2019, Daniel was the first faculty member to invite me to lunch where he introduced me to Madame Vo’s Vietnamese restaurant. It continues to be one of my favorites in the East Village and it will evoke special memories of Daniel in the future. An example of his creativity was ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE – An Immersive Theatrical Experience on Engineering Ethics that he piloted in ESC000 in AY2022. This was an informal, semi-staged reading of ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE which tells the story of a respected doctor who courageously tells the truth about a health hazard in his small town and is consequentially denounced and ostracized. Daniel was a favorite of students and was a valued colleague to faculty and staff across The Cooper Union and he will be deeply missed.

This year we had a total of 103 undergraduate students and 23 graduate students graduate from the School of Engineering. For our undergraduates, this included 22 Chemical Engineers, 27 Civil Engineers, 26 Electrical Engineers, 22 Mechanical Engineers, and 6 General Engineers. In addition to the undergraduate degrees, members of this graduating class were awarded a total of 44 minors: 26 Computer Science Minors, 10 Bioengineering Minors, 2 Chemistry Minors, and 6 HSS Minors.

Our fall 2023 incoming first-year class is again very strong. We admitted 106 students into the Class of 2027. There will be 18 students majoring in Chemical Engineering, 30 in Civil, 32 in Electrical, 25 in Mechanical, and 11 in General Engineering. Women comprise 41% of this class. Additionally, 15% of this class identify as underrepresented minorities, 24% self-identified as the first in their family to attend college and 9% of the class is international. This year we have 43 entering Master of Engineering students.

When I first arrived at Cooper, I was told “we are a small school that punches well-above our weight class.” Our students do this regularly and continue to make us proud. Our students took 1st Place at the Regional AlChE Undergraduate Research Competition, Matthew Moulton ChE’20 was awarded a GEM Fellowship to support his graduate studies in civil and environmental engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, our Solar Decathlon Team was awarded the 2023 US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon Design Challenge Competition Commercial Grand Prize, and our Intelligent Ground Vehicle (IGV) team secured an impressive 2nd place win for self-driving vehicles and 3rd place for self-drive design at this year’s Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition (IGVC).  Read more about these in this newsletter.

In the fall of 2023, we will add two new tenure-track faculty to our Civil Engineering Department ranks. Hejintao Huang is completing her Ph.D. at Georgia Institute of Technology with a geotechnical disciplinary focus. She received her bachelor’s degree from Bucknell University and her research focuses on the beneficial use of waste materials. Jeong Eun Ahn received her Ph.D. from NYU in 2019 with a hydraulics disciplinary focus. She comes to us with four years of teaching experience at Rowan University and her research focuses on developing sustainable water systems and increasing the resiliency of coastal communities. The face of the engineering full-time faculty continues to evolve. Over the past three-year, I have hired 10 new tenure-track faculty, nearly 1/3 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 2023 it will be 42% women!

ABET accreditation is important to the continuous improvement, sustained quality, and recognition of the Chemical, Civil, Electrical, and Mechanical Engineering Programs. The four ABET accredited majors are periodically evaluated by the Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) of ABET. Our reaccreditation cycle will begin this next academic year, with AY2024 being our record year. We will submit a request for evaluation to ABET by January 31, 2024, that will initiate a reaccreditation evaluation visit. In preparation for the visit, a Self-Study Report for each of the ABET accredited programs must be submitted to ABET by July 1, 2024. The reaccreditation evaluation will be a comprehensive general review with an on-sight visit that will occur in the Fall of 2024. Given the importance of ABET accreditation and the amount of work required of the full-time faculty to prepare for the upcoming reaccreditation, this summer, we have full-time faculty from the four ABET accredited programs engaging in ABET reaccreditation activities including outcomes assessment, formatting and compiling faculty curricula vitae for all faculty, formatting and compiling syllabi for all of the courses in each curriculum, and beginning to draft the self-studies.

Thank you again for sharing your valuable 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 of Shoop’s Stoop! From all of us at Cooper, enjoy your summer!

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

Greetings from the East Village and welcome to the latest Shoop’s Stoop!

Our students and faculty continue to do amazing things! I encourage you to take the time to read all the articles in this newsletter. They include student activities and successes, faculty contributions and accomplishments, curricular initiatives, and alumni activities.

Our Summer Study Abroad Program has returned to pre-COVID levels. This summer we will send 11 engineering students abroad. This includes: Technische Universitat Dresden and Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, both in Germany, LaTrobe University in Australia with applications in Bosnia, Reykjavik University in Iceland, the National University of Singapore, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Madrid in Spain, the Barbara Ford Peace Building Center in Guatemala, and the Monteverdi Field School in Italy. Additionally, we recently hosted Professor Saurabh Sinha, Deputy Vice Chancellor of Research and Internationalization at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa and we are in negotiations to add South Africa to our Summer Study Abroad portfolio!

Through the very generous donation of John Manuck ChE’69, we are excited to announce a new endowed distinguished professor: the John and Mary Manuck Distinguished Professor of Design. The John Manuck Distinguished Professor of Design will raise the visibility of design as a unifying element in interdisciplinary approaches at the intersection of art, architecture, engineering, and the humanities and social sciences, and collaborate across disciplinary boundaries to create innovative solutions to societal challenges. This newly created faculty endowment will catalyze pioneering work in engineering, art, architecture, and related fields by supporting a distinguished faculty member to pursue interdisciplinary design and innovation in their teaching, research, creative practice, and most importantly, student engagement. In doing so, it will help deepen approaches to innovation and utilization of design principles to generate breakthrough ideas, practices, and outcomes. Through a competitive selection process, the John and Mary Manuck Distinguished Professor of Design will complete a three-year tenure that will rotate among the three professional schools at The Cooper Union.

Finally, on Tuesday, March 28, we notified next year’s first-year applicants of our admissions decisions. This year’s applications were very strong. We had a 20% year-over-year increase in the total number of applicants with a 32% increase in female applications and a 15% increase in underrepresented minorities. Including early decision, regular decision, and deferrals, we have admitted a total of 245 students to the School of Engineering. Even though we continue to be test optional, 70% of the admitted class submitted standardized test scores, and the average SAT score for Math is 766 and 728 for Reading. Of this year’s admitted students, we held the total number of women at 44% and slightly increased the number of underrepresented minorities to 16%. By all accounts, this admitted student class is very strong!

Thank you again for sharing your valuable 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

Greetings again from Shoop’s Stoop. As we quickly approach the end of fall semester and anticipate a much-needed winter break, let me begin by wishing you a joyous holiday season and a peaceful and prosperous New Year!

Since arriving at Cooper, I have offered an Educational Innovation Grant program each year to advance the Albert Nerken School of Engineering’s 2025 Strategic Plan, Sustaining a Legacy of Innovation. The 2022 Educational Innovation Grant RFP included additional preferences for initiatives, programs, and activities that (1) foster an environment supporting student success, (2) promote community, celebrate diversity, and advance racial equity, (3) advance interdisciplinary approaches across math, sciences, and engineering, and (4) advance interdisciplinary approaches at the intersection of art, architecture, engineering, and the humanities and social sciences. This year, we received 17 proposals from faculty, students, and staff and selected 9 proposals to be funded, accounting for nearly $40k in grant funding. Among the funded proposals were projects that developed new courses at the intersection of disciplines, supported an inaugural student-led undergraduate research symposium, supported student outreach workshops, and more. These innovation grants are made possible through the generous donation of Victor and Eleanor DiFranco. A summary of all the funded projects and the faculty, students and staff associated with each project can be found here.

Within the School of Engineering, our faculty research efforts continue to grow, with many positive consequences. Research is the engine that stimulates intellectual curiosity, fuels new inquiries, advances disciplinary and interdisciplinary fields, and produces new knowledge or uses existing knowledge in new and creative ways. Research experiences enhance student’s intellectual skills such as inquiry, analytical and critical thinking, quantitative reasoning, reading, and understanding of primary literature, communication, and often teamwork. For undergraduates, research is considered a high-impact educational practice, deepening their understanding of disciplinary foundations, exposing them to emerging areas in their chosen field, and ultimately honing important communication skills. During this semester, our students have been increasingly engaged in research and have been traveling to professional conferences in higher numbers, presenting their research results, and even receiving awards. Nearly 20 undergraduate students from across the School of Engineering have presented at conferences this semester, with another 40 participating in workshops, career fairs, networking opportunities, and other activities. These student professional development experiences are made possible through the generous donations of Alan Fortier ChE’79. You can read about several of our student award recipients in this newsletter.

We continue to innovate and improve our curriculum, add offerings to recognize student achievement, and improve their disciplinary experience. On Thursday, October 6, 2022, the School of Engineering Curriculum Committee met to consider several curricular revisions, including a new Chemistry Minor which will be open to all undergraduate engineering students, across all majors. This proposal was approved by the Curriculum Committee at that meeting and subsequently on Tuesday, November 8, the Chemistry Minor was presented to the faculty for consideration and was approved unanimously. The Chemistry Minor will be offered beginning of the Fall Semester of 2023 but will also be awarded to students graduating in May of 2023 who satisfy the requirements of the minor. Additionally, in the October newsletter, I shared some details of an interdisciplinary capstone course that is being piloted this academic year. On December 13, there will be an Interdisciplinary Capstone Showcase at 41 Cooper Square in The Frederick P. Rose Auditorium and the Gelman Foyer for students to present and celebrate fall semester achievements in this course.

Finally, I encourage you to take some time to read the articles included in this newsletter.

Thank you again for sharing your valuable 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