Steven W. McLaughlin is the 14th president of The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, having assumed the role on July 1, 2025. McLaughlin has extensive experience within higher education. For nearly 30 years, he held a variety of positions at Georgia Tech, both in the classroom and in administration, and was most recently the university’s chief academic officer. 

As Georgia Tech’s provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, a role he held for five years, McLaughlin provided leadership to all academic and related units, including all 29 schools within the colleges of business, computing, design, engineering, liberal arts, and sciences, the library, and professional education. Prior to that position, he also held posts as the dean and Southern Company chair of Georgia Tech’s College of Engineering, the largest engineering college in the country; the Steve W. Chaddick school chair in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and vice provost for international initiatives. McLaughlin's research interests are in the general area of communications and information theory. His research group published more than 250 papers in journals and conferences and holds 36 U.S. patents in the areas of forward error correction and equalization in wireless communications, data security, and privacy among others. 

A past president of the IEEE Information Theory Society and a fellow of the IEEE, McLaughlin has received multiple honors for his lifetime of work in higher education including the Chevalier de  l`Ordre National du Mérite (Knight of the French National Order of Merit), the second highest civilian award given by the Republic of France, for his leadership with the campus of Georgia Tech Lorraine. He also received a National Science Foundation Career Award and was the first Georgia Tech recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, cited by President Clinton "for leadership in the development of high-capacity, nonbinary optical recording formats." McLaughlin received a B.S.E.E. degree from Northwestern University, a M.S.E. degree from Princeton University, and a Ph.D. degree from the University of Michigan.
 
Read President McLaughlin's Messages to the Cooper Community.
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Watch: President McLaughlin in Conversation

Steve McLaughlin joins student trustee Angie Zuo AR’29 in conversation to discuss what drew him to The Cooper Union.

Ananya Jain McLaughlin, wife of Cooper Union President Steve McLaughlin, is the CEO of a Silicon Valley tech company that powers the infrastructure behind some of the world’s largest brands.

An engineer by training, Ananya’s career is guided by the belief that technology should make people’s lives easier. Her leadership philosophy is rooted in analytical rigor, earning recognition globally in Forbes and honors such as the Diana Award, conferred in memory of Princess Diana, for her impact as a CEO with a deeply humanistic outlook.

Outside of her work, Ananya is a thoughtful presence within the Cooper Union community and brings a deep respect for the institution’s legacy of creativity and social responsibility. She enjoys conversations about the intersection of technology, creativity, and business.