Top of the News

  • The Cooper Union won the ninth annual AIChE chem-e-car race with an alternative fuel of baking soda and vinegar. They beat 28 other school vehicles including Carnegie Mellon University and University of Oklahoma. The team members were Mukarram Razvi (ChE'09), project leader, and Chrystina Montuori-Sorrentino (ChE'09), Sevanne Halajian (ChE'09), Michael Gliboff (BSE'09) and Anthony Tantuccio (ChE'10); Michael Gutierrez (ChE'06/MChE'08), project leader emeritus; staff members Michael Westbrook and Michael Eilenfeldt; faculty advisor Oubonnaya Okorafor and faculty Brian Cusack, Jeffry Hakner, George Delagrammatikas and David Wooten.
  • Construction on the foundation of the new building is almost complete. A tower crane has been erected on the site and work on the building's superstructure will begin in mid month.

Congratulations

  • Elizabeth Diller (AR'79), Dean Eleanor Baum and Mary Schmidt Campbell were named in Crain's New York Business's list of the 100 Most Influential Women.
  • Ysrael A. Seinuk (Arch. fac.) received the Distinguished Service Award from the New York Society of Architects at the NYSA Annual Awards Dinner, November 15, 2007.
  • Cooper Union's women's tennis team won the HVWAC championship for the second straight year.
  • Museum at Eldridge Street has accepted the logo/identity system that Mindy Lang's (A'82/dir., Center for Design & Typography) Professional Practice Class has proposed and will begin to implement the new graphic identity immediately. It was a collaborative project between three students, with each one taking on one major responsibility: Yael Alkaley (Exit-In exchange student, fall 2007): logo and applications on stationery, Eli Halpern (A'08): motion graphic for web site and videos, and Dan Donohue (A'08): publication design and docent manual.
  • Cooper Union's three teams competed in a different kind of marathon Sunday at Kean University. For five continuous hours, students competed in the fine art of programming in the Association for Computing Machinery's International Collegiate Programming Contest. Fifty-three teams from 24 northeastern colleges and universities participated. Cooper Union Hawks Team 1, consisting of Nathan Lewis (Eng'08), David Eis (Eng'08) and Chris Narrikkattu (Eng'10), scored first by solving the first problem in three minutes. They finished in eighth place overall, our best finish in nine years. Cooper Union Hawks Team 2, Chris Von Bargen (Eng'08), Phil Perkins (Eng'09) and Elihu Herskovics (Eng'10), solved five of nine problems. They placed 21st. Cooper Union Hawks Team 3, consisting of Nava Chitrik (Eng'08), Deian Stefan (Eng'09) and Steve Noll (Eng'10), solved three of nine problems to finish in 27th place. This was a great performance against teams which are mostly seniors and graduate students. Cooper Union's team was supported by Carl Sable (Eng. fac.) and Chris Lent (EE'84, MEE'87, Eng. fac.). A fabulous time was had by all. For the curious, see: http://www.acmgnyr.org/
  • William Germano (H&SS dean) has been appointed to the Advisory Board of the Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition.
  • Christian Roca (Eng'09) is one of the winners of the 2007 Google Hispanic College Fund Scholarship Winners. The program provides $5,000 to both undergraduate and graduate students who have demonstrated academic excellence in the fields of computer science and computer engineering.
  • Adi Shamir (AR'85), is a Travel Fellowship Juror for The Berkeley Prize.

publications, presentations and major exhibitions

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giving to cooper union

  • More than 200 alumni have secured their personal legacy with an engraving on the Alumni Roof Terrace in Cooper Union's new academic building. Together, they've contributed more than $1 million for the building fund! Please remember that all pledges are payable through June 30, 2012—a full five years—so mark your commitment in stone and reserve a space for your name on the Terrace. For more information, contact Richard Aab at 212-353-4171 or raab@cooper.edu, or visit the Give to Cooper Union section of the web site.
  • The Alumni on Wall Street Campaign welcomes its newest Charter Members: Frank Cantelmi (ME'93), Mariam Cantelmi (AR'95) and Jimmy Kwong (ChE'80). Our Alumni on Wall Street supporters have now raised nearly a quarter of a million dollars toward the building of the Wall Street Sky Bridge! Remember, all alumni in financial services have the opportunity to join in this remarkable network and participate in this unique naming opportunity in the new academic building. If you are interested in finding out more, please contact Richard Aab at 212-353-4171 or raab@cooper.edu.
  • Trustee Marc Appleton, great, great, great grandson of Peter Cooper, hosted a dinner at the Bel-Air Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA, in October for a select group of Cooper Union alumni and friends. The dinner was attended by President George Campbell Jr. and Vice President for External Affairs Ronni Denes. Prior to the dinner, Appleton announced his generous pledge to the endowment, which follows an earlier gift to the new academic building fund.
  • To date, 30 friends and alumni have used IRA rollover gifts to make generous donations to Cooper Union. The law permits individuals age 70½ and older to rollover up to $100,000 per year from qualified Individual Retirement Accounts directly to a charity now through December 31, 2007. For more about the current law please visit: http://www.cooper.edu/administration/development/ira.html.
  • Three more people have informed us of their generous planned bequests totaling more than $3 million in future support for The Cooper Union.

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Don't Miss

General Interest

  • On December 4, Linda Sanford, Senior Vice President Enterprise On Demand Transformation & Information Technology, IBM, will join President George Campbell Jr. for the President's Roundtable discussion scheduled at noon. Students interested in participating should contact the student ad-chairs in their respective schools to sign up.

    Linda Sanford leads the strategy for IBM's internal transformation to the industry's premier on demand business. In this role, Ms. Sanford is responsible for working across IBM to transform core business processes, create an IT infrastructure to support those processes, and help create a culture that recognizes the value that on demand leadership can bring to IBM. More »

Alumni Events

  • In cooperation with the Office of Alumni Relations and the Career Center, the Cooper Union Venture Network, Rene N. Makrinos, president (BE'09) and Natalie Mayslich, vice president (BE'09), will host a school and alumni Networking Social on Monday, December 3, 2007 in the Wollman Lounge from 6-8pm. Alumni from all classes, majors and professions are invited to attend to reconnect with peers and professors and meet current students.
  • On December 8, 2007, the Florida Chapter of the Cooper Union Alumni Association will host a tour of the Rubell Family Collection, one of the leading collections of contemporary art in the world, as part of this year's Art Basel Miami Beach activities. The tour will be followed by a luncheon during which guest speaker Dean Saskia Bos will discuss the impact of private collections on the art world.
  • President George Campbell Jr. and The Parents Council of The Cooper Union will host a reception honoring parents on December 13th, 2007 at the president's residence from 6-8pm. This evening will feature guest speaker Michael Dorsch, assistant professor of art history.

Upcoming Lectures and Public Programs

  • Esther K. Smith: How To Make Books
    Thursday, December 6, 6:30 p.m., free event book signing, lecture and visual display, The Great Hall
    From 'zines you can fold in a minute to luxurious leather journals and sumptuous sketchbooks, How to Make Books will walk you through the easy basics of bookmaking. Whether you're a writer, a scrapbooker, a political activist or a postcard collector, let book artist Esther K. Smith be your guide as you discover your inner bookbinder. Using foolproof illustrations and step-by-step instructions, Smith reveals her time-tested techniques in a fun, easy-to-understand way. Smith is also a publisher, book designer and a principal of the Purgatory Pie Press. Her work has been exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Whitney Museum, the National Gallery of Art and the Tate Gallery, to name a few.
  • David Sandalow: Freedom from Oil
    Thursday, December 13, 6:30 p.m., free lecture and book signing, Wollman Auditorium
    Freedom from Oil delivers a fast-paced narrative of debates at the highest levels of government. A former assistant secretary of state under Bill Clinton, David Sandalow draws on his experience to dramatize how the next president of the United States should shape a plan for ending the country's addiction to oil—a plan, he says, both Democrats and Republicans can rally around. Sandalow is an energy and environment scholar at the Brookings Institution and has served as assistant secretary of state for oceans, environment and science. He was associate director for global environment of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. He will speak about his latest publication, The End of Oil.

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Did You Know?

  • Francisco Bello (A'02) and Nelson Fernando Figallo (AR'03) screened and discussed their recent film projects at the CU @ Lunch with Alumni program on October 23rd. The event was sponsored by the Center for Career Development and the Office of Alumni Relations.
  • David Gersten (AR'91/Arch. fac.) is a design partner for Skywater, Texas.
  • Robert Thill (director, Center for Career Development) hosted a roundtable discussion on career issues in art and design on November 9th. Participating colleges and universities included Barnard College, Brooklyn College, Columbia University, Moore College of Art and Design, New York Academy of Art, New York University, Parsons The New School for Design, Pratt Institute, the School of Visual Arts, Stony Brook University and Yale University.
  • The Center for Career Development hosted the 15th Annual Fall Engineering Career Fair on October 16th. With more than 80 top-tier companies and graduate schools in attendance, it was the largest career fair to date. As a result of an overwhelming response, the event was held in the Great Hall and Great Hall Gallery. The event offered students the opportunity to learn about a diverse set of industries, job functions, and educational programs.
  • Richard Stock (Eng. fac.) moderated the Engineering Graduate School Panel on October 18th, which was organized by Megan Massimiano (Eng. Career Counselor). Representatives from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New Jersey Institute of Technology and Columbia University provided valuable advice and networked with 45 engineering students. In addition, Cooper alumni John Hilton (ME'05/MME'07) and Julia Szprengiel (ChE'07) discussed their transition to graduate study and their specific experiences in two different graduate programs at Columbia University.

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