Urban Visionaries breaks all records—raises $860,000 for full-tuition scholarships

The Cooper Union's fourth annual Urban Visionaries Benefit at Skylight on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 raised $860,000 and was sold out at 500 guests. The 45 works donated by noted artists were all sold, with bidders traversing the packed gallery during the cocktail hour to update their offers. Congratulations and thanks for the huge success of this year's dinner go to dinner chairs Agnes Gund and Daniel Shapiro, Samuel J. Palmisano, Jack Rudin and Frank J. Sciame. In the days that followed, splash coverage appeared in Sunday's The New York Times, The New York Sun and the New York Social Diary, including quotes and photographs of honorees, guests, faculty and alumni. The beautifully decorated dinner tables featured tributes to Thomas Edison, with artfully arranged light bulbs in centerpieces; the award itself silhouettes the New York City skyline against a model of founder Peter Cooper's spectacles, laser-etched in crystal and mounted on stainless steel.

This year's honorees represented the best of New York City's civic, art, architecture and science communities.

From left to right: Ronald W. Drucker (CE'62), Simon Lok (EE'97), Engineering Urban Visionary Nicholas Donofrio, Urban Citizenship Urban Visionary Marie-Josée Kravis, George Campbell Jr., Dinner Chair Jack Rudin, Architecture Urban Visionaries Ricardo Scofidio (Arch Faculty, AR'55) & Elizabeth Diller (AR'79), Dinner Chair Frank Sciame and Visual Art Urban Visionary Jenny Holzer
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This year The Cooper Union honored six Urban Visionaries:

Urban Citizenship: Marie-Josée Kravis was elected president of the Museum of Modern Art's Board of Trustees in 2005, having served as a member of the Board since November 1994 and as vice chairman since 2002. She is an economic and business consultant who specializes in public policy analysis and strategic planning. An ardent supporter of the arts and nonprofit organizations, she has contributed many works to the Museum's collection. She is also a trustee and former chairman of the Robin Hood Foundation, and a trustee of The Institute for Advanced Study and the Hudson Institute.

Visual Art: Jenny Holzer is an internationally acclaimed conceptual artist known for linking text and image in works of art composed of aphorisms and statements. Her works range from printed signs, mounted metal plaques and carved granite benches to LED word sculptures and large projections scrolling across the faces of buildings that focus the public consciousness on specific thoughts. Her words have addressed issues such as sexism, the environment and AIDS.

Architecture: Elizabeth Diller (AR'79) and Ricardo Scofidio (Arch Faculty, AR'55) are founders of Diller Scofidio + Renfro, a collaborative, interdisciplinary studio that combines architecture and the visual and performing arts. They were recipients of the MacArthur Foundation Award in 1999, the first ever given in the field of architecture. Their firm is currently designing the Institute for Contemporary Art in Boston and a renovation for Lincoln Center. They are also redesigning the High Line, a 1.5-mile-long historic elevated rail structure on the West Side of Manhattan.

Engineering: Nicholas Donofrio is executive vice president, innovation and technology at IBM. Since joining in 1967, he has led many of IBM's major development and manufacturing teams and has been the driving force behind the development of technologies such as Deep Blue, Blue Gene, autonomic computing and nano technology. In addition to leading the company's strategic business mission, he brings his commitment to cultural and intellectual diversity to the development and retention of the exceptional scientists and engineers at IBM.

Emerging Talent: Simon Lok (EE'97) is founder, chief scientist and chairman of the board of directors of the privately held Lok Technology, Inc., an innovator in secure, integrated network infrastructure appliances. New York City's Tompkins Square Park is now the center of an innovative wi-fi implementation thanks to Lok's pioneering AIRlok 500 appliance. A 1997 graduate of The Cooper Union, Dr. Lok also holds a Ph.D. and three master's degrees. He started his career in information technology at the age of 14 as a consultant to NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies.