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Cooper Union



 
 
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (commonly referred to simply as The Cooper Union or Cooper Union) is a privately-funded college in Downtown Manhattan, New York City
New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
. Cooper Union, founded in 1859, established a radical new model of American higher education. Its mission reflected Peter Cooper
Peter Cooper

Peter Cooper was an United States industrialist, inventor, philanthropist, and candidate for President of the United States....
's fundamental belief that education of the highest quality should be as "free as air and water" and should be available to all who qualify, independent of race, religion, gender or social status.






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Encyclopedia


The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (commonly referred to simply as The Cooper Union or Cooper Union) is a privately-funded college in Downtown Manhattan, New York City
New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
. Cooper Union, founded in 1859, established a radical new model of American higher education. Its mission reflected Peter Cooper
Peter Cooper

Peter Cooper was an United States industrialist, inventor, philanthropist, and candidate for President of the United States....
's fundamental belief that education of the highest quality should be as "free as air and water" and should be available to all who qualify, independent of race, religion, gender or social status. For 150 years, the College has admitted students based on merit alone and provided each with a full-tuition scholarship.

The Campus is located in the East Village
East Village, Manhattan

The East Village is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It lies east of Greenwich Village, south of Gramercy, Manhattan and Peter Cooper Village?Stuyvesant Town, and north of the Lower East Side, Manhattan....
, around Cooper Square and Astor Place
Astor Place (Manhattan)

The single block of Astor Place that leads to Broadway predates Grid_plan#Early_United_States.Astor Place is named for John Jacob Astor. Astor arrived in New York in 1783, and progressed to the point where he became the richest person in the United States at that time, and one of New York City's most famous sons....
 (Third Avenue
Third Avenue (Manhattan)

Third Avenue is a north-south thoroughfare on the East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan, running from Cooper Square north for over 120 blocks....
 & 6th-9th Streets). The school offers accredited degree programs in architecture
Architecture

The term architecture can refer to a process, a profession or documentation.As a process, architecture is the activity of designing and construction buildings and other physical structures by a person or a computer, primarily to provide shelter....
, fine arts, and engineering
Engineering

Engineering is the discipline and profession of applying Technology and science knowledge and utilizing natural laws and physical resources in order to design and implement materials, structures, machines, devices, systems, and process that safely realize a desired objective and meet specified criteria....
 and is a member of ABET
Abet

Abet may refer to:* Abet Guidaben , former Philippine Basketball Association basketball player* Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, a non-profit organization...
 and the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design
Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design

The Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design is a non-profit consortium of thirty-six of the leading degree-granting art colleges in the United States....
 (AICAD), a consortium of thirty-six leading art schools in the United States. Cooper is considered to be one of the most prestigious schools in the nation; with all of its schools ranked among the highest in the country.

The Cooper Union is one of the few American institutions of higher learning to offer a full-tuition scholarship (valued at $130,000 as of 2008) to every admitted student. As a result, The Cooper Union is one of the most selective colleges in the United States, with an acceptance rate generally below 10% (although both the art and architecture schools have acceptance rates lower than 5%). The school experienced a 20% increase in applications for the 2008-2009 academic year, further lowering these numbers.. Cooper Union experienced a 70% increase in applications for the 2009-2010 academic year, rendering the institution even more elite.

A substantial portion of the annual budget, which supports the full-tuition scholarships in addition to the school's costs, is generated through donations from alumni in both the public and the private sector. In addition to this, real estate has become a very important asset to the College and has drastically increased its endowment to over $600 million. The land under the Chrysler Building
Chrysler Building

The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco skyscraper in New York City, located on the east side of Manhattan in the Turtle Bay, Manhattan area at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue ....
 is said to be owned by the endowment.

Founding and early history


The Cooper Union was founded in 1859 by American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 industrialist Peter Cooper
Peter Cooper

Peter Cooper was an United States industrialist, inventor, philanthropist, and candidate for President of the United States....
, who was a prolific inventor, a successful entrepreneur, and one of America's richest businessmen. Peter Cooper was a workingman's son who had less than a year of formal schooling. Yet he went on to become an industrialist and an inventor; it was Peter Cooper who designed and built America's first steam railroad engine
Tom Thumb (locomotive)

Tom Thumb was the first United States-built steam locomotive used on a common-carrier railroad. Designed and built by Peter Cooper in 1830, it was designed to convince owners of the newly formed Baltimore and Ohio Railroad to use steam engines....
. Cooper made his fortune with a glue factory and an iron foundry. Later, he turned his entrepreneurial skills to successful ventures in real estate
Real estate

Real estate is a law term that encompasses land along with anything permanently affixed to the land, such as buildings, specifically property that is fixed in location.
, insurance
Insurance

Insurance, in law and economics, is a form of risk management primarily used to Hedge against the risk of a contingent loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for a premium, and can be thought of as a guaranteed small loss to prevent a large, possibly devastating los...
, railroads and telegraphy
Telegraphy

Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of written messages without physical transport of letters. Radiotelegraphy or wireless telegraphy transmits messages using radio....
. He even once ran for President
President of the United States

The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in the United States by influence and recognition....
.

In the late 1850s, when Cooper was a principal investor and first president of the New York, Newfoundland & London Telegraph Co., the firm undertook one of the 19th century's monumental technical enterprises—laying the first Atlantic cable. Cooper also invented instant gelatin, with help from his wife, Sarah, who added fruit to what the world would come to know as Jell-O
Jell-O

Jell-O is a brand name belonging to U.S.-based Kraft Foods for a number of gelatin desserts, including fruit gels, puddings and no-bake cream pies....
.

Originally intended to be called simply "the Union," the Cooper Union began with adult education
Adult education

Adult education is the practice of teaching and educating adults. This often happens in the workplace, through 'extension' or 'continuing education' courses at secondary schools, at a college or university....
 in night classes on the subjects of applied sciences and architectural drawing, as well as day classes for women on the subjects of photography
Photography

Photography is the process, activity and art of creating still or moving by recording radiation on a sensitive medium, such as a photographic film, or an ....
, telegraphy
Telegraphy

Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of written messages without physical transport of letters. Radiotelegraphy or wireless telegraphy transmits messages using radio....
, typewriting
Typewriter

A typewriter is a Machine or electromechanical device with a set of "keys" that, when pressed, cause Typeface to be printed on a medium, usually paper....
 and shorthand
Shorthand

Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed or brevity of writing as compared to a normal method of writing a language....
 (in what was called the College's Female School of Design). Discrimination based on race, religion, or sex was expressly prohibited.

Early board members included Horace Greeley
Horace Greeley

Horace Greeley was an United States editor of a leading History of American newspapers, a founder of the Liberal Republican Party , a reformer, and a politician....
 and William Cullen Bryant
William Cullen Bryant

William Cullen Bryant was an United States romantic poetry, journalist, and long-time editor of the New York Evening Post....
.

Those free classes—a landmark in American history and the prototype for what is now called continuing education—have evolved into three distinguished schools that make up The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art: the School of Art, the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture and the Albert Nerken School of Engineering.

Peter Cooper's dream was to give talented young people the one privilege he lacked—a good education. He also wanted to make possible the development of talent that otherwise would have gone undiscovered. His dream—providing an education "equal to the best"—has come true. Since 1859, the Cooper Union has educated thousands of artists, architects and engineers, many of them leaders in their fields.

Important speeches

On February 27, 1860, the school's Great Hall became the site of a historic address by Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States. He successfully led the country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and ending slavery....
's dramatic speech opposed Stephen A. Douglas
Stephen A. Douglas

Stephen Arnold Douglas was an United States politician from the western state of Illinois, and was the History of the United States Democratic Party nominee for President of the United States in United States presidential election, 1860....
 on the question of federal power to regulate and limit the spread of slavery
Slavery

Slavery is a form of forced labor where a person is compelled to Labor for another . Slaves are held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase, or birth, and are deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to receive Remuneration in return for their labor....
 to the federal territories and new States. Widely reported in the press and reprinted throughout the North in pamphlet form, the speech galvanized support for Lincoln and contributed to his gaining the Party's nomination for the Presidency
President of the United States

The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in the United States by influence and recognition....
. It is now referred to as the Cooper Union Address. Cooper Union's Great Hall was also the site of the school's inauguration whose primary address was given by Mark Twain
Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an United Statesmerican author and humorist. Twain is most noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which has since been called the Great American Novel, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer....
.

Since then, the Great Hall has served as a platform for many historic addresses by American Presidents Grant
Ulysses S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant, born Hiram Ulysses Grant , was an United States general and the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States ....
, Cleveland
Grover Cleveland

Stephen Grover Cleveland was both the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States. Cleveland is the only President to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents....
, Taft
William Howard Taft

William Howard Taft was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, the tenth Chief Justice of the United States, a leader of the progressive conservative wing of the History of the United States Republican Party in the early 20th century, a pioneer in international arbitration and staunch advocate of world pe...
, Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt , also known as T.R., and to the public as Teddy, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States....
, Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States. A devout Presbyterianism and leading intellectual of the Progressive Era, he served as President of Princeton University of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913....
, and, most recently, Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton served as the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He was the fifteenth Democrat elected to that office....
.

Clinton spoke on May 12, 1993 about reducing the federal deficit and on May 23, 2006, as the Keynote Speaker at The Cooper Union's 147th Commencement along with Anna Deavere Smith
Anna Deavere Smith

Anna Deavere Smith is a Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-nominated American actress, playwright, and professor....
. He appeared a third time on April 23, 2007, along with Senator Edward Kennedy, Henry Kissinger, Norman Mailer
Norman Mailer

Norman Kingsley Mailer was an United States novelist, journalist, essayist, poet, playwright, screenwriter and film director.Along with Truman Capote, Joan Didion, Hunter S....
, and others, at the memorial service for historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.

The Great Hall continues to serve as an important metropolitan art space, hosting lectures and performances by key figures such as Joseph Campbell
Joseph Campbell

Joseph John Campbell was an United States mythologist, writer, and lecturer best known for his work in the fields of comparative mythology and comparative religion....
, Steve Reich
Steve Reich

File:Steve Reich2.jpgStephen Michael Reich is an United States composer who pioneered the style of minimalist music. His innovations include using tape loops to create phasing patterns , and the use of simple, audible processes to explore musical concepts ....
, Salman Rushdie
Salman Rushdie

Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie is a British Indian novelist and essayist. He first achieved fame with his second novel, Midnight's Children , which won the Booker Prize in 1981....
, Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader

Ralph Nader is an American attorney at law, author, lecturer, political activism, and perennial candidate for presidency as an independent candidate for President of the United States in United States presidential election, 2004 and United States presidential election, 2008, and a Green Party candidate in 1996 and 2000....
, Hamza Yusuf
Hamza Yusuf

Hamza Yusuf Hanson is an Sunni Islamic scholar who teaches at the Zaytuna Institute in California, United States. He is one of the signatories of A Common Word Between Us and You, an open letter by Islamic scholars to Christian leaders, calling for peace and understanding....
, Richard Stallman
Richard Stallman

Richard Matthew Stallman , often abbreviated "rms","'Richard Stallman' is just my mundane name; you can call me 'rms'"|last= Stallman...
, Rudolph Giuliani, Pema Chodron, Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg

Michael Rubens Bloomberg is an United States businessman and philanthropist, and the current Mayor of New York City. He was listed as the eighth-richest American, with a net worth of US$30 Billion, in the Forbes 400 on Sept....
, Evo Morales
Evo Morales

Juan Evo Morales Ayma , popularly known as Evo , has been the President of Bolivia of Bolivia since 2006. He has been declared the country's first fully Indigenous peoples of the Americas head of state in the 470 years since the Spanish colonization of the Americas....
, and Hugo Chávez
Hugo Chávez

Hugo Rafael Ch?vez Fr?as is the current President of Venezuela. As the leader of the Bolivarian Revolution, Ch?vez promotes a political doctrine of participatory democracy, socialism and Latin American and Caribbean cooperation....
.

Barack Obama
Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II is the List of Presidents of the United States and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office....
 delivered an economic policy speech at Cooper Union on March 27, 2008.

Modern changes

The Cooper Union evolved over time into its current form of a college with three schools in architecture, art, and engineering. Despite the changes, the education is still tuition-free.
Forarch 1
The building was declared a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark

A National Historic Landmark is a building, :wiktionary:site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States for its historical significance....
 in 1961.

A new facility designed by Thom Mayne (Morphosis) and Gruzen Samton will provide new Art Studios and Engineering Labs, replacing an aged Hewitt Building on Cooper Square. The new Academic Building at the Cooper Union occupies an unusually unencumbered site whose four free facades rise from a glass-framed lobby. Entered from the north-west corner, the lobby extends the exterior surface to the inside to become a mezzanine overlooking the gallery on the floor below.

From the entry lobby the ground plane moves on to the central atrium, a “vertical campus,” that rises to the full height of the building. This open connective space, spanned at various levels by sky bridges, ensures interaction throughout the building while opening up view corridors across Third Avenue to the Foundation Building. The atrium also contributes to the building’s high degree of physical and visual permeability, which helps integrate it into the college’s neighborhood.

The School of Art

The School of Art draws on the creative energy of the East Village
East Village, Manhattan

The East Village is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It lies east of Greenwich Village, south of Gramercy, Manhattan and Peter Cooper Village?Stuyvesant Town, and north of the Lower East Side, Manhattan....
 to produce some of the most distinguished artists in the world today. The Cooper Union is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design
Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design

The Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design is a non-profit consortium of thirty-six of the leading degree-granting art colleges in the United States....
 (AICAD), a consortium of thirty-six leading art schools in the United States. Students spend most of the time in studio courses equipped with state-of-the-art facilities. Notable alumni of the Cooper Union School of Art include illustrator/designer Seymour Chwast
Seymour Chwast

Seymour Chwast an United States graphic designer, illustrator, and type designer.He was born in Bronx, New York, August 18, 1931 and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Cooper Union in 1951....
, designer Milton Glaser
Milton Glaser

Milton Glaser is a graphic designer, best known for the I Love New York logo, his "Bob Dylan" poster, the "DC bullet" logo used by DC Comics from 1977 to 2005, and the "Brooklyn Brewery" logo....
, designer Herb Lubalin
Herb Lubalin

Herbert F. Lubalin was a prominent United States graphic designer. He collaborated with Ralph Ginzburg on three of Ginzburg's magazines: Eros, Fact Magazine, and Avant Garde , and was responsible for the creative visual beauty of these publications....
, designer J. Abbott Miller
J. Abbott Miller

J. Abbott Miller or Abbot Miller was born in Indiana and studied at the Cooper Union School of Art in New York.Miller is a graphic designer and writer....
, designer Lou Dorfsman
Lou Dorfsman

Louis "Lou" Dorfsman was a graphic designer who oversaw almost every aspect of the advertising and corporate identity for the CBS in his forty years with the network....
, writer/educator Ellen Lupton
Ellen Lupton

Ellen Lupton is a graphic designer, writer, curator and educator.Lupton described the evolution of her own career like this: "I studied design and art in the early 1980s at The Cooper Union in New York City....
, designer Paul Carlos, designer Tom Kluepfel, designer Stephen Doyle
Stephen Doyle

Stephen Doyle is a South Australian Australian rules football player with the Sydney Swans of the Australian Football League.Doyle was selected by the Swans under the father-son rule in the 1999 National Draft....
, designer Alexander Isley, artist Eva Hesse
Eva Hesse

Eva Hesse , was a Germany United States sculptor, known for her pioneering work in materials such as latex, fiberglass, and plastics. ...
, and artist/printmaker Alex Katz
Alex Katz

Alex Katz is an United States figural artist associated with the Pop art movement. In particular, he is known for his paintings, sculptures, and printmaking....
. Internationally-known faculty have included alumni such as conceptual artist Hans Haacke
Hans Haacke

Hans Haacke is a German American conceptual artist, who lives and works in New York....
. Also, famous art teacher John Bednarczyk, graduated from the School of Art.

Admissions

Apart from being the most selective undergraduate art program in the country, the School of Art is infamous for its "Hometest". This conceptually focused section of the application consists of 6 prompts for visual pieces, as well as 10 short writing prompts. Performance in this intensive process, which is to be completed in a period of four weeks, plays a large role in the selection process.

Curriculum

The School of Art offers a four-year program leading to the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Unlike most art schools, Cooper Union does not require students to declare a major; instead they encourage a generalist approach and curriculum, encompassing all of the fundamental disciplines and resources of the visual arts as well as Art History and General Studies components. After their foundation year, students are allowed to choose classes from any of the art departments, facilitating a flexible and personal curriculum.

Renowned curator Saskia Bos was appointed Dean of the School of Art in 2005.

Computer Studio
The School of Art's Computer Studio is a state-of-the-art computing facility that provides classroom and lab space for students and faculty to produce and present digital work. It features 40 Macintosh workstations for student use, along with many high-end input and output devices for archival, large format printing, film printing, video production, and audio production. The studio also provides services which include loaning equipment (such as digital still and video cameras, audio capture devices, and presentation devices), hardware and software services for the entire School, and a friendly help desk service to facilitate the needs of students, faculty and staff.

The School of Architecture

The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at The Cooper Union offers a five-year program leading to a Bachelor of Architecture degree. The school ranks among the top five architecture programs in the United States. The philosophical foundation of the school is committed to the complex symbiotic relationships of education, research, theory, and practice.

The five-year Design sequence is structured to integrate the elements of architecture: investigation of program, construction, structure, and form/space. The Design sequence is intended to generate effective, forceful and spirited architecture.

With over of studio space, each student has his or her own drafting and work area. The studio functions as a classroom in which instruction occurs, as a laboratory in which projects are conceived and developed, and as a base of operations. Classroom facilities include a lecture hall, seminar room, and ample presentation space. There is also a computer lab available for student use on the seventh floor.

The faculty includes many influential practicing architects and theorists (Diana Agrest, Diane Lewis, and Lebbeus Woods
Lebbeus Woods

Lebbeus Woods is an United States architect and artist. Woods, who envisions experimental constructs and environments, has stated, "the interplay of metrical systems establishing boundaries of materials and energetic forms is the foundation of a universal science whose workers include all individuals"....
). Well-known graduates of the school include Shigeru Ban
Shigeru Ban

Shigeru Ban is an accomplished Japanese and international architect, most famous for his innovative work with paper, particularly recycled cardboard paper tubes used to quickly and efficiently house disaster victims....
, Daniel Libeskind
Daniel Libeskind

Daniel Libeskind, is an United States architect, artist, and set designer of Polish-Jewish descent. He founded Studio Daniel Libeskind in 1989 with his wife, Nina, and is its principal design architect....
, Karen Bausman
Karen Bausman

Karen Bausman is a well-known United States architect. Educated at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, from which she graduated in 1982, Bausman has since held the Eliot Noyes Chair at the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, and the Eero Saarinen Chair at Yale School of Architecture, Yale University, the only...
, Elizabeth Diller, and Toshiko Mori. The current dean is Anthony Vidler.

M. Arch II
The Cooper Union introduced the new, M.Arch II program for the 2008-2009 academic year. The program will be limited to a total of 8 students, and offer 3 concentrations: Theory, History, and Criticism of Architecture, Urban Studies, and Technologies.

The School of Engineering

The Albert Nerken School of Engineering has about 550 students. It is one of the most prestigious non-doctoral engineering schools in the nation. The school offers ABET
Abet

Abet may refer to:* Abet Guidaben , former Philippine Basketball Association basketball player* Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, a non-profit organization...
 accredited Bachelor of Engineering (B.E.) programs in Chemical Engineering
Chemical engineering

Chemical engineering is the branch of engineering that deals with the application of physical science , with mathematics, to the process of converting raw materials or chemicals into more useful or valuable forms....
 (ChE), Civil Engineering
Civil engineering

Civil engineering is a Professional Engineer discipline that deals with the design, construction and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works such as bridges, roads, canals, dams and buildings....
 (CE), Electrical Engineering
Electrical engineering

Electrical engineering, sometimes referred to as electrical and electronic engineering, is a field of engineering that deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism....
 (EE), and Mechanical Engineering
Mechanical engineering

Mechanical Engineering is an engineering discipline that involves the application of physics#branches of physics for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of machine....
 (ME); a Middle States accredited Bachelor of Science (B.S.) program in engineering (BSE); and a Master of Engineering (M.E.) program.

Until the class of 2006, students chose to major in one of the four traditional disciplines (ChE, CE, EE, and ME), or customize their education by opting for the BSE degree that has fewer requisite courses and greater opportunity for elective courses.

New curricula take effect beginning with the class of 2007. Under the currently published Course Catalog, students can still choose to pursue the traditional ChE, CE, EE, and ME degree programs, but greater flexibility in course selection is being planned for the four degree programs. In addition, there are proposals to offer students choices of "concentrations" (possibilities include Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology, shortened to "Nanotech", is the study of the control of matter on an atomic and molecular scale. Generally nanotechnology deals with structures of the size 100 nanometers or smaller, and involves developing materials or devices within that size....
 and Bio-engineering) that will offer groups of courses in more specific fields than the four traditional disciplines. The details of the new curricula are work in progress and therefore subject to change.

The Master of Engineering program offers an opportunity for Cooper Union undergraduate students to obtain a master's degree in one of the four disciplines while conducting research at the school. The requirements for the Master's Degree are a 30-credit course of study including a 12 credit major and a 12 credit minor. At least 6 credits of thesis study are required. Candidates for this degree are also required to conduct an oral defense of their thesis which is organized by the student's department.

Unlike many schools, there is no option for "general studies" at the Cooper Union, even in the first year. All applicants must declare their major on their application, enrolling themselves in a particular department (or the IDE program) before they arrive. Once at Cooper, switching majors within the Nerken school is allowed, but a cumulative GPA of 3.0 is required. Most department-specific courses do not begin until the latter half of the second year, meaning switching majors until that point is very feasible from a curricular standpoint. However, given the intense and competitive nature of the first two years (often resulting in low GPAs), in practice switching majors can be extremely difficult.

Curriculum

All bachelor's programs offered by the School of engineering require a minimum of 135 credits for graduation, including completion of a 55-credit core program in general engineering and science classes (regardless of specialty) and a minimum of 24 credits in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Chemical Engineering
The Chemical Engineering program at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art provides a thorough overview of the chemistry, mathematics, and engineering thinking necessary for a practicing Chemical Engineer. The Chemical Engineering student will take two year-round chemistry courses: organic chemistry and physical chemistry. In addition, the student will take the core principles of physical chemistry (Thermodynamics) and general chemistry with its laboratory class. In addition, many engineering classes will be taken, such as a year round course on chemical engineering thermodynamics as well as heat transfer, mass transfer, and fluid mechanics. Additionally, courses that reinforce the mathematical skills are taught as well as laboratory classes. The following is a breakdown of the required courses for the Chemical Engineering degree, which will follow suit with the breakdown given in the other majors:
  • Mathematics - 17 credits (6 courses, CORE)
  • Chemistry - 21.5 credits (7.5 core, 7 organic chemistry, 5 physical chemistry, 2 instrumental analysis)
  • Chemical Engineering - 40 credits (Heat, Mass, Fluids, Chem Reaction Eng, Math Methods, Control Theory, Materials Science, etc)
  • Physics - 12.5 credits (CORE)
  • Humanities and Social Sciences - 20-24 credits
  • Engineering and Engineering electives - 20-24 credits
Total of 135 credits

The chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering is Professor Irving Brazinsky. Also working within the Chemical Engineering Department are Professors Richard Stock, Daniel Lepek, and O. Charles Okorafor. Additionally, the Chemical Engineering Department works closely with the Chemistry
Chemistry

Chemistry is the science concerned with the composition, structure, and properties of matter, as well as the changes it undergoes during chemical reactions....
 Department, which includes Professor John Bové (Chair), Professor Andrea Newmark, and Professor Ruben Savizky. Serious faculty changes are in the making since both Professor Brazinsky and Professor Bové will not be teaching as early as September 2009. The chemical engineering faculty is looking to gain a total of three professors by that time; the chemistry department will attempt to replace Professor Bové.

In addition to the major, chemical engineering students have the option to obtain one of four minors: biomedical engineering, environmental engineering, applied chemical technology, or energy engineering. In order to obtain a minor the student must enroll in four classes in his/her discipline of choice.

Students work closely with faculty and acquire basic research and design skills in the first two years of their education. In the sophomore year, students are to separate and identify two unknown organic chemicals in an independent fashion. In the junior year, the students are to design an experiment, carry it out, and present its results to their peers as well as the faculty of the chemistry department; this research project is conducted as part of the instrumental analysis laboratory. In the senior year, the year-long multi faculty 9-credit senior project is carried out.

Civil Engineering
Civil Engineering is the oldest degree granting engineering program at Cooper Union. The department maintains small class and laboratory enrollment to provide for personal attention. Approximately 20 students are admitted by the department in the undergraduate program each year. The department also offers a master's degree.

Civil Engineering graduates are recruited regularly by companies nationwide. Alumni are found in the top management and research leadership of many American corporations; hold key positions in federal, state and city agencies and distinguish themselves on university faculties and administrations nationwide. Through their many and varied professional accomplishments, alumni have earned for the department and the school their reputation for excellence.

Electrical Engineering
The full-time Electrical Engineering faculty includes the following professors:
  • Department Chair: Fred L. Fontaine (signal processing
    Signal processing

    Signal processing is the analysis, interpretation, and manipulation of signal . Signals of interest include: audio signal processing, , time-varying measurement values and sensor data, for example biological data such as electrocardiograms, control system signals, telecommunication transmission signals such as radio signals, and many others....
    , DSP
    DSP

    The abbreviation DSP can refer to:...
    , communications)
  • Toby J. Cumberbatch (circuits and electronics, VLSI)
  • Carl Sable (computer engineering
    Computer engineering

    Computer Engineering is a discipline that combines elements of both Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Computer engineers are electrical engineers that have additional training in the areas of software design and hardware-software integration....
    )
  • Hamid Ahmad (circuits, control systems)
  • Kausik Chatterjee (electromagnetic theory, Random-Walk Algorithms)


The curriculum before the class of 2007 requires 135 credits for graduation and has the following breakdown of credits:

Required courses:
  • Math: 20 credits
  • Chemistry: 7.5 credits
  • Physics: 13.5 credits
  • Engineering, Interdisciplinary: 8 credits
  • Electrical Engineering: 51.5 credits
  • Humanities/Social Sciences: 12 credits


Elective courses:
  • Engineering/Science: 10.5 credits
  • Humanities/Social Sciences: 6 credits or 12 credits depending on track


In the required undergraduate electrical engineering courses, electrical engineering students learn about the fundamental concepts of digital logic, circuit theory, electronics, digital signal processing, computer architecture, control systems, communication theory, electromagnetics, integrated circuits, and electromechanical energy conversion. Juniors are guided through a series of lab experiments and assigned projects. Seniors propose their own projects and many of them participate in inter-collegiate contests.

In the new tentative curriculum proposed for the class of 2007 and beyond, three tracks of specialization are offered: Computer Engineering, Signal Processing & Communications, and Electronic Systems & Materials Engineering. The tracks offer different selections of advanced courses for specialization, while sharing the same "foundation courses".

Mechanical Engineering
Like the other named majors, the curriculum of the Mechanical Engineering Department requires 135 credits for graduation. The current Department Chair, Professor Chih-Shing (Stan) Wei, has overseen a sizeable expansion in the past two years, which has included the hiring of two new professors, Drs. Delagrammatikas and Gan (the latter having recently been replaced by Dr. Baglione). The tenure-track (non-adjunct) roster of the "MechE" department now includes the following:
  • Dr. Melody Baglione, Assistant Professor
  • Dr. George Delagrammatikas, Assistant Professor
  • Dr. George Sidebotham, Professor
  • Dr. Chih-Shing (Stan) Wei, Professor and Chair
  • Dr. David M. Wootton, Associate Professor
  • Dr. Eric Lima, Assistant Professor


There are several important adjunct faculty serving the Mechanical Engineering Department, including Dr. James Abbott, Director of the Acoustic Laboratory, and Mr. Robert Dell, Director of the Laboratory for Energy Reclamation and Innovation.

Recent curriculum changes include the addition of several upper-level electives covering topics such as Advanced Engine Concepts, Heat Exchanger Dynamics, Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS), Autonomous Mobile Robots, and others. This has coincided with a reinforcement of the traditional curriculum, especially areas such as thermodynamics and instrumentation labs. Other sections of traditional curriculum include control systems, mechanics (beams, etc.), materials science, and a few other areas.

Other
Curriculum development was supported by a planning grant from the National Science Foundation and directed by Dean Simon Ben-Avi. The new multi-disciplinary B.E. degree has a freshman and sophomore class already. (2004-2005). First graduation is expected in 2007.

Eleanor Baum is Dean of the Albert Nerken School of Engineering. She is the first woman to be named as dean of an engineering college or university and is an Electrical Engineer. Dean Baum was recently named to the

Facilities


Chemical Engineering and Chemistry
  • Instrumental Analysis Lab: FTIR
    FTIR

    FTIR can refer to:* Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy* Total internal reflection#Frustrated total internal reflection...
    , GC-MS, NMR
    NMR spectroscopy

    Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, most commonly known as NMR spectroscopy, is the name given to a technique which exploits the magnetic properties of certain nuclei....
    , LCMS, Polarography
    Polarography

    Polarography is a subclass of Voltammetry where the working electrode is a dropping mercury electrode , useful for its wide cathodic range and renewable surface....
    , AA
    Atomic absorption spectroscopy

    In analytical chemistry, atomic absorption spectroscopy is a scientific technique for determining the concentration of a particular metal chemical element in a sample....
    , UV-Vis
    Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy

    Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy or ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry involves the spectroscopy of photons in the UV-visible region....
    , and HPLC.
  • Organic Chemistry Lab - Synthesis
    Chemical synthesis

    In chemistry, chemical synthesis is purposeful execution of chemical reactions in order to get a product , or several products. This happens by physics and chemical manipulations usually involving one or more reactions....
    , Derivatization
    Derivatization

    Derivatization is a technique used in chemistry which transforms a chemical Chemical compound into a Product of similar chemical structure, called derivative ....
    , Chemical Identification
  • Environmental Engineering Lab - through Professor Bove
  • Instrumental Analysis/General Lab - used for any class which needs a lab, including instrumental analysis and general chemistry
  • Special Chemistry Research Lab - Rotary Evaporator, Thin Layer Chromatography, flash chromatography
  • Senior Chemical Engineering Laboratory - Unit Operations: Distillation
    Distillation

    Distillation is a method of separation process mixtures based on differences in their Volatility in a boiling liquid mixture. Distillation is a unit operation, or a physical separation process, and not a chemical reaction....
    , Filtration
    Filtration

    Filtration is a mechanical or physical operation which is used for the separation of solids from fluids by interposing a medium to fluid flow through which the fluid can pass, but the solids in the fluid are retained....
    , Liquid-liquid extraction
    Liquid-liquid extraction

    Liquid-liquid extraction, also known as solvent extraction and partitioning, is a method to separate compounds based on their relative solubility in two different miscible liquids, usually Water and an solvent....
    , Gas separation
    Gas separation

    Gas mixtures can be effectively separated by synthetic membranes. For other methods see adsorption, absorption , cryogenic distillation.Membranes are employed in:...
    , Reverse Osmosis
    Reverse osmosis

    Reverse osmosis is a filtration process typically used for water. It works by using pressure to force a solution through a semi-permeable membrane, retaining the solute on one side and allowing the pure solvent to pass to the other side....
    , Heat Transfer
    Heat transfer

    Heat transfer is the transition of thermal energy or simply heat from a hotter object to a cooler object . When an object or fluid is at a different temperature than its thermodynamic system or another object, transfer of thermal energy, also known as heat transfer, or heat exchange, occurs in such a way that the body and the surround...
    , Fluid Mechanics
    Fluid mechanics

    Fluid mechanics is the study of how fluids move and the forces on them. Fluid mechanics can be divided into fluid statics, the study of fluids at rest, and fluid dynamics, the study of fluids in motion....
    , Flooding Point in a packed column, Drying
    Drying

    Drying is a mass transfer process resulting in the removal of water moisture or moisture from another solvent, by evaporation from a solid, semi-solid or liquid to end in a solid state....
    , as well as Batch
    Batch reactor

    The Batch reactor is the generic term for a type of vessel widely used in the process industries. Its name is something of a misnomer since vessels of this type are used for a variety of process operations such as solids dissolution, product mixing, chemical reactions, batch distillation, crystallization, liquid/liquid extraction and polymeri...
     and Plug flow
    Plug flow reactor model

    The plug flow reactor model is used to describe Chemical Reaction in continuous, flowing systems. The PFR model is used to predict the behaviour of chemical reactors, so that key reactor variables, such as the dimensions of the reactor, can be estimated....
     Reactor Dynamics


Electrical Engineering
  • S*PROCOM˛ (Signal PROcessing, COMmunications and COMputer Engineering Research Center)
  • Micro EE Lab (µLab): equipment for Computer Architecture, such as programmers for microcontrollers and programmable logic devices
  • Integrated Circuit Engineering Lab (ICE Lab): workstations and software (HSPICE, Cadence, Verilog, ADS) for designing integrated circuits and microwave circuits
  • Junior EE Lab: equipment and workbenches with oscilloscopes, multimeters, power sources, etc.
  • Senior EE Lab: workbenches with uncertain collections of equipment used by the senior projects that are in progress
  • Multimedia and Microprocessor Lab
  • Wireless Communications Lab
  • Imaging Systems Lab
  • Electronic Materials Lab


Mechanical Engineering
  • The Forrest Wade Rapid Prototyping Laboratory: includes large CAD/CAM setup, fused deposition modeling
    Fused deposition modeling

    File:FDM by Zureks.pngFused deposition modeling, which is often referred to by its initials FDM, is a type of additive fabrication or technology commonly used within engineering design....
     (FDM) rapid prototyper, 3-D digitizing equipment
  • Special Materials Lab: materials testing equipment, i.e. Rockwell and Sharpy hardness testers, tensile and compression testing equipment, equipment for making carbon composite materials
  • Acoustics Laboratory (featuring the only anechoic chamber in NYC)
  • Combustion Laboratory (current research includes testing of flammability of operating room materials)
  • Brooks Engineering Design Center: features computer consoles with graphics and rendering software as well a color printer, etc.
  • Laboratory for Energy Reclamation and Innovation - specializes in micro-green energy solutions


Civil Engineering
  • Materials & Structures lab
  • Soil Mechanics lab
  • Hydraulics lab
  • Environmental Research lab
  • Asphalt (SUPERPAVE) lab
  • Biomechanics lab


Notable alumni

With fewer than 1,000 students, Alumni of the Cooper Union win a vastly disproportionate share of the nation's most prestigious awards. Recent awards include 1 Nobel Prize, 10 Rome Prizes, 18 Guggenheim fellowships, 3 MacArthur fellowships, 9 Chrysler Design awards, and 3 American Institute of Architects Thomas Jefferson Awards for Public Architecture. The school also boasts more than 23 Fulbright scholars since 2001, and 10 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships since 2004.

The Cooper Union Alumni Council presents three awards annually to notable alumni: the for professional achievement in art, the for professional achievement in engineering, industry, or finance, and the for architecture alumni who have made an outstanding contribution to the theory, teaching and/or practice of architecture. Other awards presented by the Alumni Council are the and the Awards.

Notable alumni of the Cooper Union include:
  • John Alcorn
    John Alcorn (artist)

    John Alcorn was an United States Visual arts.In addition to his accomplishments in the areas of packaging, corporate and dimensional design, Alcorn designed the opening titles for several Federico Fellini films....
    , illustrator
  • Stan Allen
    Stan Allen

    Stan Allen is an American architect, theorist and Dean of the at Princeton University. He received a B.A. from Brown University, a B.Arch. from the Cooper Union and an M.Arch....
    , Dean of the School of Architecture, Princeton
  • Shigeru Ban
    Shigeru Ban

    Shigeru Ban is an accomplished Japanese and international architect, most famous for his innovative work with paper, particularly recycled cardboard paper tubes used to quickly and efficiently house disaster victims....
    , Pioneer, "Paper Architecture"
  • Karen Bausman
    Karen Bausman

    Karen Bausman is a well-known United States architect. Educated at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, from which she graduated in 1982, Bausman has since held the Eliot Noyes Chair at the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, and the Eero Saarinen Chair at Yale School of Architecture, Yale University, the only...
    , Rome Prize recipient and the only American woman architect to hold both the Eliot Noyes (Harvard) and Eero Saarinen (Yale) Chairs.
  • Albert Carnesale
    Albert Carnesale

    Albert Carnesale is an American academia. He is a former Chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles, provost of Harvard University, and has been involved in international diplomacy on nuclear proliferation....
    , former chancellor of UCLA
  • Tom Carnese, Designer and Typographer
  • Martin Charnin
    Martin Charnin

    Martin Charnin is an United States lyricist, writer, and theatre director.Born in New York City, Charnin began his theatrical career as a performer, appearing as one of the Jets in the original production of West Side Story....
    , Tony Award Winning lyricist, writer, and theatre director
  • Remy Charlip
    Remy Charlip

    Remy Charlip is an American artist, writer, choreographer, designer and teacher.Charlip created a unique form of choreography, which he calls "air mail dances"....
    , Innovative choreographer, writer, and illustrator
  • Guy Coheleach
    Guy Coheleach

    Guy Coheleach is an United_States wildlife_art, recognized as among the finest contemporary painters of wildlife.Coheleach was born in New York City in 1933 and graduated from Cooper Union in 1956....
    , wildlife artist
  • Cool Calm Pete
    Cool Calm Pete

    Cool Calm Pete is an American rapping and Hip hop production with a sometimes hypnotically slow, lazy-sounding rapping style. Pete was born in Seoul and raised in Queens....
    , MC/Producer, Definitive Jux solo artist and member of the group Babbletron
  • Will Cotton
    Will Cotton

    William Cotton is an United States painter. His primary subjects are candy and naked women, often in combination. Will Cotton lives and works in New York City....
    , Painter
  • Miriam Cooper
    Miriam Cooper

    Miriam Cooper was an silent film actress who is best known for her work in early film including "Birth of a Nation" and "Intolerance " for D.W....
    , silent film actress who played in Birth of a Nation
  • William Francis Deegan
    William Francis Deegan

    William Francis Deegan was an architect, Major in the Army Corps of Engineers, and Democratic Party political leader in New York City.He was educated at Cooper Union, and served as a Major in the National Army during World War I, supervising the construction of military bases in the New York area under the command of General George W....
    , architect
    Architect

    An architect is trained and licenced in planning and designing buildings, and participates in supervising the construction of a building. Etymologically, architect derives from the Latin architectus, itself derived from the Greek arkhitekton , i.e....
     and political leader, namesake of the Major Deegan Expressway
    Major Deegan Expressway

    The Major William Francis Deegan Expressway is an 8.4 mile part of Interstate 87 in the New York City, USA, borough of The Bronx. The Deegan, as well as I-87 itself, begins at Interstate 278 very close to the Robert F....
  • Roy DeCarava
    Roy DeCarava

    Roy DeCarava is an American photographer.Roy DeCarava was born in Harlem in December 1919, and lived there through many decades of important changes and development to the neighborhood....
  • Elizabeth Diller, with Ricardo Scofidio, the first architects to win a MacArthur Prize–the so-called "genius grant."
  • Lou Dorfsman
    Lou Dorfsman

    Louis "Lou" Dorfsman was a graphic designer who oversaw almost every aspect of the advertising and corporate identity for the CBS in his forty years with the network....
  • Thomas Edison
    Thomas Edison

    Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman who developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph and the long-lasting, practical electric light bulb....
    , Inventor
  • Jeffrey Epstein
    Jeffrey Epstein

    Jeffrey Epstein is an United States financier, billionare, philanthropist and convicted sex offender.Epstein was raised in Coney Island and attended Lafayette High School in Brooklyn, New York....
    , Billionaire Investor
  • Mitch Epstein
    Mitch Epstein

    Mitch Epstein, American. Born 1952 in Holyoke, Massachusetts.Mitch Epstein?s photographic work, which he has complemented with sporadic incursions into film and video art, is partly responsible for the New Color movement in the U.S....
    , photographer
  • Thom Fitzgerald
    Thom Fitzgerald

    Thom Fitzgerald is an United States-Canada film director.Fitzgerald was born and raised in New Rochelle, New York. His parents divorced when Fitzgerald was five years old, and his mother moved Thom and his brother Tim to Bergenfield, New Jersey, where he was raised and graduated Bergenfield High School....
    , filmmaker
  • Audrey Flack
    Audrey Flack

    Audrey Flack is an American photorealist painter, printmaker, and sculptor.Flack studied fine arts in New York from 1948 to 1953. Her early work was abstract; one such painting paid tribute to Franz Kline....
    , pioneer of photorealism
  • Robert Florczak
    Robert Florczak

    Robert Florczak is an American artist and illustrator.Florczak attended the prestigious Cooper Union in New York City, studied painting under Will Barnet, receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, was Artist-In-Residence at Widener University, and taught painting at The Art Institute of Philadelphia....
    , artist, illustrator, author, composer
  • Felix Frankfurter
    Felix Frankfurter

    Felix Frankfurter was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States....
    , U.S. Supreme Court Justice
  • Milton Glaser
    Milton Glaser

    Milton Glaser is a graphic designer, best known for the I Love New York logo, his "Bob Dylan" poster, the "DC bullet" logo used by DC Comics from 1977 to 2005, and the "Brooklyn Brewery" logo....
    , founder New York Magazine, creator I Love New York
    I Love New York

    The I Love New York logo is a rebus created by Milton Glaser consisting of the capital letter I, followed by a red heart , below which are the capital letters N and Y, set in a rounded slab serif typeface called American Typewriter....
     logo.
  • John Hejduk
    John Hejduk

    John Quentin Hejduk , was an architect, artist and educator who spent much of his life in New York City. Hejduk is noted for his use of attractive and often difficult-to-construct objects and shapes; also for a profound interest in the fundamental issues of shape, organization, representation, and reciprocity....
     One of New York Five a highly distinguished group of five New York City architects
  • Eva Hesse
    Eva Hesse

    Eva Hesse , was a Germany United States sculptor, known for her pioneering work in materials such as latex, fiberglass, and plastics. ...
  • Chuck Hoberman
    Chuck Hoberman

    Chuck Hoberman is an inventor of folding toys and structures, most notably the Hoberman sphere. He won the Chrysler Design Award for Innovation and Design in 1997 and was a finalist for the 2000 Smithsonian National Design Award....
    , winner of the Chrysler Design Award
    Chrysler Design Award

    The Chrysler Design Awards celebrate the achievements of individuals in innovative works of architecture and design which significantly influenced modern American culture....
     for Innovation and Design.
  • Russell Hulse, a 1993 winner of the Nobel Prize
    Nobel Prize

    The Nobel Prize , established in the 1895 will of Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel; it was first awarded in Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Nobel Prize in Literature, and Nobel Peace Prize in 1901....
     in Physics.
  • Alexander Isley, graphic designer
  • Bob Kane
    Bob Kane

    Bob Kane was a Jewish American comic book artist and writer, credited as the creator of the DC Comics superhero Batman....
     (1915-1998), comic book artist and writer, creator of Batman
    Batman

    Batman is a Character , a comic book superhero co-created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger , appearing in publications by DC Comics. The character first appeared in Detective Comics #27 in May 1939....
    .
  • William King
    William King (artist)

    William King is a contemporary United States sculptor born in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1925. His work spans countless media and usually revolves around the figurative portrayal of human figures....
  • R.B. Kitaj, Renowned Painter
  • Lee Krasner
    Lee Krasner

    Lee Krasner was an influential abstract expressionism painter in the second half of the 20th century.On October 25th 1945, she married artist Jackson Pollock, who was also influential in the Abstract Expressionism movement....
    , Painter
  • Daniel Libeskind
    Daniel Libeskind

    Daniel Libeskind, is an United States architect, artist, and set designer of Polish-Jewish descent. He founded Studio Daniel Libeskind in 1989 with his wife, Nina, and is its principal design architect....
    , architect for the reconstruction of the World Trade Center.
  • Herb Lubalin
    Herb Lubalin

    Herbert F. Lubalin was a prominent United States graphic designer. He collaborated with Ralph Ginzburg on three of Ginzburg's magazines: Eros, Fact Magazine, and Avant Garde , and was responsible for the creative visual beauty of these publications....
  • Jay Maisel
    Jay Maisel

    Jay Maisel is an American advertising photographer. His awards include the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the American Society of Media Photographers, and the Infinity Awards of the International Center of Photography....
  • Fred Marcellino
    Fred Marcellino

    Fred Marcellino was an illustrator and later an author of children's books who was very influential in the book industry. Publisher Nan Talese said that Marcellino could "in one image, translate the whole feeling and style of a book." Such was the case with his evocative painting for Judith Rossner's August, published and edited by Tal...
    , Influential Illustrator
  • Sylvia Plimack Mangold
    Sylvia Plimack Mangold

    Sylvia Plimack Mangold is an United States artist, Painting, printmaker, and pastelist. She is known for her representational art depictions of interiors and landscape arts....
  • Joseph Margulies
    Joseph Margulies

    File:Signature of Joseph Margulies.jpgJoseph Margulies was a Vienna-born American painter and printmaker....
    , artist
  • Mike Mills
    Mike Mills (director)

    Mike Mills is a film director/music video director and graphic designer. He graduated from Cooper Union in Lower Manhattan, New York City.He has created videos for such musical acts as Moby, Yoko Ono and Air ....
    , Filmmaker
  • Matthew Monahan
    Matthew Monahan

    Matthew Monahan is a United States artist based in Los Angeles. He is represented by in New York, and in Amsterdam. Monahan studied at the Cooper Union School of Art in New York and the Gerit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, Holland....
    , Sculptor
  • Wangechi Mutu
    Wangechi Mutu

    Wangechi Mutu is an artist who lives and works in New York. She moved to New York in the 1990s to study anthropology and fine art at Cooper Union , and Yale University ....
    , world-renowned Kenyan artist
  • Bruce Pasternack
    Bruce Pasternack

    Bruce Pasternack was the President and CEO of the Special Olympics International from 2005-2007. He currently serves on the board of directors of Codexis, a private biotechnology company based out of Redwood City California, as well as BEA Systems , Quantum Corporation , and Symyx Technologies , and was, for over 20 years, a Senior Vice Pre...
    , President and CEO of the Special Olympics
    Special Olympics

    Special Olympics is an international organization created to help people with intellectual disabilities develop self-confidence, social skills and a sense of personal accomplishment....
     (also a member of the Board of Trustees)
  • Victor Papanek
    Victor Papanek

    Victor Papanek was a designer and educator who became a strong advocate of the socially and ecologically responsible design of products, tools, and community infrastructures....
    , Early proponent of ecologically and socially responsible design
  • Charles E. Pont
    Charles E. Pont

    Charles Ernest Pont was a Swiss-American artist and Baptist minister. Although his ministerial career was not particularly noteworthy, he was a prolific artist in many media including watercolor painting, printmaking, oil painting, pen and ink, and drawing....
    , painter, illustrator, printmaker, graphic designer
  • Augustus Saint-Gaudens, American sculptor of the Beaux-Arts
  • :it:Domitilla Sartogo, Owner, founding partner and executive director at DRAGO Media Kompany
  • Augusta Savage, African-American sculptor
  • Arnold Alfred Schmidt
    Arnold Alfred Schmidt

    Arnold Alfred Schmidt, born in 1930 in Plainfield, New Jersey, New Jersey, lived most of his life in New York City. He graduated with an MA from New York's Cooper Union, and worked for years as an Art Director at the Gusso-Hyman Advertising agency on such accounts as Jonathan Logan and Misty Harbor fashions....
    , painter
  • Ricardo Scofidio (see Elizabeth Diller, above)
  • Samuel R. Scottron
    Samuel R. Scottron

    Samuel Raymond Scottron was a prominent African-American inventor from Brooklyn, N.Y. who began his career as a barber. He was born in Philadelphia in 1841....
    , inventor, grandfather of entertainer Lena Horne
    Lena Horne

    Lena Mary Calhoun Horne is an American singer and actress. She has recorded and performed extensively, independently and with other jazz notables, including Artie Shaw, Teddy Wilson, Billy Strayhorn, Duke Ellington, Charlie Barnet, Benny Carter, and Billy Eckstine....
  • Georgette Seabrooke
    Georgette Seabrooke

    Georgette Seabrooke , is an United States muralist, artist, illustrator, art therapist and educator....
    , muralist, artist, art therapist and educator
  • George Segal
    George Segal (artist)

    George Segal was an United States Painting and sculptor associated with the Pop Art movement. He was presented with a National Medal of Arts in 1999....
    , Influential pop art sculptor
  • Zak Smith
    Zak Smith

    Zak Smith is an American artist. He was born in Syracuse, New York in 1976, and grew up in Washington, D.C. After receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Cooper Union in 1998, he studied at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and went on to receive an Master of Fine Arts from Yale University in 2001....
    , artist
  • Charles B.J. Snyder (1860-1945), Chief Architect and Superintendent of School Buildings, New York City Board of Education, 1891-1923
  • Edward Sorel
    Edward Sorel

    Edward Sorel is an illustrator, cartoonist and graphic designer. He is most famous for co-founding Push Pin Studios with Milton Glaser and Seymour Chwast....
    , Graphic Designer
  • Philip Taaffe
    Philip Taaffe

    Philip Taaffe is an United States artistTaaffe was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, New Jersey and studied at the Cooper Union in New York, gaining a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1977....
    , Painter
  • Hy Turkin
    Hy Turkin

    Hy Turkin was a sportswriter best known for co-editing the first baseball encyclopedia.Turkin was born in New York, one of six children. He joined the staff of the New York Daily News after graduating from Cooper Union in 1936 with a degree in electrical engineering....
    , Sportswriter and editor of the first baseball encyclopedia
  • Tom Wesselmann
    Tom Wesselmann

    Tom Wesselmann was an United States pop artist who specialized in found art collages....
    , painter
  • Joel-Peter Witkin
    Joel-Peter Witkin

    Joel-Peter Witkin is an American photographer who lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.Witkin was born to a Jewish father and Roman Catholic mother....
    ,fine art photographer
  • Tobi Wong
    Tobi Wong

    Born in Vancouver in 1974, Tobi Wong moved to New York to study art and become an artist and a designer. His conceptual art pieces borrow forms and ideas from contemporary industrial design and luxury objects....


In Pop Culture

  • The Cooper Union acts as a symbol of Progressivism
    Progressivism in the United States

    In U.S. history, the term progressivism refers to a broadly-based reform movement that reached its height early in the 20th century. The initial progressive movement arose as a response to the vast changes brought by the industrial revolution....
     in the Pulitzer Prize
    Pulitzer Prize

    The Pulitzer Prize is an United States award regarded as the highest national honor in newspaper journalism, literary achievements and musical composition....
    -winning novel His Family
    His Family

    His Family is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Ernest Poole. It was published in 1917.His Family tells the story of a middle class family in 1910s New York City....
     by Ernest Poole
    Ernest Poole

    Ernest Poole was a United States of America novelist.He was born in Chicago, Illinois on 23 Jan 1880, and graduated from Princeton University in 1902....
    .
  • In Susan Skoog's coming-of-age independent film
    Independent film

    An independent film, or indie film, is a film that is produced outside of the Hollywood studio system, a series of oligopolistic practices by several major film studios which controlled the production, distribution, and exhibition of films in the United States from the early 1920s through 1950s....
     Whatever, precocious suburban teen Anna Stockard (Liza Weil
    Liza Weil

    Liza Rebecca Weil is an United States actor. She is known for her role as List of Gilmore Girls characters#Paris Eustace Geller in the television drama Gilmore Girls and has guest-starred on The Adventures of Pete & Pete, ER , Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and The West Wing ....
    ) harbors dreams of moving to the city to study art at the Cooper Union in the early 80s.
  • The Cooper Union is mentioned in a spoken word performance of Bowery Blues read by Jack Kerouac
    Jack Kerouac

    Jack Kerouac was an American author, poet and Painting. Alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, he is considered a pioneer of the Beat Generation....
     and with piano by Steve Allen
    Steve Allen (comedian)

    Steve Allen, born Stephen Valentine Patrick William Allen , was an United States television personality, musician, actor, comedian, and writer....
    .
  • In German cult film Killer Condom
    Killer Condom

    Killer Condom is a 1996 in film Germany horror comedy trash film based on the comic book of the same name by Ralf K?nig. It was directed by Martin Walz and featured J?rg Buttgereit as its special effects coordinator and H.R....
    , the laboratory wherein the villain manufactures penis-eating condom monsters is located in the basement of the school.
  • The Cooper Union and their student dorms were featured as background in The Interpreter
    The Interpreter

    The Interpreter is a 2005 in film thriller film starring Nicole Kidman, Sean Penn, and Catherine Keener. It was the final film to be directed by Sydney Pollack....
     starring Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn. The school is also frequently seen in episodes of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, as well as Law and Order: Criminal Intent.
  • The Cooper Union makes an appearance in the Norwegian children's television program Lillys Butikk as the school of the lead character's son John, in his video-letter home
  • Appeared in an episode of The Office
    The Office

    The Office is the title of several television situation comedy shows.The original version of The Office was aired in the UK, created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant....
  • Mentioned in an episode of Will & Grace
    Will & Grace

    Will & Grace is a popular Emmy Award-winning United States television situation comedy that was originally broadcast on NBC from 1998 to 2006....
     -- Grace has an intern from the Cooper Union


External links

  • Book about Lincoln's speech at CU (ISBN 0-7432-2466-3)