February 2022 Council Meeting
The first CUAA Council Meeting of 2022 will be held on February 15, 2022. Alumni and students are welcome. It will be a virtual event. Register to receive Zoom Link.
Register to Vote in the 2022 Spring Election
CUAA elections are done electronically. We must have your email address to send you an electronic ballot.
If you have not already registered on the Cooperalumni.org website, do so at cooperalumni.org/Register
If your email has changed, please update your profile on the website to include your new email address. Login to the website and sect Update from the menu or use this link
Founder’s Day 2022 Celebrations
The 2022 CUAA Founder’s Day Awards Ceremony will be streamed on YouTube on Thursday, February 10, 2022, at 7:00 PM ET. It will be followed by a live Q&A with the Founder’s Day Award recipients immediately following the ceremony on Zoom. Watch for information on how to submit questions to the award winners in your email. Register here as part of the annual Cooper Together celebration.
Gano Dunn Award for professional achievement in engineering, industry, science or finance — Dr. Donald Rapp ChE’55
Augustus Saint-Gaudens Award for professional achievement in art — Patty Jenkins A’93
John Q, Hejduk Award for outstanding contributions to the theory, teaching and/or practice of architecture — Jennifer Lee AR’97
Peter Cooper Public Service Award for extraordinary contributions to society — Kerri Ann Kelly CE’96
Alumna of the Year for extraordinary contributions to society — Kay Nordstrom ME’77
History of Founder’s Day
Here is a look back at the beginnings of the annual Founder’s Day Celebration. Link
History of the Cooper Union Hall of Fame
The creation of the Cooper Union Hall of Fame was announced in 2008 and the first Hall of Fame Celebration was held in 2009. The Hall of Fame rollout coincided with the 150th anniversary of the Cooper Union. Learn more about the history of the Hall of Fame. Link
Cooper Together Celebrations will be happening in February.
You’re invited to join us for Cooper Together 2022, the annual celebration of Peter Cooper’s birthday, as a virtual event The Cooper Together 2022 Global Block Party will feature a mix of live, interactive programs and on-demand content from February 1-13, 2022. This includes the annual Wreath Laying Ceremony, a presentation by Bruce Degen A’66 and more. Learn More & Register
UPCOMING EVENTS
2/1 – 2/13/2022 Cooper Together Global Block Party Register
2/10/2022 2022 CUAA Founders Day Awards Ceremony Register
2/15/2022 February CUAA Council Meeting Register
Meet The Candidate Night Date TBD
4/5/2022 April CUAA Council Meeting Register
6/3 – 6/4/2022 Reunion Weekend Learn More
Alumni Profiles
Steve Leibman BSE’97 is a successful Software Developer who assisted the State of Colorado and the Federal government with pandemic related programming support. Prior to the pandemic, Steve has been the VP of Software Development at Zagster and at HomeTap. Steve built and ran the software engineering team for Zagster which is one of the first bike-share companies to incorporate Bluetooth technology.
During the Pandemic, Steve volunteered with Code for America, and with the U.S. Digital Response Organization (USDR). Learn More
Alumni News
Jean-Ulrick Désert AR’85 receives inaugural AKB & SAVVY Contemporary Commission.
Thanks to the generous support of the AKB Stiftung, Désert will receive a one-year working grant of 30,000 EUR, as well as funds to support the creation of a new artwork and curatorial support. It is planned that the new piece or body of work will be exhibited at SAVVY Contemporary and other venues. With the announcement of the grant’s awardee, the jury stated that this “award goes to Jean-Ulrick Désert for his deep engagement with his social/cultural practices. His work has the power to activate the viewer in engaging ways, to connect and reveal intertwined histories. His concern around digital technologies brings to the surface the complex nature of the entanglement of politics with society. Désert’s practice, be it site-specific public installation or museum display, enters into dialogue with surrounding cultural traditions, poignantly commenting on the social relations the artist observes around him. Désert has shown an admirable dedication to research, whilst at the same time demonstrating a deeply personal investment in his projects. His practice, which stretches several decades, is continuously relevant in its examination of identities and identity politics, of gender and race. Learn More
Rachel Whitlow A’94 is the Executive Director of Haverstraw Museum. The idea that innovative ideas can change people’s lives through design, art, and technology is the subject of a new series of exhibitions at the Haverstraw Museum. The programs have the tag line “Learn the Past and Discover the Future” at The Haverstraw Brick Museum. The series’ subject is to bring to light engineering and design innovations from the Museum archives and connect them to 21st century technology.
In a recent radio talk the museum’s executive director, Rachel Whithow A’94, spoke to the importance of her personal education experience — in particular the role Cooper Union played in helping her develop critical thinking skills while fostering innovative ideas through design, art and technology. Learn More
Alumni in Law Affinity Group
On November 17, 2021, members of the Cooper Union Alumni in Law affinity group gathered for the group’s fall event. Approximately 20 alumni attended from across the country.
Anna Brook (BSE ’04) kicked off the event with an update that the group surpassed its fundraising goals for the last fiscal year and is looking forward to a successful 2021-2022. The group then broke up into small speed networking sessions so that alumni could reconnect and meet new members.
The affinity group looks forward to an in-person event in the spring but they are grateful that virtual events allow alumni outside the New York area to participate.
To join the Alumni in Law Affinity Group, please email Hannah.Teskey@cooper.edu.
CUAA Authors
Several Alumni have authored or edited books that were released in 2021. See our summary. Link
School News
Albert Nerken School of Engineering
Dean Barry Shoop and Assistant Dean Lisa Shay share updates on the 2021 educational innovation grant program and introduce us to new faculty members in Engineering News. This Engineering News site includes updates on a large number of student projects.
CU Motorsports
The Cooper Union Motorsports team is building it first Electrical Vehicle (EV) since 2009. It is looking forward to entering the car in the annual FSAE competition to be held in May 2022.
Follow the team activities on their website and on YouTube.
CU IGVC Team
IGVC stands for Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition. The CU IGVC team will be entering an autonomous vehicle in an international competition for the first time this year. The team challenge is to build a street-legal, fully autonomous vehicle beginning with a commercially available non-smart electrical vehicle. The competition will be held in Oakland, Michigan, on June 3 through June 6, 2022.
Learn More (click on the “IGVC” tab).
That website, the Autonomy Lab, also includes other Cooper student projects/classes, such as CUSAP, the Cooper Union Sustainable Agriculture Project.
CU Steel Bridge Team
“The Cooper Union Steel Bridge Team is a student-run organization that designs, fabricates, and assembles a 22-foot steel bridge for the AISC competition every year. The team raises funds from donations from engineering firms and Cooper Union alumni to purchase materials needed for the bridge.
CU Solar Decathalon Team
The Cooper Union has a team designing and building a net-zero energy building. Learn More
CU Sustainable Agriculture Project, (CUSP)
CUSAP, or the Cooper Union Sustainable Agriculture Project is a self-governed interdisciplinary collective of students from all three schools at Cooper that operates as a VIP class and club. Students work on a variety of agriculture and sustainability related projects, as well as working on new techniques in art that utilized biological materials. In recent semesters, students have been working on a small-scale aquaponics system for growing rice and tilapia, establishing nitrogen cycles and ecosystems with a variety of fauna, “home-made” fertilizer from compost tea, vermiculture, fruiting mushrooms, growing mycelium into molds to create household objects, environmental sensing with arduino and raspberry pi, and a variety of other small hydroponic systems. Our focus is on holistic, modular systems that would work in a home, as opposed to the industry’s focus on large scale, energy-intensive hydroponic operations. Issues that we discuss and consider when designing our systems include food security, autonomous aspects of producing food, efficient usage of space, self-sufficiency, resiliency, and community development. More information about CUSAP’s home as a class within the “smartcities” VIP and part of the autonomy lab at cooper can be found here. (click on the “CUSAP” tab).
CU Hyperloop Team
The Cooper Hyperloop team travelled to Valencia, Spain for European Hyperloop Week during the Summer of 2021. They have an expanded team this year with 19 members and are working toward completing a hyperloop pod for entry in the Canadian Hyperloop Competition which will be held at the University of Waterloo, during the June 2022.
Alumni can contribute to student teams by visiting Cooper’s giving page linked here
In Memoriam
See who we have lost during 2021 Link and during 2022 Link
COOPER ADVISORS
A CU ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURAL OUTREACH PROGRAM
In 2015, a group of alumni started Cooper Advisors, a program that aims to increase Cooper’s recognition in engineering and architectural fields. This program offers the services of Cooper alumni to help anyone with technical questions in areas in which they have expertise. They are looking for a cadre of experts. Learn more
If you wish to make yourself available, please email your name, technical specialties, and contact information to CooperAdvisors@outlook.com.
Please also indicate if you would be willing to help administer this program.
Feel free to speak with Ray Tillman CE’57, a program administrator. Just email CooperAdvisors@outlook.com with your phone number. Ray will call you back promptly.
Stay Informed
The CUAA posts regularly on multiple social media platforms
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