In This Issue:

New Faculty Join Six Departments

Engineering in the Financial World

John Chu Receives Honorary Degree from Columbia

Civil Engineering's New Research Directions

Call for Medal Nominations

Design for Living and Learning

Global SEAS

Apple's "Other Steve"

Faculty Notes

50 Years at Columbia

Campaign for Engineering

Graduate Students

Donors Meet Scholars

Career Connections

Class Notes

Reunion

Class Day

Marconi Prize

Columbia Campaign For Engineering

“We have a chance to move our School into the ranks of the top engineering and applied science schools in the country, and the Columbia Campaign for Engineering will make it possible,” said Dean Zvi Galil. In announcing the School’s $125 million capital campaign—part of the University’s $4 billion fundraising effort—Dean Galil pointed to the progress made within the last decade and explained what it will take to move the School to the next level of excellence.

“The test scores of our students continue to rise, our faculty research grows in both volume and importance, our four mega-centers are thriving, and we continue to hire both promising junior faculty and senior faculty of great stature,” the dean said. “The campaign will create significant new endowments to benefit the three major areas that together make our school outstanding—students, faculty, and facilities.”

Students

The School’s endowment goal for student aid is $50 million, $30 million for undergraduate scholarships and $20 million for graduate fellowships. Every year, financial aid must compete with other immediate critical needs, hindering efforts to recruit the most outstanding students. “Our endowment per undergraduate student lags behind not only our competitors but also Columbia College,” said the dean.

“Our endowment per undergraduate student lags behind not only our competitors but also Columbia College.”

“We must be able to meet the financial aid offerings of our peers in order to attract the best students.” The School’s endowment covers less than 15% of the cost of annual financial aid, compared with Columbia College’s 30% and the 75-100% that the School’s Ivy peers are able to cover.

For graduate students, the School seeks to increase endowment to fully fund a greater number of doctoral students for their first two years of study. (The third year typically is funded through faculty research grants.) Having additional funds will allow SEAS to attract exceptional graduate students which, in turn, will increase the selectivity of doctoral students.

Faculty

The goal for the faculty component is $50 million to endow professorships that will allow the School to recruit and retain exceptional faculty. An endowed chair is a singular honor for a faculty member to receive and it is a tangible sign that the School recognizes the exceptional scholarship and research by the holder of the professorship.

Of the School’s 151 faculty members, only 19 currently hold endowed chairs. “Building an endowment for faculty support will strengthen and expand the core of our research and teaching excellence,” said the dean. “By providing endowment income for our most accomplished senior faculty, we can direct other resources to attract the most promising junior researchers.”

Facilities

The remaining $25 million for endowment will tie together the student and faculty components by providing capital resources for funding centers and laboratories. “The laboratory environment within which our faculty and students engage in their important work must, by its very nature, be the most current and sophisticated available,” he said. In addition, income from this endowment can be used to provide required matching funds for federal and foundation grants as well as to fund visiting scientists, research conferences or other needs.