In This Issue:

Gerald Navratil Charts New Course for SEAS

Board of Visitors Has "2020 Vision" For Columbia SEAS

SEAS Welcomes New Junior Faculty

Armen A. A. Avanessians '83 Elected A University Trustee

Seminar Series on Science, Technology, and Society

Recent Grads Form Young Alumni Group

Residential Programs Foster Community Engagement

First Years and Sophs Enjoy "Just Desserts"

CESAA Honors Alumni Leaders In Computer Science and Law

The Campaign for Columbia Engineering

Class Day, Commencement

Faculty Notes

Toward the $1,000 Genome: Personalized Medicine

Class Notes

In Memoriam

Plans for Reunion 2008

Board of Visitors
Has "2020 Vision"
For Columbia SEAS

“Top ten ranking has never been one of SEAS’ goals: now it will be!” exclaimed Andrew Gaspar ’69, chair of the Board of Visitors’ Long Range Planning Committee as he presented the group’s report to the SEAS Dean and faculty. The report is the culmination of a two-year study spearheaded by the alumni group that also included other alumni, faculty and students.

The plan, “A 2020 Vision for SEAS,” charts the course for The Fu Foundation School to follow to attain top-10 status by 2020. It calls for an 80% increase in the size of the faculty, and the addition of 220,000 square feet of physical space, striving for a proper balance between traditional and emerging technologies.

Later in the summer, Board of Visitors chair James M. Li ’68,’70, ’76, Gaspar and Interim Dean Gerald Navratil met with University President Lee C. Bollinger, who indicated that the University is committed to maintaining a strong and independent School of Engineering and Applied Science.

“The Board of Visitors found SEAS to be in the strongest position it has ever been academically and financially, and morale is at an all-time high,” said Gaspar. “This plan will build on current strengths to position SEAS as a top global engineering institution.” The School’s $125 million capital campaign to increase endowment and provide support for new interdisciplinary centers (see story on page 14) will help fund this growth.

The Board of Visitors’ plan includes recommendations that SEAS:

• continue its commitment to provide a broad education for “global citizen engineers;”
• create new interdisciplinary majors that build on existing academic expertise to meet new global challenges;
• globalize SEAS by creating a greater presence abroad;
• explore options for undergraduates to study abroad for a semester;
• continue to build on the excellent reputation of its financial engineering courses and expand its offerings with Columbia Business School as well as other Columbia schools;
• obtain an additional 220,000 square feet of space, primarily for graduate students and faculty research, by planning for space in the new northwest corner science building and by expanding SEAS into Manhattanville;
• improve access to state and local funding as well as soliciting funding globally.

Work by the Long Range Planning Committee will continue through two teams, the Academic Development Team, charged with reviewing emerging technologies, and the Globalization Team, which will explore and evaluate ways to expand the School overseas.

In addition to Andrew Gaspar and James Li, members of the Long Range Planning Committee included: Sanjiv Ahuja ’79, Christian Aucoin ’06, Armen Avanessians ’83, Bradley Bloch ’83, Michael Bykhovsky ’83, Allan Cytryn ’72,’79, James Down ’73, Thomas Fazzio ’06, Vice Dean Morton Friedman, Gregg Gonsalves ’89, Josh Hauser ’66,’68, Associate Professor Garud Iyengar, Jennifer Johnson ’90, Professor John Kender, Hie Jae Kim ’77, K, Daniel Libby ’82,’84, Bruce Lister ’43,’47, Anna Longobardo ’49,’52, Ronald Mangione ’69, Interim Dean and Professor Gerald Navratil, David Novick ’48,’54, David Seader ’67, Alan Silberstein ’69, Steve Tai ’80, and Ted Tsung ’82,’83.