Engineering Sustainable Materials for Humanity

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Helen H. Lu
Helen Lu, Director of Gotham Foundry, Percy K. and Vida L.W. Hudson Professor of Biomedical Engineering; Profsesor of Dental and Craniofacial Engineering (in Dental Medicine); Senior Vice Dean of Faculty Affairs and Advancement

Sustainable materials reduce the environmental impact of manufacturing and enable new possibilities in fields like fashion, construction, and regenerative medicine. Developing regenerative materials – such as those with a circular lifecycle that degrade at the end of service – requires expertise in science, engineering, and the natural world. Now, New York City's inventors and entrepreneurs can learn about this field, develop new ideas, and accelerate pathways to market at Gotham Foundry, a new state-of-the-art R&D and sustainable materials innovation hub, currently located at Harlme Biospace in the Mink Building near Columbia Engineering's Manhattanville Campus.

Supported by $45 million from the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), Gotham Foundry is led by Columbia Engineering, in partnership with CUNY Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC); SUNY's Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), Columbia's Graduate School of Architecture, Preservation and Planning (GSAPP); Columbia Business School, and Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC); and community biolab, Genspace. As a destination for material innovation, Gotham Foundry aims to serve as an open-source, open-door resource whose facilities and strategic network will enable the type of cross-disciplinary and cross-industry collaborations that can revolutionize whole industries.

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