The History of Columbia Engineering

Image

John Stevens Graduates King’s College

John Stevens, who goes on to play an important role developing steamships and railroads, as well as U.S. patent law, graduates from King’s College, the forerunner of Columbia.

Image

DeWitt Clinton and the Erie Canal

Graduating with Columbia College’s first class, DeWitt Clinton becomes the driving force in building the Erie Canal (1817-25), the largest American engineering project of the early 19th century.

Image

Horatio Allen Graduates from Columbia

Horatio Allen graduates from Columbia, going on to assemble America’s first steam locomotive, consult on the Brooklyn Bridge, and lead the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).

Image

Thomas Egleston, Jr. Proposes a New School

Thomas Egleston, Jr., a Yale graduate trained in Paris, proposes a school of metallurgy and mining in New York City, and Columbia College trustee George Templeton Strong champions his idea among other leaders.

Image

School of Mines Opens on Madison Avenue

On Nov. 15, the Columbia College School of Mines opens in a building on Madison Avenue, with a faculty of three: mining expert Thomas Egleston, Jr., Civil War veteran Francis L. Vinton, and chemist Charles F. Chandler.

Image

Chandler Consults with Board of Health

Charles F. Chandler consults with New York City’s Metropolitan Board of Health to monitor food and drugs, provide free vaccinations, ensure the safety of milk supplies, bring clean water into the city, and enact building codes requiring indoor plumbing.

Image

Civil Engineering Program Created

Columbia’s School of Mines institutes an influential degree program in Civil Engineering.

Image

First Graduates Receive Degrees

The first graduates of the school receive Engineer of Mines (EM) degrees denoting their scientific training in mining.

Image

First PhD Awarded

The School of Mines awards the first-ever Columbia PhD, and fourth American PhD in chemistry, to Elwyn Waller (EM 1870), who stays on at Columbia and becomes a professor of analytic chemistry.

Image

First Black Student Graduates

Liberian-born James R. Priest, the first black student to attend Columbia, graduates from the School of Mines. He returns to Liberia to pursue civil engineering, becoming a professor of mathematics, but dies tragically young. Luiz de Souza Barros from Sao Paulo, Brazil is also a member of the class, shown on the left under the '77.

Image

Early Global Influence

Three Japanese students, Yothinosuke Hasegawa PhD 1880, Kiugo Nambu, and Nawokichi Matsui (PhD 1880) are members of this graduating class, each going on to have an affiliation with the University of Tokio (Tokyo), Japan. Graduating that same year is Vicente Felix Pazos, whose work was in Lima, Peru.

American Chemical Society

Chandler presides over the foundation of the American Chemical Society to, he writes, “awaken and develop much talent now wasting in isolation … and ensure a better appreciation of our science.”

Chandler Founds American Chemist

Chandler, along with his brother William, also at Columbia, founded the pioneer­ing journal American Chemist, which eventually becomes the prestigious Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Expanding Areas and Impact: 1880s-1930s

The School of Mines quickly expanded from its initial focus. Professors and alumni made contributions to a wide variety of fields, including New York’s first subway line, a key innovation in automatic tabulation, an improved X-ray process, and the invention of FM radio. Early work in nuclear physics and computing positions Columbia at the forefront of emerging technologies that would shape the decades to come.

During this era, programs in chemical, civil, electrical, industrial, and mechanical engineering were added as the school’s name was changed to the School of Engineering to reflect its wider reach. 

Image

School of Electrical Engineering Established

Columbia establishes the School of Electrical Engineering (EE) with a two-year graduate program as part of the School of Mines. Francis Bacon Crocker 1882 and Michael I. Pupin 1883 teach the first class of 14 students, and begin instructing undergraduates two years later.

Image

First Woman Receives PhD in Mathematics

Graduating from Columbia with highest honors, Winifred Edgerton becomes the first woman to receive a PhD in mathematics from an American institution.

Image

Hutton Teaches Mechanical Engineering

Frederick R. Hutton (MS 1876, PhD 1881) teaches the school's first courses in mechanical engineering. He goes on to found the Department of Mechanical Engineering, which in 1897 welcomed four students into a four-year program.

Image

Parsons Graduates

William Barclay Parsons graduates, goes on to become chief engineer and designer of New York's first subway line, member of the Panama Canal Commission, chief engineer of the Cape Cod Canal, chief surveyor of China's 1000-km railway from Hanchow to Canton, and a University Trustee. His engineering firm, now Parsons Brinckerhoff, is today one of the world's largest global companies developing the built environment.

Image

Edison Writes In

Shortly after establishing his company's first central electric station in Manhattan, Thomas Edison writes to Columbia president Barnard suggesting that the University add a course in electrical engineering, and offering to donate some equipment.

Image

Henry Krumb Earns Degree

After receiving financial aid to complete his senior year, Henry S. Krumb earns a degree in mining and goes on to devote his career to improving extracting techniques for gold, silver, and copper, becoming a leader in the field and a benefactor of the School.

Image

Pupin’s X-ray Process

Michael Pupin (CC 1883) develops a process for x-rays that reduces exposure from hours to seconds, and maps buckshot in the hand of an injured patient. Three years later, he significantly advances long distance telephony with his patented loading coils, also known as "Pupin coils."

Image

Burr Becomes Civil Engineering Chair

Bridges and canals expert William H. Burr becomes founding chair of the Department of Civil Engineering, and begins consulting extensively on public works in New York City and beyond.

Image

Columbia Miners Leading the Way

The Columbia School of Mines now accounts for more than 46 percent of all graduates from U.S. mining schools. From 1867 to 1892, 871 mining engineers graduate from 16 U.S. mining schools; 402 are Columbia School of Mines alumni.

Image

Tabulating Machine Speeds Up Census

The tabulating machine invented by Herman Hollerith (EM 1879, PhD 1890) reduces the time to process 1890 census data from several years to a few months. Hollerith goes on to found the Tabulating Machine Company in 1896, which merged with three other companies to form what became International Business Machines (IBM) in 1924. Today Hollerith is recognized as the father of modern automatic computation.

Image

The Mining Engineer’s Handbook

Veteran mine engineer and consultant Robert Peele (EM 1883) signs on as Adjunct Professor of Mining. He later authors The Mining Engineer’s Handbook and earns induction into the Mining Hall of Fame.

Image

Department of Mining

As the diversifying engineering school transitions to the School of Mines, Engineering, and Chemistry, prominent geologist Henry S. Munroe (EM 1869, PhD 1877) signs on to lead the reorganized Department of Mining.

Chandler Proposes ChemE Program

Chandler proposes a new four-year program called Chemical Engineering and encounters skepticism and outright opposition from many who believe his vision too radical.

Image

Building Opens in Morningside

A new building designated “School of Mines,” financed by mining investor Adolph Lewisohn, opens on the University’s new Morningside campus and remains the home of the Department for half a century.

Image

Crocker Champions Electrical Standards

Francis Bacon Crocker (EM 1882, PhD 1895), a pioneer in commercial motors and, according to Thomas Edison "one of the outstanding pioneers of the electrical industry," champions international standardization of electrical equipment at the International Electrotechnical Commission in London.

Image

New Chemical Engineering Curriculum

Columbia University Trustees approve a new curriculum in Chemical Engineering, the first integrated curriculum of its kind and soon the basis of similar offerings at other schools.

Image

First Underground Subway Launched

New York’s first underground subway line is launched; chief engineer for the Interborough Rapid Transit Co. is William Barclay Parsons (EM 1882).

Image

Irving Langmuir Graduates

Irving H. Langmuir graduates with a degree in metallurgy and goes on to make important advances in filaments, vacuum tubes, and surface chemistry, for which he wins the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Image

Lucke Joins Mechanical Engineering

Charles Edward Lucke (PhD'02), an authority in internal combustion engines, joins the Department of Mechanical Engineering. In 48 years at Columbia he files 120 patents and publishes extensively in power generation and engineering thermodynamics.

Image

Taggart Comes to Columbia

Mineral engineering authority Arthur F. Taggart begins a legendary three decades at Columbia, authoring the ubiquitous Handbook of Mineral Dressing among works on topics including flotation and gravity concentration.

Image

Department of Industrial Engineering

Walter Rautenstrach (CC ‘27), a longtime member of the Mechanical Engineering faculty, creates and chairs a new department of Industrial Engineering, one of the first of its kind in the country.

Image

Baekeland Comes to Columbia

Plastics pioneer Leo Baekeland, inventor of Bakelite, receives a special appointment to teach at Columbia and begins a rich tradition in polymeric materials.

Image

Civil Engineering Testing Laboratory

The school establishes the Civil Engineering Testing laboratory, with concrete construction expert Prof. A. H. Beyer appointed the first director.

Image

World War I

As the U.S. enters World War I, engineering faculty help the war effort by teaching at the Navy Submarine School in New London, while Michael Pupin develops sonar at the request of President Woodrow Wilson.

Image

Crocker Invents Helicopter

Professor Francis Bacon Crocker invents (with Peter Cooper Hewitt) and tests one of the nation's first helicopters.

Image

Le Marteleur

Constantin Meunier's Le Marteleur, a gift of alumni, is dedicated and stands before the School of Mines, facing Auguste Rodin's Le Penseur in front of Philosophy Hall. It is now a symbol of engineering that followed the School to the Seeley W. Mudd Building.

Image

Armstrong Joins Faculty

Edwin Howard Armstrong, Class of 1913, joins the faculty and pursues a patent for his regenerative circuit, allowing better reception of weak radio signals. Later, serving in World War I, he develops the superheterodyne radio receiver, the basis of many modern communications devices.

Image

Panama Canal Opens

The Panama Canal opens. William H. Burr of the Department of Civil Engineering, and William Barclay Parsons (EM 1882) serve on the commission that oversees the canal's construction.

Image

Chemical Engineering Department Created

Columbia Trustees approve the creation of the new Department of Chemical Engineering, distinct from the existing Department of Chemistry. Daniel Dana Jackson serves as founding chair.

Image

Henry Hudson Bridge

While still a student, David Steinman (PhD'11) designs what becomes New York City's Henry Hudson Bridge. (This photo was taken during the bridge's construction in 1936.) Later founding the firm Steinman Engineers, he designs many landmark bridges throughout the U.S.

Image

Finch Joins the Faculty

James Kip Finch (BS'06, MS'11), an accomplished engineer and prolific author, joins the Civil Engineering faculty, later becoming Department chair and serving as dean of Columbia Engineering. He also serves as director of the ASCE.

Image

Post-Grad Program for Naval Officers

On the eve of World War I, the school launches a post-graduate program for naval officers led by Charles Edward Lucke. Franklin Roosevelt, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, later sends congratulations for helping win the war.

Image

Loening Engineers “Flying Boat”

Aircraft expert Grover Loening (BA'08, MS'10) engineers the first "short-hulled flying boat," going on to create several novel designs for airplanes, including monoplanes.

Hixson Joins the Faculty

Arthur Hixson joins the Chemical Engineering faculty and pioneers studies based on unit operations and process design.

Cracking Petroleum

Doctoral student Walter Rittman discovers a revolutionary process for cracking petroleum and is invited to present his findings to a special committee of Congressional leaders and Cabinet members.

Image

Burmister Comes to Columbia

Donald M. Burmister, a renowned expert in geotechnical engineering, begins a legendary career in the Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, researching soil and pavement design and consulting on projects, including the first New York World's Fair.

Image

Father of the Nuclear Navy

Hyman Rickover, who becomes a four-star admiral credited as "father of the nuclear navy," studies electrical engineering and receives an MS degree in 1929. More than 50 years later, he recalls Columbia as "the first institution that encouraged me to think rather than memorize."

Image

IBM Comes to Campus

IBM installs punch card tabulators and sorters in Hamilton Hall, enabling sophisticated computation across disciplines.

Image

Pupin Wins Pulitzer Prize

Professor Michael Pupin (Class of 1883) wins the Pulitzer Prize for his autobiography, From Immigrant to Inventor.

Image

Colin Fink’s Chromium Plating

Colin Fink (CC '03) joins the faculty and soon develops the chromium plating process that becomes standard, beginning a tradition in Columbia electrochemistry.

Image

Managed Nuclear Fission Achieved

Neutron expert Dean John R. Dunning is on the first team to achieve managed nuclear fission in the United States and makes important advances in gaseous diffusion to separate uranium isotopes for the Manhattan Project.

Image

Biot Joins Civil Engineering

Poroelasticity pioneer Maurice A. Biot joins the Civil Engineering faculty, going on to file many patents. He is later elected to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering.

Image

Armstrong Invents FM Radio

Professor Edwin Howard Armstrong, Class of 1913, invents wideband frequency modulation (FM) radio, an advance that paves the way for television.

Image

Mindlin Joins the Faculty

Raymond D. Mindlin, considered the most outstanding elastician of his generation, joins the Civil Engineering faculty. In 1946, President Harry Truman awards him the Medal for Merit for his work developing the radio proximity fuse, a detonator used extensively in World War II, and in 1979 he receives the National Medal of Science from President Jimmy Carter. (Image courtesy of NavSource)

Image

Committee on Technocracy

With Howard Scott, Walter Rautenstrauch co-founds the short-lived Committee on Technocracy, advocating a more productive and rational society administered by technical experts and engineers.

Image

Hassialis Joins the Faculty

Menelaos D. Hassialis (BS'31) begins 47 years on the faculty, consulting on the Manhattan Project, patenting many innovations, and building a global community of mining engineers.

Image

Langmuir Wins Nobel Prize

Irving Langmuir, Class of 1903, the first to apply the term "plasma" to ionized gases, receives the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his advances in surface chemistry.

Image

First Woman Awarded Engineering BS

After Columbia Engineering opens to women in 1942, Anna Longobardo (BS'49, MS'52) is the first woman to receive a BS in mechanical engineering from Columbia. She goes on to become the first woman to win the Egleston Medal.

Image

Mass Production of Antibiotics

Elmer Gaden (BS'44, MS'47, PhD'49), the father of biochemical engineering, authors his groundbreaking dissertation on providing the optimal amount of oxygen to allow greater fermentation energy for penicillin mold to grow and multiply more rapidly. This research formed the basis for mass production of a wide range of antibiotics, beginning with penicillin.

Image

Father of Structural Reliability

Alfred M. Freudenthal, a pioneer in materials' inelastic behavior, joins Civil Engineering. Considered the "father of structural reliability," he writes extensively and consults on various public works projects.

Image

Unimate Robot

Joseph Engelberger (BS'46, MS'49), known as the "father of industrial robotics," partners with George Devol to pioneer the Unimate robot for use on assembly lines and other industrial applications, as well as many other robotics.

Image

Littauer Joins Industrial Engineering

Sebastian B. Littauer (MA'28) joins the Industrial Engineering faculty. First as a teacher and then as department chair, he establishes and promotes operations research at Columbia.

Image

Zadeh Receives His PhD

Lotfi A. Zadeh receives his PhD in electrical engineering and serves on the faculty for 10 years, going on to publish his landmark paper on "fuzzy sets" in 1965, and, in 1973, proposes the theory of fuzzy logic.

Image

Differential Operational Amplifier

John R. Ragazzini (MA'39, PhD'41), who had worked on the Manhattan Project, collaborates with Loebe Julie to develop and build the world's first modern differential operational amplifier at Columbia.

Image

Fuller Comes to Columbia

Dudley Dean Fuller (BS'45) begins a distinguished career at Columbia studying surfaces and fluid lubrication. He later receives the Egleston Medal for developing the hydrostatic bearing.

Image

Bleich’s Structural Mechanics

Hans H. Bleich, an authority in structural mechanics, comes to Civil Engineering for a lengthy tenure studying various structures and designing skyscrapers, bridges, and observatories.

Image

Kellogg Teaches Mineral Engineering

Herbert H. Kellogg (BS'41, MS'43) signs on to teach mineral engineering and, in 44 years at Columbia, becomes a prominent researcher and passionate advocate for developing the mining industry's environmental awareness.

Image

Garrelts Chairs Civil Engineering

At the dawn of a postwar boom for public works, Jewell M. Garrelts, designer of numerous bridges, becomes chair of Civil Engineering and works to enhance its global renown.

Image

First Woman Undergraduate Admitted

Gloria Reinish nee Brooks, a sophomore transfer, becomes the first woman undergraduate admitted to Columbia Engineering when she receives a scholarship to join the Class of 1945 as an Electrical Engineering major. She goes on to teach and returns to Columbia to earn a doctorate in bioengineering.

Image

Loening Receives Egleston Medal

The first person ever to receive a degree in aeronautics in America, Grover Loening (MS'11), is awarded the Egleston Medal for his many achievements in aircraft design, including designing the first "short-hulled flying boat" and serving on advisory boards for Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson.

Image

Salvadori Joins the Faculty

Civil Engineering welcomes Mario G. Salvadori to the faculty. In a long career at Columbia, he authors numerous works on architecture, structural engineering, and applied mathematics.

Watson Scientific Computing Lab

IBM establishes the Watson Scientific Computing Lab at Columbia, under the direction of Wallace Eckert. The following year, lab staff start teaching the first computer science courses in the world that are fully integrated into a university curriculum and continue year to year.

Association for Computing Machinery

The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is founded in a meeting at Columbia, where it was originally named the Eastern Association for Computing Machinery.

Image

Probability and Statistical Inference for Engineers

Morton Klein (MS’52, EngScD’57), among the first to apply quantitative methods to industrial engineering and a giant in operations research, co-authors the seminal text Probability and Statistical Inference for Engineers.

Image

Leonard Researches Artificial Organs

Edward F. Leonard pursues pathbreaking research in the engineering and design of artificial organs. Later research will focus on developing wearable ultrafiltration and dialysis devices.

Image

Henry Krumb School of Mines

Upon the death of benefactor Henry S. Krumb, Class of 1898, the Trustees recognize his vision and generosity by naming the Department of Mining, Metallurgy and Mineral Engineering the Henry Krumb School of Mines.

Image

Baumeister Receives Egleston Medal

Professor Theodore Baumeister (EngScD'22) becomes editor of Marks' Standard Handbook for Mechanical Engineers. He goes on to win the Egleston Medal in 1975 for his work in metals and machinery.

Image

Goldstein’s Classical Mechanics

Nuclear engineering expert Herbert Goldstein joins the Mechanical Engineering faculty. He authors the textbook Classical Mechanics, since translated into nine languages, and works to increase the public's scientific literacy.

Image

Kálmán Receives Doctorate

Rudolf E. Kalman receives his doctorate in electrical engineering, and goes on to co-invent the Kalman filter, an algorithm with applications ranging from aircraft guidance and weather predictions to econometrics.

Image

First Nuclear Submarine

The world's first nuclear-powered submarine, USS Nautilus, is launched, spearheaded by Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, (MS'29 EE), the father of the nuclear navy.

Image

First Supercomputer

The IBM Naval Ordnance Research Calculator (NORC), the first supercomputer and the most powerful computer on Earth until about 1963, is installed at the Watson Scientific Computing Lab on the fifth floor of 612 West 115th Street, where it was built. NORC executes 15,000 instructions per second and has 3,600 words of random access memory.

Image

Derman Teaches Operations Research

Statistician Cyrus Derman (PhD'54) begins teaching operations research. In four decades at Columbia, he makes historic contributions to performance analysis and optimization of stochastic systems.

Image

Father of Modern Kinematics

Ferdinand Freudenstein (PhD'54), considered the "father of modern kinematics," joins the Mechanical Engineering faculty and goes on to mentor over 500 PhD students in his legendary career.

Image

Havens Named Professor

William W. Havens Masters (MS’41 PhD‘46), who had worked with James Rainwater on the Manhattan Project, becomes a full professor, specializing in precise spectrometers.

Image

Melman Joins Industrial Engineering

Economist Seymour Melman (PhD’49) begins more than 50 years on the Industrial Engineering faculty, chairing the department and becoming a prominent critic of nuclear weapons and the military-industrial complex.

Image

Analysis of Sampled-Data Systems

Professors John R. Ragazzini and Lofti A. Zadeh publish The Analysis of Sampled-Data Systems, establishing the z-transform method converting time domain signals into complex frequency domain representations. The method becomes standard in digital signal processing and other discrete-time systems.

Image

Boley Joins Civil Engineering

Bruno A. Boley, a leading expert in structural mechanics, elastic stability, and thermal stresses, joins the Civil Engineering faculty.

Image

First EngScD Degree

Eliahu I. Jury receives the first EngScD degree awarded at Columbia in 1953, and goes on to develop the advanced, or modified, z-transform method to incorporate ideal delays that are not multiples of the sampling time.

Image

Arbiter Begins 25-Year Tenure

Nathaniel Arbiter '32 begins a 25-year tenure at Columbia Engineering, winning election to the National Academy of Engineering in 1977 for his work on low-grade ores and new hydrometallurgical processes.

Image

Kendall Wins Nobel Prize

Edward C. Kendall, '08, PhD'10, known for his notable contributions to biochemistry and medicine, receives the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his investigations of the adrenal cortex and isolation of cortisone.

Frank DiMaggio Joins Civil

Frank L. DiMaggio (BS'50, MS'51, PhD'54) joins Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics for a renowned career studying fluid structure interaction, dynamic responses of submerged structures, and constitutive modeling of soils.

Image

Mechanics of Blood Flow

Pioneering Biomedical Engineering Professors Richard Skalak and Shu Chien produce groundbreaking work in the mechanics of blood flow, bone growth, white blood cell responses to infections and biological implications and responses to implants.

Image

Computational Fluid Dynamics

C.K. Chu develops finite difference approximations of the equations of fluid dynamics and coins the now-standard phrase, "Computational Fluid Dynamics."

Image

Moog Demonstrates Synthesizer

Robert Moog (BS'57) demonstrates his groundbreaking music synthesizer, the first voltage-controlled subtractive synthesizer played via keyboard, to an audience of audio engineers.

Image

Strength of Materials Laboratory

The Strength of Materials Laboratory is established by a generous endowment from Robert A.W. Carleton ('04), an Egleston Scholar and builder of numerous subway and rail tunnels in New York City.

Image

Physiological Control Systems

Guy Longobardo (BS'49, MS'50, EngScD'62) teaches a course on physiological control systems, Columbia's first in bioengineering. He later wins the Egleston Medal for his pioneering work on unstable respiratory disorders.

Image

International Conference on Strata Control

Celebrating its centennial and continuing vitality, the School of Mines hosts a groundbreaking international conference on strata control in New York City.

Image

Kayan Receives Campbell Award

Carl F. Kayan ('24), a pioneer in the fields of heat transfer and refrigeration cycle technology, receives the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers' (ASHRAE) prestigious E. K. Campbell Award.

Image

Plasma Physics Lab Established

Robert Gross and C.K. Chu lead efforts to establish the Plasma Physics Laboratory to research high-temperature and fusion plasmas. The lab receives a major expansion in 1975.

Image

Castelli Joins Mechanical Engineering Faculty

Vittorio Castelli, later honored with the Egleston Medal as an "engineering wizard, guru, advisor, and sage," joins Mechanical Engineering and begins research that advances technologies including computer memory and color printers.

Image

Mudd Building Opens

The Seeley W. Mudd building opens as the new home of Columbia Engineering, bringing together faculty who had been scattered across the Morningside campus.

Image

Lidofsky’s Nuclear Science

Leon Lidofsky (MS'47, PhD'52) signs on to teach nuclear science and engineering at Columbia, researching nuclear physics, radiative transport, and medical applications of radiation.

Shinozuka Joins Civil Engineering

Probabilistic mechanics expert Masanobu Shinozuka (PhD'60) joins the Civil Engineering faculty and serves as a leading authority in field theory, risk-assessment methodology, and structures resistant to disasters.

Industrial and Management Engineering

Recognizing advances in the field and its own scholarship, Industrial Engineering becomes the Department of Industrial and Management Engineering, and establishes one of the country's first degree programs in operations research.

Operations Research Expands

Morton Klein and Morton Friedman of the Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics collaborate to expand the operations research program, renaming it "Mathematical Methods in Engineering and Operations Research."

Image

Computer Science Department Established

Columbia Engineering establishes the Department of Computer Science with leading researcher Joseph F. Traub (PhD'59) as founding chair.

Image

Freudenstein Elected to NAE

Higgins Professor Ferdinand Freudenstein is elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

Image

Mindlin Receives National Medal of Science

Professor Raymond D. Mindlin receives the National Medal of Science from President Carter. He was elected a Fellow of the National Academy of Engineering in 1966 for his work in mechanics of solids and the National Academy of Sciences in 1973 for advancements in applied physical science.

Image

Operations Research Renamed

As Operations Research becomes ever-more indispensable to managing complex enterprises, the department is renamed the Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research (IEOR).

Image

Avery Fisher Hall Acoustics

Electrical Engineering's Cyril M. Harris, according to the New York Times "the pre-eminent acoustical engineer in the United States," redesigns the acoustics of Avery Fisher Hall at New York City's Lincoln Center. During his career he fine-tunes the sound at over 100 of America's highest-profile musical venues.

Image

Bonilla Receives Kern Award

Charles Bonilla, founder and director of the Nuclear Heat Transfer Research Facility, is the inaugural recipient of the Kern Award from AIChE for his outstanding contributions to the field of heat transfer.

Image

Fuller Receives Hersey Award

Professor Dudley D. Fuller (MS'46), world-renowned tribologist and inventor of the hydrostatic bearing, receives the ASME Mayo D Hersey Award for research contributions in fluid lubrication and, in 1978, is awarded the Tribology Gold Medal from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers "in recognition of his research in the field of fluid lubrication."

Joint MS in Operations Research and MBA

The Department of Industrial and Management Engineering partners with Columbia Business School to offer a joint MS in Operations Research and MBA.

Applied Physics and Nuclear Engineering

Dean Peter Likins' proposal combines the Plasma Physics Committee, an interdepartmental doctoral program, with the existing Division of Nuclear Science and Engineering to form the Applied Physics and Nuclear Engineering (APNE) Department.

Somasundaran Appointed

Ponisseril Somasundaran, an expert in colloids and surfaces, is appointed associate professor of mineral engineering. In over forty years at Columbia, he makes major advances in mineral flotation, fine particles processing, and enhanced oil recovery.

Bioengineering Institute Established

A University-wide Bioengineering Institute was established under Dr. William Nastuk, professor of physiology at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, to improve access by engineering students to bioengineering research groups within Columbia.

Image

Doping Process Patented

Gertrude Neumark patents the process of non-equilibrium doping that greatly advances light-emitting and laser diodes and enables technology like sharper laser printers, increased-capacity DVDs, and better screens.

Image

Skalak Elected to NAE

Professor Richard Skalak joins a long list of Civil Engineering faculty elected to the National Academy of Engineering, including Professors Mindlin, Boley, Bleich, Salvadori, and Shinozuka.

Image

Mow Comes to Columbia

Van C. Mow, a pioneer in the field of biomechanics, comes to Columbia to become the first joint faculty appointment between Columbia's College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Engineering School.

Image

Williamsburg Bridge Cables

Bridge and structural dynamics expert and longtime Civil Engineering faculty member Maciej P. Bienek leads an investigation of the cable system on the Williamsburg Bridge, achieving a critical extension of its service life.

Image

Goldfarb Begins Tenure

Donald R. Goldfarb, co-inventor of the BFGS algorithm for solving nonlinear optimization problems and an expert in network flows, begins a lengthy tenure as chair of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research. He later wins the Khachiyan Prize for lifetime contributions to the field of optimization.

Father of Digital Seismic Data Processing

Enders A. Robinson, considered the father of digital seismic data processing, is appointed professor of applied geophysics, the same year he is elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

Mining & Mineral Resources Research

The School of Mines establishes the New York Mining and Mineral Resources Research Institute, led by Tuncel M. Yegulalp (EngScD'68), an authority in mineral economics and low-emission power plants.

Lai Joins Mechanical Engineering

W. Michael Lai joins Mechanical Engineering as a joint appointment with the medical school to study orthopaedic bioengineering. He goes on to formulate triphasic theory for modeling charged hydrated biological tissues and receives the Lissner Medal from ASME.

Artificial Intelligence in Process Engineering

A pioneering workshop on Artificial Intelligence in Process Engineering is held at Columbia, the first such conference in the emerging field.

Center for Telecommunications Research

Columbia Engineering receives a major grant from the NSF to establish the Center for Telecommunications Research to develop integrated networks capable of carrying data, graphics, voice and video. It is led by Professors Mischa Schwartz and Thomas Stern.

IEEE’s Top Faculty of All Time

IEEE selects top 10 Electrical Engineering educators of all time; three Columbia faculty members make the list: Professors Michael Pupin, Jacob Millman, and Mischa Schwartz.

Free Electron Lasers

Professor Thomas Marshall, a pioneer in developing free electron lasers, publishes the first book on this subject.

Viele Professor of Electrochemistry

In recognition of Chemical Engineering's excellence in electrochemistry, Duracell endows the Samuel Ruben-Peter G. Viele Professor of Electrochemistry, with electrochemist Huk Cheh first to hold the chair.

Computer Science Building Opens

The new Computer Science Building, adjoining the Seeley W. Mudd Building on Columbia's Morningside campus, opens its doors.

Center for Advanced Technology in Computers

Columbia Engineering wins a statewide competition to launch the New York State Center for Advanced Technology in Computers and Information Systems.

Comverse Technology Founded

Comverse Technology is cofounded by Professor Yechiam Yemini. It goes public in 1987 and joins the S&P 500 and NASDAQ 100 indices in the mid-90s.

Themelis Appointed

Copper expert Nickolas J. Themelis is appointed professor of extractive metallurgy. In 25 years on faculty, he founds both the Earth Engineering Center (EEC) and the Waste to Energy Research and Technology Council (WTERT).

Image

VoIP Research

Professor Henning Schulzrinne co-authors Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), the key control protocol for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), now used by nearly all 4G cell phones and IP Private Branch Exchange (PBX) systems.

Image

Financial Engineering

Steven S.G. Kou (MA'92, PhD'95), an authority on mathematical and computational finance, becomes the first faculty member in Financial Engineering. He goes on to win the Erlang Prize in applied probability from the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences.

Image

Applied Physics Gets a New Name

The Applied Physics Department changes its name to the Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics (APAM) to reflect the faculty’s commitment to disciplines on a scale made possible by The Fu Foundation’s generous endowment to the School.

Image

Stormer Wins Nobel Prize

Professor Horst Stormer wins the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of a new form of quantum fluid with fractionally charged excitations--the fractional quantum Hall effect.

Image

School Renamed

The School celebrates a transforming gift from The Fu Foundation, headed by Z.Y. Fu, by becoming The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science. The gift supports interdisciplinary research and scholarship, especially in computer science, biomedical engineering, applied mathematics, and electrical engineering.

Image

Merton Wins Nobel Prize

Robert C. Merton '66, known for his pioneering contributions to continuous-time finance and for translating finance science into practice, wins the Nobel Prize in Economics for his work in options pricing.

Image

Advanced Laser-Crystallization Patent

Professor James Im patents a method to produce advanced laser-crystallization of Si films, essential to LCDs and OLEDs, which make possible high-resolution screens in products from Samsung, Apple, and others.

Image

Curriculum Innovations

Moving to address the environmental impact of mining, the School of Mines overhauls its curriculum to include an innovative MS program in Earth Resources Engineering and a new undergraduate program in Earth and Environmental Engineering.

Image

Microblogging Cricket

As a student, Vishal Misra, now an associate professor of computer science, anticipates Twitter by inventing and implementing in one night live microblogging with ball-by-ball cricket scoring on the Cricinfo site, which was bought by ESPN and remains a popular online destination.

Image

Augmented Reality

Professor Steven Feiner and his lab develop the first outdoor mobile augmented reality system using a see-through, head-worn display, the forerunner of augmented reality apps now ubiquitous on smartphones.

Image

Integrated and Nanophotonic Simulation

A spinoff from Higgins Professor Richard Osgood’s lab, RSoft, becomes the gold standard in integrated and nanophotonic simulation tools, and is later purchased by the major electronic design software house Synopsis.

Image

Center for Applied Probability

Professors David D.W. Yao and Karl Sigman launch the interdisciplinary Center for Applied Probability along with Columbia business, math, and statistics faculty.

Image

High Beta Tokamak-Extended Pulse

Professors Gerald Navratil and Michael Mauel complete the High Beta Tokamak-Extended Pulse, the largest of several tokamaks at Columbia, and help demonstrate the first fusion energy production using a deuterium-tritium plasma.

Image

MPEG-2 Patent Research

The research of Dimitris Anastassiou and Fermi Wang (PhD '91) becomes part of a key MPEG-2 patent that is instrumental in implementing international video standards broadly used in digital video, DVD, and Blu-Ray.

Image

First Tokamak Joint Experiments

Professors Michael Mauel and Gerald Navratil conduct the first joint experiments with the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) and achieve the highest poloidal beta operation of a tokamak.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging Research

A Whitaker Foundation Development Award supports Columbia Engineering's partnership with the medical school's Department of Radiology on the Magnetic Resonance Imaging Research Center.

Jingyue Ju Joins the Faculty

Jingyue Ju joins the Chemical Engineering faculty, developing a four-color DNA sequencing by synthesis platform using cleavable fluorescent nucleotide reversible terminators. His revolutionary technologies hold the promise of reducing the cost of DNA sequencing, so that decoding an individual's genome can become a routine part of medical research and health care. In 2011, he is appointed Samuel Ruben-Peter G. Viele Professor of Engineering.

Data Mining Intrusion Detection

Professor Salvatore Stolfo invents data mining-based intrusion detection systems that form the basis for all modern antivirus technologies.

Materials Research Center Established

The National Science Foundation establishes the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center on nanostructured materials, directed by nanoscience expert Irving P. Herman, professor of applied physics.

Tsividis Develops Curriculum

Batchelor Professor Yannis Tsividis, an authority on analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits and a much-honored teacher, develops a first-year Introduction to Electrical Engineering curriculum that is widely adopted.

John Kender’s Algorithm

Professor John Kender co-develops one of the most commonly used algorithms for segmenting videos into shots.

Friedman Becomes Vice Dean

Professor Morton B. Friedman, an outstanding mathematician who pioneered the Boundary Element Method, becomes vice dean of Columbia Engineering after having been the Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics department chair for more than a decade.

Program in Biomedical Engineering

Van C. Mow, W. Michael Lai, Gerard A. Ateshian, and Edward F. Leonard join forces to develop a new program in biomedical engineering.

Elrod Receives Hersey Award

Professor Harold G. Elrod, a respected member of the Department since 1955, receives ASME's Hersey Award for his contributions to hydrodynamic lubrication and the development of compressible fluid bearings.

Computer Engineering Program Created

The Electrical Engineering Department partners with the Department of Computer Science to create an undergraduate program in Computer Engineering to instill expertise in both hardware and software. A master's program is added several years later.

Shinozuka’s Von Karman Medal

Professor Masanobu Shinozuka receives the Von Karman Medal from ASCE for "distinguished achievements in engineering mechanics," following Mindlin, Boley, Freudenthal, Bleich, and Skalak.

Concentration in Financial Engineering

IEOR institutes a popular concentration in financial engineering within the Operations Research master's program, later branching into a master's program that quickly becomes one of the top ranked quantitative finance programs in the world.

National Young Investigator Award

Not long after joining the Chemical Engineering Department, Alan C. West, an expert in electrochemical engineering, receives the NSF's prestigious National Young Investigator award.

Lai Forumulates Triphasic Theory

Professor W. Michael Lai, world renowned researcher in constitutive modeling of articular cartilage, formulates "triphasic theory" for modeling charged hydrated biological tissues, for which he is recognized in 2001 with the ASME Lissner Medal.

Image

EnHANTs Project

Research advances by Electrical Engineering faculty in energy harvesting and ultra-low power and ultra-wideband communications results in the Energy Harvesting Active Networked Tags (EnHANTs) project, which enables the Internet of Things by providing the infrastructure for novel tracking applications, such as locating misplaced items, continuous monitoring of objects, or determining locations of disaster survivors.

Image

BigShot Camera

Professor Shree Nayar, a digital imaging expert who invented the first omnidirectional camera with a single effective center of projection, debuts a set of prototypes of the BigShot camera kit to affordably share science with children in the developing world.

Image

Interface Tissue Engineering

In a ceremony at the White House, Associate Professor Helen Lu receives the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) for her work on interface tissue engineering applied to orthopedic and dental health problems.

Image

Columbia Water Center Founded

The Columbia Water Center is founded, an interdisciplinary initiative aimed at managing the global crisis of freshwater scarcity.

Image

Beanie Ceremony Revived

Once a mandatory accessory and tradition at Columbia, the beanie is now a souvenir for incoming first-year engineering students.

Image

Columbia Stem Cell Initiative

Professor Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic begins as co-director of the new Columbia Stem Cell Initiative (CSCI), launched with grants from New York state, the Helmsley Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health.

Image

Graphene Is Strongest Material

Professors James C. Hone and Jeffrey W. Kysar prove that graphene, an atomically thin carbon layer, is the strongest material ever measured. They continue their groundbreaking work on graphene and, in 2013, create the world's smallest FM radio transmitter.

Image

Physics of Electron Transport

Associate Professor Latha Venkataraman measures how electronic conduction and single bond breaking forces in single molecule devices relate to the molecular structure as well as to the metal contacts and linking bonds, providing a deeper understanding of the fundamental physics of electron transport and laying the groundwork for technological advances at the nanometer scale.

Image

Compilers: Principles, Techniques & Tools

Computer Science Professor Al Aho co-authors the second edition of Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools, the most cited text on transforming program source codes to a lower level representation in which it can be efficiently run.

Image

Two-Player Nash Equilibria

Computer Science Assistant Professor Xi Chen and collaborators settle the long-standing open problem of the complexity of two-player Nash equilibria, the central solution concept in game theory.

Image

C3Vision Developed

Cortically coupled computer vision technology (C3Vision), developed by Professor Paul Sajda, synergistically couples computer vision with human vision, allowing on-line real-time decoding of EEG responses while the user views images as a rapid serial visual presentation, enabling recognition within a few hundredths of a millisecond.

Image

Mow Medal Established

In honor of his groundbreaking research in bioengineering, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) establishes the Van C Mow Medal for Excellence in Engineering, awarded annually.

Image

Cable Corrosion Monitoring System

Research begins to develop a corrosion monitoring system for main cables in several suspension bridges in New York City.

Image

Chemical Engineering Celebrates Centenary

The Department of Chemical Engineering celebrates its Centenary over a 3-day gala program of technical and social events.

Image

Human Patella Tissue Construct

Professor Gerard Ateshian (BS'86, MS'87, PhD'91), head of the Musculoskeletal Biomechanics Laboratory, collaborates with Clark Hung to engineer the first human patella tissue construct.

Image

Center for Financial Engineering

Emanuel Derman--co-inventor of the Black-Derman-Toy interest rate model and a principal at Goldman Sachs--joins Columbia. He goes on to help lead the Financial Engineering Program and the Center for Financial Engineering.

Image

Barclay Morrison Appointed

Brain injury expert Barclay Morrison joins the Biomedical Engineering faculty and becomes principal investigator at the Neurotrauma and Repair Laboratory.

Image

Active Feedback Stabilization

Professor Gerald Navratil brings active feedback stabilization to the General Atomics DIII-D tokamak outside San Diego, a historic leap in fusion energy production that wins the Dawson Prize.

Image

Hoberman Arch at the Olympics

Inventor, designer and visionary toymaker Chuck Hoberman (MS'85) builds the Hoberman Arch, the striking centerpiece of Salt Lake City's Olympic Medals Plaza in the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Image

IEOR Programs Expanded

Guillermo G. Gallego, an expert in revenue management and dynamic pricing, becomes chair of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research and oversees an extensive expansion of professional master's programs.

Image

Introduction to Algorithms

Cliff S. Stein becomes the first joint appointment at Columbia between IEOR and Computer Science. The classic textbook he co-authors, Introduction to Algorithms, is translated into at least 15 languages and goes on to sell over one million copies.

Image

Newsblaster Developed

Computational linguistics expert Kathy McKeown's Natural Language Processing Group develops Newsblaster, a system that automatically identifies, sorts and summarizes the day's top news stories.

Image

Bergman Joins Electrical Engineering

Keren Bergman, an expert on various optical interconnection networks for advanced computing, joins the Electrical Engineering faculty, becoming director of the Lightwave Research Lab in 2002, and, in 2011, Batchelor Professor and Department chair.

Image

Koberstein Joins Chemical Engineering

Jeffrey Koberstein, an internationally recognized expert on interfacial and surface properties of polymers and biological materials, joins the Chemical Engineering faculty. He later wins the Charles M.A. Stine Award for his work in polymeric materials.

New Approaches to Biosensing, Drug Delivery

Associate Professor Henry Hess joins the Biomedical Engineering Department to head up the Sackler Laboratory at the Interfaces of Biophysical and Medical Sciences, innovating nanoscale motors that enable new approaches to biosensing and drug delivery.

Zoli Receives “Genius” Grant

Professor Theodore Zoli receives the prestigious MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship for his innovative designs and advances to protect transportation infrastructure from natural and man-made disasters.

AIMBE Elects Clark Hung

Clark Hung assumes editorship of the Journal of Orthopaedic Research & Reviews and is elected a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical & Biological Engineering (AIMBE) and a year later, of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).

Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering Journal

Van C. Mow and X. Edward Guo launch the journal Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering for the Biomedical Engineering Society.

Optical Techniques for Biological Systems

Professor Ken Shepard heads the Center for Optical Techniques for Actuation, Sensing and Imaging of Biological Systems, a new NSF-funded multidisciplinary IGERT program that includes 19 faculty members from nine departments in six Columbia University schools, researching optics, photonics, and sensor electronics; biomolecular detection and cellular-level analysis; and applications to medicine and public health.

Christopher Jacobs Joins the Faculty

Christopher Jacobs, an authority in molecular mechanics of cellular mechanosensitivity in bone, joins the faculty and becomes director of the Cell and Molecular Biomechanics Lab. In 2014, he is awarded the Van C. Mow Medal of the ASME.

Database Operations

Computer Science Professor Ken Ross, an authority in data analysis, proposes novel methods minimizing contention between threads executing database operations on multicore machines.

McNeill Joins the Faculty

V. Faye McNeill, an expert in atmospheric chemistry, joins the Department of Chemical Engineering to found a leading group in the study of atmospheric aerosols on climate.

Graphene Research Program Launched

Columbia Engineering launches a major program in graphene research including Electrical Engineering's Rickey Professor of Optical Communications Tony Heinz, Professor John Kymissis, Higgins Professor Richard Osgood, and Professor Ken Shepard. Since 1984, Electrical Engineering faculty have been an integral part of the growing interdisciplinary research efforts in fundamental electronic materials.

Gaden Lectureship Created

The Elmer L. Gaden Lectureship is created for the "annual examination of the changing interface between chemical engineering, cognate sciences, and society."

Thermo-Fluid Transport Phenomena

Professor Arvind Narayanaswamy and his research group demonstrate nano- and microscale effects in thermo-fluid transport phenomena, with profound implications for energy conversion and electronics cooling.

Stolfo Invents Symbiote

Professor Salvatore Stolfo and student Ang Cui (PhD'15) invent Symbiote, the world's first host antivirus security invented to protect embedded systems from exploitation, including routers, printers, IP Phones, medical devices, SCADA and POS terminals.

Yannakakis’ Fixed Point Computation

Professor Mihalis Yannakakis, recipient of the Knuth Prize for outstanding contributions to the foundations of computer science, introduces a complexity class for fixed point computation problems and multiplayer Nash equilibria. He is later elected to the National Academy of Engineering for his work in algorithms and complexity.

Lenfest Center Established

The Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy is created with Maurice Ewing and J. Lamar Worzel Professor Klaus Lackner as founding director.

Longman Receives Humboldt Award

Professor Richard W. Longman receives Germany's Humboldt Award for Lifetime Research Achievements in recognition of his extensive contributions to time-optimal and high-precision robot control.

BS in Financial Engineering

Responding to a groundswell of global interest and demand, IEOR launches the nation's first BS program in Financial Engineering.

Sanat Kumar Joins Faculty

Sanat Kumar, an expert in nanomaterials and advanced capacitators, comes to Columbia and goes on to serve as chair of Chemical Engineering.

Earth and Environmental Engineering

Recognizing changes in the industry and the global challenge of sustainable resource management in the 21st century, the Henry Krumb School of Mines becomes the Earth and Environmental Engineering Department.

Nanomedicine Center

Biomedical Engineering Associate Professor Lance C. Kam helps lead Columbia's efforts to establish the Nanomedicine Center for Mechanobiology, a National Institutes of Health-funded collaboration among schools to advance regenerative medicine and cutting-edge immunotherapy.

Yao Receives ASME Award

Professor Y. Lawrence Yao, an authority in laser materials processing who directs the Advanced Manufacturing Laboratory, receives ASME's Blackall Machine Tool and Gage Award.

Centrifuge Facility Established

The 200-g geotechnical centrifuge facility is established by a donation from Kajima Corporation, Japan, and is currently used in a wide array of geotechnical and earth science research projects.

Improving Rural Infrastructure

Professor Vijay Modi leads the U.N. Millennium Project's Energy Services Task Force to improve rural infrastructure and promote global development.

Tony Jebara and Machine Learning

Professor Tony Jebara helps develop a framework combining generative probabilistic models with discriminative Support Vector Machines, reconciling a key tension in machine learning.

Vapnik Joins Computer Science

Vladimir N. Vapnik, who helped develop Support Vector Machines, a key machine learning classification technique, joins Computer Science and becomes senior research scientist at the Center for Computational Learning Systems.

Robust Portfolio Selection

Professors Garud N. Iyengar and Donald R. Goldfarb collaborate to develop robust portfolio selection that systematically adjusts the sensitivity of the optimal portfolio to statistical and modeling errors in estimates of relevant market parameters.

Ward Whitt Joins IEOR

Ward Whitt, a member of the National Academy of Engineering and an authority in stochastic modeling, leaves Bell Labs to join the IEOR faculty. The same year, he is elected a Fellow of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences, and later becomes the Wai. T. Chang Professor of IEOR.

Pisano Elected to NAE

Albert Pisano (BS'76, MS'77, PhD'81) is elected to the National Academy of Engineering for his pioneering work in micro-electro-mechanical systems. He receives Egleston Medal in 2009 and goes on to become dean of the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering in 2013.

9/11 Forum

Shortly after 9/11, the Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics hosts a forum with World Trade Center engineers, members of the Ground Zero structural as­sessment team, and leaders of the emergency response and recovery teams.

Computational Optimization Research Center

IEOR launches the Computational Optimization Research Center (CORC), a joint venture between Columbia University, Cornell University and IBM for advanced studies in large-scale optimization problems.

Mathematical Earth Science

APAM expands its role in mathematical earth science by creating two jointly budgeted faculty members with the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences in the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences.

Biomedical Engineering Founded

The Department of Biomedical Engineering is founded, with Van C. Mow serving as its chair for the first 12 years.

Columbia Engineering Receives IGERT

Columbia Engineering receives its first Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) from the NSF, for work spearheaded by the engineering school with City College.

Cache-Conscious Tree Indexing

Professor Ken Ross and Jun Rao (PhD'00) propose innovative cache-conscious tree-indexing methods for efficient data location in in-memory databases.

Next-Gen 911 Calling System

Professor Henning Schulzrinne co-authors key components of the next-generation 911 emergency calling system updating aging legacy infrastructure to handle the rise of mobile telephony.

Temperature Gradient Approximation

Professor Adam Sobel develops the weak temperature gradient approximation method for modeling tropical precipitation, revolutionizing scientists' understanding of tropical weather patterns and opening a new avenue for computer modeling and simulation.

Materials Science and Engineering

Dean Zvi Galil places the Materials Science and Engineering Program of the Henry Krumb School of Mines within the Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, thereby creating a collaborative, multidisciplinary department with research interests in applied physics, applied mathematics, and materials science and engineering.

Image

Columbia Engineering Kicks Off 150th Celebration

Dean Mary C. Boyce officially kicks off the School's sesquicentennial on Feb. 16 with a light display illuminating Low Library.

Image

Cutting-Edge Robotics

Professor Sunil K. Agrawal designs cutting-edge intelligent machines, such as robotic exoskeletons, to help people with neural impairment.

Image

Laine Leads IEEE’s Biomedical Engineers

Professor Andrew F. Laine, a pioneer in sophisticated wavelet analysis of medical images and Chair of Biomedical Engineering, is elected President of the IEEE's Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, the world's largest organization of biomedical engineers.

Image

Record Number of Women Admitted

Columbia Engineering admits a record number of women in its first-year class, 44%, one of the highest ratios in the United States.

Image

Mary C. Boyce Becomes Dean

A year after her election to the National Academy of Engineering, and after more than 25 years at MIT, molecular and nanomechanics expert Mary C. Boyce becomes Dean of Columbia Engineering.

Image

Structural Safety and Reliability

The Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics hosts the largest-ever International Conference for Structural Safety and Reliability.

Image

Harlem Biospace

Sam Sia develops the Harlem Biospace project to support entrepreneurial ventures in bioengineering, sponsored by the New York City Economic Development Corporation.

Image

US Electric Grid Research Grant

Professors Dan Bienstock and Gil Zussman receive a million-dollar grant from the Pentagon to prevent cascading failures of the U.S. electric grid in the event of a nuclear incident.

Image

Chief Technologists

Internet security expert and Professor of Computer Science Steve Bellovin is appointed Chief Technologist of the Federal Trade Commission while Henning Schulzrinne is appointed Chief Technology Officer of the Federal Communications Commission.

Image

Zheng “30 under 30”

Assistant Professor Changxi Zheng is named one of Forbes magazine's "30 under 30" in science and healthcare for his algorithms that automatically generate virtual sounds synchronized with animated dynamics.

Image

New Data Sciences Institute Established

To help manage the ever-snowballing avalanche of data around the world, Columbia Engineering partners with other schools at the university to establish the Institute for Data Sciences and Engineering. Centered around six key sectors--smart cities, new media, health analytics, financial analytics, cybersecurity, and foundations of data science--the Institute focuses on conducting data science research across disciplines and developing programs to train tomorrow's data scientists.

Image

Management of Systemic Risk

Professor Venkat Venkatasubramanian, head of the Complex Resilient Intelligent Systems Lab, co-founds Columbia's multidisciplinary Center for the Management of Systemic Risk, which includes over 30 researchers.

Image

Penetrating the Blood-Brain Barrier

Associate Professor Elisa Konofagou, head of the Ultrasound Elasticity Imaging Laboratory, uses focused ultrasound (FUS) to non-invasively penetrate the blood-brain barrier, once a vexing challenge for drug delivery.

Image

Insertable Robotic Effector Platform

Professor Peter K. Allen and colleagues license their Insertable Robotic Effector Platform surgery system, which includes miniature stereo cameras that enter the body to automatically track procedures.

Image

Extreme Weather Modeling

Professor Adam Sobel, one of the School's leading researchers on the physical mechanisms of climate, is interviewed extensively on Hurricane Sandy and potential future "extreme" weather. An expert in modeling monsoons and predicting storms, he studies changes in the seasonal cycle as a result of climate change, with a focus on atmospheric science, geophysical fluid dynamics, tropical meteorology, and climate dynamics.

Image

Chudnovsky Wins “Genius” Award

Maria Chudnovsky, professor of industrial engineering and operations research, wins a 2012 MacArthur "Genius" Award for her fundamental work in graph theory.

Image

Roth Wins Nobel Prize

Professor Alvin E. Roth (BS'71), known for his pioneering work in the practical design of market institutions, receives the Prize in Economics for the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design.

Image

Top Young Innovator

Assistant Professor Christine P. Hendon is named one of MIT Technology Review's 35 top young innovators and also one of Forbes' "30 Under 30" for developing optical imaging and spectroscopy instruments for applications in cardiac electrophysiology and interventional cardiology.

Image

NYC Energy Map

Professor Vijay Modi develops a building energy mapping project for New York City that will serve as a global sustainable energy model for places where current infrastructure will not be able to support future demand, power costs are high, and energy is inefficient.

Image

Leafsnap Software

Professor Peter Belhumeur leads the team that creates the award-winning Leafsnap software, the first e-field guide with visual recognition, downloaded over a million times to explore flora of NYC and Washington, D.C.

Image

Hillman Wins Lomb Medal

Elizabeth Hillman receives the Adolph Lomb Medal for Young Investigators from the Optical Society of America for her research into in-vivo optical imaging and microscopy techniques.

Image

Translational Research Partnership Grant

The Department of Biomedical Engineering receives a prestigious Translational Research Partnership grant from the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation, which supports novel approaches that significantly impact health care, like Andreas Hielscher's vascular optical tomographic imaging system for diabetic patients.

Image

Fighting Malarial Parasites

While a professor at Columbia, Paul Diament (BS'60, MS'61, PhD'63), a renowned researcher in all phases of electromagnetic and wave propagation, patents his novel use of a simple magnetic-resonance method to non-invasively destroy malarial parasites.

Image

mChip HIV Diagnostic

Associate Professor Sam Sia and a team of researchers travel to Rwanda to test the mChip, a tiny "lab on a chip" that can quickly and inexpensively diagnose HIV and other diseases based on microfluidics.

Image

Growing New Bones

Professor Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic develops a bioreactor system that uses stem cells to grow new bones in the anatomical shape of the original. Her major advance helps broaden tissue engineers' outlook to include more variables, thus paving the way for new collaborations in systems biology.

Earth and Environmental Engineering’s Growing Department

More and more undergraduate and graduate students are drawn to the study of environmental sustainability for air, water, materials, and energy, leading to department plans to grow the faculty by 25 percent.

Breast Cancer Prognosis Challenge

Batchelor Professor Dimitris Anastassiou leads a Columbia team that wins the Sage Bionetworks/DREAM Breast Cancer Prognosis Challenge, creating a powerful model that uses a variety of novel molecular signatures to anticipate breast cancer survival rates.

SIGMETRICS Rising Star Researcher

Professor Augustin Chaintreau wins the SIGMETRICS Rising Star Researcher Award for his significant contributions to analyzing emerging distributed networking systems.

Synchrotron Catalysis Consortium

Professor Jingguang Chen co-founds the Synchrotron Catalysis Consortium at Brookhaven National Laboratories and serves as team leader.

Arrow-Debreu Equilibria

Professors Xi Chen and Mihalis Yannakakis, along with student Dimitris Paparas (PhD'16), settle a long-standing open problem regarding computation of Arrow-Debreu equilibria in markets with constant elasticity of substitution utilities.

Yao Professorship

David D. W. Yao becomes the inaugural Piyasombatkul Family Professor of IEOR.

Vunjak-Novakovic Elected to NAE

For her work on bioreactors, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic becomes the first woman at Columbia to be elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

Paul Sajda Elected Editor

Paul Sajda is elected Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE journal Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering.

Glucose Monitoring Innovations

Professor Qiao Lin receives the Gold Prize at the 11th Annual Diabetes Technology Meeting for his pioneering work applying micro-electromechanical systems to glucose monitoring.

Ozone Depletion & Climate Change

Lorenzo Polvani shows the first link between ozone depletion and climate change in the Southern Hemisphere, which follows his 2008 study suggesting that winds in the Southern Hemisphere will be greatly impacted by the projected recovery of the ozone hole in the latter 21st century.

Interdisciplinary MS Program

The department collaborates with Columbia Business School to offer an interdisciplinary MS program in Management Systems and Engineering.

Chang Wins Technical Achievement Award

Shih-Fu Chang, Richard Dicker Professor of Telecommunications, is honored by IEEE with its Technical Achievement Award for his pioneering contributions to the field of multimedia analysis and for developing foundational systems of image search.

Chemical Engineering Expands MS

An expanded MS program is initiated, particularly targeting undergraduate science majors.

Computational Linguistics Fellows

Professors Michael Collins, Julia Hirschberg, and Kathy McKeown are elected to the founding group of Fellows of the Association for Computational Linguistics.

Infinio Startup Launched

Professors Vishal Misra and Dan Rubenstein launch Infinio, a start-up dedicated to substantially increasing storage performance in virtual environments. It quickly becomes the fastest-growing and most-funded enterprise start-up in the Northeast.

Cytokinesis Research

Professor Ben O'Shaughnessy, an expert in polymerization processes and cellular function, receives support from the National Institutes of Health to continue his promising research in cytokinesis.

Burns Appointed Xerox Chair

Xerox CEO Ursula M. Burns (MS'81) is appointed Chairman, becoming the first African-American woman to lead a Fortune 500 company and, according to Forbes, one of the most powerful women in business.

Plasma Physics of Magnetospheres

By magnetically levitating a million ampere superconducting current ring for several hours, Professor Michael Mauel and colleagues demonstrate that plasma physics of planetary magnetospheres can be reproduced in laboratories.