Cooper Union - The Albert Nerken School of Engineering

The Albert Nerken School of Engineering

The Cooper Union School of Engineering's enrollment includes about 550 students, and is the largest of the three schools by a significant margin. It is one of the most prestigious and selective engineering schools in the United States, consistently ranked within the top four undergraduate engineering programs among non-doctorate-awarding schools nationwide. The school offers ABET accredited Bachelor of Engineering (B.E.) programs in Chemical, Civil, Electrical, and Mechanical Engineering. In addition, Cooper Union offers an Interdisciplinary Engineering program, leading to a Middle States accredited B.S.E. degree.

All School of Engineering departments maintain a focus on project-based learning and opportunities for extension through undergraduate research, in addition to training students in the science and mathematics fundamental to engineering practice. Because Cooper Union does not offer a Doctoral program, all of the institution's research is carried out by undergraduate and Master's students in partnership with faculty and staff.

The School of Engineering's B.E. degrees are designed to prepare students for either direct industry employment or continued, graduate-level engineering education in their particular field. Students in the B.E. program may choose to proceed into a 5th-year Master of Engineering (M.E.) program, or even (in some cases) complete the requirements for both the B.E. and M.E. degrees within four years. In contrast, the interdisciplinary B.S.E. program is intended for those students interested in further education in the fields of medicine, business, and law (specifically patent law), and provides a curriculum with broader focus and emphasis on the application of engineering and science skills to other, related fields.

In addition to core and elective coursework, engineering students are required to take part in the "Cooper's Own No Nonsense Engineering Communication Training" (CONNECT) program, which provides workshops and lectures in technical writing, oral presentation, public relations, and other communication-related topics relevant to engineering practice in industry. Facilitators and teachers in the CONNECT program generally have backgrounds in theatre, business writing, journalism, or communication, rather than engineering and science, and therefore offer a broader gamut of communication-related skills than Cooper's core faculty. The program was introduced in 1994 by Professor Richard Stock, Ph.D of Cooper Union's Chemical Engineering department, and Dr. John Osborn, an instructor of drama at New York University, in response to practicing engineers' need for professional presentation skills as well as industry demands for employees capable of accurately and effectively communicating the details of their work to management and third parties.

Simon Ben Avi has recently retired as the Acting Dean of the Albert Nerken School of Engineering to join Hofstra University, succeeding Eleanor Baum, the former Dean. She was the first woman to be named as dean of an engineering college or university and is an Electrical Engineer. Dean Baum was recently named to the National Women's Hall of Fame