2011-2012 Bulletin – PDF - SEAS Bulletin - Columbia University

Resources and Facilities
5
A College within the
University
A unique educational opportunity, The Fu
Foundation School of Engineering and
Applied Science at Columbia University
offers programs to both undergraduate
and graduate students who undertake
a course of study leading to the
bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree
in engineering and applied science.
Combining the advantages of a small
college with the extensive resources of
a major research university, students
at Columbia Engineering pursue their
academic interests under the guidance
of outstanding senior faculty members
who teach both undergraduate and
graduate level courses. Encouraged by
the faculty to undertake research at all
levels, students at the School receive
the kind of personal attention that only
Columbia’s exceptionally high facultystudent
ratio affords.
The New York Advantage
Besides the faculty, the single greatest
facility at a Columbia student’s
disposal is without doubt the City
of New York. Within easy reach by
walking, bus, subway, or taxi, New
York’s broad range of social, cultural,
and business communities offer an
unparalleled opportunity for students to
expand their horizons or deepen their
understanding of almost any human
endeavor imaginable. With art from
small SoHo galleries to major Uptown
museums; music from Harlem jazz
clubs to the Metropolitan Opera; theater
from performance art in the East Village
to musicals on Broadway; food from
French on the Upper East Side to Asian
in Chinatown; and sports teams from
the Jets to the Yankees, New York is
the crossroads of the world.
New York is fast becoming a
major player in high-tech research
and development, where Fortune 500
companies traded on Wall Street seek
partnerships with high-tech start-up
ventures in Tribeca. As part of the
research community themselves,
Columbia students have exceptional
opportunities for contact with industry
both on and off campus. Senior
representatives of these companies
often visit Columbia to lecture as adjunct
faculty members or as special speakers,
and undergraduate and graduate
students frequently undertake research
or internships with these and other
companies, oftentimes leading to offers
of full-time employment after graduation.
In addition to its ties to private
industry, Columbia also has a historically
close relationship with the public sector
of New York, stretching back to the
eighteenth century. No other city in
the world offers as many impressive
examples of the built environment—
the world’s most famous collection
of skyscrapers, long-span bridges,
road and railroad tunnels, and one
of the world’s largest subway and
water supply systems. Involved in all
aspects of the city’s growth and capital
improvements over the years, Columbia
engineers have been responsible for the
design, analysis, and maintenance of
New York’s enormous infrastructure of
municipal services and communications
links, as well as its great buildings,
bridges, tunnels, and monuments.
The University at Large
Columbia University occupies two major
campuses, as well as additional specialpurpose
facilities throughout the area.
Besides the main campus located on
the Upper West Side in Morningside
Heights, further uptown in Washington
Heights is the Health Sciences campus,
which includes Columbia’s medical
school (the College of Physicians and
Surgeons), the Mailman School of Public
Health, the New York State Psychiatric
Institute, and other health professions
programs. The Health Sciences Division
is an equal partner with NewYork-
Presbyterian Hospital in the Columbia
Medical Center, the world’s first
academic medical center. The medical
center opened in 1928 when Columbia’s
health-related schools and Presbyterian
Hospital (which has since merged with
New York Hospital to become NewYork-
Presbyterian Hospital) moved to the
Washington Heights location. Columbia
Engineering’s Biomedical Engineering
Department has offices on both the
Morningside and Health Sciences
campuses.
Beyond its schools and programs,
the measure of Columbia’s true breadth
and depth must take into account its
seventy-odd internationally recognized
centers and institutions for specialized
research, which study everything from
human rights to molecular recognition,
as well as the close affiliations it holds
with Teachers and Barnard Colleges,
the Juilliard School, the American
Museum of Natural History, and both
the Jewish and Union Theological
Seminaries. Columbia also maintains
engineering 2011–2012