Priorities:Cooper Union Student Priorities

The Cooper Union is a rapidly developing ecosystem for entrepreneureship and innovation. The school is one of creators, something noticed and expanded upon by University Innovation Fellow Sharang Phadke. As an overview of the continuing plan for expanding this notion of creation on campus, the follwing six points will be the vision leading Cooper forward.

1) Maker Space

There is potential for using a space across the street from Cooper as a Maker Space due to a connection that the new dean of the Engineering School has

Currently in talks with professor Yash Risbud about making this happen (early stages)

No current space open to students for easy prototyping and creation; Labs are locked and most students do not have access

Would serve as a social hub beyond Frankie’s Kitchen and would allow for inter school projects to have a nurturing place to begin

2) Art Architecture and Engineering

• Move course locations to foster interaction

Free up space in the curriculum to take courses in the other schools as electives

3) Curriculum Restructuring

• Fewer credits and less time allocated to unnecessary Physics courses

Eliminate connect and professional development and replace them with an introduction to creative thinking and problem solving.

4) Additional Courses in I&E as well as Design

Addition of a general I&E course open to all three schools

Last year’s senior gift to Cooper Union was money to start a new course, which may have not been used yet

Intro to Design Thinking course as a potential alternative due to analysis of Art and Architecture school’s hesitation surrounding art for profit. Design Thinking would likely draw a much more mixed and interactive crowd at Cooper.

5) Expansion of the idea behind NYU’s Demo Days at Cooper

Create a more regular event for create@cooper that doesn't necessarily need a guest speaker or large overhead to hold.

This will ensure an active set of members to attend larger events beyond just the organizers and leadership roles.

Potentially integrate with Code Club’s Hack For Pizza event (demoing hardware and software projects)

6) 1000 Pitches

Current head of create@cooper Sharang Phadke suggested that we do an event called 1000 pitches to get the school thinking about inventions that they have been considering making

The event would last the duration of the year and culminate in a competition and award for the best pitches