Columbia faculty, students, and staff are on the cutting edge of advancements in all fields and their work is fittingly awarded and recognized. Below, find the most recent accomplishments and milestones as well as monthly lists of recent awards.
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Recent Awards & Milestones
Columbia University opens the first buildings on its new Manhattanville campus.
David Dinkins, New York City’s 106th mayor and now a professor at Columbia University, celebrates his 90th birthday July 10 with a celebration at Gracie Mansion, the mayoral residence where he once lived. It will be hosted by the city’s current mayor, Bill de Blasio and First Lady Chirlane McCray, and attended by Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger.
Sarah Cole and Fredrick Harris were appointed divisional deans in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Harris, professor of political science, is the new dean of social science, effective July 1.
Alice Kessler-Harris set about amplifying the historical record of women through new methods of research.
Each Thursday at 9:30 a.m., Dr. Sylvia Preston Griffiths arrives at the pediatric cardiology outpatient clinic at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center. She dons a long white coat with her full name embroidered on it in blue and places her stethoscope in her pocket.
Columbia University has joined 67 of the nation’s most respected colleges and universities in an alliance to substantially expand the number of talented low- and moderate-income students being educated at America’s undergraduate institutions.
It isn’t just the important scientific research and art produced and exhibited at Columbia University’s new Manhattanville campus that will be cutting edge. From the outset, the 17-acre site in West Harlem was designed and built to be a model of sustainable architecture, urban design and clean construction practices.
Columbia has committed to investing more than $150 million in new benefits and services for our community through agreements with the West Harlem Development Corporation and Empire State Development, including more than $76 million to the local development corporation for uses determined by the community.
Last year, J. Thomas Vaughan joined Columbia as director of Magnetic Resonance Research, a new University-wide position. A pioneer in the field with 45 patents to his name, Vaughan designs and builds the MRI systems that produce high-resolution images of anatomical, metabolic and physiological systems and functions. His inventions, usually licensed by the biotech and medical industries, are found in most MRI systems.
Columbia University chemist Xiaoyang Zhu has been named a Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellow by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).
When faced with planning the next phase of construction on Columbia’s Manhattanville campus, Marcelo Velez sometimes flips open his laptop and “walks” through a computer-generated 3-D model of the 17-acre building site. The technology is just one of many tools that helps Velez, vice president of Columbia’s Manhattanville Development Group, manage every aspect of construction of the University’s newest campus.