By Erich Erving
Mort Friedman celebrates his 50 years surrounded by colleagues from civil engineering.
Photo by Ken Tannenbaum |
Nobel prizes were not the only celebration going on in Low Library during the third week of October. On Wednesday, Oct. 18, more than 150 friends, family, former students and colleagues of Mort Friedman, poured into Low Memorial Library to celebrate his 50 years on the faculty of the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS), where he currently serves as vice dean.
Led by Dean Zvi Galil, speaker after speaker paid tribute to Friedman for his efforts to promote the development of well-rounded engineers. Many of them quoted one of the vice dean’s favorite sayings, “Engineering is the liberal art of the 21st century,” while listing the evidence of his commitment to that principle. For instance, he:
Among those who paid tribute to Vice Dean Friedman were:
- Sanford Davis, SEAS ’69, astrophysicist at the Space Sciences division of the NASA Ames Research Center, and former doctoral student of Dean Friedman.
- Andrew Gaspar, SEAS ’69, chair of SV Investment Partners LLC, a private
equity fund focused on investments in technology, media and business
services. Gaspar also chairs the long-range planning team of the Dean’s Engineering Council.
- Zvi Galil, dean of The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied
Science.
- Henry Pinkham, dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS).
- John (Chia Kun) Chu, Fu Foundation Professor Emeritus of Applied Mathematics and founder of Columbia’s Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics.
One of the most heartfelt moments of the evening was when Leonard Fine, professor of chemistry education, presented a painting of Le Marteleur, or “The Miner,” to Vice-Dean Friedman. “The Miner” is the familiar statue that stands in front of SEAS. It is a replica of one of four bronzes created by Belgian sculptor Constantine Meunier as part of his “Monument to Labor.”
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