Contact: Virgil Renzulli For Immediate Release
(212) 854-5576 September 24, 1997
renzulli@columbia.edu
Columbia University Announces $26 Million Gift
From Fu Foundation; School of Engineering and
Applied Science Will Be Named in Honor
Of International Businessman
Columbia University President George Rupp announced today (Wednesday,
September 24, 1997) that in recognition of a landmark $26 million gift from The Fu
Foundation, the University will name its renowned School of Engineering and
Applied Science The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science.
This new gift will be used to recruit and retain clusters of world-class faculty and
the most promising students in four preeminent fields of engineering: computer
science, biomedical engineering, applied mathematics, and electrical
engineering.
"This is a transforming gift," said President Rupp, "that will focus support
on Columbia's greatest asset - our outstanding faculty and the students who will
succeed them as international leaders in the most dynamic fields of engineering
and applied science. These resources will enable talented engineers and
scientists to produce great discoveries and inventions that will improve human
welfare even as they expand our intellectual world and stimulate global economic
growth. We are sincerely grateful to Mr. Fu for his uncommon vision and for his
recognition that in supporting the best people, he will help create more
opportunity for truly enlightened and world changing discoveries. With this gift
Mr. Fu has helped to ensure that Columbia's School of Engineering and Applied
Science will play a leading role in the 21st century."
Describing his reasons for making the gift, Mr. Fu said, "I am a regular
visitor to New York, where Columbia is the most prestigious institution of higher
learning. In addition to its long history of association with Chinese professors
and scholars, the university has educated numerous Chinese students and
successfully hosts the Fu Foundation Scholars program. Through this new gift, I
wish to honor that association and to ensure that, in the years to come, Columbia
will continue to grow in strength as an international leader in science and
technology. This will serve as a model for education in China."
Annual income generated by the Fu Foundation Endowment will be used to
support interdisciplinary clusters of faculty and students working in areas of
greatest promise and strength. The initial areas targeted for support are:
--- Computer science, one of the most highly-regarded of all Columbia's
programs of pathbreaking teaching and research, where current research
focuses on such areas as automated vision environments, parallel computing,
digital libraries, robotics, and natural language processing, and more.
--- Biomedical engineering, an evolving discipline that draws on
collaboration among engineers, physicians, and scientists to provide insights into
a range of medical conditions and concerns, from orthopedic and musculoskeletal
biomechanics to the development of artificial organs and cardiovascular
prostheses.
--- Applied mathematics, which supports research in such fields as the
theory and application of dynamic systems and in large-scale computation,
including collaborative research on global climate modeling.
--- Electrical engineering, an area of particular strength at Columbia
for more than a century, in which researchers are helping to meet the
challenge of providing faster and more sophisticated methods of handling
information.
"Perhaps the most remarkable feature of Mr. Fu's gift," said
Provost Jonathan R. Cole, "is that it recognizes that contemporary science and
engineering with their exponential rates of growth, are created through
organized clusters of very talented individuals. At the Fu Foundation School of
Engineering and Applied Science these clusters will consist of senior and junior
scientists, working with advanced students."
"This gift will also very much help shape the future of the School, coming
as it does at a moment when the traditional boundaries among science and
engineering disciplines are fast disappearing. This gift, in fields that are taking
on an increasingly interdisciplinary cast, will enable the clusters of faculty in
engineering to connect with the departments of physics, chemistry, earth
sciences, and mathematics, among others. The clusters of excellence in
engineering, linked to other centers of distinction at Columbia, will create the
kinds of dynamic networks needed to produce innovations in science and
engineering in the modern world."
"As a result of the extraordinary generosity of Mr. Fu and the Foundation,"
said Zvi Galil, Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science, "Columbia
engineering will become a training ground for leaders in engineering and applied
science. It will become a place where faculty will make discoveries to help meet
our most critical economic and social challenges. It will become a place where
young industry leaders will be shaped and products developed that should help lift
our nation and all nations to new and greater economic advancements."
Pioneering programs in engineering and applied science have occupied a
key place in the life of Columbia University ever since its founding as Kings
College in 1754. Its faculty and alumni are responsible for some of the world's
foremost technological achievements, including the FM radio, the maser and the
first X-ray photograph to be taken in America, and have contributed to MPEG-2,
the video compression standard driving high-definition television and direct-
from-satellite broadcasting. A total of 44 faculty, former faculty and graduates of
the University have been awarded the Nobel Prize for their achievements in the
sciences, including physics, chemistry, and physiology or medicine.
The School of Engineering and the Applied Sciences provides
undergraduate and graduate students with both the technical skills and the
intellectual discipline to become leaders in industry, government and education.
Students at all levels are encouraged to conduct field work and undertake
research that will develop their innovation and resourcefulness. In addition to
traditional engineering disciplines, programs are offered in such diverse fields as
biomedical engineering, computer science, plasma physics, and materials
science. Over the centuries, the school has trained many outstanding engineers,
including John Stevens (one of the inventors of the steam boat), Michael I. Pupin
(inventor of the transmission equipment that made long-distance telephoning
possible) and Joseph Engelberger (the father of modern robotics).
Z.Y. Fu is an international businessman active in import-export,
investments, and securities trading. Born in Shanghai to a family of 13 children,
he was educated in China and then Japan, where in 1951 he founded the Tokyo-
based Sansiao Trading Corporation. Sansiao now operates branches in Kobe and
New York in addition to its Hong Kong subsidiary, San Tsin Trading Corporation.
Mr. Fu divides his time among homes in Hong Kong, Tokyo, and New York.
The gift to name the Fu Foundation School is only the latest in a series of
contributions to Columbia, beginning with the endowment of the Fu Foundation
Professorship in Applied Mathematics in celebration of Mr. Fu's 70th birthday in
1990. Since 1993, funds have also been provided for the Fu Foundation Scholars
program, which each year supports a total of 24 students of Chinese descent, with
the awards being divided between Columbia College and the Engineering School.
This year's Fu Foundation Scholars include students from China, Hong Kong,
Singapore, and Taiwan.
This document is available at http://www.columbia.edu/cu/pr/. Working press may receive
science and technology press releases via e-mail by sending a message to rjn2@columbia.edu.
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