The subject of this 10th installment of my series of articles about great universities in the United States is Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. Located in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, Cooper Union is unique in part because every undergrad student there receives a full-tuition scholarship.

Inventor-industrialist Peter Cooper founded the school in 1859 because of his conviction that an education “equal to the best” should be available to all qualified students, regardless of origin or financial means. What he created was highly selective, academically rigorous, and among the first colleges to admit women and minorities.

With approximately 1,000 undergraduate students and 100 graduate students, Cooper Union is defined in many respects by its intimate size and strong sense of community. While many universities in America have expanded to accommodate growing demand, Cooper Union has maintained a concentrated footprint focused on architecture, fine arts, and engineering. The 8:1 student-to-faculty ratio is one of the lowest in the U.S., and the average class size is quite small.

Despite its modest size, Cooper Union is widely acknowledged for academic strength, on par with America’s more well-known elite universities. Newsweek magazine recently named Cooper Union the “#1 Most Desirable Small School” in the U.S. (as well as the #7 most desirable overall). U.S. News & World Report ranked it as the best college in the northern United States. Business Week praised it as one of the best design schools for creative talent, and Princeton Review named it one of the best colleges in America, as well as one of the “best value” colleges based on academic quality and cost.

The Cooper Union flag flies over the school.

The full-tuition scholarships provided to all admitted undergraduate students are valued at more than US$ 160,000, given tuition at schools of comparable quality. The same full-tuition scholarships are provided to international students, who make up more than 15% of the student population.

Due to financial pressures, Cooper Union has been considering proposals to charge tuition for graduate programs. Those proposals are controversial among alumni, students, and faculty, and the debate continues. In typically engaged Union fashion, a group of students recently occupied a suite of the main campus building for several days as a protest against charging tuition in any part of the school.

Protestors express their view.

Cooper Union’s Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences staffs three distinct academic units — the School of Architecture, the School of Art, and the School of Engineering. All students take a core curriculum of required courses in the humanities and social sciences in their first two years, with great flexibility to explore additional interests through elective courses.

The largest of the three schools, the Albert Nerken School of Engineering, is consistently ranked as one of the top undergraduate engineering programs in the United States, with internationally well-regarded degrees in chemical, civil, electrical, and mechanical. The school’s graduate program has an interdisciplinary focus, including concentrations in environmental engineering, robotics, computer systems, and biomedical engineering.

One of the unique features of the engineering curriculum is its “No Nonsense Engineering Communication Training,” a series of lectures and seminars which teach engineering students valuable communication skills across a broad range of fields including journalism, business writing, and even theater.

The new 41 Cooper Square houses engineering and art programs.

The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture, regularly ranked in the top tier of American architecture schools, offers a 5-year program terminating in a Bachelor of Architecture degree. Only about 16% of Cooper Union students are enrolled in the Chanin School. The small student population allows for ample individual studio/work space and facilitates extensive one-on-one interaction with professors on design projects and research.

The School of Art enrolls 1/3 of Cooper Union’s students and offers a diverse visual arts curriculum — including painting, film and video, photography, sculpture, drawing, and printmaking — leading to a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Students can personalize their studies by drawing from a broad visual arts catalog as suits their interests. The curriculum, faculty, and resulting student opportunities are greatly enriched and extended because of the world-leading New York City arts and design environment in which the school sits.

Cooper Union’s historic Foundation Building.

Distinguished graduates of Cooper Union include the iconic Thomas Edison, Batman creator Bob Kane, famed architect Daniel Libeskind, paper-architecture pioneer Shigeru Ban (who designed Christchurch’s proposed cardboard cathedral), post-minimalist sculptor Eva Hesse, illustrator John Alcorn, Skeleton Key lead rocker Erik Sanko, Special Olympics president Bruce Pasternack, and DC Comics artist and designer Neal Pozner.

The relatively small alumni corps lays claim, by my partial count, to at least 12 Rome Prizes, 21 Guggenheim Fellowships, 3 MacArthur Fellowships, 9 Chrysler Design Awards, a Nobel Prize in physics, and a disproprionately high number of Fulbright Scholarships and National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships.

In terms of life before graduation, founder Peter Cooper believed that students should be directly involved in the governance of the school. Thus, there are extensive opportunities for students to participate on Student Councils, policy subcommittees, and administrative boards, as well as across a range of other student organizations and extracurricular activities. Although athletics is not a priority, the school fields teams in eight varsity sports, including tennis, basketball, and volleyball.

Press drawing of candidate Abraham Lincoln’s oration in the Great Hall at Cooper Union. The podium used by Lincoln still stands on the Great Hall’s stage.

Cooper Union and its students have long been known for political engagement and social activism, starting with an appearance by Presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln just months after the school’s founding. In what is known as the Cooper Union Address, Lincoln  passionately articulated his opposition to slavery. The dramatic speech was widely reported and reprinted, and helped propel Lincoln to his party’s nomination. Some historians believe that the speech at Cooper Union is to be credited for making Lincoln President.

In the years since then, the Great Hall has received numerous Presidential candidates including Ulysses S. Grant, Grover Cleveland, William H. Taft, Theodore Roosevelt, and Barack Obama, as well as sitting Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Bill Clinton. The Great Hall has also hosted the births of the NAACP, the women’s suffrage movement, and the American Red Cross, and has served throughout the school’s history as a rallying ground for other social, political, and economic causes.

That’s a heady legacy for one room at one college. And there is quite a bit more to talk about, but that’s probably enough information for a Friday afternoon. I’ll conclude by noting, of course, that no discussion of Cooper Union’s strengths, advantages, and pleasures can be considered complete without at least a brief mention its location …

Cooper Union’s neighborhood.

There isn’t the space, or indeed any real need, to catalog the benefits and joys of living in New York City. I’ll simply note that Cooper Union sits adjacent to a major subway station, and you can get from your desk to Times Square, Central Park, Broadway, more than 90 museums, hundreds of live performances, more than 25,000 restaurants, and millions of potential job opportunities in a few short minutes. You can’t beat that.

Cooper Union’s immediate neighborhood, Manhattan’s iconic East Village, is a vibrant mix of culture and counterculture ideally suited for student life … with artist studios, dynamic streetlife, pop-up galleries, experimental theater, independent cinema, live music clubs (specializing in a diverse array of genres), poetry performance clubs (including the Nuyorican Poets Café and Bowery Poetry Club), trendy boutiques, and far too many coffee houses, bars, and cafés to count. And New York University (NYU), with its extensive facilities and offerings, sits just a couple blocks away.

The birthplace of both punk rock and American post-modernism (per my East Village friends), the neighborhood nestles amidst the similarly interesting and dynamic Greenwich Village, Little Italy, Chinatown, Gramercy Park (filled with historic architectural gems), Soho, and the East River, all with their own particular charms. Chelsea and Tribeca are close by. There are a number of parks, playing fields, and other green spaces readily at hand.

In Washington Square Park.

For more information about the character, history, and offerings of Manhattan’s various neighborhoods, as well as about visiting or living in any of the great city’s five boroughs, visit the official New York City website.

For more details about Cooper Union, specific fields of study, and how to apply, visit the school’s main website. And of course, feel free to email our Educational Adviser, Drew Dumas, at DumasAG@state.gov if you would like more information or have specific questions.

Next up in this series will be Princeton University. Please let me know if you have any suggestions regarding schools I should feature after that. I’m almost to the end of my initial target list, and I’d like the next tranche to reflect your interests.

My Embassy colleague Mike accompanied me to Antarctica this time. Mike is an economics officer, and he also handles the Embassy’s science, technology, and environment portfolios. US interests in Antarctica are based on promoting three core objectives: scientific advancement, environmental protection, and peace and stability, and our permanent stations are research facilities. Thus, what occurs on the Ice falls directly within Mike’s work.

That's Mike, about to board the C-17 in Christchurch.

Because Mike had not been to the continent before, I thought it might be interesting to hear (and share) his thoughts and impressions. So, I asked him to do a guest post for me, and he readily agreed. He came up with the topic and selected the photos. And, as you’ll see below, he had help from a few collaborators. Mike, take it away.

*  *  *

ML: Thanks, Ambassador.

I never in my life imagined I would have the opportunity to visit Antarctica.  As I looked out the window of the C-17 winging my way to the world’s driest, coldest, windiest, and fifth-largest continent, I strained to see in the distance a mountain — or I should say volcano — that first piqued my curiosity about this remote land.

Growing up, I had a love of all things volcano and spent endless Saturdays in the back yard molding clay volcanoes and concocting mixtures of baking soda, vinegar, and red food dye to create the eruption. (My mom always wondered what happened to all her baking supplies when it came time to bake goodies.)

I also voraciously devoured all the books about volcanoes that I could get my hands on at the small public library in Bozeman, Montana.  I recall coming across a book that described Mount Erebus, a volcano in Antarctica named after the primordial Greek god of darkness.  How could a volcano exist in such a cold place on the bottom of the world?

Mt Erebus.

My reading encounter with Mount Erebus only sparked my appetite to learn more about Antarctica. Ross, Amundsen, Scott, Shackleton, and other Antarctic explorers soon became part of my boyhood imagination.  I could scarcely conceive that I would one day see the same stunning vistas that greeted these intrepid adventurers as they explored and traversed the southernmost continent.  To me that is really the essence of science…satisfying that insatiable, exciting, childlike curiosity about what makes the world tick.

Motivated by my own childhood learning experience about Antarctica, I decided before leaving home on this trip that I was going help “facilitate” a similar epiphany for my own four kids, who range in age from six to fourteen.  When I corralled them to quiz them about what they knew of Antarctica, they reacted as they normally do to “another one of dad’s hair-brained schemes.”

In the end, I was able to extract a question from each about Antarctica. I promised to talk to the experts down here and answer the questions by doing a guest post on the Ambassador’s blog.  I figure maybe someone else just might be interested as well.

One of Antarctica's vast glaciers.

My straight shooting six-year old, threw out the first question:  “Dad, how big is Antarctica?” That’s an easy one, but the tricky part is figuring out how to put the answer in terms she can relate to.

The short answer is 13,829,430 square kilometers (5,339,573 square miles).  That’s 51 times bigger than New Zealand and 1.4 times bigger than the United States.  Of course about 98 percent of that area is covered by ice that averages about 1.6 kilometers in thickness.  To boot, the Ross Ice Shelf is about the size of France.

McMurdo Station, viewed from Hut Point.

My eight-year-old deep thinker came out with the next question:  “How do people survive the winter in Antarctica?” I asked for help on this one from my new friends at the National Science Foundation who have worked at McMurdo throughout the Austral winter.

According to most estimates there are only about a thousand hardy souls who hunker down in various facilities throughout Antarctica in winter.  At McMurdo, the peak population in the austral summer can swell to as many as 1,500 people, which includes scientists, technicians, and support.  That number dwindles significantly to about 200 in the austral winter. At the South Pole Station, about 50 winter over, plus another 40 at Palmer Station.

They get through by planning ahead, storing enough food, being careful about about safety and clothing, and making sure that they have the right kinds of emergency equipment and personnel, including doctors and repairmen. And, although it is dark and cold, they keep busy conducting research and making sure the facilities run.

The joint wind farm on the hill between McMurdo Station and Scott Base.

My eleven-year-old technophile son, as I predicted, tossed me a question completely out of my league:  “How does McMurdo Station get its power?”

McMurdo is primarily powered by diesel-driven generators, but the United States has been steadily moving to more environmentally friendly energy sources.  In January 2010, the US and New Zealand inaugurated the operation of a shared wind-turbine farm that now provides electricity to both McMurdo and Ross Stations – just another example of our extensive, continuing cooperation on Ice. The turbines now provide 100% of Scott Base’s electricity and about 20% of McMurdo’s.

McMurdo memorial to Admiral Byrd, one of the driving forces behind the Antarctic Treaty as well as the first person to fly over the Pole, in 1929.

After threatening my cantankerous teen-aged daughter with being grounded for week, she also coughed up a question:  “Okay, so like what country does Antarctica belong to?” Finally, a question a policy wonk like myself can sink his teeth into.

Actually, a number of countries, including New Zealand, have made sovereignty claims over certain regions of Antarctica, but these claims are not universally recognized. As a matter of policy, the United States and many other countries don’t recognize territorial claims on Antarctica, and instead view the continent as a boundary-free common space for everyone.

The issue of territorial claims doesn’t keep us from getting along though. In fact, we all get on very well on the Ice, particularly Americans and Kiwis.  American and Kiwi scientists have been working in Antarctica for more than 50 years, and that science and technology partnership has been the bedrock of our bilateral relationship.

Mike at the South Pole.

That’s it for questions today. I’ll be answering more directly with school classes when I get back to New Zealand. Now, my kids will probably never confess that they read my blog, and there is even less of chance they will admit to having learned something. But I’m sure they did.

As for me, visiting the Antarctic is the experience of a lifetime.  It rekindled in me a thirst for that process of experimental investigation … also known as science.  It’s a shame that so many of us grow into adulthood and forget that indescribable joy of assembling your first bug collection, recreating the solar system on your bedroom ceiling with fluorescent stickers, or figuring out the best way to create static electricity to shock your siblings.

Seeing the cool and exciting work that the US National Science Foundation scientists are doing in the Antarctic made me think. Since when does science have to be about slogging through some dry analytical paper instead of building a mud volcano in the back yard … or climbing into a real one to see what it’s up to?

*  *  *

Thanks, Mike, for sharing your thoughts and answering a few questions.

If anyone reading my series of Antarctica posts has questions about the continent, the various science projects there, or bilateral US-NZ cooperation on the Ice, please let me know. I’ll ask Mike to do another Q&A post next week when we’re back in Wellington.

My next meeting is starting a bit late, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to share another brief note about the recovery and reconstruction effort in Christchurch. The information concerns a modest, practical matter, in the nature of friends helping friends.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has been providing at no charge its Antarctic program office space near Christchurch Airport to New Zealand entities and agencies displaced by the earthquake or engaged in recovery activity — including the St John Ambulance, New Zealand Police, Canterbury Conservancy Office, and Child Youth and Family Service.

Sizeable staffs and a fleet of vehicles from those entities have been operating from NSF space, including the U.S. Antarctic Passenger Terminal, since shortly after the quake.

Such modest, practical things are usually overlooked in the peripatetic sturm und drang of the news cycle, but they are, in my view, the best indicia of close friendship. Showing up day after day, as needs arise, is what matters most. Even if news cameras are off chasing other stuff.

We’re glad the space is being well used to help the people of Canterbury.

When I padded into the bunkhouse common room this morning to get my customary Diet Coke wake-me-up, Dr Lisa was waiting to advise that we needed to pack our belongings within the next 30 minutes and hightail it to the ice runway, unless we wanted to be stranded at McMurdo until Tuesday. There was a big storm approaching, and planes would not be able to land or take off once it hit.

Heading home.

The C-17 that we were planning to fly home to New Zealand in the late afternoon was being held in Christchurch because by the time it would arrive at McMurdo, weather conditions would prevent it from landing. There was, though, one of the smaller LC-130s already available on the ground at McMurdo on which we could catch a lift north.

I caucused with Ola for a few minutes because the choice was not an obvious one. There is some romance to the thought of being snowed in for four days in Antarctica. And, more importantly, one of the highlights of our trip was scheduled for later this morning – a live video conference about Antarctic research with students from the Wellington area – and I hated to miss that.  In the end, of course, it made more sense to go than to stay. I didn’t want us to be a lingering distraction when the McMurdo team had a storm to deal with.

LC-130, sardine class.

So we tossed our things into our bags, jumped into the truck, and drove down to the ice field where the LC-130 waited for us. We could see and feel the weather coming in fast from the South – dark clouds, high winds, and dropping temperature. The plane was filled with other folks who would have been leaving over the next few days as well. The crew packed us in amidst the cargo, fired up the engines, and smoothly rode the wind down the ice and up into the sky.

Our airplane was the very LC-130 that we had flown back from the South Pole a few days earlier, so we knew that it would be particularly cold inside. For some reason that particular plane gets much colder than its siblings. We also knew that our flight time to Christchurch could be as long as 9 hours, rather than the 5 hours with a C-17. But, no matter. A lift’s a lift when storm clouds loom.

Storm coming in.

The video conference of course went off as planned despite my absence. We had invited about 50 secondary school students from Aotea College, Tawa College, and Queen Margaret College to come to the Embassy to see maps, other Antarctic artifacts, and the kind of clothing that must be worn on the Ice. As planned, the Embassy dialed in McMurdo Station where three of my new friends described the work they are doing in Antarctica, what led them to the continent, and what originally drew them to science careers – Dr Pauline Yu (who is studying the biological impacts of ocean acidification), Dr Mark Devlin (an astrophysicist from the University of Pennsylvania), and Gifford Wong (a glaciologist studying ice cores from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet).

By all accounts, the students thoroughly enjoyed both the exhibit at the Embassy and the conversation with the scientists. We also had an internet audience who viewed the stream from Antarctica live online. Dr Lisa filled in for me admirably, and she even swiveled the camera around so that the students could see the Antarctic icescape outside the window. I look forward to visiting the schools and having follow-up conversations with the students now that I’m back.

Just after landing in Christchurch. That's the grounded C-17 in the background.

I am just stepping off the LC-130 now in Christchurch, still aglow from the past five days of exploration. The pilot had gunned the engines and gotten us up to Christchurch in just 7 hours, which must be a record.

But flight time didn’t matter. We had just had the adventure of a lifetime.  We had seen up close what “pristine” really means. We had spent time with some of the smartest scientists on the planet. We had caught a glimpse of what the world looks like when there are no artificial lines drawn between people, and when folks organize themselves around problem-solving and exploration rather than politics and piffle.

As I step back into my regular routine, I’ll have an extra spring in my step and a wider smile on my face. There are good people doing great things out there. Things that will enrich our lives. Things that could protect our fragile planet from disaster. Things that we don’t hear about in the soundbites deemed sufficient to inform us, or in the shouting, sneering, and snark that often passes for public discourse.

Deep thanks to the National Science Foundation, as well as its counterparts from the other nations active in Antarctic science, for keeping their eyes on what matters.

Deep thanks to the U.S. Air Force and to the New York Air National Guard for the highly professional and warmly engaging support they provide to the U.S. Antarctic Program and to Antarctica New Zealand.

And deep thanks to Admiral Byrd, the teams of diplomats from various countries, and the many others who participated more than five decades ago in creating a weapons-free, science-based, multinational collaboration in Antarctica that has survived wars – both cold and hot – to the benefit of all humanity today.

Before I sign off to go take a proper shower, I just want to share a few of my final glimpses of Antarctica as the LC-130 sailed northward: