Researchers led by Alexander Gaeta, the David M. Rickey Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science and of Electrical Engineering, show that a thin‑film platinum resistor on a photonic chip can double as a precise temperature sensor—no bulky hardware needed. https://bit.ly/484affW

Congrats to Alex Gaeta, Applied Physics and Materials Science and Electrical Engineering Professor who received the 2026 Arthur L. Schawlow Prize in Laser Science! His work is opening paths to higher‑performance computing and more sustainable photonic technologies. Read more: https://bit.ly/3LNAqPd

Check out this PBS segment, featuring one of our PhD students in the Kristin Myers Lab, on the importance of supporting science innovation. View the episode: https://to.pbs.org/3LoPq69

The Instron was first developed during World War II to test the tensile strength of parachutes. Now, Mechanical Engineering Professor Kristin Meyers and her PhD students are using it for a different kind of life-saving technology—preventing preterm births.

Thank you to all that donated this #GivingDay! On October 21, we raised more than $3.7M in donations with 900+ in total gifts. With your support, we can invest in the next generation of engineers that are building a better humanity.

Researchers have recently unveiled a prototype superconducting qubit made from atom-thin crystals. The crystalline qubit is smaller than ever before, opening up a new world of materials that can now be used to create fundamental units of quantum computers: https://bit.ly/4ouBZjG

Congratulations to Mechanical Engineering Associate Professor Karen Kasza and her group for receiving the Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH): https://bit.ly/3LoANQ7

How do you fix nanoscopic leaks? With nanoscopic plugs. Chemical engineer Dan Esposito and his team have developed a new, incredibly thin membrane for reactors that make hydrogen from water. The membranes are highly efficient and made from safer materials. Read more: https://bit.ly/43QXCCl

Congratulations to Earth and Environmental Engineering faculty Ngai Yin Yip, Shaina Kelly, and Adeyemi Adeleye for being selected for ARPA-E’s new #RECOVER program, aimed to strengthen domestic supply chains by reclaiming critical minerals from U.S. wastewaters.

Congrats to Electrical Engineering's Ethan Katz-Bassett and collaborators for receiving the 2025 ACM Internet Measurement Conference (IMC) Test of Time Award for their pioneering PEERING testbed. Read more: https://bit.ly/4qyWtZR

Our next Tech CEO Lecture series will be led by Dave Limp, the CEO of Blue Origin. Limp’s lecture will discuss the company’s vision to build a road to space, and the vital processes that need to happen to make this possible. Register today: https://bit.ly/4qvLelf

The Columbia Electrochemical Energy Center (CEEC) hosted its annual Fall Symposium on Sept. 24 to explore how electrochemical technologies can help meet the world’s growing energy demands. Read the event highlights: https://bit.ly/4oE0Vor

Did you know the technology behind more than a billion smartphone cameras was developed at Columbia Engineering? Computer Science Prof. Shree Nayar revolutionized imaging with his invention of single-shot HDR technology—changing how we capture and experience the visual world: https://bit.ly/47eBPXF

ABC News recently interviewed Henry Yuen, Srivani Family Associate Professor of Computer Science, to break down quantum computing in a segment covering Google Quantum AI’s fastest processor yet. https://bit.ly/3WtAS7w Watch the segment: https://bit.ly/4obeJXG

Three new faculty will be featured in the next Lecture Series in AI to share their insights on emerging AI topics, including optimizing neural nets, large language models, and generative AI for 3D scenes. Register today: https://bit.ly/3WRa6pK

In the News 🗞️ Mechanical Engineering Professor Kristin Myers and collaborators were featured on WABC and WNBC News on their research in digital twins of the uterus, as a part of Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. Watch the news clips: https://bit.ly/4hohB0Y https://7ny.tv/47COhjS

Our new article out today takes a hard look at some practical limitations on stratospheric aerosol injection and what they means for the riskiness of this approach. @mcneill-lab.org w/ @gwagner.com & @steingart.bsky.social @climate.columbia.edu @columbiaseas.bsky.social Here's the press release:

Study authors are Miranda Hack of @columbiaseas.bsky.social, @vfmcneill.bsky.social and @steingart.bsky.social of Columbia Engineering and Columbia Climate School, and @gwagner.com of @columbiabusiness.bsky.social.

Big news: The Vicković Lab’s study on colon aging has been accepted by @natbiotech.nature.com! The team built a detailed atlas of aging colon tissue, using spatial transcriptomics + a new tool (cSplotch) to profile ~1,500 samples & 400k nuclei. 🔗 Read more: bit.ly/4hj3ry7 #SpatialTranscriptomics

Can we engineer our way out of global warming? A new study led by @chemecu @vfmcneill finds that solar geoengineering—specifically stratospheric aerosol injection—faces steep scientific, logistical, and political challenges that make it anything but simple.https://bit.ly/47dTvRS

Giving Day is today! Until 11:59 p.m. ET on October 21, you can make a gift to help empower our school to enrich the experiences of our faculty, students, and alumni. Your donation empowers future alumni to also pay it forward. Learn more about how to give today: http://bit.ly/EngineeringIG2025

Congrats to Prof. Junfeng Yang for receiving the 2025 Mark Weiser Award! This award recognizes Yang for his demonstrated creativity and innovation in operating systems research — contributions that embody the spirit of computer scientist Mark Weiser. Learn more: https://bit.ly/47iREez

A huge shout-out to our faculty, researchers, students and alumni who participated in NYC Climate Week 2025 at Columbia Engineering! bit.ly/43jK3ev 📸: Brandon Vallejo, Chris Taggart, @columbiaseas.bsky.social

Leaders in sports, technology, and research recently converged at Morningside campus for the Columbia-Dream Sports AI Innovation Symposium. The event spotlighted how AI is transforming the sports industry, while communities that bring the game to life. : https://bit.ly/479gBJs

Erman Iliack is the founder and president emeritus of Rönesans Holding, one of the world’s leading engineering and construction firms. In his Tech CEO lecture, Illiack will share what he learned while contradicting with the rest of the construction industry. Register today! https://bit.ly/47soVVR

Columbia is now connected to New York’s growing quantum network ⚡️ The SCY-QNet, funded in part by the National Science Foundation National Quantum Virtual Laboratory (NQVL) program, will connect 10 locations across the tri-state area. Learn more: https://bit.ly/479zGLg

Congrats to Civil Engineering Professor Maria Feng on receiving the Department of Energy’s 2025 Vehicle Technologies Team Award! This prestigious honor is a well-deserved recognition of her outstanding work and leadership in the field of composite materials. Learn more: https://bit.ly/4mT9Sch

Director of the Center for Digital Finance and Technologies Agostino Capponi is co-hosting a new podcast “From Whiteboard to Mainnet", with Fahad Saleh and Ethereum’s Shyam Sridhar. Watch the playlist on YouTube: https://bit.ly/433tjbe

We marked Climate Week NYC on Sept. 22-26 with nine events that celebrated new projects and collaborations that, as Dean Shih-Fu Chang said, are “what we need to address our biggest climate challenges and help build a green economy.” Read the highlights: https://bit.ly/4o9SD7z

Researchers at Columbia Engineering have developed a compact light source generating dozens of high-power wavelengths—published in Nature Photonics—with potential to transform data centers and sensing technologies. 🔗 https://bit.ly/48jh7ql

Our partners Columbia Business School and Columbia Climate School helped us kick off Climate Week NYC with a special Tech CEO Lecture — a fireside chat featuring alum Alexander Sarrigeorgiou BS'79, MS'80. Read the recap: https://bit.ly/475DZIN

The Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL) has awarded Kathleen McKeown with the ACL Lifetime Achievement Award for her research in natural language processing (NLP). This honor celebrates McKeown’s pioneering research shaping the field of NLP. Congrats! Read more: https://bit.ly/46PW7Fp

Arizona State Professor and Director of the Columbia Water Center, Upmanu Lall, is leading today’s 6th annual "Rethinking Water" Conference. This event brings together experts to solve America's water crisis through sustainable solutions. Learn more about the event: https://bit.ly/4njn7Ur

On the first day of #ClimateWeek, we celebrated the launch of Gotham Foundry, a first-of-its-kind regenerative materials innovation hub. Thanks to our partners and to all the exhibitors who attended the kickoff! Learn more: https://gothamfoundrynyc.org/ 📸: Chris Taggart/Columbia Engineering

Today’s event by @leapstc.bsky.social, led by director Pierre Gentine, will be full of rich discussions on Generative #AI's role in the future of climate modeling. Learn more: https://bit.ly/45WQzJY #ClimateWeek

Fusion energy is a hot topic. 🔥 Today’s event, led by Associate Professor Carlos Paz-Soldan, will feature discussions from leaders in energy policy on how nations are cooperating -- and competing -- to commercialize this revolutionary clean energy source. Learn more: https://bit.ly/45Vc1h3

The Columbia Electrochemical Energy Center (CEEC) Annual Symposium will feature panels and keynotes exploring future challenges, opportunities, and emerging trends affecting energy storage. CEEC is spearheaded by professors Dan Steingart and Alan West. View the full agenda: https://bit.ly/4mHH47t

This #ClimateWeek, we’re bringing back our first edition of The Lever. Read our exclusive insights from Columbia experts tackling everything from solar storage to AI-driven grid management. https://bit.ly/3VRlVvT Tomorrow’s CEEC symposium will feature many of the faculty highlighted in this issue.

Chemical Engineering and Earth and Environmental Sciences Prof. @vfmcneill.bsky.social will be leading the #ClimateWeek event “Data and Partnerships for Global Clean Air and Climate." Learn more: https://bit.ly/45ZFbgl @climate.columbia.edu @climategroup.bsky.social‬ ‬‬‬@aqtoolbox.org‪

We sat down with V. Faye McNeill to discuss her work co-leading the Clean Air Toolbox for Cities Initiative. Her upcoming event, happening during #ClimateWeek, will showcase pioneering work by researchers paving the way towards cleaner air and a sustainable climate. https://bit.ly/46bc2iq

New research center focused on blockchain infrastructure @columbiaseas.bsky.social ! Made possible by @ethereumfoundation.bsky.social . Super-excited about this, more to come!

Excited to announce the launch of the Columbia-Ethereum Research Center for Blockchain Protocol Design — a new interdisciplinary hub created in partnership with the Ethereum Foundation. Read the announcement: https://bit.ly/46nGYuE

Join us for the 11th Annual @bloomberglp.bsky.social -Columbia Machine Learning in Finance Conference on Sept. 25! The conference will bring together leading practitioners and academics to share cutting-edge applications of machine learning in finance. Register today: bit.ly/4mz7vw4

Earth and Environmental Engineering Professor Pierre Gentine discusses the future of climate modeling for Columbia Engineering News, noting the innovations paving the way for more accurate, long-term prediction models. Read more: https://bit.ly/4mhqwSu @datascicolumbia.bsky.social

Columbia's Center of Advanced Electrification will host their inaugural Fall Symposium as a part of #ClimateWeek at Columbia Engineering. ⚡️Explore cutting-edge electrification through sessions on power systems, decentralized grids, and transportation. Register here: https://bit.ly/4ma2etH

In his contribution to our limited-series newsletter, The Lever, Eugene Wu reveals how sandboxed environments, forkable infrastructure, and built-in safeguards can create the guardrails needed for AI to move beyond suggestions and start taking meaningful action. Subscribe: https://bit.ly/3Jq2dEm

The Sports AI Innovation Forum has kicked off this morning with remarks from Dean Shih-Fu Chang, Vice Dean of Computing and AI Prof. Vishal Misra, and Managing Director of the Sports AI Innovation Center Eddie Mandhry. Opening remarks by Priya Narasimhan, Professor at Carnegie Mellon University.

Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering Christine Hendon has been awarded the EQT Foundation Women’s Health Breakthrough Science grant, a funding initiative that aims to accelerate bold solutions in women’s health. Congrats to Hendon on this achievement!⚒️ Read more: https://bit.ly/3JQ34yv

🌎 How can Generative AI transform climate science? Join LEAP during #ClimateWeek at Columbia Engineering for an expert panel discussion on how AI is innovating climate modeling. Register today: https://bit.ly/45WQzJY @climate.columbia.edu ‪@climategroup.bsky.social‬ ‬‬‬@leapstc.bsky.social

The Computer Science Department’s MS Bridge program has awarded Justyn Chang and Ryan Puterbaugh as the next cohort of Lustgarten-Whitney Fellows. Congratulations! Read more: https://bit.ly/4gdKw7b