Meet the Future

At age 12, Jonny Cohen came up with an idea for a revolutionary device that would directly cut the costly operating inefficiencies of school buses. Now a sophomore at Columbia Engineering, Cohen is not just a mechanical engineering student but also the founder and CEO of his own company, GreenShields Project, the maker of that environmentally friendly transportation device. Cohen is one of the many game changers and innovative thinkers who currently comprise the School’s dynamic student body.

In the following pages, you’ll get to know current students like Cohen, who are already making a difference in the world; like PhD candidate Haoqian Chen, who is researching ways to improve cell therapy for cancer treatment, hoping to reduce the need for patients to undergo traditional chemotherapy and radiation; and senior Jennifer Mahan, a devoted Engineers Without Borders volunteer who helped build a footbridge in rural Morocco to give residents access to food and medical supplies when flooding and the lengthy rainy season cripples their region.

These students reflect a generation of budding engineers who may have tinkered with LEGOs as kids but cannot imagine a world without the Internet; whose life and likes are documented on social media sites everywhere; and who are embracing a renaissance in engineering where literally no field, industry, or sector has not been influenced by engineering in some shape or form. Here, Columbia Engineering magazine offers a cross-section of the School’s exceptional student body, young engineers who are, right now, making their marks at Columbia Engineering, carrying on its legacy of innovation and excellence. The School’s next 150 years and its promising future couldn’t seem any brighter.