A modern ESC meeting.

Every week, the Engineering Student Council sends us an update of what went down in their meeting. Most of this week’s meeting was “off the record,” so the update is short but sweet. Engineer entrepreneur Aria Sharma reports:

Andrew Kang, President of the Engineering Graduate Student Council (EGSC), graced ESC with his presence tonight to talk about TEDx Columbia Engineering, a symposium on campus about engineering at Columbia. The program, which is in its third year and started as a graduate-led event, has been successful in the past, drawing in crowds of over a thousand students. This year the event will take place on Friday, October 19th during the afternoon and will be composed of two sessions and 12 speakers. EGSC wants to collaborate on TEDx Columbia Engineering with ESC, in part because of the increased freedom the event will have from the administration. ESC voted to put $6000 into TEDx Columbia Engineering contingent on 50% allocation of spots for Columbia engineering students.

Vice-Dean Soulaymane Kachani for Academic Programs also stopped by to introduce himself to the council. He discussed his role in activities with ESC, including the research symposium this Thursday. Students on the council were also given opportunities. When asked about the case for P/D/F for engineering students (for the nine nontechnical courses), he said it would be necessary to compare to the other undergraduate schools and show that it has strong support. Along the lines of courses, study abroad could be a little more feasible because of thoughts on courses being taken through the Columbia Video Network. This would give students a little more wiggle room with their requirements.

In other administrative news, the City of New York and Columbia have partnered to develop a new Institute for Data Sciences and Engineering (IDSE). The IDSE will encompass five different “centers”: Smart Cities, New Media, Health Analytics, Financial Analytics, and Cybersecurity. Not only will the Institute focus on research, but it will also engage 300 New York middle-school students and 150 graduate students in education as well as research.

Laptop lewdness via Wikimedia Commons