Polytechnic University of New York

Polytechnic University (Brooklyn Poly, Poly, or Polytech), located in the Borough of Brooklyn in New York City, is the United States' second oldest private technological university, founded in 1854.

A private, co-educational institution, Polytechnic has a distinguished history in electrical engineering, polymer chemistry, aerospace and microwave engineering. Currently, it is a leader in telecommunications, information science and technology management. The University is also known for its outstanding research centers as well as its outreach programs to encourage math and science education in New York elementary and high schools. In addition to its main campus at MetroTech Center in Brooklyn, Polytechnic offers programs at sites throughout the region, including Long Island, Manhattan and Westchester. Additionally, the University offers several programs in Israel.

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Polytechnic played a leadership role in bringing about MetroTech Center, one of the largest urban university-corporate parks in the world and the largest in the United States. Today, the 16 acre (65,000 m²), $1 billion complex is home to the University and several technology-dependent companies, including KeySpan Energy, Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Bear Stearns and Company, Securities Industries Automation Corporation, New York City Police Department's 911 Center, New York City Fire Department Headquarters and the U.S. technology and operations functions of JPMorgan Chase. In 1998, a Marriott Hotel was built adjacent to MetroTech. MetroTech has proven to be a case study in university, corporate, government and private-developer cooperation, and has resulted in renewing an area that once had been a site of urban decay.

The Bern Dibner Library of Science and Technology, opened in 1990 in a new building, is Polytechnic's information hub, accessible online from anywhere, on or off campus, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In addition, wireless networks allow users with notebook computers to access the library's electronic services from anywhere on campus.

Key facts

According to the university key facts, in 2005, Polytechnic awarded 669 degrees:

Bachelor of Science...........................275
Master of Science.............................367
Doctor of Philosophy..........................27
There are more than 450 full-time and adjunct faculty, teaching and research fellows, research assistants, associates and scientists and postdoctoral and special fellows. The number of full-time teaching faculty is over 125.

In 2005, 75 percent of Polytechnic freshmen had an average grade of B or better. More than 87 percent of Polytechnic’s full-time undergraduate students receive financial aid. Of Polytechnic’s undergraduate students, 12 percent are African-American, 11 percent are Hispanic, 31 percent are Asian, 19 percent are women and 8 percent are international students. Of the University’s graduate students, 5.5 percent are African-American, 2.6 percent are Hispanic, 12.2 percent are Asian, 24 percent are women and 36.5 percent are international students. International students come from more than 37 foreign countries.

Student life

Polytechnic has numerous student organizations.


Fraternities
[edit] Alpha Phi Omega
A national co-ed service fraternity.


Lambda Chi Alpha
A social fraternity that has available housing.


Omega Phi Alpha
A local, independent, co-ed social fraternity founded in 1986. They are not affiliated with the Omega Phi Alpha national service sorority. They were originally based on the Farmingdale, Long Island Campus. They moved to Brooklyn when the Long Island campus closed and the student body integrated with the main Brooklyn Campus.


Interest Groups
PolyBOTS
The mission of the PolyBOTS is to provide an interdisciplinary environment allowing for the engineering and construction of original robotic and mechanical devices. The PolyBOTS present the means by which students have the ability to learn and excel in multiple technical and engineering fields through hands on experience.(source)

PolyBOTS is one of the University's most active student organizations in recent years. Over the past 5 years the organization has volunteered countless hours to FIRST robotics, and FIRST Lego League. They have hosted several workshops for high school students, and has been given several awards by the University and FIRST.

Notable alumni

Polytechnic's 37,000 alumni include business leaders, entrepreneurs and two Nobel Prize winners. Top executives from AT&T, Pfizer, Bechtel, Consolidated Edison, General Electric, IBM, Ingersoll-Rand, Jacobs Engineering, KeySpan Energy, MetLife, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Qwest, Raytheon, Stanley Works, Symbol Technologies, UNISYS, Verizon Communications and Xerox are proud of their roots at Polytechnic. Academic leaders, deans and university presidents started their careers at Polytechnic. Recent presidents of major professional societies, including the American Chemical Society and the IEEE, are alumni.

The Polytechnic Alumni, established in 1863, promotes and maintains the welfare of Polytechnic and provides fellowship and mutually beneficial activities among Poly graduates. Officers and an international board of directors govern the polytechnic alumni. Alumni sections offer events around the country and internationally.

Edward Everett Horton '08 - notable Character Actor, appeared in The Front Page, Top Hat, Here Comes Mr. Jordan & Pocketful of Miracles.
Jasper Kane '28 - Pfizer scientist and creator of the deep tank fermentation method for mass-production of Penicillin in 1941 for the U.S. war effort.
O. Winston Link '37 - Pioneering photographer.
Joseph Owades '44, '50 - Brewing pioneer, inventor of Lite beer.
Martin L. Perl '48 H'96 - awarded 1995 Nobel Prize in physics.
Herman Fialkov '51 - founder and President of General Transistor Corp.
Arthur Martinez '60 - Former CEO, Sears.
Jay Greene '64 - NASA engineer, former Chief Engineer of Johnson Space Center.
Hermann Viets '65, '66, '70 - President, Milwaukee School of Engineering.
John Trani '65 - former CEO, Stanley Works.
Richard Santulli '66 - CEO, NetJets.
Israel Borovich '67 '68, '71, H'05 - Chairman, El Al Israel Airlines.
Mark Ronald '68 - President & CEO, BAE Systems Inc.
Charles Camarda '74 - NASA scientist and mission specialist on the Return to Flight voyage of the shuttle Discovery. Camarda earned his bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from Polytechnic in 1974.
Chi Mui '80 - First Asian-American Mayor of San Gabriel, CA.
Gertrude B. Elion H'89 - former doctoral student at Polytechnic, awarded 1988 Nobel Prize in medicine.
Eugene Kleiner '48 H'89 - Polytechnic Advisory Trustee, among eight scientists honored by the U.S. Postal Service with a commemorative stamp for developing and manufacturing revolutionary computer chips.

Notable faculty

David and Gregory Chudnovsky – famous mathematicians who held the record for number of digits of pi in 1989. They now run the Institute for Mathematics and Advanced Supercomputing (IMAS) at Polytechnic
Gordon Gould – Inventor of the laser
Maurice Karnaugh – A inventor of Karnaugh Maps, or K-Maps, while at Bell Labs. He was a professor at the Westchester campus from 1980-1999 and is now retired
Paul Levinson - author of The Plot To Save Socrates, media commentator on The O'Reilly Factor and other TV and radio. He was Visiting Professor at the Philosophy and Technology Study Center at Polytechnic, 1987-1988.
Rudolph Marcus – Former Polytechnic Professor awarded Nobel Prize in chemistry
Herman F. Mark – Founder of the Polymer Research Institute
Donald F. Othmer – Co-Author, Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology
Eli Pearce – President, American Chemical Society
Murray Rothbard – Former economics professor, key figure in libertarian movement
Ernst Weber – Founder of the Microwave Research Institute

Polytechnic alumnus, student pursue public offices

MESA, Ariz. - Former and current students from programs of Arizona State University's Polytechnic campus are finding politics or civic service to their liking during this election year.
ASU Alumnus Venessa Whitener, a secondary-level educator and currently an ASU graduate student, announced her candidacy for the Higley School Board election Nov. 7.
Whitener, who was born and raised in Gilbert, says she knows about growing pains, and adds that she taught in inner-city Philadelphia, suburban and blue collar communities, and right here in Mesa. She is currently pursuing a Master in Education in Educational Administration and Supervision at ASU's Polytechnic campus.
So why does she want to play a role on the school board?
"I believe it's important to bring the 'educator's point of view' as well as finance experience to the school board position," says Whitener, "and I have both. I am and will always stand for what is best in the pursuit of educating children."
In addition to Whitener, Corinne Armstrong, an alumnus who received bachelor's degrees in industrial technology/air transportation management and environmental resources at ASU, is running for a seat as a representative in New Hampshire.
She formerly was an engineer with Honeywell Aerospace in Arizona before relocating to New Hampshire.

Whiz warns of high-tech dangers

Computer titan and visionary Bill Joy came to Polytechnic University last week to warn that the limitless possibilities of the high-tech culture he helped create carry their own dangers.

"We really have an incredible opportunity to use this information to create new wealth and solve new problems," said the 45-yearold co-founder and chief scientist of Sun Microsystems, a multibillion-dollar computer concern.


"But there's also a danger, and the danger is if you give so much power, then you can do anything. And not all things you can do are good," he told a crowd of 350 people Thursday at Poly's MetroTech campus in downtown Brooklyn.

Joy is a high-tech hero on a par with Microsoft's Bill Gates and Apple's Steve Jobs. Indeed, he is sometimes called "the other Bill" in computer industry circles.

He invented the Berkeley UNIX system while still in graduate school. He co-founded Sun Microsystems in 1982 and developed the revolutionary computer language Java.

"He certainly is a giant in the field," said Polytechnic President David Chang. "He helped create one of the most high-tech companies in the world."

Joy began making waves in the industry last spring when he published a doom-predicting manifesto titled "Why the Future Doesn't Need Us" in the April issue of Wired magazine. In his article, as in his Polytechnic talk, Joy warned that if left unchecked, innovations in genetics, nanotechnology and robotics could lead to irreversible damage and mass destruction.

"For him to raise issues like that is very important," said Chang. "It's a very big issue. The cultural aspects really need to catch up if we want to make full use of technology", Joy was invited to Poly to give the third annual Lynford Lecture on the strength of both his high-tech innovations and his provocative recent questioning, Chang said.

"We like to put the technology in a broader context for the students," he said. "Our students really need to know the practical impact and hear about different views."

Polytechnic students who heard Joy's talk, called "Welcome to the Information Age: The Promise and Challenge of Technology in the 21st Century," seemed to appreciate both sides of his work.

"I learned a lot," said 20-year-old Rahadul Kabir, a junior from Ocean Parkway. "It made me really interested to take a class in Java."

Freshman Ilya Bishinkevich said he liked the context Joy's remarks provided for his classes.

"I think those are very valid concerns," said the 18-year-old from Fair Lawn, N.J. "This University is interested to train students in technology. It's only right that they should know how it would affect the world."

Joy also received an achievement from Poly's Institute for Mathematics Advanced Supercomputing.

"He epitomizes the best and most responsible science," said the institute's Chudnovsky, who presented the award.