New Engineering Labs Built for Both Wilf and Beren Campuses, New Digital Arts Lab for Wilf Campus
Yeshiva University is building two new engineering labs on both Beren and Wilf campuses — the latter of which was already completed — and a new digital arts lab on the Wilf Campus, The Commentator has learned. The new labs were funded by the Margaret and Leo Meyer and Hans M. Hirsch Foundation.
The Wilf Campus’ engineering lab is located on the 13th floor of Belfer Hall. The engineering lab on the Beren Campus will be on the fifth floor of the main classroom building at 245 Lexington Avenue. The new labs will be open to all students taking lab-related courses and will have new equipment, such as 3-D printers, laser cutters and electronics. The labs will feature many tools useful in making projects and will contain storage space for projects. The university intends to complete construction of the Beren lab by Fall 2021.
The Margaret and Leo Meyer and Hans M. Hirsch Foundation is a private foundation based in Tuckahoe, NY, and founded in 2011. The organization is a non-profit and provides funds for many Jewish causes in Manhattan, Staten Island and Boston. As of 2020, the foundation earned $160,450 in revenue and had $3.9 million in assets. Previously, Yeshiva University secured a $100,000 grant from the foundation to help build a kitchen in one of the student dormitories. Susan Meyers, a senior philanthropic advisor at Yeshiva University, did not respond to The Commentator’s inquiries regarding the amount of the donation for these new labs.
According to Dr. Edward Berliner, the chair of the Engineering Department on the Wilf Campus, “the administration is placing an emphasis on STEM and increasing the engineering opportunities in particular.”
Daniel Weiss (YC ‘23), a pre-engineering and physics student, remarked, “I’m very excited for this opportunity. As a pre-engineering and physics student, this opens up a lot of new doors and opportunities for me. I’m delighted to see what this new lab has to offer me and my classmates.”
When asked about the project, Dean of the Undergraduate Faculty of Arts and Sciences Karen Bacon said, “these spaces will be used by the physics and art departments as well as for special projects. We are planning to further expand our engineering options as well.”
In April 2020, Stern College for Women art students protested YU’s decision to relocate space from the art floor on the eighth floor of 215 Lexington Ave. for the Katz School’s new cybersecurity master’s program. After students’ artwork was damaged in renovations over the summer, the administration apologized for the “miscalculation,” but continued construction.
“Having a new lab makes teaching easier in that I can spend less time trying to figure out technical glitches and more time on teaching students,” said Prof. Esther Schwartz, who teaches multiple graphic design courses at YC. “YC’s graphic design department has come a long way in the past few semesters and there seems to be a real interest in it. So far we’ve had full intro classes every semester and two full intro classes last Fall. I think it's great that YU is investing in a department that the students clearly want.”
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Photo Caption: Yeshiva University is building two new engineering labs on both Beren and Wilf campuses — the latter of which was already completed — and a new digital arts lab on the Wilf Campus.
Photo Credit: Wilf Campus
