Platform
Neha Jain
As ESC President, Neha’s vision is to transform Engineering Student Council into a hub of innovation, creativity, problem solving, advocacy, and excellence, and to set an example of how student government should run for future Columbians. Neha will work closely with her e-board to provide elected members the resources and tools they need to enter their terms full of determination and leave their terms full of satisfaction at how much they accomplished on behalf of their fellow students. Neha is especially excited to guide ESC conversations on how to improve the experiences of minority SEAS students inside and outside the classroom. She also looks forward to creating more opportunities for SEAS students to study abroad and to connect with alumni. Of course, you can’t forget about Bacchanal! Neha will continue to advocate for a fun, accessible Bacchanal that is open to as many students as possible.
Diversity and Inclusion:
Diversity and Inclusion:
- Create inclusive classrooms: Collaborate with Center for Teaching and Learning to address unconscious bias and non-inclusive teaching practices within SEAS
- Work with University Senate to capture more info about minority SEAS students’ experiences in biannual Quality of Life Survey
- Continue to find sustainable ways to subsidize major Columbia events
- Ensure diverse representation of SEAS students within all council committees and task forces
- Diversity Campaigns: (1) Photo campaign to show engineers come in all forms and from all different backgrounds (2) Campaign to showcase the fact that SEAS students are not only engineers and applied scientists, but also artists, activists, entrepreneurs, leaders, writers, and more
- Collaborate with Governing Boards to ensure student group e-boards can sign up for unconscious bias training
- Start of year training/onboarding: (1) Conduct unconscious bias training for all elected members (2) Organize informational sessions by Sexual Violence Response, CPS, and Office of Multicultural Affairs to expand ESC work in these areas (3) Teach new ESC members basic skills such as room booking, creating FTFs, and writing policy proposals (4) Emphasize the expectations of inclusive programming, policy-making, and conduct from all ESC members
- Organize semesterly cross-council events to promote four-school council unity
- Invite 3-5 SEAS students to come to ESC meetings each semester to bring forward new issues and initiatives
- Increase meeting discussion time for important issues by decreasing time spent on general updates
- Increase accountability for ESC members by conducting 30-minute 1:1 meetings with every single council member each semester
- Expand study abroad opportunities for SEAS students: (1) Establish opportunities to take upper level engineering classes abroad for credit (2) Establish summer study abroad opportunities to take popular global core classes and CC abroad (3) Establish opportunities to complete other popular non-technical, non-language requirements abroad
- Collect survey data on how many SEAS students study abroad and under what circumstances they do and don’t study abroad
- Establish more robust relationships between the undergraduate SEAS population and Columbia Engineering Alumni Association (CEAA)
- Increase number of tickets available to students to attend alumni events and galas
- Create SEAS LinkedIn page for current students and alumni to facilitate networking
- Continue to ensure affordability, safety, and accessibility of concert
- Work with administrators to reduce safety constraints and increase number of students allowed to attend
Aida Lu
As VP Finance, Aida hopes to empower students and student groups to achieve their academic and extracurricular goals, especially if they require funding. Using her existing relationships with dozens of student organizations, Aida plans to build a strong line of communication between all student groups and Finance Committee so that students feel comfortable approaching members of her committee with any student council or finance-related concerns. She will work with all four councils to increase students’ financial literacy, limit administrative financial constraints on student groups, expand the Resource Library, and establish a sustainable alumni donation channel. Within ESC, she will expand ESC project grants, increase the SEAS Dean’s Travel Fund, and work with class councils to ensure that ESC events are affordable and accessible. She hopes her work as VP Finance will enable students to spend less time worrying about the logistics of financing their ambitions and more time focusing on achieving their goals.
Financial Aid and Literacy:
Financial Aid and Literacy:
- Work with the Financial Aid Office to increase transparency regarding students’ financial aid packages
- Create workshops to improve financial literacy by educating students about credit scores, student loans, filing taxes, on-campus job opportunities, and other topics
- Expand the SEAS Dean’s Travel Fund to encourage more students to pursue national and international opportunities
- Expand ESC project grants and improve diversity of participants and projects
- Promote funding opportunities like JCCC, CIF, the Alumni Donation Channel, and Columbia Engineering Alumni Association Fund to a wider range of recognized and unrecognized SEAS groups
- Create one standardized form for JCCC, CIF, Alumni Donation, CEAA Fund, governing board co-sponsorships, and other funding sources
- Work with administration to limit travel vendor restrictions imposed on student groups
- Update Capital Investment Fund guidelines to allow groups to apply semesterly as long as type of capital requested is different each time
- Establish an alumni donation channel
- Organize alumni networking opportunities for SEAS students
- Create internship and job opportunities sponsored by alumni that are specifically targeted towards SEAS undergraduates
- Improve management of the Resource Library
- Expand tech and non-tech resources available through the Resource Library
- Advertise the Resource Library to more students and groups
Anthony Kim
As VP of Communications, Anthony’s goal is to help students overcome various roadblocks--academic, social, or personal--throughout their time at Columbia. Finding solutions to your questions about Columbia should not feel like traversing a maze; Anthony plans to create resources and tools to address frequently asked questions.
Campus Resources:
Campus Resources:
- Revamp LionLink to improve user-friendliness
- Ease access to Makerspace especially for first-years and transfer students
- Streamline disability service procedures to allow everyone an equal opportunity in the classroom
- Collaborate with different departments to set up major-specific Piazza pages to answer student’s questions before and after choosing their major
- Hold faculty and student panels well before the major declaration period to allow students to make informed decisions
- Organize a meet and greet with department professors
- Address student’s concerns in a more timely fashion by holding weekly office hours
- Visit every engineering student group and poll their satisfaction with the current state of affairs to better assess how the Engineering Student Council can help
- Create a Google calendar for ESC/SEAS events that students can sync with their own to stay up to date with major campus events
Piyushi Bishnoi
As VP Student Life, Piyushi aims to make Columbia a more inclusive space for all students from all backgrounds and will work on creating opportunities that make Columbia exciting and fun for all students. Piyushi plans to tackle key challenges that students have felt are important, from data in the Quality of Student life survey, as well as from her connections with various students and clubs. A few of her main initiatives are to increase space availability and accessibility, raise awareness about challenges students face that we may not recognize, and enhance and bring new ideas to SEAS events!
Availability of Space:
Availability of Space:
- Creating an online form for booking space in Mudd
- Expanding event space bookings to the Manhattanville campus in buildings such as the Mind Brain and Behavior Institute
- Listing on event advertisements the types of accessibility available for the event (for example, wheelchair accessibility)
- Adding a feature to the current booking process to make rooms available when not in use for long periods of time
- Providing training for many tools students might use throughout their four years here at Columbia, that they may not have previously had the opportunity to learn about
- Makerspace training classes held during NSOP as well as a few periodically throughout the first semester, focused on underclassmen
- Training for the CLIC labs and virtual machine use to increase time and efficiency in beginner CS classes so professors can teach the material rather than spending weeks teaching this
- Training for hands on projects
- Creating a “Last Lecture Series” starting with E-week and extending through the end of the semester, where professors share their research projects or industry experience with students. This would give students a chance to learn what their professors are working on in the industry and be inspired to take what they learned in their classes to future development.
- Bring back Restaurant Week to provide a fun way for students to connect with alumni
- Combining an event like Tis the SEASon with EGSC, so students can casually network with the graduate student community at Columbia
- Creating off-campus events with small groups, similar to Urban NY lottery, but between students in SEAS
- Creating a mental health awareness week, bringing to light the struggles engineering students face. For example, creating a photo campaign advocating for the legitimacy of mental health, and also highlighting how some cultures view mental health.
- Awareness campaign for wheelchair and other disabilities we don’t realize, in the form of a day where students have to walk around campus using only wheelchair accessible routes.
- Creating gender neutral bathrooms in Mudd to make the building more comfortable for students of all gender identities.
Charles Harper
As VP Policy, Charles aims to improve the Columbia experience for all engineers, especially underrepresented minority students, low-income students, and underclassmen. He hopes to create a council where every voice is heard and one that more effectively advocates for SEAS’s diverse student body. Charles will advocate for more academic freedom for engineers including better advising, expanded study abroad options, and more minors to choose from. He plans to work directly with student groups to push for more space and an expanded vendor list. He will also continue to advocate for sustainability through expanded recycling and energy efficiency on campus.
Equity:
Equity:
- Ensure that low-income students are able to fully enjoy their Columbia experience by (1) subsidizing core Columbia events such as Senior Week, Junior Boat Cruise, Bacchanal, and caps and gowns, (2) ensuring on-time pay for work study positions, and (3) continuing to fight food insecurity by collaborating with FLIP to establish a food pantry on campus
- Expand wheelchair accessibility of buildings by retrofitting inaccessible buildings like Math and many residence halls
- Petition labs to accept more underclassmen for research positions
- Increase number of gender-inclusive bathrooms, especially in engineering buildings
- Improve sexual respect on campus by (1) expanding service hours for SVR, (2) restructuring the Sexual Respect Initiative, and (3) ensuring student leaders and TAs are in good standing regarding gender-based misconduct violations
- Advocate for students with mental health issues by (1) working with Active Minds to expand mental health awareness week at Columbia to help destigmatize mental health issues and (2) making the transition easier for students who return to Columbia after a leave of absence
- Revamp Art of Engineering into a hands-on, interesting, and relevant introduction to the world of engineering
- Expand the number of available minors for SEAS students, including in Aerospace Engineering and in non-engineering fields
- Continue to advocate for better engineering advising by allowing for shadow-declaration in order to provide underclassmen with major-specific advisors
- Increase study abroad opportunities for engineers by (1) expanding the number of English-language and engineering study abroad programs and (2) petitioning departments to accept more technical classes taken abroad
- Advocate for engineering student groups to have space at Manhattanville
- Expand the number of local restaurants that accept FTFs and Flex Dollars
- Work directly with student groups when advocating for issues instead of trying to speak for them
- Increase the number of recycling bins in rooms across campus and improve lab recycling
- Expand composting and recycling in dining halls
- Improve energy efficiency by installing more radiator covers, dual-flush toilets, and timers on lights
- Establish a sustainability training program during NSOP and for RAs