Columbia University has launched a materials innovation hub, Gotham Foundry, where students, faculty, and private partners can come together to develop new types of environmentally sustainable materials for use in the fashion, construction, and health-care industries.
Supported by $45 million from the NYC Economic Development Corporation, Gotham Foundry will operate in partnership with CUNY’s Advanced Science Research Center, SUNY’s Fashion Institute of Technology, and the nonprofit biolab Genspace. For now, the facility is located at Harlem Biospace, a technology incubator on West 127th Street, but it will eventually be housed in a new Columbia Engineering building that is expected to break ground on the Manhattanville campus in 2027.
Gotham Foundry is directed by Helen Lu, a Columbia professor of biomedical engineering and dental and craniofacial engineering, along with codirectors Kate Ascher, a Columbia professor of urban development; Theanne Schiros, a Columbia researcher and FIT professor of materials science; Rein Ulijn, a CUNY chemistry professor; and Genspace executive director Casey Lardner.
