Research Institutes, Centers, and Laboratories

Columbia Engineering is at the forefront of many strategic areas of research, from environmental sustainability and the human genome to infrastructure sensors, nanotechnology, and data sciences. Our professors and students collaborate with other leading experts not only within the Columbia research community but also at other world-renowned universities and institutions, bringing together the best minds from myriad disciplines to tackle and solve the most challenging problems in society, technology, the environment, infrastructure, and more.

The many interdisciplinary institutes, centers, and laboratories at the School are equipped with the latest technology, tools, and equipment, giving our professors and their students the ideal environment to be creative and thrive. Here is a sample list of the School’s institutes and centers as well as links to joint laboratories, showcasing some of the broad subject areas in which the School is conducting cutting-edge research.

Multidisciplinary Research Institutes and Centers

• Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC): Redefining Photovoltaic Efficiency Through Molecular Scale Control
• Columbia University Materials Research Science and Engineering (MRSEC): Center for Nanostructured Materials
• Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI): New Materials Approaches for Future Graphene-Based Devices
• Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center (NSEC): Columbia Center for Electron Transport in Molecular Nanostructures

• Cybersecurity Center
• Financial Analytics Center
• Foundations of Data Sciences Center
• Health Analytics Center
• New Media Center
• Smart Cities Center

Building Functional Nanoarchitectures in van der Waals Materials (NSF-MIRT)
Center for Advanced Information Management (CAIM)
Center for Applied Probability (CAP)
Center for Computational Learning Systems (CCLS)
Center for Financial Engineering (CFE)
Center for Life Cycle Analysis
Center for Particulate and Surfactant Systems
Columbia Networking Research Center
Computational Optimization Research Center (CORC)
Earth Engineering Center (EEC)
EnHANTs Center
Henry Krumb School of Mines (HKSM)
Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Advanced Studies in Novel Surfactants
Nanomedicine Center for Mechanobiology

IGERTs
Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT)

• From Data to Solutions
• Optical Techniques for Actuation, Sensing, and Imaging of Biological Systems
• Optics and Quantum Electronics: Engineering Photons for a Sustainable Future
• Study of Multiscale Phenomena in Soft Materials
• Urbanization Challenges

NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps)

• Burmister Laboratory
• Centrifuge Laboratory
• Heffner Laboratory
• Mindlin Laboratory

Columbia Integrated Systems Laboratory
Columbia Plasma Physics Laboratory
Columbia Vision + Graphics Center (CVGC)
Computer Architecture and Security Technologies Laboratory
Computer Science Theory Center
Cryptography Laboratory
Database Research Laboratory
Distributed Computing and Communications Laboratory
Distributed Network Analysis Research Group
Heffner Biomedical Imaging Laboratory
High-Beta Tokamak
Manufacturing Research Laboratory
National Center for Infrastructure Studies
Software Systems Laboratory
Systems Security Center

Related Research Entities
Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics (C2B2)
Columbia Genome Center
Columbia Water Center
The Earth Institute at Columbia
Goddard Institute for Space Studies
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy
Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute
Waste to Energy Research and Technology Council