With a transformative $12.5 million gift to Yeshiva University, Alex and Diana Tsigutkin are helping advance an important new chapter in the University’s 140-year history: The establishment of a new Electrical and Computer Engineering program. Directed by Dr. Fred L. Fontaine – former chair of Cooper Union’s Electrical Engineering Department – the new initiative will provide students with courses, labs and practical engineering experience for the first time across the college’s Uptown and Midtown campuses, as well as fund $25,000 scholarships for at least 10 undergraduates each year and connect students with the Israeli high-tech sector.
The core of the Tsigutkin Electrical and Computer Engineering program lies in its curriculum. Yeshiva University undergraduates majoring in mathematics or physics can now take electives in engineering design, computing systems, electronics, signal processing, machine learning and wireless communications. In the new facilities funded by the gift, students will also participate in hands-on laboratory experiences and advanced simulations in areas including cyberphysical systems, advanced digital communications, robotics and chip design.
Those who complete the undergraduate track will receive guaranteed admission into computer science and engineering graduate programs at Yeshiva University’s Katz School of College of Science and Health, located in Midtown Manhattan.
The program will also strengthen ties between Yeshiva University and Israel’s technology ecosystem. In summers, students can participate in summer internships and research opportunities across universities, R&D firms and startups.
“This is a visionary investment in YU Engineering reflects our mission to educate students who will bring intellectual depth, ethical leadership and creative ingenuity to arenas that are reshaping the world,” said Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman, President of Yeshiva University. “Alex and Diana Tsigutkin understand that scientific progress must be guided by purpose, responsibility and skill. Their extraordinary gift will give YU the resources to prepare graduates with the excellence, judgment and moral clarity needed for the industries that will define our shared future.”
“YU is uniquely positioned to house the Tsigutkin Electrical and Computer Engineering Program because it is powered by the principle that Jewish values matter and that creating a meaningful Jewish future is dependent on educating the next generation of Jewish leaders intellectually, morally and spiritually,” said Alex and Diana Tsigutkin. “We are excited to help build a program that will prepare students to enter fields at the center of global innovation while remaining deeply grounded in the values and mission that make Yeshiva University so distinctive.”
Dr. Fred L. Fontaine, former chair of the Electrical Engineering Department at Cooper Union, has been appointed Director to develop the new Tsigutkin ECE Program.
“I am honored to help develop the Tsigutkin Electrical and Computer Engineering Program and to create opportunities for YU students to engage deeply with disciplines that are shaping the modern world,” said Dr. Fontaine. “With new faculty, advanced labs and facilities, Pathways scholarships and meaningful connections to Israel’s technology ecosystem, YU has tremendous potential to prepare students for meaningful work grounded in the unique values-based education for which the university is renowned.”
Dr. Fontaine brings decades of academic and industry experience to this new role. His research interests span machine learning, statistical and multidimensional signal processing and adaptive algorithms, with applications in wireless communications, radar systems, medical imaging and quantitative finance.
At Cooper Union, Fontaine taught more than two dozen undergraduate and graduate courses, advised over 60 master’s theses and chaired both the engineering admissions and curriculum committees in addition to leading the Department of Electrical Engineering. Earlier in his career he served as hardware curriculum manager and instructor at Bell Labs Technical Training and worked as a consulting research scientist on projects in wireless communications and radar.
Classes will take place on YU’s Beren and Wilf Campuses.