Engineering Transformed

The school was re-named the NYU Tandon School of Engineering in recognition of the Tandons’ generosity and their belief in the school’s mission and promise.

Read the press release

• NYU Tandon Gets $100 Million Donation - The Wall Street Journal
• Engineering opportunity: A huge donation to NYU cements New York City's place as a tech industry leader - Daily News
• Indian-American couple gifts $100 million to New York University - The Times of India
• Indian Origin $100 Million Donation Will Change Things Forever for NYU Tandon School of Engineering - India Real Time - WSJ
• Don’t look a $100 million gift horse in the mouth - Washington Square News 

The Tandon's generous gift will:

• Foster cross-disciplinary innovation, entrepreneurship and the achievement of new levels of academic excellence in engineering
• Support programs for which NYU engineering is already nationally recognized, including wireless, cybersecurity, and gaming
• Boost other programs, including bioengineering, digital media, urban systems management, digital education, and materials science
• Enhance interdisciplinary programs such as financial and risk engineering, and technology management and innovation
• Enable hiring new faculty who will support our students and scholars throughout their research and entrepreneurial endeavors

The University has agreed to a challenge from the donors to raise an additional, separate $50 million, which will be principally focused on financial aid.

Chandrika Krishnamurthy Tandon

Chandrika Krishnamurthy Tandon is a businesswoman, humanitarian and Grammy-nominated musician. She has worked with Boards, Chief Executives and Senior Management teams of over 40 companies globally. Her projects have involved major financial and operational restructuring, global and domestic strategy, organizational redesign, core process/performance improvement and broad-based culture change.

After several years as a partner at McKinsey and Company in the 1980’s, Chandrika founded her own advisory and investment firm, Tandon Capital Associates, Inc., with a focus on measurable transformation of institutions to excellence. Today, she continues to be a trusted advisor to several Boards.

Chandrika is a Trustee of New York University where she serves on the Executive, Audit, Technology, and Nominating Committees, and chairs the Global Committee. She is Chair of the NYU President’s Global Council and a member of the Board of Overseers of the NYU Stern Business School. She also serves on the President’s Council on International Activities of Yale University; the President’s Advisory Council of the Berklee College of Music; and the Board of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. In 2009, she received the Walter Nichols medal for business, service, and integrity from NYU Stern, and was inducted into the Harold Acton Society in 2010, in recognition of her efforts on behalf of higher education. Additionally, she was named an Inaugural Distinguished Alumnus of both the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (2011) and Madras Christian College (2013) - her two alma maters.

Chandrika is a recognized musician and composer, with a “limpid, serene voice,” according to The New York Times, with three albums, and more in the works. Her 2010 album, Soul Call, topped the world music charts and was nominated for a Grammy in contemporary world music. She was also named as Billboard’s top 40 women in music. She has performed in major venues worldwide, including concerts at Lincoln Center, New York City; the World Culture Festival, Olympiastadion, Berlin; the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine; Wellness Initiative, Boulder, Colorado; Global Peace Initiative, Fairfield, Iowa; and the Golden Jubilee Celebration of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, among others. She is a sought after speaker on topics of business and life, in corporate conferences, including Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit. She was recently honored by the Smithsonian, at which she also performed in conjunction with the museum’s first yoga art exhibit.

She chairs Tandon Capital Associates, Soul Chants Music, and the Krishnamurthy Tandon Foundation, which supports education, the arts, wellness, and community building.

Ranjan Tandon

Ranjan Tandon is Founder and Chairman of Libra Advisors, a hedge fund established in 1990, which was recently converted to a family office. Barron’s has consistently ranked Libra - a long/short fund with a focus on domestic and emerging market equities, in the top 100 Hedge funds. A graduate of Harvard Business School, Ranjan has a degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India, in Chemical Engineering. He has held several manufacturing and operating positions with DCM in India and Halliburton In Europe; was CFO of Intermarine in Texas; and a financial Executive with Merrill Lynch before following his passion for investing. Ranjan is a Board Member of the Krishnamurthy Tandon Foundation and has made leadership gifts to the Harvard Business School and Yale University.

After becoming a Trustee of NYU, I began spending time at all its schools. Getting to know the engineering school was truly electrifying. The way the faculty and the students worked together on real world problems, the energy and imagination the students brought to their projects, the diversity of the student body—my husband and I came to realize that this was a place of true promise and that an investment there could transform not merely the school but also the world.

Our hope is that this gift will help reinvent engineering, advance New York’s efforts to become a science and tech capital, and especially foster the talents of young innovators, applied scientists, and entrepreneurs.

An NYU education is distinguished by its global outlook, and Ranjan and I have little doubt that these engineering students will change the world for the better.”

— Chandrika Tandon about her and her husband’s gift

This [gift] will transform engineering at NYU and will have an impact that will reach far beyond its students and faculty, beyond even NYU. I am immensely grateful to Chandrika and Ranjan.”

— John Sexton, President of New York University

The Tandons' extraordinary act of generosity is remarkable not only because of the size of the gift, but also because it recognizes the importance of a school with which they had no prior affiliation…”

— Katepalli R. Sreenivasan, President and Dean of Engineering at NYU

Chandrika stands out among the trustees not just for her extraordinary generosity, but also for her selfless involvement with the University community. It is only fitting that the School [of Engineering] will bear the name of people who are so visionary.”

— Martin Lipton, Chair of the NYU Board of Trustees

This [gift] will ensure that engineering will be the center of excellence and a continuing source of vitality and entrepreneurial spirit for NYU as a whole. The entire NYU community will always be grateful to [the Tandons] for their enormous generosity.”

— William Berkley, Chair-designate of the NYU Board of Trustees

As a chemist, I understand the important role that engineering and applied sciences play in the university environment. As I step into the presidency of NYU, I look forward to working closely with the Tandons in the years to come to fulfill their gift’s great promise for advancing engineering at NYU.”

— Andrew Hamilton, NYU’s President-designate

Whether you are a student, faculty member, administration or a board member, you are part of the underlying theme of our school, which is about making a difference. [...] This gift by the Tandons is in that tradition; a true game changer which allows the school to step into the future with confidence and purpose.”

— Ralph Alexander, BS'77, MS'78, Chair of Tandon School of Engineering Board

I look forward to the advances in Poly’s academic standing which will result from this gift. In addition to [its] size and the opportunities it affords Poly, the source of the gift is exciting as well.  I am very pleased to have Chandrika and Ranjan Tandon more involved in Poly and its growth.”

— Aviva D. Budd, Chair Board Membership and Development Committee

We thank the Tandons for their confidence in the School of Engineering and commit to accelerate our drive to be a national and global leader in engineering education, research, and societal transformation.”

— Vikram Kapila, Faculty Speaker

New York City increasingly depends on superb engineering talent and expertise. The NYU Tandon School of Engineering will play a central role in the long term future of our city and region.”

— Mitchell Moss, Director NYU Wagner Rudin Center for Transportation & Management

As an Alum, I have great pride in seeing such a generous gift come to a place that has meant and continues to mean so much to me.I know the Tandon's support will continue to build upon our rich history and help future students pursue not only their dreams but also solutions to whatever the world brings their way.”

— Ursula Burns, ME '80, Chairman and CEO Xerox Corporation

The past five years have proven to be an extraordinary period in the rich 160 year history of New York University Tandon School of Engineering. Several distinguished world class professors have joined the Polytechnic Family, thereby enhancing the school's academic reputation and its ability to recruit the best and brightest students from across the country. As a result of the exceptional generosity of the Tandon Family, we will be able to build upon this momentum in the years ahead, in support of NYU's mission of being The Global Network University.”

— Charles J. Hinkaty, Former President- PIAA