at the Computer Science department Sheldon Weinig, Professor of Operations Research and Industrial Engineering and founder of Materials Research Corporation Chris Wiggins, professor of applied mathematics, chief data scientist of The New York Times Man-Chung Tang, professor of civil engineering and former chairman of American Society of Civil Engineers Van C. Mow, professor of biomedical engineering and member of the National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine Matt Berg, member of Mechanical Engineering Department research group and one of Time 100 Most Influential People in the World Bjarne Stroustrup, Professor in Computer Science, inventor of C++ programming language Shree K. Nayar, professor of Computer Science, inventor of 360° camera and developer of Oren–Nayar Reflectance Model David E. Shaw, former professor of Computer Science, founder of hedge fund, private equity and technology development firm D. E. Shaw & Co. Mary Cunningham Boyce, former dean of the school, provost of Columbia University Specialized centers Columbia Engineering faculty are a central force in creating many groundbreaking discoveries that today are shaping life tomorrow. They are at the vanguard of their fields, collaborating with other world-renowned experts at Columbia and other universities to bring the best minds from a myriad of disciplines to shape the future. Large, well-funded interdisciplinary centers in science and engineering, materials research, nanoscale research, and genomic research are making step changes in their respective fields while individual groups of engineers and scientists collaborate to solve theoretical and practical problems in other significant areas. Last year, Columbia Engineering's 2007–2008 research expenditures were $92,000,000, a very respectable number given the small size of the school. Harvard's research expenditures in the same period were $35,000,000. Columbia Engineering PhD students have ~60% more monetary resources to work with using the research expenditure : PhD student ratio. Specialized labs The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science occupies five laboratory and classroom buildings at the north end of the campus, including the Schapiro Center for Engineering and Physical Science Research and the new Northwest Building on Morningside Heights. Because of the School's close proximity to the other Morningside facilities and programs, Columbia engineering students have access to the whole of the University's resources. The School is the site of an almost overwhelming array of basic and advanced research installations which include both the NSEC and the MRSEC NSF-funded interdisciplinary research centers, as well as the Columbia High-Beta Tokamak, the Robert A.W. Carleton Strength of