Explore Columbia's Impact

Advancing our world since 1754

The story of Columbia University is one of tradition, innovation, and impact. For more than 270 years, Columbia alumni, faculty, staff, and students have made major contributions to education, science and technology research, the arts, our city, our nation, and the world.

514,521 unique patients were treated at Columbia University last year

1,950 inventions have emerged from Columbia's scientific research labs over the past five years

2.5 million people have received life-saving HIV treatment through Columbia's global health center, ICAP.

$12.6 billion: Columbia generates billions in economic activity in New York State annually, including over $10.7 billion in New York City alone

87 Columbians--alumni, faculty, researchers, and administrators--have won the Nobel Prize

800+ active US patents have been issued to Columbia University for discoveries made by our researchers

2025 is the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology. For nearly 100 years, Columbia has played a central role in that research.

Learn More About Quantum at Columbia

CAR T cell therapy in Non-hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) - closeup view 3d illustration

Training the Immune System to Attack Cancer

Columbia professor Michel Sadelain is one of the pioneers of CAR T cells, a “living drug” that has revolutionized the treatment of blood cancers.

Preventing Illness in Newborns

A recent Columbia study showed that DNA analysis picks up many more health conditions than standard screening, paving the way for a new standard of neonatal medical care.

Illustration of people researching the brain

Deepening Our Understanding of the Human Brain

Columbia’s Zuckerman Institute conducts pioneering research into how the brain develops, performs, endures, and recovers, gaining insights that promise to benefit people and societies everywhere.

Learn More About Columbia's Medical Research

Off the Shelf

Columbia professors engage in public debate and conversation in part through publishing. Our "Off the Shelf" series showcases recent books by our faculty.

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Columbia University stands out as a powerhouse for U.S. military veterans in higher education. More than 650 veterans and their dependents currently study at Columbia. Columbia is also home to one of the Ivy League’s largest student veteran organizations, Military Veterans of Columbia University. Columbia's School of General Studies has over 300 veteran undergraduates, more than any other Ivy League school.

Columbia College and Engineering undergraduates from families with annual incomes less than $150,000 and typical assets are able to attend tuition-free. A significant portion of transfer students at the School of General Studies hail from community colleges, including through Columbia's partnership with the Borough of Manhattan Community College and Hostos Community College.

The Columbia Climate School turns bold ideas into real-world action, building partnerships to drive tangible change at scale.

Impact at the Climate School

A robot solving a math problem on a chalkboard.

Will Artificial Intelligence Outstrip Our Own?

Columbia is a leader in the rapidly growing field of AI. The recent Columbia AI Summit showcased the University’s wide-ranging expertise in pioneering AI.

Ever Heard of an MRI?

Columbia physicist Isidor Isaac Rabi discovered nuclear magnetic resonance in the 1930s, which led to the development of the MRI now used to diagnose and monitor medical conditions.

Charles Townes, the first MASER, and James Gordon. Credit: Columbia University Archive

What Would Cats Chase If Not For This?

In 1951, Columbia’s Charles Townes came up with the idea for the device that led to the laser and earned him a Nobel Prize.

An image of the "Trinity test," the first atomic explosion, on July 16, 1945. The photograph was taken nine seconds after the initial detonation. The test took place in New Mexico.

A New Technology That Altered History

Before and during the Second World War, Columbia scientists played a pivotal role in the development of nuclear science, which led to the first atom bomb.

A Treatment for Your Cuts and Scrapes

In 1943, bacitracin was discovered at Columbia. This 80-year-old antibiotic ointment is still vital today.

How Your Smartphone's Camera Got So Good

Columbia engineers led by Shree Nayar revolutionized digital photography with a new kind of imaging now used in over one billion smartphones worldwide.

How Did That Flat Screen TV Get So Vivid?

Professor Louis Brus won the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on quantum dots, which now help power flat-screen TVs, LED lamps, and technology used to remove tumors.

Driving the Discovery of Life-Saving Drugs

Professor Joachim Frank won the Nobel Prize for his role in developing a way to capture high-resolution 3D images of molecules, revolutionizing biology and drug discovery in the process.

Even if you haven't been to Columbia, you may recognize it from the movies.

Columbia on the Silver Screen

A collage depicting the Center for Oral History Research

Since its founding in 1948 as the world’s first institutional home of oral history, Columbia’s Center for Oral History Research has been a resource for scholars, students, artists, and many others to mine the living history of New York City and of our world.

Columbia’s more-than-100-year-old Core Curriculum gives undergraduate students a grounding in the frontiers of science, as well as 2,800 years of literature and philosophy.