Feniosky Peña-Mora

Feniosky Peña-Mora (born March 6, 1966) is a Dominican-born engineer, educator, professor, and entrepreneur. He has previously served as the commissioner of the New York City Department of Design and Construction, the 14th Dean of Columbia School of Engineering and Applied Science, and the Associate Provost of the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.^[4][5] He was inducted as president of the American Society of Civil Engineers in October 2024.^[6]

Feniosky Peña-Mora
Commissioner of the New York City Department of Design and Construction
In office April 8, 2014[1] – June 21, 2017
Appointed by	Bill de Blasio
Preceded by	David J. Burney
Succeeded by	Ana Barrio (interim)[2]
Personal details
Born	(1966-03-06) March 6, 1966 (age 59) Dominican Republic
Spouse	Minosca Alcantara
Residence	New York City
Education	Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña (B.S.) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.S., Sc.D.)
Awards	Huber Award (2007)[3]

Career

Peña-Mora is the Edwin Howard Armstrong Professor of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at Columbia University.^[7] Previously, he was also the Dean of the Columbia School of Engineering and Applied Science.^[8]

As dean, he focused on a strategic plan encompassing faculty excellence, student support, and space growth. During his tenure, the School of Engineering and Applied Science doubled its endowed chairs, and raised $75 million.^[9][10] Peña-Mora also led the reformulation of the online Master's program in engineering, which ranked number one in the 2013 U.S. News & World Report.^[11]

Peña-Mora’s tenure as dean was marked by faculty criticism and internal conflict. Several faculty members and department chairmen passed a "no-confidence" vote regarding his leadership.^[12] They criticized his management style and the rapid expansion of the engineering school, claiming it overloaded professors with too many students. They also asserted that he prioritized fundraising over research, and did not honor his promises. One of Peña-Mora's most vocal critics, Van C. Mow, called him a "control freak", and stepped down as Chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering in 2011.^[13] Some challenged Mow’s critique as driven by his "resistance to change," especially when implemented by a dean 26 years his junior.^[12] After various attempts to resolve the differences, Peña-Mora resigned in July 2012.^[14]

After Peña-Mora resigned from his position as Dean in July 2012,^[15] some questioned Columbia's “ability to maintain diverse leadership at the top.”^[16] Faculty, students, and community leaders complained about “racial bias in its ranks“.^[17] One Hispanic biology professor complained to Columbia President Lee Bollinger about "ethnic bullying", and stated that "the shameful bullying of our engineering Dean Peña-Mora shows similar characteristics" to the challenges other minority faculty have faced at Columbia.”^[17] Another professor communicated how senior faculty in engineering even “complain about his [Peña-Mora’s] Spanish accent";^[17] which was surprising, given that Zvi Galil, Dean of the Engineering School from 1995–2007 in Israel, had an accent that was "loved" by many.^[18]

Peña-Mora continued supervising PhD and graduate research students, and was listed as being on "public service leave" while serving at the DDC. He maintained a named professorship with a salary of more than $500,000 in 2015, in addition to his salary as Commissioner.^[19]

In July 2023, Peña-Mora became the Dean of the School of Engineering and Sciences at Tec de Monterrey.^[20]

Public service

On April 8, 2014, Mayor Bill de Blasio appointed Peña-Mora the Commissioner of the New York City Department of Design and Construction (DDC). As Commissioner, Peña-Mora visited many of the DDC's projects, including the rehabilitation of the High Bridge, the new New York City Police Academy in College Point, Queens, the Ocean Breeze Athletic Centre, and the transformation of Times Square into a permanent pedestrian plaza.^{[citation needed]}

Controversy followed Peña-Mora to the public sector in 2016, when a supposed quid-pro-quo scheme was uncovered. Peña-Mora allegedly directed DDC funds, and City contracts to Renee Sacks, as well as organizations she worked with, while Sacks' firm, Sacks Communications, made its entire Spring 2016 issue of Diversity/Agenda magazine about Peña-Mora.^[21]

On June 21, 2017, Peña-Mora announced his plans to depart the DDC.^[22][23] News reports attributed his departure to "Hurricane Sandy rebuilding failures."^[24]

Patents

• Hussein, K. and Peña-Mora, F., “Collaborative Agent Interaction Control and Synchronization System,” MIT Case No. 8376S, Daly, Crowley & Mofford, LLP file MIT-057AUS, US Patent Application No. 09/540,947, Issued February 28, 2006.
• Peña-Mora, F. and Kuang, C., “Mechanisms and Artifacts to Manage Heterogeneous Platform Interfaces in a Collaboration,” MIT Case No. 9249S Daly, Crowley & Mofford, LLP file MIT-057BUS, US Patent Application No. 10/069,885, Issued January 9, 2007.
• Peña-Mora, F., Vadhavkar, S., Dwivedi, G., Kuang, C., and Wang, W., “Software Service Handoff Mechanism with A Performance Reliability Improvement Mechanism (PRIM) for a Collaborative Client-Server System,” MIT Case No. 9250S, Daly, Crowley & Mofford, LLP file MIT-092AUS, US Patent Application No. 10/069,797, Issued May 15, 2007.
• Peña-Mora, F., Park, M., Lee, S., Fulenwider, M., and Li, M. “Dynamic Planning Method and System,” MIT Case No. 9185S, Daly, Crowley & Mofford, LLP file MIT-086AUS, US Patent Application No. 10/068,119, US Patent No. 7,349,863, Issued March 25, 2008.
• Peña-Mora, F., Park, M., Lee, S., Fulenwider, M., and Li, M. “Reliability Buffering Technique Applied to a Project Planning Model,” MIT Case No. 9186S, Daly, Crowley & Mofford, LLP file MIT-087PUSP, US Patent No. 7,415,393, Issued August 19, 2008.
• Golparvar-Fard M., Peña-Mora, F., and Savarese, S. (2010). “D4AR- 4 Dimensional Augmented Reality Models for Automation and Visualization of Construction Progress Monitoring.” United States Provisional Patent Application No. 61/570,491, filed December 14, 2011.
• Thomas J., Peña-Mora, F., and Golparvar-Fard, M. (2009). “Mobile Workstation Chariot.” Provisional Patent, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (Docket Number: TF08208-PRO).