In April, Cornell Engineering dedicated a new teaching space in Martin Y. and Margaret Lee Tang Hall in honor of Joseph Lai ’66, inventor of the portable pulse oximeter. Lai and his family returned to campus for the celebration, which recognized his groundbreaking contributions to biomedical engineering and his continued support for future generations of Cornell engineers.
The Lai family’s generosity directly enhances the Meinig School’s hands-on lab classes, enabling students to engage in real-life exercises and design projects that bridge theory and practice. “We are so grateful,” said Claudia Fischbach-Teschl, the James M. and Marsha McCormick Family Director of the Meinig School. “Without the Lai Family‘s support, the hands-on, real-life exercises and design projects we teach in our lab classes in Tang Hall wouldn’t be possible.”
Lai‘s legacy as a forward-thinking innovator lives on through the faculty and students he empowers – engineers who are pushing boundaries and reimagining what’s possible in health care.
The teaching space is housed within Tang Hall, the first new facility on the Pew Engineering Quad in two decades. The building was named in September 2024 following a major gift from Martin Y. Tang ’70 and Margaret Lee Tang.
