NEW YORK—When it comes to top universities for technology, California and Massachusetts easily lead the pack. As a result, both states also have thriving tech industries. Now, Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants third place New York to do some catching up.
As part of his plan to keep New York City economically vibrant, Bloomberg is offering an opportunity to develop a new or expanded college campus, with the benefit of $100 million in city funds and tax-free land. The Oct. 28, 4 p.m. Request for Proposals (RFP) deadline, will narrow the field of 18 submissions from 27 academic institutions down to 5 proposals.
Early front-runners Cornell University and Stanford University have been joined by New York University (NYU), Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), and Columbia University. City University of New York (CUNY) and Israel’s Technion Institute of Technology have partnered with Cornell and Stanford, respectively.
Bloomberg estimates that “in its first 30 years” the campus “could spin off some 400
new companies, and create more than 7,000 construction jobs and more than 22,000 permanent jobs,” according to Scientific American.
The anticipated proposals include an array of options for the city to choose from.
New York universities seek expansion
NYU has partnered with multiple universities for its proposal, including CUNY, CMU, and University of Toronto, and companies, including IBM, Cisco, and Siemens. The Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP) would “be tied to five cities on three continents,” and temporarily located at 1 Metrotech Center in downtown Brooklyn, before moving to 370 Jay Street, according to an Oct. 26 press release.
CUSP would attempt to tackle “urban challenges” stemming from the rapid influx of people to cities while helping “make the city a world capital of science and technology.”
It would have more than 500 students and 50 faculty members.
Columbia plans to spend nearly $7 billion over the next several decades on its vision for a new campus, with one building already under construction. “The Jerome L. Greene Science Center for interdisciplinary neuroscience research will bring together under one roof a cohort of up to 1,000 researchers,” said Robert Hornsby, a press spokesperson with Columbia, in an email.
Their proposal includes “major science and engineering facilities” and their “focus on the vital need for technology solutions in knowledge extraction” includes the subjects of new media, smart cities, and cybersecurity.
Stanford and Cornell Eye Roosevelt Island
Stanford proposes a “$2.5 billion, 1.9-million-square-foot-campus on Roosevelt Island focusing on graduate-level teaching and research in engineering, technology and entrepreneurship, with an emphasis on transferring discoveries to the marketplace,” states an Oct. 26 article in Stanford Report.
The campus would house more than 200 faculty and 2,000 students. Stanford would put $200 million toward startup costs and research support, and, if selected, would begin a $1.5 billion, decade-long fundraising campaign.
Cornell and partner Technion’s proposal boasts both solar power—almost two megawatts—and thermal power (a four-acre geothermal well field). The main educational building would harvest as much energy as it consumes and is planned to be LEED Platinum.
Green landscaping would be incorporated, like rain wardens, green walls and roofs, and reforestation.
The rest of the 10-acre campus would aim for LEED Silver certification, and feature over 500,000 square feet of green space. Technion, the only international player left in the game, has “graduates [that] head 59 of 121 Israeli companies on the NASDAQ” and “employ[s] 85 percent of Israel’s technical workforce,” according to a joint Technion-Cornell press release.
The campus would offer computer science, electrical and computer engineering, and information science degrees, and students could obtain a dual degree from Technion and Cornell.
Pittsburgh’s CMU, in addition to being a partner for NYU’s proposal, is involved in another proposal with production center Steiner Studios. They “would create or renovate studio spaces” at Brooklyn Navy Yard, adjacent to Steiner Studio’s present location, “to help build out digital media opportunities,” according to an email from a CMU media representative.
Other universities that originally expressed interest could neither be reached by press deadline or are no longer planning to make a proposal.
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