4 THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Graduation Issue 2012
FOUR YEARS AT CORNELL
FALL 2011
After Competition,Cornell Wins NYCTech Campus
After nearly a year of designing, lobbying aire after co-founding the Duty Free and promoting, Cornell won the right to Shoppers Group. build a new engineering and technology camCornell partnered with The Technion – pus in New York City, Mayor Michael Israel Institute of Technology in its proposal. Bloomberg announced in December. Cornell The Technion is credited with transforming topped a field of 17 institutions that entered Israel into a technological powerhouse, and it the competition. has an “incredible record of breakthroughs The University’s proposed campus, to be and technology,” Bloomberg said. built on Roosevelt Island, includes more While Cornell will own the physical than 2 million square feet of space and will Roosevelt Island campus, “a significant part house almost 2,000 graduate students and of that campus will be what we’re calling The about 250 professors. The project is expect- Technion-Cornell Innovation Institute,” ed to take about 30 years to complete and Provost Kent Fuchs told The Sun in October. cost as much as $2 bilTCII will offer dual lion. degrees and will be a “I think it’s fair to say “50-50 collaboration” that today will be between the two uniremembered as a definversities. The degrees ing moment,” Bloom“will focus on master’s berg said when the students who want to announcement was commercialize and start made in December. “In new companies,” Fuchs a word, this project is said. going to be transformaThe proposal also tive.” promised to immediate“In a word, this project is The tech campus ly establish a $150 milcompetition, which had going to be transformative.” lion fund for start-up been expected to contechnology companies Mayor Bloomberg tinue until January, was in New York City, the radically altered in midmayor said. “That fund December when Stanford University with- is going to pay instant dividends,” he said. drew its bid. Stanford was widely considered As the winner of the competition, Cornell Cornell’s primary rival, and its departure left and the Technion will receive nearly-free land Cornell as the clear front-runner in the con- on Roosevelt Island and up to $100 million test. Hours after Stanford withdrew, Cornell from the city for infrastructure improveannounced it received a $350 million gift — ments. Bloomberg said he hopes this campus will the largest donation in the University’s history — to help fund the campus. become a lasting legacy of his third term as The University later revealed the donor to New York City mayor and will help the city be Atlantic Philanthropies, founded by to someday overtake Silicon Valley as the Charles Feeney ‘56. Feeney became a billion- technology capital of the world.
MICHAEL LINHORST / SUN FILE PHOTO
Winning | President Skorton speaks alongside New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg at the press conference announcing Cornell’s success in the city’s tech campus competition.
“We think it will redefine our economic future,” he said. “History will write that this was a game-changing time in New York City.” The University proposed an aggressive timetable for opening the new campus. Classes will begin in fall 2012 and will initially be housed in leased space until the permanent campus on Roosevelt Island is constructed. Three hundred students will be enrolled in the school by 2018, Bloomberg said. Cornell’s proposal calls for a campus composed of research hubs — a departure from the departmental structure on the Ithaca campus. “The focus of the hubs will be dynamic,
evolving to keep abreast of trends in both technology and markets,” an executive summary of Cornell’s proposal stated. The first three hubs will focus on connective media, built environment and healthier life. “These hubs will be flexible. In five years they may be different,” the Technion’s president said. The executive summary of Cornell’s proposal stated that Cornell and the Technion want “to create the world’s leading campus dedicated to technology and enterprise.” “With demo days, meet-ups, industry mentors and ties with early stage investors and incubators, the campus will be a focal point for the city’s technology sector,” the document stated.
THE CLASS OF 1964 Extends its congratulations to Christopher Dobyns the 2012 recipient of the
The John F. Kennedy Memorial Award is a prize awarded to a graduating senior, or seniors, who have demonstrated the desire to pursue careers in public service at the local, state or national level.
John F. Kennedy Memorial Award
The class of 1964 would like to thank the members of the Selection Committee, Coni Robinson of the Office of Financial Aid, and all of the students who applied for the award. We wish you success in your future endeavors.