Lazy Man’s Guide: Cornell’s Bid for the NYC Tech Campus

The details all Cornellians should know regarding the University’s bid to open a Tech School in New York City…

THE DESIGN: “Cornell’s planned NYC Tech Campus drives for a sustainable ‘net-zero energy’ core” (Cornell Chronicle Online)

“Oriented toward the arc of the sun, Cornell’s proposed New York City Tech Campus on Roosevelt Island will capture a large, daily dose of solar power and will use the Earth’s generous internal, thermal power as an additional energy source.”

“If built today, the campus’s proposed 150,000-square-foot core academic building would be the largest net-zero energy building in the eastern United States and among the top four largest such buildings in the United States.”

“On Roosevelt Island, Cornell will continue its tradition of openness to the community and the public. The NYC Tech Campus plan features over 500,000 square feet of green space and breathtaking views of the Manhattan and Queens waterfronts. The campus will be open and accessible to residents and visitors and would become one of New York City’s largest green spaces open to the public.”

THE PARTNER: “Tech School Joins Cornell in Contest” (WSJ) 

“There are more than 4,000 tech start-ups in Israel, second only to Silicon Valley, according to Technion officials. Of those start-ups, 70% were founded by Technion graduates, said the school’s president, Peretz Lavie. U.S. tech giants such as Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Qualcomm Inc. have each set up outposts near the Technion campus in Haifa in part to help recruit new graduates.”

“Technion has set up research laboratories in Singapore, but hasn’t participated in any international collaboration on the scale that it is now proposing with Cornell. The schools say they would build an entirely new “independent campus” on Roosevelt Island that will take about 25 years to fully develop.”

“If their bid is successful, Cornell and Technion would launch an interim campus by fall of 2012 that will pull from their existing faculty and use either leased space or space already owned by Cornell.”

THE COMPETITION: Two Top Suitors are Emerging for New Graduate School of Engineering (NYT)

“City officials discourage the idea that there are any front-runners, but the president of Stanford, John L. Hennessy, says bluntly that his school and Cornell — both seeking the same piece of city-owned land on Roosevelt Island — have the best chances, and officials at some of the competing institutions privately agree.”

“With Cornell emphasizing its connections to the city, including its medical school on the Upper East Side, Stanford last week announced an affiliation with City College of New York, and Columbia confirmed that a proposed alliance with City College’s parent, City University of New York, had been dropped.”

“Stanford and Cornell, both rated among the best in the country in computer science and engineering, have been the most aggressive contenders, hiring public relations and political consultants to press their cases with city officials and journalists.”

“Stanford proposes to replicate the role it has played in the growth of Silicon Valley, as an incubator of high-tech talent, innovation and business. “We know how to get young people involved in start-ups,” said Mr. Hennessy, whose campus has spawned Hewlett Packard, Cisco Systems, Yahoo, Google and countless smaller tech companies. “Cornell’s disadvantage is all its start-ups put together are smaller than Google.”

“But Stanford may have the financial edge. Its endowment exceeds $16.5 billion, more than double Columbia’s $7.8 billion or Cornell’s $5.2 billion, as of this summer. And Stanford raised more than $2 billion in the three years ending in mid-2010, more than any other American university and nearly twice what was raised by each of its main rivals for the New York campus.”

STANFORD’S DESIGN: Stanford’s City Campus Plan Is In – And It’s Big (Crain’s NY Business)

“Stanford University submitted plans Wednesday to build a $2.5 billion, 1.9-million-square foot tech campus on Roosevelt Island in response to the mayor’s request for proposals.”

“Called StanfordNYC, the campus would be built out over 30 years and focus on graduate-level teaching and research in engineering, technology and entrepreneurship, with an emphasis on turning research into viable businesses.The academic program will initially focus on finance and media, instustries where the city is already strong.”

“Stanford would launch its program at the City College of New York, beginning in 2013 as the Roosevelt Island campus is built. It plans to partner with K-12 schools as part of a community engagement program outlined in its proposal.”