Cornell Tech

Planning

In 2008 the Bloomberg administration in NYC recruited Steven Strauss, an American economist and former McKinsey & Company management consultant, to oversee a series of research projects looking at the future of NYC's economy in the context of global economic trends. The analysis concluded that NYC had significant opportunities in the high tech sector and recommended a series of initiatives to better capitalize on these developments, these recommendations included but were not limited to: creation of string of incubators, an early stage investment fund, NYC Big Apps, etc. An important recommendation was that a key factor for success in these markets would be increasing the quality and quantity of technology talent in NYC. In response to this recommendation Mayor Bloomberg created a competition among leading universities to expand applied sciences in NYC (Applied Sciences NYC) with a focus on entrepreneurship and job creation. As a first step in this competition process in December 2010 NYC requested expressions of interest from leading universities (in NYC, in the United States, and outside the United States) about expanding existing campuses in NYC (e.g., Columbia University and New York University) or bringing in an outside university (e.g., Cornell or Stanford), and in March 2011 some 18 universities responded. Next, in July 2011 NYC published a request for proposals for the building of the actual applied sciences campus and in October 2011 seven universities submitted formal proposals to build the new applied sciences campus.

Finally on December 19, 2011, then-New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that Cornell University and its partner, the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, had submitted the winning response to the July 2011 request for proposals for a new applied sciences and technology campus to be built on Roosevelt Island in Manhattan. The winning proposal consisted of a 2.1 million square feet state-of-the-art tech campus being built on Roosevelt Island, which will have its first phase completed by 2017, with a temporary off-site campus opening in 2012. Part of the new 'School of Genius' in New York City has been named the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute, embodying the academic partnership between Cornell and the Technion.

The New York City Economic Development Corporation awarded the project to Cornell Tech rather than to Stanford University, in potential partnership with the City College of New York, after Stanford pulled out of negotiations at the last minute, in anticipation of Cornell being selected as the winning bid. Cornell Tech began classes in January 2013 in temporary classrooms supplied by Google in its office building located at 111 Eighth Avenue in the Chelsea neighborhood.

The college launched after gifts of $350 million by Duty Free Shops founder Charles Feeney through his Atlantic Philanthropies and a $133 million gift by Qualcomm founder Irwin M. Jacobs and his wife Joan.

There were multiple protests over several aspects of the building plan. Roosevelt Island residents expressed dismay over the transportation and security costs of building a major academic center in the small area, and workers and patients at a hospital on the island were upset that it will be shut down and then demolished as part of the project. In addition, numerous pro-Palestinian advocacy groups, including individuals at Cornell and NYC locals, demanded the project be scrapped because it included an Israeli university, Technion. The complaints failed to gain any traction or wide support and the Cornell Tech plans have been approved and gone ahead as scheduled.

Construction

Construction of the campus required demolition of the Coler-Goldwater Specialty Hospital's south campus, and patients will be moved elsewhere. City officials say they do not have plans to close the north campus.

Construction of the first academic building began in January 2014 with the arrival of equipment on Roosevelt Island for the building of a fence around the construction site and for the demolition of the existing structures. Demolition began in March 2014. Debris is being removed by barge. In 2015, Bloomberg Philanthropies announced a $100 million gift to construct the first academic building on campus, named The Bloomberg Center -- in honor of Emma and Georgina Bloomberg.

In December 2013, it was announced that Cornell Tech would be partnering with The Hudson Companies and The Related Companies to build the first residential building on the campus. The building will have approximately 350 housing units for students, staff and faculty and will contain a mix of studios and apartments with one, two or three bedrooms. Construction began in 2015. It will be the tallest Passive House in the world.

Forest City Ratner Companies is building The Bridge at Cornell Tech, a place for companies to locate on campus.

Design

Cornell Tech was dubbed "Silicon Island" by The New Yorker, a magazine, and "Silicon Alley East", a spin-off of the "Silicon Alley" nickname for Manhattan start-ups.

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill is designing the master plan and James Corner is doing the landscape design. Cornell Tech will eventually be located on Roosevelt Island in the East River. The university will operate from Google's offices until 2017, when the first phase of the new Roosevelt Island campus will open, including The Bloomberg Center, a "net-zero energy" building to be designed by Thom Mayne of Morphosis Architects. The full campus, due to be completed in 2037, will span 12 acres (5 ha). The complex, due to its location in the middle of the East River, will have views of both Manhattan Island and Queens. The construction is on the site of the Coler-Goldwater Specialty Hospital in the south end of the island where 800 patients will be relocated to other facilities. The hospital still plans to continue its operations on the north side of the island.

The first phase of construction will include four buildings:

Cost

Cornell Tech will ultimately cost developers $2 billion, including $350 million in start-up costs supplied by Cornell alumnus Charles Feeney, a wealthy philanthropist, and $100 million allocated from the city Mayor Bloomberg. Technion is not contributing financially to the project, whose initiators maintained a low profile on the Technion-Cornell bid until ten days before New York City's deadline for proposals. Success of the bid was widely credited to the partnership with Technion-Israel Institute of Technology—a winner of Nobel Prizes and incubator of high-tech businesses.

On April 22, 2013 it was announced that Qualcomm co-founder and former CEO Irwin M. Jacobs and his wife Joan, both graduates of Cornell University, would be contributing $133 million to the school to create the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Technion-Cornell Innovation Institute (JTCII). On February 2, 2015 it was announced that Verizon Communications had donated $50 million to the project and on June 15, 2015, it was announced that the Bloomberg Philanthropies would donate $100 million to the project.

One-year programs

Two-year programs (offered by Jacobs Institute)

Curriculum

The curriculum of Cornell Tech is said to be unique, dealing with modern technological issues and challenges in a multi-disciplinary context. The progress is overseen by both an academic advisor and an industry adviser.

Co-curriculum

MBA and MEng students share about 40 percent of their coursework. This curriculum includes:

Runway Program

The Runway Program funds postdocs to start entrepreneurial ventures. Some of them include:

Notable faculty