(2011-03-19) Nyc Applied Sciences University Development Project

In New York City, we’re seeking to dramatically expand our capacity in the applied sciences to maintain our global competitiveness and create jobs. Over the course of many months, we asked hundreds of New York City’s business leaders, academics, community groups, and entrepreneurs to identify ambitious, achievable initiatives that the City could undertake to achieve local economic growth. We heard a consistent theme: there is an unmet demand here for top-flight scientists and engineers. (Nyc Challenges)

Mar18: Stanford University has submitted a tentative proposal. A joint "expression of interest" in the development was submitted by Carnegie Mellon, the University Of Toronto, City University of New York (CUNY) and NYU as well as IBM.

Apr27: Critics have deplored the city’s willingness to offer incentives at a time of economic distress. And the mayor has angered local university leaders with his suggestion that New York lacked a top-tier engineering school. They argue that the city should instead use its resources to help expand existing programs... The city is already home to several engineering programs, including ColumbiaUniversity’s Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, the Polytechnic Institute of New York University (NYU), the Cooper Union and the Grove School of Engineering at the City College of New York (CUNY).

Oct31: There are 7 bids involving 15 universities being considered.

The focus seems to be with Roosevelt Island, though some are aiming at Brooklyn Ny locations. (I kinda think the latter makes sense, as there's Start Up activity in Brooklyn.)

Dec18: Stanford University abruptly dropped out of the intense international competition to build an innovative science graduate school in New York City, releasing its decision on Friday afternoon. A short time later, its main rival in the contest, Cornell University, announced a $350 million gift — the largest in its history — to underwrite its bid... Stanford University, with no experience building in New York, recoiled at meeting terms laid down by the city after its proposal was submitted, while Cornell, with extensive experience in the city — its medical school is in Manhattan — expected such negotiations.

Dec19: Cornell University has been chosen as the winner of a competition to build a science campus on Roosevelt Island, a person familiar with the plans tells NBC New York... Cornell's proposal is for a 2.1-million-square-foot campus that it would like to open by next September, according to the Times. The city is continuing negotiations with Columbia University, New York University and Carnegie Mellon University about supporting an additional engineering project in the city, Bloomberg said... Cornell plans to begin offering classes next year in leased space as it begins building on the campus at Roosevelt Island, in the East River. Cornell said it will move into the campus by 2017 and finish construction of 1.3 million square feet by 2027. By 2043, the campus will have 2,500 students and 280 professors, according to a statement from the mayor’s office.

• (That latter article also noted: Cornell counts among its alumni Sanford “Sandy” Weill, former chairman of Citigroup Inc. in New York; Abby Joseph Cohen, senior investment strategist at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in New York, and former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno. That's who they chose to list out of all the options???)
• Charlie O Donnell makes a Brooklyn Ny pitch. If you were to place a school in a strategic location to help drive innovation in NYC over the next 50 years, where would you put it? Roosevelt Island or Downtown Brooklyn?

My own thoughts

• I chose Cornell over RPI and Worcester Polytechnic and other Engineering School-s because I wanted a more intellectually diverse student body around me. Then again, I was never much of a real engineer....
  • Note that I met The Wife there.
• As much as I've loved living in NYC, I've always felt that a bit more isolation is good for brain-reset (Jiggling).
• Given the College Education-bubble status, is this the time to be throwing lots of taxpayer assets into a traditional institution?

Jan'2012 update: details on why Stanford University backed out. “Nothing about the RFP was firm,” said University spokesperson Lisa Lapin. “The city was making changes to all of the terms of the project.” For instance, Lapin said that the city required Stanford to proceed with the project even if the city revoked the $100 million it promised to the competition winner. “There were issues about liability for…the environmental risks involved in the site,” Provost John Etchemendy Ph.D. ’82 told The Daily. “They wanted us to indemnify them for anything they had done, anything that had happened. So for example, if somebody sued about exposure to chemicals 20 years ago, we would have been liable; and that’s an example.” Hennessy added that the city also backtracked on the amount of land they had promised. Originally, Stanford believed they would be granted land from shore to shore on Roosevelt Island. But New York cut back the land offer, which meant that Stanford would have to pay to buy additional land if they wanted to build the campus for which they originally planned. Classic government games.