Cornell University will be the announced winner of a $100 million competition to build a state-of-the art engineering and applied science graduate school with the campus set on Roosevelt Island. This comes just a short three days after Stanford, considered to be one of the frontrunners in the race among a handful of elite universities, dropped out of the competition.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg originally announced the competition this summer as part of a plan to make the city a tech center on par with Silicon Valley. Shortly after Stanford bowed out, Cornell announced it has received a $350 million anonymous donation to put towards its campus efforts.
“There’s a lot of work to do, and a real desire to get things rolling in the time the mayor has left in office,” a source told The New York Times.
Cornell plans to build a 2 million square foot campus for more than 2,000 grad students, using sustainable facilities including solar panels and geothermal wells. The eco-friendly campus plan will cost more than $2 billion.
“Our vision is to build a truly 21st century campus that will fuel the city’s growing tech sector and spur the creation of new businesses and new industries for decades to come,” said university president David Skoryon in a statement after receiving the donation. “Our proposal for a multidisciplinary institution combining world class applied science research, entrepreneurship and commercialization will accelerate New York City’s transformation into a world leader in technology innovation.”
The school is planning to have the campus functioning by next September, The Times reported. The announcement is expected to take place today at the New York/Weill Cornell Medical Center on the Upper East Side.