Thursday, October 20, 2011

Stanford President John Hennessey Visits Roosevelt Island and Talks With Residents - Who Will Win NYC Applied Sciences & Engineering School Contest, Stanford's Culture Of High Tech Start Ups or Cornell's Ivy League Localism?

Image of Stanford President Hennessey (on left) Exiting Tram Wednesday Afternoon

Stanford University President John Hennessey visited Roosevelt Island yesterday. It was a windy, rainy and cool afternoon as Mr. Hennessey exited the Roosevelt Island Tram. Fortunately, there were no problems riding the Tram over from Manhattan to Roosevelt Island - it would not have been an opportune moment for the Tram to start rocking and rolling over the East River with the Stanford President on Board.

I met Mr. Hennessey at the Tram and we conducted an interview regarding Stanford's plan for the proposed Roosevelt Island campus of NYC Applied Sciences & Engineering School as we walked north on Main Street towards PS/IS 217 where Mr. Hennessey was to meet with parents and school officials.

Here's our conversation.


You Tube Video of Stanford President's Visit To Roosevelt Island

After the PS/IS 217 meeting Mr. Hennessey had lunch at the Riverwalk Bar & Grill with members of the Roosevelt Island Community


Stanford President Hennessey Having Lunch with members of Roosevelt Island Community

including, RIOC President Leslie Torres, Vice President of Operations Fernando Martinez, RIOC Director Margie Smith, RIRA President Matt Katz, Roosevelt Island Seniors Association President Delores Green, Roosevelt Island Disabled Association President Jim Bates and former RIOC Director Jonathan Kalkin who is organizing Roosevelt Island stakeholders for the purpose of creating a Community Benefits Agreement if Roosevelt Island is selected as the site for the NYC Applied Sciences & Engineering School.

Here's the latest news on the NYC Applied Sciences and Engineering school that Stanford and Cornell are both proposing to be located on Roosevelt Island.

According to article in October 17 NY Times:
... 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.”

Cornell’s plans are more tailored to New York’s particular economy, with four hubs: technology for cleaner and more efficient building; information science and engineering for health care; social mobile networking, particularly in fields like media and advertising; and what it calls “intelligent trustworthy systems,” which include areas like cloud computing and information security....


You Tube Video of Stanford's Tradition of Innovation

Last Thursday October 14, Stanford University President John Hennessey briefed the Stanford Faculty Senate on plans for Stanford's proposed Roosevelt Island New York City campus at the site of the current Goldwater Hospital campus. According to Stanford University News:
President John Hennessy told the Faculty Senate Thursday that establishing an applied sciences campus in New York City would answer a critical U.S. need – to create a second major innovation center in science and technology in the country.

"Quite frankly, Silicon Valley has done terrific, but if the country is going to maintain its leadership in this area it needs more than Silicon Valley," Hennessy said at the start of his presentation on Stanford's proposal to build a graduate campus in New York City focused on engineering, information technology and entrepreneurship....

... "We are going to make large, large investments in technology to make this work," he said. "The good news is that technology has gotten to a price where it's reasonably affordable. We can easily run 10 full-bandwidth high-definition streams between the two campuses simultaneously – at easily affordable prices. We'll be able to do some things and really try to take that technology to the next level."...

...  "One of the great advantages of this location is you can build a campus," Hennessy said. "We have studied other locations in Manhattan, but the minute you move to Manhattan what you're going to end up with is one, or possibly two, high-rise buildings. Here we have a lot of open space."

The campus would include housing, classrooms, labs, offices, business incubator space, amenities – such as fitness centers, shops and restaurants – and open space, and just beyond the campus, two parks – Southpoint Park and Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park.

He said the New York City campus, when completed, would have 1.1 million square feet of academic space; 575,000 square feet of housing; 175,000 square feet of amenities; and 50,000 square feet for incubating new businesses.

The campus would grow in phases – from 2016 to 2038 – to eventually accommodate 100 faculty members and 2,000 master's and PhD students....

... He said construction costs are likely to range from $1 billion to $2 billion....
Click here for the entire Stanford University News article.

The San Jose Mercury News reports on the Stanford Faculty Senate meeting:
... Seeking greater access to an urban world rich in art, finance, drama, music, high-end media, deep-pocketed philanthropy, tweedy East Coast faculty and diverse students, Stanford is putting the finishing touches on a 500-page application for a second campus in New York City, due to land on Mayor Michael Bloomberg's desk in two weeks....

... This is not some satellite campus, Hennessy stressed. Rather, Stanford will adopt a "one university, two campus" model, linked by technology, he said.

Already, faculty have submitted 12 "pre-proposals" for academic programs in areas such as technology ventures, entrepreneurial education, sustainable urban systems and financial math and engineering....

... Bloomberg seeks to make technology a broader part of New York's economy -- recognizing its role in the future of finance and media. He wants a university that has a track record of creating new companies and jobs. Technology is also a big part of how the cities of the future are going to survive -- through more efficient use of energy, transportation and other resources....

... The design, not yet publicly released, calls for up to 1.9 million square feet of construction, with buildings ranging from six to 41 floors with much open space. It is adjacent to a park at the southern tip of Roosevelt Island.

"It's in the middle of Manhattan, yet has a small village feel," Hennessy said.

There are opportunities for Stanford to explore academic disciplines not available here, such as urban design and technology....

... Timeline:

Startup (2012-16)

Partnership with City College of New York

Phase 1 (2016-21)
25 faculty and growing
200 students (Ph.D. and masters)
Curriculum: Information technologies, media, finance, design, entrepreneurial education and research

Phase 2 (2022-27)
50-100 faculty
1,000 students
Curriculum: Broadened to include green technology, bioengineering and urban studies.

Phase 3-5 (2028-45)
200-350 faculty
2,000 or more students, including hundreds of visiting undergraduates
Curriculum: Wide range of programs
Click here for the entire San Jose Mercury News article.

Cornell announced earlier this week that their Trustees unanimously endorsed plans for a NYC Tech Campus on Roosevelt Island.


You Tube Video of Cornell Trustees Endorsing NYC Tech Campus

According to the Cornell Chronicle Online:
As Cornell finishes preparing a proposal for a New York City tech campus, the university's governing body has thrown its full weight of support behind it.

During a special meeting Oct. 12 of the Cornell Board of Trustees at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, the board voted unanimously to endorse Cornell's NYC Tech Campus plan. The official proposal is due to Mayor Michael Bloomberg's office Oct. 28
and:
... "It is a logical extension of what we already do," Zubrow said. "Part of the reason why the board is so excited is that it's such a natural fit." This includes, she said, an existing reputation for tech transfer; the 50,000 Cornellians that reside in the New York metropolitan area; and, of course, Weill Cornell Medical College and the many other programs across all the colleges that have sites in New York City.

The research, startups and spinoffs to be generated from the Cornell tech campus will underscore New York as "the great crossroads city," said trustee Andrew Tisch '71. "There is such dynamism, enthusiasm and energy here, and we believe New York needs to be the tech center of the 21st century."...
Click here for the entire article.

The Cornell Chronicle adds:
Cornell University and The Technion - Israel Institute of Technology announced today a new partnership to create a world-class applied science and engineering campus in New York City, as outlined by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The NYC Tech Campus on Roosevelt Island will combine the full spectrum of both institutions' academic strengths, as well as Cornell's entrepreneurial culture and deep connection to the city's emerging tech sector and the Technion's global leadership in commercialization and technology transfer. This partnership will transform New York City into a world hub of innovation and technology commercialization....
 Click here for the entire article.

Although Roosevelt Island appears to be the favorite, or at least the most publicized site for the NYC Applied Sciences & Engineering School, Crains NY Business reports that other sites are being considered. According to Crains:
While Cornell and Stanford universities have painted the town red to advance their proposals to build a $1 billion tech campus on Roosevelt Island, other prospective bidders in the city's competition have flown under the radar.

But now three institutions—New York University, Columbia University and Carnegie Mellon University—are unveiling details of prospective campuses at other sites around the city, adding a twist to an ongoing dogfight between the engineering powerhouses from Ithaca and Palo Alto....
Click here for the entire Crains article.

More on the proposed NYC Applied Sciences and Engineering School from previous posts.

10 comments :

William Sweeney said...

Roos. Isl, Gov. Island, Manhattanville, Brooklyn.  Help them build them all. Imagine FOUR world-class tech/engineering schools in NYC. It would be unreal.

theohiostate said...

"... former RIOC Director Jonathan Kalkin, who is organizing Roosevelt Island stakeholders for the purpose of creating a Community Benefits Agreement if Roosevelt Island is selected as the site for the NYC Applied Sciences & Engineering School."
What does that mean?  Does it mean a former RIOC Board Member is benefitting financially from Stanford coming here?

RooseveltIslander said...

No it does not mean that there is a financial benefit.

 I reported on this previously and included information on Community Benefit Agreement. Briefly,
"... Community benefits agreements are private contracts between community organizations and developers, requiring that the developer take additional actions for public benefit. In theory, CBAs allow groups that are shut out of the normal planning process to make their voices heard."

rooseveltisland1 said...

Rebecca Sucgang Ocampo
I am a Stanford fellow living on the Island. While I hope that Stanford University makes it on the Island, I would like to think that it will not make this wonderful island become another source of a new financial crisis. Help us warn everyone that the Island cannot be a strong base for speculators who lean towards widening the gap between the haves and the have nots. I am just for future sustainability as I cannot talk of it being a characteristic of the past and the present.

Jack96 said...

Stanford doesn't belong here.  They don't really care about New York. Cornell is a New York institution.  It has 4 state schools among its 7 colleges.  Not only will New Yorkers be able to pay in-state tuition if enrolled on the Roosevelt Island campus, that revenue will stay in New York State, create jobs for New York and be good for our economy.  Stanford's tuition revenue would go back to California.  Cornell's bid is better for New York.  

joe carbo said...

i hope queens  win 

zade said...

You can't predict how the tax structure and revenue streams will develop.The fact is, Cornell does not have anything like the track record Stanford has in educating and encouraging entrepreneurs who make a huge difference around the world. If we allow Stanford to stimulate the kind of economic growth it knows how to carry off, it will benefit New York hugely.

Dan Chen said...

Not very accurate accounting, Jack.  First, if Stanford is here, they will create jobs for New York (are they going to bring in commuters from California to teach and work here?), and they'll establish themselves as a New York higher education institution as well.  It's a bit xenophobic to turn away Stanford just because they historically haven't been based here.  Would you likewise tell Bayer to pack up their bags in NJ, Vivendi to pack up their bags in NYC and Nissan to close down their factories in TN?

Dan Chen said...

Seems like a pointless ad-hominem at Kalkin.  In all that he has done over the past years, he has never demonstrated anything other than good faith efforts.

Jack96 said...

An expansion campus creates hundreds of support jobs at the home campus.  Logistics, facilities, back-office accounting, bursar and other administrative positions.  These jobs can be created in New York or they can be created in California.