Cornell Tech Roosevelt Island Community Update - Demolition, Construction, Air Quality, Barging, PS/IS 217 & Community Communcations

Image From Future Cornell Campus

With the departure of former Cornell Tech Vice President Cathy Dove to a new position as President of the Paul Smith's College, the Roosevelt Island Community Report Ms. Dove wrote will now be an update provided by Cornell Tech.

Updates from Cornell Tech

Cornell Tech hosted a Town Hall meeting on Monday, December 8 to provide updates on construction and community initiatives as the campus development continues to take shape:

Construction updates from the Town Hall:

• Cornell began demolition of the former Goldwater Hospital buildings last winter and will soon enter the first phase of construction for the campus.
• Demolition of Phase 1 of the campus design will be completed by December 31, with Phase 2 demolition underway and expected to be completed by June 2015.
• Cornell is working with Barr & Barr to construct the First Academic Building, a NYC-based firm with a track record of quality work and a reputation for deep community engagement. Their experience with university projects includes Princeton University and Syracuse University.
• Roux Associates, an environmental consulting firm, reaffirmed Cornell Tech’s commitment to monitoring air quality during the construction process. Cornell is applying several proactive controls to reduce emissions, including:
• Reducing of diesel equipment
• Using ultra low sulfur diesel fuels
• Limiting construction equipment idle time
• Using equipment that meets the latest federal emission standards
• As of December 1, Cornell has moved approximately 10,200 tons of waste by barge, avoiding approximately 4,800-5,150 truck trips.
• For more information, visit construction.tech.cornell.edu. Please note we have a new section of the website for photos of the construction site and we will add photos to it on a monthly basis.

K-12 updates from the Town Hall:

• Diane Levitt, Cornell Tech’s K-12 Director, provided details on Cornell Tech’s continued support of education initiatives on Roosevelt Island. Cornell Tech is deeply engaged with PS/IS 217 and is committed to:
• Helping with teacher training and support
• Science, engineering, technology and mathematics education initiatives
• After-school programming
• Tech events
• Hardware and software programming development
• Cornell Tech has been involved in teacher training and curriculum development to help students understand computing and computational thinking. As a result, there is a coding class happening at the middle school, one period a week, where students learn critical computing skills.
• Cornell Tech has monthly meetings with Principal Beckman and her staff, and we are working to organize a Middle School Hackathon for Spring 2015.
• Cornell Tech looks forward to supporting two teams in the Continental Mathematics League computer science competition in early 2015.

As a reminder, Jane Swanson, Assistant Director of Government and Community Relations at Cornell Tech, is at Gallery RIVAA, 527 Main Street, every Wednesday and Friday from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. and 1-4 p.m. Everyone is welcome to visit and chat with Jane to learn more about Cornell Tech’s plans.