Leading Higher Education Technology

Technion-Cornell Goes for the Lead in Higher Education Technology

by Holly Spicer, Intern Summer 2012

In keeping up with the fast-paced growth of the technology industry, New York City is fighting to establish itself as the technological center of the world. Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently began a $2 billion plan for a new tech school in the city, whose first stages were a competition between 17 of the world’s top universities. The winners, Cornell University and Technion–Israel Institute of Technology, will build and operate CornellNYC Tech Campus, a brand-new, high-tech graduate school on New York City’s Roosevelt Island. Atlantic Philanthropies, founded by a Cornell alumnus, has donated $350 million to help build the new school.

Education News reports that Bloomberg’s project proposes to stimulate 20,000 construction jobs and inspire approximately 600 new businesses, creating even more jobs. In addition, the city will gain $1.4 billion in tax revenue. The new graduate school is also projected to provide education in math and science for 10,000 children in New York City, enhancing existing programs, as well as working closely with PS/IS 217 and the Child School, the two elementary schools already located on Roosevelt Island.

Google has agreed to host Cornell in its New York offices during construction until Phase I of the project’s construction on Roosevelt Island is complete in 2017. Cornell and Technion will use some of the newest technology in the world to create their buildings. The first building, the Technion-Cornell Innovation Institute (TCII), will be “the largest net-zero energy building in [the] eastern United States—meaning it will harvest as much energy from solar power and geothermal wells as it consumes on an annual basis,” according to a Cornell University press release.

In terms of education, TCII will offer to master’s degree candidates their choice of three specialties or “hubs”: digital media in the networked age; medical informatics and devices; and smart buildings, urban environments and infrastructures. With the way technology continues to rapidly improve, new schools like the Technion-Cornell project will keep cropping up, and there are potential plans for other universities to create second campuses in New York City for tech-savvy students who pursue specialized degrees such as these.