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DANIEL HUTTENLOCHER: Good morning. Good morning, everyone. Welcome here to Roosevelt Island. I'm Dan Huttenlocher. I'm the dean of Cornell Tech. And it's really overwhelming to see so many people here. So many of you have played such an amazing role in creating this pioneering new graduate school for the digital economy here in the heart of New York City. And soon everybody will know where Roosevelt Island is if they don't know already.
Thanks so much for joining us to recognize this important milestone for Cornell Tech, an event whose significance is underscored by today's wonderful announcement, which many of you may have seen in the press already, that the Bloomberg Philanthropies is providing a transformative gift of $100 million to support the development of the campus.
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As you could see on your way to this beautiful park, construction of the campus is already well underway, and I'm happy to report that just in the last two weeks, we've completed the demolition of the old Goldwater Hospital and construction is underway on all three of the programmatic buildings and on the campus utility infrastructure and building. So in just about two years from now, this first phase of Cornell Tech's permanent campus will open with more than double the space the Cornell committed to the city for this phase of the development.
It comprises three initial buildings-- an academic building that will be like no other, now to be known as the Bloomberg Center, designed to support intensive collaboration and teamwork and to set new benchmarks and sustainability; a residential building housing students, researchers, and faculty, which would be the largest in the world built to what's called a Passive House Energy Efficiency Standard; and the bridge, a totally new kind of office space that brings together start ups, established companies, and academics together under one roof. These buildings will be complemented by the Verizon Executive Education Center, which is just starting in design now and is anticipated to open in 2019.
But we are not waiting for the physical campus here on Roosevelt Island to make Cornell Tech a reality. We're up and running in our temporary campus in space that was generously donated by Google in their building in Chelsea. Just a few weeks ago, we finished our second full academic year and our fifth semester. Our outstanding faculty are doing groundbreaking research in areas like cybersecurity, mobile health technology, accessible user interfaces, social media, and computer vision that are so important to the digital economy.
We graduated 75 students last month, including our first two PhD students. And those of you who have PhDs know that PhD students don't get done in the 2 and 1/2 years that we've been at Cornell Tech, so they started somewhere else. And that brings our total number of our alumni to nearly 100. So as you can see, we're growing fast.
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About half of this year's master's graduates received a Cornell [INAUDIBLE] in computer science and half a tech-oriented Cornell Johnson MBA. About 30% of our graduates this year are creating new companies here in New York City and overall, well over half of our graduating students, will be working in the city, helping drive the creation of new jobs, not just in the tech industry but well beyond.
This past fall, we also launched Connective Media, our first program in the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute, the institute, that is the innovative new partnership between Cornell and the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, and is really one of the keystones of the Cornell Tech programs. Connective Media is a two-year master's program. So the first dozen students from that program won't graduate until next spring, but they're already doing tremendous things. And this fall they'll be joined by additional students in that program and a second program that we're launching the Jacobs Institute called Healthier Life, which bridges the gap between health care and technology. Students in these Jacobs Institute programs receive dual degrees from Cornell and from the Technion.
For the first time this year, we also hosted a startup award competition for Cornell Tech students. This is a program where the winning teams receive pre-seed funding and free co-working space in the New York Times building for a year, thanks to philanthropic support from the Blackstone Foundation and from Forest City Ratner companies. Five groups of our recent graduates are now creating companies based on startup ideas that they developed as part of their academic programs at Cornell Tech, and we look forward to seeing great things from them.
We're engaged already with hundreds of companies and organizations in the city from tiny startups, to big corporations, to New York City public schools. And even though construction of this physical campus here is just starting, we're already working to be an active part of the community here on Roosevelt Island in our future home. We're developing tech programming with the island's public school, PSIS 217. In April, our students organized a "Hack Roosevelt Island" event, where they taught coding and tech literacy to middle school students and at the Roosevelt Island Senior Center.
We spend time on the island every week at the RIVAA Gallery on Main Street, where anyone can walk in and talk to us about the campus. And I'm excited to announce that at that gallery, a new exhibit is opening, featuring the work of Peter Gerakaris Peter is an acclaimed artist and Cornell alum whose innovative exhibitions can be seen in galleries around the world. And I'd especially like to thank the Eisenberg family for making this exhibit possible. And if you have time, I strongly suggest that you go by the gallery while you're out here on the island or on your next trip out, which I'm sure will be soon.
I'm so proud of where we've gotten thus far with Cornell Tech, but you've seen nothing yet. Just four years ago, we were in the middle of competing in the city's Applied Sciences Initiative. This fall, we will have about 150 students and 15 faculty well on the way to the thousands of students and hundreds of faculty that will be here on Roosevelt Island once this campus is complete a couple of decades from now. We'll hear from several key people today, but there's so many of you here in the audience without whom Cornell Tech would not have been possible that I really want to take a moment to thank you all for what you've done so far and what you'll continue to do in moving this innovative new campus forward.
I now have the honor of introducing our mayor, who from day one, Mayor Bill de Blasio, has been an incredible partner to Cornell Tech. He sees the potential of tech not just to drive the city's economy but to bridge the digital divide and to help provide opportunity to everybody in New York. Mayor de Blasio understands the importance of broadening participation in the technology field and has a lead with his actions. He's assembled what I see as the most impressive group of female technology leaders in the country. Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen, CTO Minerva Tantoko-- and I know Minerva's sitting right there in the front-- Tech Talent Pipeline Director Kristen Titus, Digital Director Jesse Singleton are regularly engaged with us at Cornell Tech and with the tech community in New York City broadly. And they're just terrific collaborators.
And thanks to the mayor's proposed ferry plan, we're looking to coming here to Roosevelt Island by boat, not too soon from now. Please join me in welcoming Mayor Bill de Blasio.
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MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO: 2017. Thank you so much, Dan. Thank you for your leadership. Everyone here has a lot to be proud of, but Dan, you really have been one of the people who created this from scratch and has made something extraordinary here. I want to thank you for being a champion for what this project could mean for Cornell, for the Technion, for New York City, for our future. Let's thank Dan for his leadership.
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Tech community is strong in this city. It is created. It is innovative. It can do almost anything except deal with the weather. So once upon a time, we were going to have this a little earlier. We had a snow delay, the one thing that the tech community could not overcome. But we are finally here, and this is a tremendously meaningful day for New York City and a tremendously positive day. And I hope everyone recognizes this is something that's really going to have a transformative impact.
I want to thank so many people who were part of bringing us to this day. I'm going to speak in a moment about the extraordinary work and the extraordinary generosity of my predecessor, Michael Bloomberg. So let me get to that in one second. But before that, I want to thank Cornell's extraordinary President David Skorton who Washington's gain will be New York's loss. But we are thrilled for the leadership he provided. I want to thank Cornell Chair Bob Harrison, Bruce Ratner and MaryAnne Gilmartin of Forest City Ratner, David Kramer, the Hudson companies, some of the folks who played it key role getting us to this day, from the government side, obviously including Bob Steel and Seth Pinksy. Thank you for your great leadership. I want to thank members of my administration who also served in your administration, Mr. Mayor, and are doing great work and have been doing great work continuing a lot of this vision-- Kyle Kimball of EDC, Maria Torres-Springer of small businesses.
You heard about Minerva Tantoco and Jesse Singleton, two key members of our tech team. And we're so proud of their leadership. All the folks at EDC-- sometimes we name specific names and specific leaders. But as Mayor Bloomberg knows, the folks at EDC took this on as a labor of love. And they have seen it through. So I want to make sure we give them their due as well.
Of course our elected officials-- thank you to Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul. It means a lot to us that she is here. Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, borough presidents Gail Brewer and Melinda Katz, and council member Ben Kallos. Thank you all for being here. Let's give them all a round of applause.
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And now I want to give Michael Bloomberg a true compliment because he doesn't usually do things halfway. And he believed in this vision, this possibility, for New York City. And largely due to his will and his sense of vision, we are here today. And it is greatly, greatly intensified by the extraordinarily generous gift he has made to further this work. I want to thank him for that, following through on a vision he felt so deeply, and sticking with it means a lot to all the people of New York City.
And it was not just about this project. It was about a bigger vision, not just a bigger vision of how we had a more educated, learned society, how we would have more and more talent for this city. It was also a bigger vision for our economy and our future. Mayor Bloomberg focused incessantly on diversifying our economy, something that was long overdue. And that meant necessarily a focus on the tech community.
And Mr. Mayor, you remember a phrase from a great American movie, "if you build it, they will come"? I think this epitomizes it. I think Mayor Bloomberg's efforts to create an environment for the tech sector had an extraordinary impact. This is one of the signature elements, and we are proud to be building upon that tradition. We saw in just a matter of years New York City go from a place I think many would consider a backwater of the tech community to now one of the leading cities on this earth for the tech community.
And under Mayor Bloomberg's leadership, with the great work of EDC and others, Google came here. Facebook came here. More and more leaders came here and found it the indispensable place to be. And that trend is growing.
And EDC with the competition that was created, the Applied Sciences Competition, made a clear statement that we would be a world class technology center. It was not a question. It would happen. It was simply a matter of who would be the best fit for this extraordinary vision. Well, I have to say, Cornell University and the Technion, to me, they really are the dream team-- two extraordinary institutions with a proven record of leadership, of innovation, of turning out great talent, but also with a larger social commitment, a sense of how to make these opportunities inclusive. And that in itself would have been extraordinary, about Mr. Mayor, this is a good time to say, thank you for adding $100 million to the equation, which all New Yorkers appreciate deeply.
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The applied sciences sector will have an extraordinary impact enhancing this city's economy, deepening its diversification. They project that over next three decades, more than 48,000 jobs, $33 billion in economic impact, and will more than double the number of full-time undergraduate engineering students and faculty in New York City. This is foundational stuff. This is how you build a future, and it's happening here before our eyes.
We are so pleased to say that we will now have another jewel in the crown of New York City. And part of what makes New York City great is we don't rest on our laurels. That's part of our DNA. We never have. So we never think we have enough. We always think we have to build the next great thing, and you are here to see it today.
This physical campus is not just a location. It is something deeper. It is a sign of the times. It's an example of things to come and how the world needs to be. This will be the home to the world's first-- I want to emphasize that point-- the world's first residential high rise building built to Passive House Sustainability Standards. Now Passive House make sense as a phrase.
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Passive House make sense if you think about it as a pure phrase and its meaning. But I think it's a very activist notion. It's a transformative notion. And we're going to be leaders showing that this can be done and it can be done everywhere. And it's part of the leadership we are trying to provide in this city as we address global challenges, environmental challenges, such as we have never seen before. I want to thank again the mayor for his absolutely groundbreaking efforts to address global warming, not only here but around the world.
We are building on those efforts energetically and with great appreciation for the foundation that we had to start with. This is one example of how New York City can show the world a model that works in today's reality. It's part of driving us towards a goal this city has set, 80% reduction of emissions by 2050.
And this building is a great example. This building will consume 60% to 70% less energy than a typical building of its size. That's extraordinary. And if that is taken as an example around the world, that will truly have an effect on this generation and future generations.
Just one or two other things I'd like to note-- the beauty of this day, the beauty of this effort, it's not just about great technology, great thinking, great innovation. It's also very rooted in the communities of this city. Already Cornell and Technion are partnering with over a dozen city schools, including Roosevelt Island's own PSIS 217.
And you heard a moment ago about the "Hack Roosevelt Island" day. 90 kids paired up with graduate students to learn to code, 90 kids who now see a possibility for themselves that they would not have known otherwise. This effort was led by a graduate student named Miwa Takaki And she was committed to giving back to the community.
Now Miwa graduated in May, and I will now sound a chauvinistic note for New York City. She graduated in May. She grew up in Seattle. There apparently is some substantial tech sector on the West Coast. I haven't gotten the details about that, but I've heard tell.
Miwa could have gone to the West Coast, but she wanted to be here because the most interesting things were happening here. Because she saw the technology community rooted in the larger community here. And she is staying here, and she said, quote, "there's a spirit here that everyone can make a difference and create change." And that is something we are profoundly proud of. She'll be starting work at eBay in August, and she's already planning next year's "Hack Roosevelt Island" day.
So something bigger is happening that will reach deep into this city, and the energy that has been created here, it will build onto a great tech ecosystem already and one that is becoming a five borough community and a community linked to the beautiful diversity of this city. We knew all along, and Michael Bloomberg and his team knew all along, if we could connect the tech sector to everything else in New York City, we'd have an unbeatable hand to play. Because now the tech sector is deeply committed to and connected to the industries of the city-- the fashion industry, the financial services industry, the manufacturing industry. It's growing so organically and powerfully. And I have to note, again, with a point of pride, more New York companies than California companies sought startup funding in the first three months of this year, suggesting more and more innovation here, more and more energy and possibility here.
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We need this community to be of and by and for New York. We need more and more of our young people to have opportunity in this extraordinary tech sector-- 300,000 jobs now and growing all the time. By the way, nearly half of those jobs do not even require a BA. So we're endeavoring to make sure that these great jobs, these jobs with great futures, great pay reach more and more of our young people. We want to see over time at least half those jobs go to graduates of our public schools. We're going to use our tech talent pipeline and our investments in the Cuny STEM programs to build that talent pool.
We know if we're going to fight for more opportunity, we're going to address the challenge of inequality, the tech sector will be one of the best and most natural allies. And we know that we have to reach all New Yorkers by providing broadband access with the world's largest, fastest municipal Wi-Fi network. And we're excited to do that. You can clap for that. Minerva led the clapping there.
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So I'll conclude by saying the beauty of this effort, so many things to like about it, and one other thing to like about it is the sheer speed and intensity you've seen from the origin of this idea to the moment that Cornell and the Technion were chosen to this day and the day soon when all these buildings will be built and all this activity will be buzzing right here on Roosevelt Island. This is truly a great New York story, and congratulations to all who got us to this day.
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ROBERT HARRISON: Morning everyone. My name is Bob Harrison, and I'm the chairman of the board of Cornell University. And on behalf of Cornellians everywhere, I'd like to thank you for joining us on this truly great day. Mayor de Blassio, thank you for your unwavering support of Cornell Tech since taking office. I look forward to continuing and expanding our partnership between Cornell and New York City for many years to come.
And Mayor Bloomberg, your audacious vision for a global competition to change the economic future of this city captivated the world for very good reason. It's certainly motivated all of us at Cornell, including the 50,000 alumni in the New York metropolitan area, each of whom personally contacted your office during the course of the competition to make sure you had no doubt about our intentions. It's true that Cornellians can sometimes be a bit intense. But we can also accomplish some pretty amazing things. And what we will accomplish on Roosevelt Island will positively impact the people of New York City, New York state, and hopefully around the world.
The Bloomberg Philanthropies's incredibly generous gift, to name the first academic building to rise on Roosevelt Island, will stand not only as a permanent monument to your administration's vision but as a message of confidence in Cornell's ability to make it a reality. We are very, very grateful.
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This year is Cornell's 150th anniversary. And while I am deeply proud of the continuous evolution over that time, there have been only a few events in our history that have risen to a level that I would call truly transformative. The creation of this campus is one of them. And I say this for two fundamental reasons.
First, this campus represents the birth of the modern day digital expression of Cornell University's original land grant mission. We committed to serve the people of New York as the state's land grant institution back in 1865, a time when our service was largely focused on the agricultural industry. Going forward, as mayor de Basio pointed out, Cornell Tech will integrate itself into all of the industries that have become so important to New York-- media, health, fashion, finance, and many others. This will create companies, jobs, products, services, and maybe whole new industries which will extend our land grant mission further than anyone dreamed of in 1865.
Second, the creation of this campus is transformative because it truly establishes Cornell as a two campus university. Though we have had a long and significant presence in the city, through a number of Ithaca-based colleges and, of course, the location of our medical college not far from here since 1898, with this campus on Roosevelt Island, we will have a magnet and a hub for the entire university. I know that every Ithaca-based college and the medical school will have some involvement in the work of Cornell Tech and that Cornell Tech will influence the Ithaca campus and the medical school just as significantly. I'm certain that in 150 years when people look back at the creation of Cornell Tech, they will describe it as an event that radically changed Cornell University's history for the better. And I am hugely optimistic that they will also describe it as an event that had a profound positive impact far beyond Cornell.
Thank you very much. Now it is my pleasure to welcome our lieutenant governor, Kathy Hochul to celebrate with us for the second time in less than two months. The lieutenant governor spoke to a gathering of 4,000 Cornellians in Ithaca on April 27th, the 150th anniversary of the day the state of New York issued the charter that created Cornell. Governor Cuomo has been a great supporter of Cornell Tech from the very beginning, and we are thrilled to have Lieutenant Governor Hochul here on Cornell soil again on behalf of the state of New York. Welcome back.
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KATHY HOCHUL: Good morning, everyone. There's a number of reasons why I'm so excited to be here today, not the least of which is I don't have to be in Albany today. So I was really happy to get in the car at the crack of dawn and say, yeah, governor, you take care of this. I've got to go down and do something with Cornell once again. So it's a good day for me.
First of all, I do want to thank our outstanding mayor for your-- how should I drive this-- impassioned advocacy on behalf of the residents of the city of New York, in Albany, and elsewhere. So you are such an incredible leader, and it's been an honor to work with you, mayor. And Mayor Bloomberg, I have to tell you, you know how to steal the show. I mean, $100 million all of a sudden-- that's going to be the front page story, and well-deserved. That is beyond the depths of generosity, and your commitment to this community and the opportunity that it creates will be heralded for generations to come. So thank you very much, mayor. Thank you. Thank you.
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And President David Skorton, I commend you on your competitive nature. The thought of possibly losing this to Stanford University was something none of us could tolerate. So I'm so glad you made those thousands of calls and lobbied and everything. It's just a matter of personal pride as a New Yorker. We couldn't have that. So I'm so delighted to know that you conquered all. You vanquished any competitors. And here we are today.
But also, Mr. President, as you continue on your next journey to be one of the stewards of America's culture and history at the Smithsonian, please know that your legacy has grown beyond what you did in Ithaca. It is also implanted here on an island named after one of our greatest leaders. So I hope you will treasure that as well. Thank you. Thank you. And Chairman Harrison, it seems like we see each other every other day on our visits. And thank you for your leadership. And certainly, Dean, it's been fantastic to be here.
And I did speak at the 150th. So if you'd let me think back 150 years once again, I do know that at that time, the concept that Cornell put forward really reimagined education in society. It was the first nonsectarian school. It was the first school that became inclusive of minorities and women. So they really were on the cutting edge 150 years ago.
Today, we stand on a similar threshold, where we have an institution that was built on agriculture and technology right here in what will be the center of technology in our country in a very short matter of years but also breaking down the concern of the commercialization of academia. I think there's always been a thought that academia is over here. And job creation, commercialization's over here, and never the twain shall meet.
The way we can get ahead-- and Governor Cuomo recognized this when he created the Regional Economic Development Councils four years ago and put the decisions about community in the hands of leaders like President Skorton who served as co-chair in the Ethic area. He has said we need the leaders of academia partnered with business to figure out how to create jobs for their individual regions. So this, what we're doing here today, ties in so beautifully with the governor's vision, with all of your vision as well. So as New Yorkers, we all truly benefit from that.
As you mentioned, we're all a little bit competitive here. We talk about the number of technology workers. New York is number three in the nation. Now, some would say, the other 47 say, that's pretty enviable. I say we go after number one and two. It's California and Texas, and we're coming after you.
I want to make sure that this is the center of technology, job creation. And it starts here, right now, on this island. Let's do it.
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And let me tell you why that's so important, very briefly. In my position as lieutenant governor, and as my time as a member of Congress upstate, I have covered every corner of this state. I was in Albany this morning. I was in New York City yesterday. I'm all over. I love it. But it gives me a fascinating insight into areas and regions that perhaps some of you don't have the privilege to visit and areas not far from Ithaca, rural areas.
I toured an advanced manufacturing facility in rural Ontario County, and there were 100 job openings posted on the wall for technology jobs-- 100 job openings. And I said, how could that be? And they said, there is such a shortage of workers in the technology field. It takes us 18 months to find a PhD and recruit him to very good paying jobs in upstate New York.
That's what I've seen all over. It ends here with this institution. This will be the feeder of the pool of talent that New York state needs, not just in this city, but all over to step into those jobs that are going unfilled. Because as we encourage more startups, and the governor's Start-Up New York program is one the reasons why New York state is moving ahead of California because we're creating incentives. We're competing at a level like no other. We want to make sure startups come here and the current businesses grow. They need the employees, the talent, to fill them, or we lose out. So today, as I mentioned, this is the start of a new beginning. We will have the talent to be able to step into these great paying jobs and many of them pay over $100,000.
But in closing, let me mention, people sometimes we feel have not benefited from opportunities like this. As I mentioned, I was here yesterday. I stood with scores of fast food workers who somehow eke out an existence, barely making $8.50 an hour. I stood with a young man named [? Jarell Ware, ?] 34 years old, still living with his mom and dad. And I told him, I feel really bad for your mom and dad. I hope you get a job.
But he says, I wish I had other opportunities. Now just think what his future would have looked like if he had had the advantage of going to Brooklyn P-TECH, the Pathways to Technology through to education college, high school, if he had had that opportunity to get a college degree while he was still a high school student, he could have in two years been one of the first students right here. And he could have been on his way to a much brighter future. Those are the people we also have to make sure are not left behind, because there are opportunities for everyone in this field. And this is the beginning of spreading that opportunity to every New Yorker, which is exactly what Governor Cuomo wants to see happen. Thank you very much. It's my honor to be here.
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DANIEL HUTTENLOCHER: So I'm honored to have the privilege of introducing city council speaker Melissa Mark-viverito. Thanks for joining us today.
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MELISSA MARK-VIVERITO: Buenos dias a todos. Good morning. It truly is a good morning to be here with all of you. I want to take a moment to knowledge a colleague of mine, which I served and under whose stewardship we voted on this in the city council and former council member Jessica Lappin and also current council member Ben Kallos who could not be a stronger advocate for this project. It really is a pleasure to be here with everyone that has been recognized, Dean Huttenlocher and President Skorton, our Mayor de Blasio, former Mayor Bloomberg, and the partnership with Forest City Ratner and the Hudson companies. Really, thank you so much. It really is a remarkable day here for New York City and our partners at Cornell University, a day that pushes New York City forward in our constant drive to innovate, to educate, and to explore, and to thanks, once again, our former Mayor Bloomberg for his very generous donation.
Cornell Tech's Roosevelt Island campus represents the new frontier of education with state-of-the-art facilities, smart technology, and some of the greatest minds in a wide range of dynamic fields. And touring the facility or what is the construction site, what may look like the rubble right now, just a little bit earlier, definitely you see the building blocks and the foundation of what will be the very exciting next page of New York City's trajectory. You can totally see it as you walk amongst the field there.
This campus will be a hub for learning and entrepreneurship, for asking questions, and for solving problems. It will be an environment that fosters creativity and collaboration, a laboratory where students will grow to be the next generation of leaders, thinkers, and innovators, ready to take on the world and some of the biggest challenges of the day. And it's all going to happen here in New York City, where we've never been afraid to tackle these questions head on.
This announcement today is born of innovation, creativity, and outside of the box thinking. Cornell already brings students and faculty to schools in my district and neighborhoods for STEM classes and even has taught coding. It is my hope that we not only continue these partnerships but extend them, because it really is instrumental when we think about the future of New York City. The future of New York City lies within the classrooms of our public education system. And we must invest in every child--
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--and unlock their true potential and see that jobs in the tech world are ones that they can aspire to as well. So we have a responsibility. So the collaboration and partnership between Cornell and some of the public schools in our city is really instrumental to lead us on that path. So as Speaker, I am proud that the New York City Council is a partner in making our city the tech capital of the world. And I'm proud we have a partner in Technion which I had the pleasure visiting on my first trip to Israel. That's definitely one more bond that connects us.
Everything about this campus is what makes a New York City education so unique and so invaluable, from the fusion of art, technology, open space, and community to its commitment, to energy efficiency, and environmental sustainability. New York City's at the forefront of these global conversations, and Cornell Tech is helping us lead the way. So I want to thank every one that has been mentioned before, for their commitment to spurring New York City onward as a worldwide hub for education. I really look forward to this campus' great success. Thank you.
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ROBERT HARRISON: Thank you Speaker, Mark-Viverito. I would now like to introduce David Skorton, Cornell University's president, if only for two more weeks. After nine extraordinary years at Cornell's helm, President Skorton is on his way to serve the country in his new role as Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. We owe him our deepest gratitude for many achievements as one of Cornell's great presidents, not least of which was leading the team that won the competition to create Cornell Tech here on Roosevelt Island. I'm grateful that President Skorton is still in office today to celebrate this groundbreaking because it was his leadership, vision, and conviction that this was the right thing to do for Cornell that brought us here in the first place. It is now my privilege to introduce the 12th president of Cornell University, David J. Skorton.
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DAVID SKORTON: Thanks, boss. Even two more weeks, I like calling you boss. I want to thank everyone for coming today. It's a fantastic turnout. And it's inspiring to me-- a few years after the Bloomberg administration came up with this concept, it's inspiring to me to see so many leaders from the tech and other sectors-- academic, corporate, and community partners-- celebrating this day. I would especially like to thank Mayor de Blasio for joining us and for your outspoken advocacy for education at all levels, from universal pre-K, to tech career training. He and deputy mayor Alicia Glen have been outstanding partners for Cornell Tech, championing this project and working to democratize the benefits to impact New Yorkers across the full breadth of our city.
The mayor's tech talent pipeline builds on what we're doing at Cornell Tech, striving to help all New Yorkers be connected, personally connected, to and to benefit from this growing sector of the economy. Thank you, mayor.
Thanks also to Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Bloomberg for joining us today as well as the Speaker of the New York City Council, Melissa Mark-Viverito, and also Governor Cuomo who is not here today. But I want to gratefully acknowledge his support for years for this and many other economic development coups across the state of New York.
I want to recognize, if you'll indulge me for a moment, a few additional members of Cornell and our extended team in addition to Bob Harrison and to Dean Huttenlocher, from whom we've already heard. Cathy Dove, former vice president of Cornell Tech and now president of Paul Smith's College, was an important member of this dream team that put this application together, Lance Collins, Dean of the Cornell College of Engineering, and Ken Fox who's now the president of the University of Florida. Although he's not here today as Cornell's provost, he played the major role in the conception and success of this project.
I want to join Dan Huttenlocher in thanking our colleagues from Google, who as Dan said, very generously opened their doors for us for a temporary campus in a big way, making rapid progress possible and actually guaranteeing it. I also want to thank my partner and friend and my mentor, Technion President Peretz Lavie, who's in Israel. And we spoke late last evening. He and his team are creating something completely new with us in the Jacobs Institute at Cornell Tech. And I want to recognize Adam Schwartz, the director of that institute.
I also want to acknowledge someone you're going to get to know as members of the New York City community and get to admire, and that is Cornell's president-elect, Elizabeth Garrett, who could not be here today but shares our commitment and your commitment to this project. And starting in just 14 days, she's going to lead Cornell and this campus to even greater tomorrows.
Together, we have set out to reinvent graduate education for the digital age. Faculty and researchers collaborate with colleagues and companies, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations to solve real-life problems. Engineering students work and learn side-by-side with business students and designers, creating startup companies and even new products. At the Jacobs Institute, our collaboration with the Technion, there's a novel program where recent PhD graduates turn research ideas into product-ready prototypes, work with in-residence technologists, and designers, and entrepreneurs, as well as with the broad tech community in New York City. We're creating, with your help and support, a larger and growing pipeline of tech talent here in New York City to help ensure that this city remains the world's capital for ideas.
Of course, none of this would be possible without the extraordinary leadership of a small handful of visionaries, many of whom are here today. First of all, I want to credit-- and I can say this enough or strongly enough-- Michael Bloomberg and his team who put forward the original idea, setting all of this in motion. I want to recognize someone who gave me a lot of guidance along the way and still does to this day, Bob Steel, who at the time was deputy mayor for economic development. Bob, thank you for everything that you've done.
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And although he's not here today, I hope someone will share, and I will share by email, my thank you and recognition of Seth Pinksy who at the time was president.
AUDIENCE: He's here.
DAVID SKORTON: Let me restate that.
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You see, Seth, I asked Steel if you were here. And he said, why would we invite Pinksy? That's actually what he said.
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Anyway, Seth, congratulations for all the things you've done since and for what you did then as president of the New York City Economic Development Corp. I want to thank and recognize Chuck Feeney and Atlantic Philanthropies and their CEO Chris Oechsli--
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--who set us down the path with this $350 million gift that allowed us to get this work started in a big way. The approach of Atlantic Philanthropies and Mr. Feeney has changed the world again and again. And we are grateful and I am grateful that they share our belief in Cornell Tech and in all of Cornell.
In absentia, I want to recognize and thank two other Cornell alumni, Joan and Erwin Jacobs who saw the possibilities in the partnership between Cornell and the Technion and their $133 million dollar gift launched to endow the Jacobs Institute. And, as we all know now as of last night's unbelievable announcement, we now have even another reason to thank Michael Bloomberg. His profound love for this city and his determination to continue enhancing the strengths of which we are so proud, as he did so ably as mayor, have led him to make-- it's an overused word-- a transformative gift to the construction of the Cornell Tech campus.
As you know, in recognition of Bloomberg Philanthropies's gift of $100 million, the first academic building will be named the Bloomberg Center in honor of the mayor's daughters Emma and Georgina. The legacy that you began with a competition and augmented with this tremendous gift, Mr. Mayor, will continue to benefit New York City and its people far into the future. I thank you and we thank you for empowering vision and for incredible generosity.
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We have many other partners and many other people who believe in this project. And with a total so far of $685 million dollars raised philanthropically plus the land plus $100 million in city funds, Cornell Tech is, as you can see, off to a wonderfully strong start. Today, I ask you to think for just a moment with me to imagine not just the buildings that will be built here with our development partners but a new type of place that doesn't exist yet.
Cornell Tech will be an open and collaborative place within each building and across buildings. The campus is not just a supporting player in the university's mission, but the campus itself is an example of a blend of creativity and technology that Dean Huttenlocher and his team seek to nurture. It serves as a physical model, keeping our aspirations in front of us and on track.
The campus is being built to encourage people to connect with each other because that is how discovery happens. We aim not just to produce the next generation of technologists but to inspire people who will have the skills and the confidence to move beyond the everyday familiar. The city of New York gave us an incredible and rare opportunity to build the campus from scratch. And designing this campus is an opportunity for everyone involved. It's a chance to build a new type of place that provides space to think but one that is also intimately integrated in both mission and design integrated with the city itself just like our academic programs are.
And that's not just reflected in the buildings but in the surrounding open spaces which are critical to this effort. The campus-- I hope you have a chance to look at some of the placards-- is laid out as a series of seemingly spontaneous outdoor rooms that create a necklace of green space. The tech walk will guide how people move across this landscape, which will blend seamlessly with the four buildings in phase one.
Cornell Tech will also, be as you've heard, on the cutting edge of sustainability. The sustainable design and engineering on this campus really push the edges of current practice. The first academic building, which I'm proud to now call the Bloomberg Center, when we are successful-- and Mayor de Blasio told me to change "if" to "when"-- will be among the largest net zero buildings in the world, generating all of its own energy on site, designed by the acclaimed Morphosis Architects. The building will be topped by this swooping lily pad shaped roof that will harness solar power.
The first residential building, as you've heard, providing a home for students, and faculty, and staff, will be the first residential high rise in the world built to what you heard as Passive House Standards, which is one of the most cutting edge and efficient ways to build. And Cornell Tech overall will be a focal point and a gathering place, a convening place for the tech community throughout New York. We are breaking down silos, welcoming private companies into the center of the campus, not as an afterthought. Creativity thrives when people with different expertise and perspectives come together, , whether it's in a conference room or at the water cooler. They still are water coolers, right, boss?
Our corporate co-location buildings will put academia and industry together under one single roof, starting with the first co-location building, The Bridge. And I want to thank our partners Forest City Ratner, for the tremendous partnership, and innovation that's making that possible. Thank you.
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I expect these buildings-- not hope but expect-- these buildings to become the most in-demand addresses for companies big and small who want to innovate and be near other innovators. Here we'll see academic researchers working side by side with young startups and establish veteran entrepreneurs. The design of this space will foster the relationship building that is needed to build innovation to market.
The Verizon Executive Education Center, thanks to yet another generous gift, a $50 million gift from Verizon, will be a place for the entire community to gather, a converging place to leverage the impact that this campus has on technology beyond our degree programs. And I want to recognize Lowell McAdam, CEO of Verizon for amazing, amazing--
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And all of this that we're talking about, all of these dreams that are coming true right before your eyes, are happening right in the center of New York City. Roosevelt Island, as you know, runs between the global crossroads that is Manhattan and the growing tech hubs in Brooklyn and Queens. With views of the UN and proximity to the beautiful and inspiring Four Freedoms Park, our host today, our students will constantly be reminded of the importance of social change, of utilizing education to solve problems, and utilizing their privilege to make lives better. We put together the best talent to make this real-- world class architects and planners, developers, builders, and union partners, and they're all listed in your program. Each of these really phenomenal organizations is committed to doing something special for our New York.
It is now my pleasure to introduce our former mayor, a path-breaking philanthropist and the innovative leader whose ambitious vision started so many things, including Cornell Tech. Mayor Bloomberg.
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MICHAEL BLOOMBERG: Good morning, everyone, and thank you, Mr. President. We would not be here without the vision that you and Dean Huttenlocher had for this island and what it could become and also the support from Cornell's chair, Bob Harrison. I love the word "audacious." Thank you very much. I'm going to have to go check my dictionary to make sure it means what I think it does.
Seriously, this was a vision that our team at City Hall shared. And thanks to your leadership and the leadership shown by the Cornell board and your partners at the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, that vision is now coming to life before our very eyes. Now, many people in City Hall, from our City Hall team, deserve enormous credit for today's milestone. But make no mistake about it. Nobody deserves more than Bob Steel. Bob Steel was the one who came up with this idea. It was his idea. Bob Steel was the one that executed along with Seth Pinsky this idea. He did it, and you cannot thank him enough. The impact that he is going to have on this city and on this country for decades is really incalculable. So Bob, on behalf of everybody, thank you.
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They had a lot of help from the teams in City Hall. I can't name everyone involved. But I would be in big trouble if I didn't mention Patti Harris.
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Nothing happened in City Hall without Patti Harris, as you all know. And Renee [? Menshel ?] from the outside, thank you, dear. I also want to thank council member Jessica Lappin who is with us today, and former Manhattan Borough President and now Controller Scott Stringer, and also Former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. They helped the city to win all of the necessary approvals for this project to go forward.
And let me certainly thank my successor, Mayor de Blasio. Bill, you and your administration, thank you for all the support that you have given to this project and keeping it on track and also for your kind words. As we all know, none of these things ever end. They're going to need a lot of support from you and your successors down the road. So we're all in this together. And we should all take great pride in what we've accomplished.
When we announced the Applied Sciences Competition four years ago, I mentioned that over the course of New York's history, many of the city government's best decisions didn't result from an immediate need but in fact from a long-term vision. When the city fathers created street grid back in 1811, there was no need for them to stretch it all the way up to 155th Street, but they did. Because they imagined growth that the rest of us could not see.
The same goes true for construction of the subway system, our biggest parks, and our water network. New York became the greatest city in the world because we dared to dream bigger than anyone else. And this project, I think, is part of that tradition.
We began this project after talking with leaders from every industry about their long-term needs. And what we heard again and again was the demand for engineers and applied sciences is going to grow with each passing year. And so we borrowed a page from the federal government in the 19th century when it then created land grant colleges, one of which was Cornell, to help the US become a global leader in agriculture and industry.
We created our own land grant competition, if you want to think about it that way, to help New York City become the global leader in technological innovation. And the response that we received from universities around the world was overwhelming. None was more impressive than the ones submitted by Cornell University and the Technion. But I do remember being at the Metropolitan Museum of Art where Bob held a reception for those schools that would be interested. And I thought, oh, we'll have two or three. It was standing room only. And he proved to have enormous foresight.
Cornell Tech has been up and running in the Google building, as you know, for more than two years. And thank you Google for providing the space. And as this campus on Roosevelt Island does come to life, we expect it to spin off cutting edge companies that will create billions of dollars in revenue for New York City and create thousands of jobs.
And those jobs won't be just for professors and researchers. They'll be for building workers, office manages, administrative assistants, and many others, the kind of jobs that will expand our middle class and create opportunities for more people to enter it. And just as importantly, the campus will benefit our city's schoolchildren, thanks to the wonderful commitment Cornell has made to improving New York City public schools.
I'm also happy, obviously, to lend my personal support to this project today. As an engineering major in college, it's exciting to think of the classes that will go on here. For the record, I would not have gotten into Cornell Tech. But we'll forgive them for that. As someone who built a tech business, however, here in this city, back before creating a tech startup was cool, it's exciting to think of all the young entrepreneurs who will disrupt industries with innovative new ideas and build companies that will employ thousands of people. And I should also point out that since all of the profits of Bloomberg LP go to the foundation, we should thank all of the customers of Bloomberg around the world who did make this possible.
This project, seriously, also represents so much of what we work to accomplish in City Hall. It will help lay an economic foundation for the next century. It will create jobs and opportunity for New Yorkers on every rung of the economic ladder. It will improve our public schools and universities. It will celebrate great design and public art. And it will benefit all New Yorkers from all backgrounds in all boroughs.
So I'm a big believer in the importance of this project to the city's future, and that's why I was pleased to make a gift to support it in honor my two daughters, Emma and Georgina. When I told Emma and George that I was doing this, much to my amazement, they said, cool. Actually, they said a little bit more. They were thrilled.
This project represents New York City's next chapter, and it's a story that will be written by their generation. I've said before, there is no greater inheritance that I can leave to my daughters than helping to make the world a better place. And that starts right here in their hometown, where are they in turn are devoting their lives to doing the same for my grandchildren. This is a gift to support a brighter future for them, for our whole city, for everyone who grows up here, and for every young person who comes here with a dream just like I did and who falls in love with the possibilities that this city has to offer. Thank you very much.
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DANIEL HUTTENLOCHER: So I'm delighted that I have the opportunity to introduce MaryAnne Gilmartin, president and CEO of Forest City Ratner, who are our development partners on The Bridge, this exciting new building that some people might call an office building. But I'm sure MaryAnne won't.
MARYANNE GILMARTIN: Thank you, Dan. Forest City is proud and privileged to be here today. First, a sincere thank you to Mayor Bloomberg and President Skorton for their big thinking and bold vision. We wouldn't be here today without their leadership and their fearlessness. The great book end to vision is, of course, execution. Thank you to Mayor de Blasio for your administration's steadfast stewardship and support as we execute on our developer responsibilities here at Cornell Tech
Today is a great milestone events for all of us in New York as Cornell tech marks the creation of a new kind of neighborhood, a new kind of campus, and a new kind of paradigm for place making in our city. Ladies and gentlemen, it is with great pride that we introduce you today to The Bridge at Cornell, where under a single roof, amongst thousands of bright minds, a million new ideas will be launched and harvested.
Exquisitely designed to encourage and embrace connectivity, The Bridge will link academics to enterprise, students to entrepreneurs, thinkers with doers. And these connections will drive spontaneous and random interactions as well as the deeper, more deliberate collaborations to spark the type of blue sky thinking emerging technologies and daring new products that drive innovation.
Reimagining the 21st century workplace could only be possible with the kind of connections that happened with great partnership. And today, I salute three important ones-- to Dean Dan Huttenlocher and his amazing Cornell team, to brilliant architects Marion Weiss and Michael Manfredi and last but never least Bruce Ratner and Kate Bicknell, Bob Saada, and this tenacious and talented team at Forest City Ratner companies. Thank you all for believing that we can change the world one building at a time.
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DANIEL HUTTENLOCHER: And next we're going to hear from David Kramer from Hudson Companies, developing that amazing new residential building that we've been hearing so much about.
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DAVID KRAMER: Home stretch. It's a joy to be the last speaker on a humid day. It may be a good day for solar power, but the dermatological association has asked me to make this brief. It's great to be here at Cornell with our two great mayors to celebrate this exciting campus. When Hudson first sat down with Cornell to envision the residential building two years ago, the direction from Dean Kleinman of the architecture school was to think outside the box. He said, this is a campus that is going to honor innovation. In other words, let's not come up with some vanilla apartment building.
So while the developers' playbook usually prefer safe to experimental, we took on the challenge, hoping to offer up a game changer in residential housing. In the past, Hudson had tiptoed up to the line of Passive House Construction only to retreat at the last second. And Passive House is the most rigorous global certification program for energy savings with actual results reducing energy use by 60% to 70% and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
All we have to do in this building is limit energy use to a mere 38.1 kiloBTU per square foot per year, 38.1. Huh. What are typical buildings, I asked. More like 138.1. I wondered allowed in an early meeting, a passive house high rise building-- has anyone attempted such a thing? Our consultants mentioned to me that a new Passive House high rise building had just been completed in Vienna. Vienna, I'm going to actually be there with my family next month on vacation. I'll go check it out.
Well, Austria had Passive House dorms, Passive House offices, and thousands of Passive House buildings, all in the name of energy savings for the entire country. So it was time to replicate this across the pond. This project has been the focus of an insane amount of work over the past two years. Now we don't call it a dormitory, since it will house faculty, PhDs, and masters students, what I would call our team a sorority. The key players who have worked on this project tirelessly every day are fierce, focused, and feminine.
Arianna Sacks Rosenberg and Sally [? Gallan ?] from Hudson, Jen Klein from Cornell, Deborah Moelis from Handel Architects, Lois from Stephen Winter Associates, Jen [? Zee ?] from [? Vadaras, ?] and Julie Janiski from BuroHappold, you are responsible for this project. Please stand up for some well-earned acknowledgement.
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By the way, quickly, speaking of sororities, let's give a shout out to the heart and soul of Roosevelt Island over the last 35 years, Judy Berdy.
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There are few token guys that also made this happen, from Alan Hattler and Andrew Attaro at Hudson, Greg [? Bowso ?] and Alex [? Yellazarovich ?] at [INAUDIBLE], our designer Blake Middleton from Handel Architects, and our Passive House secret weapon Luke Falk from Related. Every day over the past two years, we asked ourselves the questions, will this work? Will it work in 20 years? Can we afford it? Doesn't make sense? And the answer is a resounding yes.
In 26 short months, we will have a big, beautiful, innovative building to prove it for 502 students and two floors of faculty apartments. Finally, I should say that those of us on the [? Res E ?] team, we're a little competitive. Early on when talking about all the other buildings, FAB, CUP, COLO, we noticed everyone else had an acronym. So on behalf of the entire residential team, including Hudson's capital partners at Catamount, we look forward to building the Passive House Residential Academic Tower, or PHRAT house. Thank you very much.
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DANIEL HUTTENLOCHER: So it really is humbling. You can see the amazing team up here on stage of people who are supporting this project. And have the privilege of leading this campus is something that I take very seriously and humbles me every day. Thank you all so much for being here today and sharing this with us. It's been tremendous having you here.
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On Roosevelt Island, with the Manhattan skyline in the background, Cornell Tech announced a $100 million gift from Bloomberg Philanthropies to help fund construction of the campus. The announcement was made during a June 16, 2015 event marking the groundbreaking for the Cornell Tech campus.
Speakers: Cornell Tech Dean Daniel Huttenlocher; New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio; Cornell Board of Trustees Chairman Robert Harrison '76; New York Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul; New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito; Cornell President David Skorton; Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg; Forest City Ratner Companies President and CEO MaryAnne Gilmartin; and Hudson Companies Principal David Kramer.
