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By Tapan Parikh, Associate Professor

Last week I attended Cornell Tech’s star-studded gala opening on Roosevelt Island in New York City — including speeches by governor Andrew Cuomo, mayor Bill De Blasio and former mayor Michael Bloomberg who was instrumental in envisioning this institution and funding some part of it, as well as our very own Dean Dan Huttenlocher, who was instrumental for just about everything else. While there was much discussion of Cornell Tech’s anticipated role in supporting innovation and economic development in the city, as well as building a more diverse and socially aware technology workforce through our graduate and K-12 education programs, I was particularly inspired by how Cornell was often referred to as New York’s land grant university, especially by Cornell University’s President, Martha Pollack, and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Robert Harrison.

Land grant universities, established by the Morrill Act of 1862 (signed by Abraham Lincoln), were originally intended to focus on the dissemination of practical technical skills (in that time, focused on agriculture, military tactics and mechanic arts) for working class students in the context of a liberal arts education, as one response to economic development and the resulting changes in class structure and social dynamics. Remembering this history is particularly relevant for Cornell Tech — which was similarly established with a land grant, with the explicit intent of diversifying the city’s economy and making it more resilient in the face of technological and social change.

One important role for land grant universities is in the provision of cooperative extension services, as established by the Smith-Lever Act of 1914. Cooperative extension is, according to Wikipedia, “a non-formal educational program… designed to help people use research-based knowledge to improve their lives”. Historically, cooperative extension has focused on agriculture, but is now also applied in other areas such as urban planning and youth and community development. The idea is that not only can people benefit from better access to expert knowledge and advice, but that research itself might also benefit from being more directly connected to the lives and concerns of the people that it intends to serve.

What could the idea of cooperative extension mean for technology research in general and Cornell Tech specifically— with its location in the heart (well, almost) of New York city? This question is directly relevant for my Fall semester course, ambitiously titled Remaking the City. This service learning course partners teams of Masters students (from across the Information Science, Computer Science, MBA and Operations Research programs), with organizations across Roosevelt Island, to do User Experience (UX) research projects that seek to both provide direct and tangible benefits to each organization and the community that it serves, as well as to create future technology visions that can help guide their strategy and goals with regard to technology.

The list of organizations that we are working with in the first semester of this course is as purposeful as it is diverse and fascinating — including the local garden club, senior center, art gallery, theatre, historical society and physicians’ office, as well as the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (aka RIOC)— the administrative entity in charge of all island planning, infrastructure, transportation, land use, etc. Historically, larger-scale organizations and businesses have dominated technology research and adoption, reaping most of the benefits thereof. While there have been some research areas that have tried to focus on the needs of smaller, less-well served organizations and individuals (for example, in the developing world), to my knowledge there has been no systematic effort to study the design, role and implementation of technological solutions in these organizations — including governments, schools, non-profits and businesses.

In our class, the organizations we work with are small (often very small, including being completely volunteer-driven), but deliver essential social, cultural, environmental and economic services to the community. They are also fundamentally constrained in their technology and management capacity, limiting their ability to deliver services effectively and to make them available to more people. What are the core technology challenges facing such organizations? How can technology support furthering their organizational mission? What kinds of shared technology services, infrastructure and products might improve their ability to do so in a sustainable manner? These are just some of the very interesting research questions being raised by the class, and the students within it.

Many students in the class are also motivated by the desire to build personal relationships with the people and places of this beautiful island. This spirit was most evident during the opening reception for the class, held at the RIVAA gallery, where students met community members and potential partners over snacks and drinks. More recently, Judy Berdy of the Roosevelt Island Historical Society led a walking tour of the island during which she was able to share her voluminous knowledge of the island and its history, with the students in rapt attention trying to keep up, physically and intellectually. What was most exciting about both of these events were the new connections being made between technologists, and the organizations, people and places that their technology could serve.

One question that has come up repeatedly during these interactions is the question of sustainability. This is also a question facing the entire technology industry, as pundits and policy makers discuss and debate the impact that technology has on people’s lives and societies. As students build these relationships on the island, they want to make sure that the solutions they envision or build are meaningful and provide lasting value. In ten years of teaching design courses, I have never had a class that was as reflective of its own design practice, and in the sustainability of the solutions and relationships that are being created through it. No doubt this is due to the calibre and commitment of the Cornell Tech student body, as well as the incredible warmth with which they have been received by the Roosevelt Island community, which itself speaks to the incredible work done by people like Jane Swanson, Diane Levitt and Meg Ray in building relationships with the people and organizations of this island. Jane was especially helpful for this class in sourcing the list of organizations that we are working with this semester, and in helping navigate the many meetings and decisions that it took to get this class to happen.

In class, we have discussed several ways of achieving sustainability in our projects. One interesting idea came from a student in the class, Trishala Neeraj. Trish said that what could really sustain these projects are the relationships we are building as technologists, directly with the people and organizations that could benefit from our work. I found this to be a profound and deep statement, and one that brings me back to the idea of cooperative extension. People like Jane, Diane and Meg play an absolutely essential role in making sure that the research that we do here is meaningful and relevant to this city’s people and their lives, through the relationships and partnerships they build with outside organizations and individuals. Students like Trisha are interested not only in becoming better technologists, but also in find ways that directly serve people and communities through the use of technology.

As an institution, what can we do to better support these kinds of students and activities? What if it were not only technology that we embed in the everyday fabric of our social, urban lives, but living, breathing technologists that reside in our communities and directly contribute to the lives and livelihoods of its members? If this were true, could technology increase not only productivity of our economies, but also the resilience of our communities? These are just some of the questions that I hope we can address within the grand experiment that is Cornell Tech.

Originally published on Medium.

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Facade of the Bloomberg Center at night
Ceiling of the Bloomberg Center, featuring Cornell Tech Mag by Michael Riedel
Everything that Rises Must Converge by Matthew Ritchie
Ordinary Objects of Extraordinary Beauty by Matthew Day Jackson
Abstraction by Ilya Bolotowsky
Reclamation by Alison Elizabeth Taylor

The Emma and Georgina Bloomberg Center is the academic hub of the Cornell Tech campus. Photo credit: Iwan Baan.

“Cornell Tech Mag” by Michael Riedel. Located on the cafe ceiling and table tops, Riedel’s striking, black-and-white graphic imagery started with the first four volumes of Donald Knuth’s landmark publication, “Th Art of Computer Programming.”

“Everything that Rises Must Converge” by Matthew Ritchie. Located in the four-story atrium just beyond the main entrance, Ritchie considers his work to be a way to encourage Cornell Tech students and faculty to view their research as part of the larger human project.

“Ordinary Objects of Extraordinary Beauty” by Matthew Day Jackson. Located in a second floor meeting room, this collection of found objects creates a space that reflects the physical world beyond the institution.

“Abstraction” by Ilya Bolotowsky. This 50-foot-long mural was originally commissions by the U.S. government’s Federal arts Project under the Works Progress Administration (WPA/FPA). It was one of four abstract paintings created for the common rooms in the Goldwater Hospital complex which previously stood on the site of the Cornell Tech campus.

“Reclamation” by Alison Elizabeth Taylor. Located in a fourth floor meeting room, this work represents the continual churn of the cycle between nature and human endeavor.

Art is an integral component of the Cornell Tech campus, including rescued and restored WPA-era murals and brand new site-specific art commissions at The Emma and Georgina Bloomberg Center

Cornell Tech is reinventing graduate research and education focused on digital technologies and their impact on individuals, society and the economy

NEW YORK CITY – Cornell Tech today celebrated the official opening of its campus on Roosevelt Island with a dedication event attended by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, former mayor Michael Bloomberg, Cornell University President Martha Pollack, Technion President Peretz Lavie and Cornell Tech Dean Daniel Huttenlocher. Cornell Tech is the first campus ever built for the digital age, bringing together academia and industry to create pioneering leaders and transformational new research, products, companies and social ventures. An integral component of the campus is art, including restored WPA-era historic murals from the Goldwater Memorial Hospital previously on the site and original site-specific commissions at The Emma and Georgina Bloomberg Center, chosen and curated by Bloomberg Philanthropies. Today marks the opening of the first phase of Cornell Tech’s Roosevelt Island campus, which features some of the most environmentally friendly and energy efficient buildings in the world.

“Cornell Tech’s Roosevelt Island campus marks a new era for tech in New York. Our campus was designed to facilitate collaboration and innovation at every turn, and our art program is a key component to that. Working with our partners at Bloomberg Philanthropies, we have curated a series of works by incredible artists to spark inspiration and creativity for our students and faculty, and add another public amenity to our campus,” said Dan Huttenlocher, Dean of Cornell Tech.

“We work to put art at the heart of all our spaces – and the Bloomberg Center is no different. The art program for this building was developed to complement the center’s mission as a place of discovery, and to build on Cornell Tech’s culture of innovation. Throughout the center, art installations are integrated into functional rooms, bringing inspiration from renowned artists to everyone on campus. We could not be more thrilled to see architect Thom Mayne’s vision become a reality for the next generation of tech leaders and innovators,” said Patti Harris, Chief Executive Officer of Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Carefully planned to respond to the building’s distinctive architecture designed by Morphosis Architects, five unique artists’ initiatives weave through the building – creating immersive, memorable spaces that expand on the culture of Cornell Tech.

“Art inspires creativity and sparks dialogue, and so it is very fitting for art to have such prominence in a building that, at its core, is designed to catalyze new ways of thinking,” said Thom Mayne, Founder and Design Director of Morphosis Architects. “From the earliest days of the design process for the Bloomberg Center, we worked very closely with Bloomberg Philanthropies to ensure that the art would have the greatest impact possible and that the art-in-architecture would merge into a singular collaborative act.”

Two of the art installations envelop major gathering spaces in the building. Works by artists Michael Riedel and Matthew Ritchie define the character of the expansive, ground floor public cafe (Riedel) and the glass-enclosed atrium at the building’s entry (Ritchie). In contrast, the remaining three works are deliberately self-contained and handcrafted as “discovery rooms” for small meetings and gatherings.

The inspiration to create unexpected destinations within the building began with the rescue and repurposing of three 50-foot long murals, originally commissioned as part of the U.S. government’s Federal Arts Project under the Works Progress Administration (WPA/FAP) for Goldwater Memorial Hospital, which previously stood on the Cornell site. One of these historic paintings, by Ilya Bolotowsky (1907 – 1981), has been installed in a custom designed, circular room in the Bloomberg Center. Expanding on this idea, two accomplished artists of the current generation, Matthew Day Jackson and Alison Elizabeth Taylor, have each created strikingly different rooms that add to the adventurous spirit of the building.

A second WPA-era mural by Albert Swinden is located in The Bridge building on campus, with the third to be installed in a later phase. Cornell Tech will be offering public tours of the art inside the buildings.

“By bringing academia and industry together under one roof at The Bridge, we are driving innovation and economic growth for New York,” said MaryAnne Gilmartin, President and CEO of Forest City New York. “The Bridge is welcoming an incredible mix of companies who want to have access to and work with some of the top tech talent New York City has to offer. We are thrilled to have one of the historic WPA-era murals featured in student study space at The Bridge, helping to drive creativity as they work collaboratively to develop new ideas, companies and products.”

“We located this important mural by Albert Swinden in a very visible location with the hope that this significant part of Roosevelt Island’s past will continue to inspire Cornell Tech’s future,” said Marion Weiss and Michael Manfredi, co-founders of WEISS/MANFREDI.

 

Art at Cornell Tech

The Bloomberg Center: Ground Floor Cafe Ceiling and Table Tops

Artist: Michael Riedel

Cornell Tech Mag (inkjet print on acoustic ceiling panels, silkscreen on table tops)

Michael Riedel frequently creates new work from existing materials, often altering, recombining or redacting found images and texts. For The Bloomberg Center he has addressed the building’s expansive, south and west-facing public cafe: the tops of its nearly fifty tables and the entire surface of the entry and cafe ceiling, occupying approximately 5,000 square feet. The building’s most accessible space, the cafe is open on a daily basis to the public. Riedel devised his striking, black-and-white graphic imagery by starting with the first four volumes of Donald Knuth’s landmark publication, begun in 1962: The Art of Computer Programming. The artist then proceeded to rearrange this massive text into alphabetical order, highlighting the letters “o” and “l”. The large black circles that periodically punctuate the entire ceiling indicate the break between alphabetical sections.

The Bloomberg Center: Ground through Fourth Floors Entry Atrium

Artist: Matthew Ritchie

Everything that Rises Must Converge (resin, glass and ink)

Matthew Ritchie’s contribution to The Bloomberg Center occupies the four-story atrium just beyond the main entrance. It engages a towering, opaque wall as well as the three glass walls that encircle it and encompasses a generous stairway leading from the building’s first to second floor. Powerful at close range, impactful views of Ritchie’s work are also framed in unexpected ways as one circulates through the upper floors. Ritchie considers his work for The Bloomberg Center a way to encourage Cornell Tech students and faculty to view their own research as part of the larger human project. The installation weaves together painterly gestures, flowing, linear drawing and a network of symbols and notations culled from the history of science, mathematics and technology. These layers of imagery can be correlated with systems of thought and the creative process. To integrate these ideas into the building’s architecture, the graphic language emanates from the monumental opaque wall that rises behind the stair and extends outwards, more subtly, on to the adjacent glass walls of the four-story space.

 

The Bloomberg Center: Second Floor Discovery Room

Artist: Matthew Day Jackson

Ordinary Objects of Extraordinary Beauty (found objects mounted on artist’s shelves)

Matthew Day Jackson has transformed one of the building’s small meeting rooms into something that might be experienced as a very personal and imaginative laboratory or collector’s cabinet. The room is trapezoidal in plan, and its unconventional format contributes to its unexpected presence. Ninety objects, both natural and man-made, appear to float elegantly above four rows of stainless steel shelves that wrap around the walls. In the broad context of the technology-focused The Bloomberg Center, the artist has created a space that reflects on the physical world beyond the institution

 

The Bloomberg Center: Third Floor Discovery Room

Artist: Ilya Bolotowsky

Abstraction (oil on canvas) 1941

Collection of the City of New York

Originally commissioned under the legendary WPA, Bolotowsky’s 50-foot long mural was one of four abstract paintings that graced the walls of the common day rooms in the hospital complex that previously stood on the site of the Cornell Tech campus. He created his mural to conform to the dimensions and layout of the door, windows and curved walls of its original setting. Already an accomplished painter, Bolotowsky began working on this commission in 1939, carefully devising his composition of reduced, geometric forms and a delicate balance of what he often described as ‘pure’ colors. Determined not to imitate or refer to the observable world, he was an idealist, declaring his pursuit of “an art that searches for new ways to achieve harmony and equilibrium.” The 3rd floor room that now houses Bolotowsky’s Abstraction was carefully devised by Morphosis architects to emulate the shape, scale and original features of the mural’s first home. The most recent conservation of the mural was undertaken by Fine Art Conservation Group.

The Bloomberg Center: Fourth Floor Discovery Room

Artist: Alison Elizabeth Taylor

Reclamation (wood veneer marquetry and paint)

The winding itinerary of unexpected spaces within the building continues at the northern end of the 4th floor, with a small room taken over by Brooklyn-based artist Alison Elizabeth Taylor. Created entirely through a labor-intensive process of arranging precisely cut and painted inlaid woods, Taylor has adopted the traditional technique of marquetry to create a panoramic interior. Decorative and scenographic marquetry has roots stretching back to ancient Egypt, regaining popularity in Europe from the 13th to the 18th centuries. In Taylor’s hands, this historical technique has been revived and refocused to explore imagery that address a contemporary audience and lyrically alludes to an imagined history of the campus site in a pre-industrial era. As expressed by the artist: “The continual churn of the cycle between nature and human endeavor stands at the core of this work.” The imagery was informed by Taylor’s research of historical furniture in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum as well as visits to abandoned houses and uninhabited locations in New York, primarily North Brother Island in the Bronx.

The Bridge: Second Floor Studio Space

Artist: Albert Swinden

Abstraction (oil on canvas)

Collection of the City of New York

This 1942 50-foot long mural was originally commissioned as part of the U.S. government’s Federal Arts Project under the legendary Works Progress Administration (WPA/FAP) for Welfare Hospital for Chronic Diseases, later renamed Goldwater Memorial Hospital. It was one of four abstract paintings created to grace the walls of the common day rooms in the hospital complex that previously stood on the site of the Cornell Tech campus. Swinden was part of the group that formed the Abstract American Artists— a group still active today—in 1937, that played an important role in the mural projects of the WPA/FAP. Adhering to the principle of comfort for the community, the murals at Goldwater were installed facing large curved windows above rail height, comfortable placement for those in wheelchairs and allowed space for chairs and tables to be set against the walls without damaging the murals The forms in the Goldwater mural offered a quiet respite for patients seeking solace. Swinden was included in many prestigious exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim, and the Whitney, but a fateful fire in his studio in the early 1940s destroyed most of his early work. The mural was uncovered and restored by EverGreene Architectural Arts.

The Bloomberg Center Art Selection Committee and Process

Art at The Bloomberg Center was guided by a committee that included: Patricia E. Harris, Chief Executive Officer, Bloomberg Philanthropies; Daniel Huttenlocher, Dean and Vice Provost, Cornell Tech; Kent Kleinman, Gale and Ira Drukier Dean of the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, Cornell University; Thom Mayne, Founder and Design Director, Morphosis Architects; Ronay Menschel Trustee Emerita, Cornell University and Chairperson, Phipps Houses; Greg Pass, Chief Entrepreneurial Officer, Cornell Tech; and Stephanie L. Wiles, Richard J. Schwartz Director, the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University.

The process was led by Andrew Winters, Senior Director of Capital Projects, Cornell Tech and Nancy Rosen, Principal, Nancy Rosen Incorporated in collaboration with Ung-Joo Scott Lee, Project Principal, Morphosis Architects.

Cornell Tech Campus

Cornell Tech’s mission of collaboration and innovation is reflected in the physical design of its Roosevelt Island campus. It is a new type of urban campus that provides space to think, but is also integrated—in both mission and design—with the city. The campus master plan was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and includes a number of innovative features and facilities across a river-to-river campus with expansive views, a series of green, public spaces and a seamless integration of indoor and outdoor areas. The campus has some of the most environmentally friendly and energy efficient buildings in the world, and world-class open space designed by James Corner Field Operations. The three buildings opening today are:

●The Emma and Georgina Bloomberg Center is the first academic building on campus. Cornell University received a $100 million gift from Bloomberg Philanthropies in 2014 for the campus.. Designed by Morphosis Architects under the direction of Pritzker Prize-winner Thom Mayne and Principal Ung-Joo Scott Lee, the building is a departure from traditional academic facilities with an open plan and extensive collaborative spaces. Cornell is aspiring for the building to be among the largest net-zero energy buildings in the United States, with all of its power generated on campus.

●The Bridge, designed by Weiss/Manfredi and developed by Forest City New York, is a first-of-its-kind building that houses an extraordinary mix of cutting-edge companies working alongside groundbreaking Cornell academic teams: from recent Cornell Tech graduates hustling to commercialize a new idea, to start-ups on the verge of explosive growth and established companies developing leading edge technologies and products.

●The House, designed by Handel Architects and developed by Hudson and Related Companies, is the tallest and largest residential Passive House high-rise in the world, the strict international building standard that drastically reduces energy consumption. Cornell faculty, staff and students live at The House, giving the campus 24/7 activity.

Later this fall, Cornell Tech will begin construction on the Verizon Executive Education Center and Graduate Roosevelt Island Hotel, targeted for opening in 2019, providing a venue for academic conferences, executive programs and academic workshops.

When fully completed over the next few decades, the 12-acre campus will be home to more than 2,000 graduate students, hundreds of faculty and staff, and thousands of private sector leaders in digital technology.

About Cornell Tech

Cornell Tech brings together faculty, business leaders, tech entrepreneurs and students in a catalytic environment to produce visionary results grounded in significant needs that will reinvent the way we live in the digital age. The Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute embodies the academic partnership between the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and Cornell University on the Cornell Tech campus.

From 2012-2017, the campus was temporarily located in Google’s New York City building. In fall 2017, 30 world-class faculty and about 300 graduate students moved to the first phase of Cornell Tech’s permanent campus on Roosevelt Island, continuing to conduct groundbreaking research, collaborate extensively with tech-oriented companies and organizations and pursue their own startups. When fully completed, the campus will include two million square feet of state-of-the-art buildings, over two acres of open space, and will be home to more than 2,000 graduate students and hundreds of faculty and staff.

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The New York Times details the new Cornell Tech campus:

Roosevelt Island, the skinny, two-mile-long strip of land between Manhattan and Queens in the East River, has been home to a prison, a lunatic asylum, a smallpox hospital and a workhouse, among other institutions.

It now adds high-tech university to that list, as the Cornell Tech campus is set to be dedicated on Wednesday, marking the opening of the technology-focused graduate school, which officials hope will encourage the growth of the New York City tech sector.

The campus was born of a 2010 competition started by the Bloomberg administration, which invited top-flight universities to compete to open an applied-science graduate center. Cornell University and its partner, the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, were declared the winners and awarded $100 million along with a stretch of city-owned land on Roosevelt Island.

“High-tech companies and new, small companies that will be the next big companies, they tend to be created where the founders go to school,” the former mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said in an interview. “You see that in Silicon Valley. Here was a chance to get a bunch of people educated and create the economy of the future for New York City.” 

Read the full article on The New York Times.

Photo credit: Benjamin Norman for The New York Times

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Cornell Tech celebrates the official opening of its campus on Roosevelt Island with a video about the mission and vision of the first campus ever built for the digital age.

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NEW YORK CITY – Cornell Tech today celebrated the official opening of its campus on Roosevelt Island with a dedication event attended by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, former Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Cornell University President Martha Pollack, Technion President Peretz Lavie and Cornell Tech Dean Daniel Huttenlocher. Cornell Tech is the first campus ever built for the digital age, bringing together academia and industry to create pioneering leaders and transformational new research, products, companies and social ventures. Today marks the opening of the first phase of the Roosevelt Island campus, which features some of the most environmentally friendly and energy-efficient buildings in the world.

In 2011, Cornell Tech was named the winner of Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s Administration’s visionary Applied Sciences Competition, designed with the goal of diversifying the economy and creating a national hub for tech. The project, managed by the City’s Economic Development Corporation, has been carried forward by the de Blasio administration, with the campus breaking ground in 2015. The City estimated in 2011 that the new campus would generate up to 8,000 permanent jobs, hundreds of spin-off companies and more than $23 billion in economic activity over a period of 35 years. The campus is built on 12 acres of City land.

“With the opening of Cornell Tech, Cornell University, in partnership with the Technion, is defining a new model for graduate education — a model that melds cutting-edge research and education with entrepreneurship and real world application,” said Cornell University President Martha E. Pollack. “We are so grateful to the City of New York for offering us a chance to launch this venture, to the many other partners who have helped bring us to this day, and to Mayor de Blasio and his administration for their continued commitment and support. Today marks the beginning of a new era of opportunity not only for Cornell and the tech campus, but also for New York City, the state and the world.”

“Today’s Cornell Tech campus opening marks the beginning of a new chapter in the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute’s ongoing work to foster innovation in New York and beyond,” said Professor Peretz Lavie, President of Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. “In partnership with Cornell, we’ve developed a model of graduate-level technology education that is unlike any other – one that’s tailor-made not only for New York City but for the challenges of the digital revolution.”

“Thanks to our investments to foster key industries, create good-paying jobs, and attract top talent, New York is the center of the world for finance, advertising, media, the arts and international commerce, but we are still building our reputation as an internationally-recognized hub of cutting-edge science and technology. By harnessing the engineering expertise of Cornell and the entrepreneurial spirit of Technion, Cornell Tech’s new campus will strengthen New York’s future competitiveness and produce innovations that will change the world,” said Governor Andrew Cuomo.

“As we work to keep New York City a leader in the 21st Century economy, we celebrate the opening of the Cornell Tech campus and the opportunities it opens up for our city and our people. I am proud to welcome our newest leading educational institution, which will become a tremendous catalyst for our tech sector. We won’t stop here. Through Computer Science for All, the Tech Talent Pipeline and the new Union Square Tech Hub, we are building on the progress Mayor Bloomberg set in motion, and helping more New Yorkers become a part of this extraordinary success story,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio.

“Cornell Tech is an investment in the future of New York City — a future that belongs to the generations to come, and the students here will help build it. Technological innovation played a central role in New York City becoming a global economic capital – and it must continue to play a central role for New York to remain a global economic capital. The companies and innovations spawned by Cornell Tech graduates will generate jobs for people across the economic spectrum and help our city compete with tech centers around the world, from Silicon Valley to Seoul,” said Mike Bloomberg.

“I’m thrilled that the Cornell Tech campus is finally opening on Roosevelt Island,” said Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney.“With its proximity to Manhattan and to industrial space in Western Queens, Roosevelt Island is the perfect setting for an educational institution, which is which is why I worked hard to ensure that it was selected when the City was considering locations for the new applied science campus. Cornell Tech will help us diversify our economic base and bring jobs through new startups. A New York school generates New York businesses and employs New Yorkers. As students are welcomed to the new campus, we know this is just the beginning – and that the future for this institution will be bright.”

“Cornell Tech will create the leaders of tomorrow, bringing the brightest minds in the field of technology to Roosevelt Island. The digital age has not only improved the efficiency and productivity at the workplace, but created competitive high-paying salaries and stable jobs that keep overall unemployment rates lower. Cornell Tech is ahead of the curve by providing academic programs and training that will make this a world-renowned institution,” said Assembly Member Rebecca A. Seawright.

“The new Cornell Tech campus is a wonderful addition to Roosevelt Island and will continue to propel New York City as a leader in technology and innovation. Not only will this state of the art campus generate thousands of permanent jobs and billions of dollars in economic activity over the next 30 years, but is also environmentally friendly and energy efficient. Many thanks to Cornell Tech and all of my colleagues in government and on Roosevelt Island that helped to complete this special project,” said New York State Senator José M. Serrano.

“This milestone is a game-changer – and this campus is a New York City gem. As it prepares students for jobs of the future today, Cornell Tech will keep our city competitive in emerging industries tomorrow. This transformative project truly cements New York City as a global tech hub, and it illustrates what happens when government, academia, and industry all work together. Every stakeholder in this project should be exceptionally proud,” said Comptroller Scott M. Stringer.

“As our world becomes more tech-centered, the Cornell Tech campus will allow New York City to be at the heart of the innovation, leadership — and most importantly, jobs — in this space. This campus will bring academics, research and business together and educate the bright minds of our future. I look forward to seeing all that Cornell Tech has to offer our City, and to working with Cornell Tech to ensure that New Yorkers from every corner of our City benefit from this world-class institution,” said Public Advocate Letitia James.

“Cornell Tech is a tremendous boost to New York’s growing tech community and a welcome addition to our city’s pantheon of world-class academic institutions,” said Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer. “It’s been thrilling to watch the campus’ buildings rise on Roosevelt Island and to see the community partnerships this institution has already made possible.”

“The dedication of the Cornell Tech campus is an incredible achievement for New York City that has been almost seven years in the making,” said New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito. “Not only does the addition of this institution enhance an already impressive slate of educational offerings, but its presence brings New York City’s drive for innovation to the cutting edge. I look forward to the thousands of students and faculty who will bring their research and insights to the five boroughs, and I am proud of the partnership between Cornell, the Technion Israel Institute of Technology and the New York City Council that saw about $300,000 allocated toward making this dream a reality.”

 

“The opening of Cornell Tech on Roosevelt Island is a victory for Western Queens and New York City that will create jobs and reassert the region as a global leader in tech and innovation,” said City Council Majority Leader Jimmy Van Bramer. “Just one stop on the F train to Western Queens, the proximity of the new campus and tech incubator to Western Queens will be beneficial for the people of my district and for the students of Cornell Tech looking to start new businesses. With unmatched resources for small businesses, including a diverse and talented workforce, Long Island City will be a natural place for new tech businesses to call home, develop breakthroughs, and create jobs. I thank all involved in this historic project for their good work and look forward to working closely with our new neighbor, Cornell Tech.”

“Tech now has a new home in New York City on Roosevelt Island at Cornell Tech. We are growing jobs and educating the next leaders of the tech economy right here on Roosevelt Island so the next big thing in tech will be ‘Made in New York,” said City Council Member Ben Kallos, a tech entrepreneur. “Welcome to Cornell Tech, Dean Dan Huttenlocher and thank you to former Mayor Michael Bloomberg for the vision, Mayor de Blasio and RIOC President Susan Rosenthal for making it happen, and the Roosevelt Island community for being a part of this every step of the way. I look forward to working with Cornell Tech on bringing millions in investment to growing companies on Roosevelt Island and in New York City.”

Academic Program & Research

Cornell Tech started up in a temporary space generously provided by Google and has already graduated more than 300 masters and doctoral students, with most entering the New York City tech sector after graduation by joining local companies or starting their own. Masters students across all programs — computer science, law, business, electrical engineering, operations research, connective media and health tech — spend time learning and working collaboratively together in a Studio curriculum with extensive engagement with the tech industry. The projects students pursue in the Studio encourage them to practice entrepreneurship, product design, tech and public policy, management and other skills, helping them graduate with tangible, marketable experience and a portfolio of completed work that will help launch their career.

Cornell Tech’s 30-member faculty has launched cutting-edge research groups in the areas of Human-Computer Interaction and Social Computing, Security and Privacy, Artificial Intelligence, Data and Modeling, and Business, Law and Policy. All of the faculty have a focus on applied research and having a real world impact.

“We are entering a new era for tech in New York, and the Cornell Tech campus is at the heart of it. Cornell Tech was given the rare opportunity to create a campus and academic program from scratch. The opening of our new campus brings together academic disciplines critical to the digital transformation of society and the economy, together with companies, early stage investors, and government to spark innovation and help improve the lives of people throughout the City, country and world,” said Cornell Tech Dean Daniel Huttenlocher.

“Cornell Tech is a natural 21st-century expression of Cornell University’s founding principles,” said Robert S. Harrison, chairman of the Cornell University Board of Trustees. “The new campus is both completely transformative – and completely consistent with our values and our mission to pursue knowledge with a public purpose. While Ithaca remains the heart of the university, we serve New Yorkers through outreach and engagement in all 62 counties of New York state and have been deeply integrated in New York City for more than a century. The innovative programs at Cornell Tech affirm our institution’s vision, enhance our land-grant mission, and reflect the spirit of all Cornellians.”

The Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech is a unique academic partnership of two leading global universities, the Technion Israel Institute of Technology and Cornell. The Institute houses the Health Tech and Connective Media programs, where students receive dual degrees from Cornell and the Technion, and the Jacobs Runway Startup Postdoc program for recent tech PhDs. The Runway program has been responsible for about half of the more than 30 companies that have spun out of the Cornell Tech campus with more than $20 million in funds raised and employing more than 100 people.

“The Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute is a cornerstone of Cornell Tech, combining Cornell’s commitment to discovery with Technion’s global leadership in applied research and entrepreneurship. From our dual masters degree programs, to our groundbreaking faculty research, to the innovative companies spinning out of the Jacobs Runway Startup Postdoc program, our partnership and impact will grow on our new campus. Through the Jacobs Institute, Cornell Tech and New York City as a whole will always be on the leading edge, experimenting with novel ways to educate, discover, and innovate,” said Ron Brachman, Director of the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute.

“By steering students through Cornell Tech, and its soon-to-come Verizon Executive Education Center, we can build students and business people into lifelong learners and inspire them to be more innovative and impactful leaders. Our investment in Cornell Tech, is a testament of our belief that technology can be a transforming force in our society. This unique institution will be a model for the future and a shining example of how to solve big challenges and make people’s lives better,” said Lowell McAdam, Chairman and CEO of Verizon.

“Even without a permanent campus, Cornell Tech has already established a proven track record of developing innovative companies and top tier talent here in New York City. Now in its beautiful new home on Roosevelt Island, Cornell Tech immediately establishes itself as one of New York’s premier tech institutions—helping us attract and retain the technical talent and companies our industry needs to grow and thrive,” said Julie Samuels, Executive Director of Tech:NYC.

Campus

Cornell Tech’s mission of collaboration and innovation is reflected in the physical design of its Roosevelt Island campus. It is a new type of urban campus that provides space to think, but is also integrated—in both mission and design—with the city. The campus master plan was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and includes a number of innovative features and facilities across a river-to-river campus with expansive views, a series of green, public spaces and a seamless integration of indoor and outdoor areas. The campus has some of the most environmentally friendly and energy efficient buildings in the world.

“We felt strongly that the framework should stimulate invention — both architectural and scientific. We designed a campus framework that would encourage the creative process now and into the future, flexibly accommodating a growing and evolving institution,” said Colin Koop, Senior Designer on project and a Director at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP.

The first phase of the campus includes:

 

The Emma and Georgina Bloomberg Center is the first academic building on campus. Cornell University received a $100 million gift from Bloomberg Philanthropies in 2014 for the campus. Designed by Morphosis Architects under the direction of Pritzker-Prize winner Thom Mayne and Principal Ung-Joo Scott Lee, the building is a departure from traditional academic facilities with a variety of spaces designed to support different learning modes, including flexible spaces to encourage collaboration as well as private work spaces, adapting open plan offices from the tech world to the academic arena. The Bloomberg Center aspires to be among the largest net-zero energy buildings in the United States, with all of its power generated on campus through a variety of site-specific strategies to reduce energy demand and use renewable energy. The art-in-architecture is also a key component of the Bloomberg Center, with newly commissioned works throughout the building by artists Alison Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Riedel, Matthew Ritchie and Matthew Day Jackson. It also features a space designed specifically to house a Works Projects Administration (WPA) Federal Art Project mural by Ilya Bolotowsky from the decommissioned Goldwater Memorial Hospital previously on the Cornell Tech site as well as a ground-floor cafe that is open to the public.

“The aim of Cornell Tech to create an urban center for interdisciplinary research and innovation is very much in line with our vision at Morphosis, where we are constantly developing new ways to achieve ever more sustainable buildings and to spark greater connections among the people who use our buildings. With the Bloomberg Center, we’ve pushed the boundaries of current energy efficiency practices and set a new standard for building development in New York City,” said Morphosis founder and design director Thom Mayne.

The Bridge, designed by WEISS/MANFREDI and developed by Forest City New York, is a first-of-its-kind building where an extraordinary mix of cutting-edge companies from diverse industries will have the opportunity to work alongside groundbreaking Cornell academic teams: from recent Cornell Tech graduates hustling to commercialize a new idea, to start-ups on the verge of explosive growth and established companies developing leading edge technologies and products. The building features gathering areas on each level, including a light-filled, multi-level Tech Gallery and a rooftop terrace sheltered by a solar trellis. Tech and investment firm Two Sigma is opening a Collision Lab in the building where engineers from its R&D team will tackle difficult challenges away from the company’s main campus, and where innovative start-ups backed by Two Sigma Ventures can thrive in an intense, productive and creative environment. Citigroup is taking space to engage with Cornell University students, faculty, researchers, and startups to work on emerging technologies such as blockchain, machine learning and big data applications, biometric authentication, Internet of Things, and cyber security. Ferrero International S.A., one of the world’s largest manufacturers of chocolates, is taking space for its Open Innovation Science division to explore digital age innovation in the food industry.

“By bringing academia and industry together under one roof at The Bridge, we are driving innovation and economic growth for New York,” said MaryAnne Gilmartin, President and CEO of Forest City New York. “The Bridge is welcoming an incredible mix of companies who want to work alongside some of the top tech talent New York City has to offer, and get a competitive advantage to bring their ideas and new products to market.”

“The building is a crystalline social condenser, one that reveals expansive skyline views and creates spaces for academics and entrepreneurs to slow down, talk to one another, and generate ideas in unprecedented ways,” said Marion Weiss and Michael A. Manfredi, co-founders of WEISS/MANFREDI.

The House, designed by Handel Architects and developed by The Hudson Companies and Related Companies, is the tallest and largest residential Passive House high-rise in the world. Passive House is the strict international building standard that drastically reduces energy consumption while creating a healthier and more comfortable living environment for a fraction of residents’ usual energy costs. Cornell faculty, staff and students live at The House, giving the campus 24/7 activity.

“We are very excited to bring this first of its kind building to the New York City market. We have been humbled to be a part of this amazing campus, working with an incredible team of architects, engineers and contractors,” said David Kramer, President of The Hudson Companies. “We hope that The House can serve as a model for other developments to continue to build big, build more sustainably and push the (super sealed) envelope.”

“The opening of the Cornell Tech Campus on Roosevelt Island is a historic moment for New York, and would not have been possible without the vision and foresight of the City and the State. This new campus will serve as a hub for technological innovation and will be a tremendous addition to New York City,” said Related Companies CEO Jeff Blau. “We are proud to have partnered with Hudson Companies and Cornell on ‘The House’, likely the most sustainable residential tower to ever be built, and to have played a role in making this great project a reality.”

“The House is a groundbreaking example of sustainable architecture — the largest and tallest Passive House building in the world. It’s our answer to the call for change to combat global warming,” said Gary Handel, President of Handel Architects.

The open space, designed by James Corner Field Operations, anchors the campus, fostering collaboration and innovation while simultaneously inviting the public into the campus. The campus is a river-to-river experience, engaging Roosevelt Island’s esplanade and extraordinary water frontage while maximizing views of Manhattan and Queens. The heart of Phase 1’s 3.5 acres of open space is the Campus Plaza, a multi-use central gathering space that can accommodate larger events. Connected to the Plaza is the quarter-mile long Tech Walk, a central spine that features a series of active and social spaces that are linked by pedestrian pathways. Throughout the campus, outdoor and indoor spaces are synergistically connected to allow people to move easily and comfortably in and out during the course of the day. The open space features comprehensive resilient design, including rain harvesting for irrigation, subterranean gravel trenches that hold and slow down stormwater; a series of bio-filtration gardens that treat stormwater runoff non-mechanically before it enters the river; and a geothermal field that provides energy to The Bloomberg Center.

“With Cornell Tech’s new campus, we have been able to integrate technology, sustainability, and landscape architecture to create a unique urban campus,” said Karen Tamir, James Corner Field Operations’ Principal-in-Charge. “Each of the open spaces work together to provide settings for students, faculty, staff and visitors to sit, talk and collaborate, creating a lively, welcoming, and social environment.”

“On behalf of the Roosevelt Island Community, I am excited to welcome Cornell Tech and the promise of innovation it brings to the Island, the State and the world. Cornell will undoubtedly have a positive impact on the quality of life here, bringing together talented and diverse young entrepreneurs with our active and inquisitive residents,” said Susan Rosenthal, President and CEO of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation.

Later this fall, Cornell Tech will begin construction on the Verizon Executive Education Center and Graduate Roosevelt Island Hotel, targeted for opening in 2019, providing a venue for academic conferences, executive programs and academic workshops.

When fully completed over the next few decades, the 12-acre campus will be home to more than 2,000 graduate students and hundreds of faculty and staff.

NYC Ferry service to Roosevelt Island began in August, bringing more New York City neighborhoods within reach of the campus.

Commitment to Community: Building a More Diverse and Inclusive Tech Talent Pipeline

Cornell Tech is committed to having an impact beyond its campus, and to build and diversify New York City’s tech talent pipeline so that more people can share in the rapid growth of the tech economy. Fulfilling its promise to New York City to spur K-12 tech education, the campus has partnered with more than a dozen local schools, including PS/IS 217 on Roosevelt Island, and is coordinating professional development opportunities for teachers to gain experience in incorporating tech thinking into their teaching. To date, Cornell Tech has impacted over 5,000 students and 350 teachers. Cornell Tech is also committed to building and diversifying the base of the technology talent in New York City. In partnership with CUNY and many tech companies in the city, Cornell Tech’s Women in Technology and Entrepreneurship in New York (WiTNY) program provides the access, incentives and support needed for girls and women to succeed in the tech industry. To date, the curriculum has been implemented at more than a dozen CUNY campuses with 2,000 students impacted each year.

New York City Applied Sciences Competition

Cornell Tech was founded when the partnership of Cornell University and the Technion were selected in December of 2011 as one of the winners of New York City’s visionary Applied Sciences NYC initiative, created under Mayor Mike Bloomberg and Deputy Mayor Robert Steel. The Economic Development Corporation, then led by Seth Pinsky, sought proposals for a university or partnership to develop and operate a new or expanded campus in the City in exchange for City capital, access to City-owned land and the full support and partnership of City government. Cornell Tech’s proposal was selected ahead of submissions from 17 world-class institutions from around the globe. The Cornell Tech proposal was selected by the City as the first winner of the competition and was provided with land on Roosevelt Island and $100 million in City capital to build the $2 billion, 2 million square foot tech campus.

About Cornell Tech

Cornell Tech brings together faculty, business leaders, tech entrepreneurs and students in a catalytic environment to produce visionary results grounded in significant needs that will reinvent the way we live in the digital age. The Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute embodies the academic partnership between the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and Cornell University on the Cornell Tech campus.

From 2012-2017, the campus was temporarily located in Google’s New York City building. In fall 2017, 30 world-class faculty and about 300 graduate students moved to the first phase of Cornell Tech’s permanent campus on Roosevelt Island, continuing to conduct groundbreaking research, collaborate extensively with tech-oriented companies and organizations and pursue their own startups. When fully completed, the campus will include two million square feet of state-of-the-art buildings, over two acres of open space, and will be home to more than 2,000 graduate students and hundreds of faculty and staff.

About Cornell University

Cornell University is a world-class research institution known for the breadth and rigor of its curricula, and an academic culture dedicated to preparing students to be well-educated and well-rounded citizens of the world. Its faculty, staff and students believe in the critical importance of knowledge—both theoretical and applied—as a means of improving the human condition and solving the world’s problems. With campuses in Ithaca, New York, New York City, and Doha, Qatar, Cornell is a private, Ivy League research university and the land-grant institution of New York state.

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By Diane Lebo Wallace

John P. Neafsey ’61, M.Eng. ’62, MBA ’63, and his wife, Rilla, have endowed the top academic leadership position at Cornell Tech, currently held by Dean and Vice Provost Daniel P. Huttenlocher.

“The opportunities for Cornell Tech are boundless, and it has done extraordinarily well in getting underway,” said Neafsey, a retired Sun Co. executive and investment consultant. “I’m delighted that Cornell Tech is at the forefront on the East Coast, rivaling Stanford on the West Coast, and that we are emerging as a recognized world leader in the field of technology.”

The gift to establish the Jack and Rilla Neafsey Deanship provides an endowment to fund the position in perpetuity.

“I am profoundly honored that the Cornell Tech deanship has been so generously endowed by Jack and Rilla,” Huttenlocher said. “At Cornell Tech, we seek to create leaders who can bridge the fields of tech and entrepreneurship, so it is only fitting that this leadership gift came from Jack, who himself has had an extremely successful career bringing innovations in engineering to life through his business acumen.”

A Cornell trustee emeritus, presidential councillor and foremost benefactor, Neafsey has long believed that to educate and lead for innovation, institutions need to integrate business with technology and engineering fields and to blend study with practice – principles that inspired him to help drive milestone achievements in Cornell’s business, engineering and computing education over decades.

Neafsey visited Cornell classrooms as early as the 1970s to teach finance as a practitioner and for many years served as an adviser to Cornell’s business, engineering and medical schools. He also has championed initiatives in student life.

In the 1980s he chaired the $46.6 million capital campaign that secured a $20 million gift from the Johnson family and led to renaming the business school the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management.

He was elected a Cornell trustee in 1986 and held active membership on the Major Gifts Campaign Committee, chairing the National Regional Campaign for The Cornell Campaign-Creating the Future.

He recalled that when several universities were recruiting Huttenlocher, Cornell believed it would take a chair to compete for the computer scientist – prompting Neafsey to endow a professorship in computer science and information technology, with a joint appointment in the engineering and business schools.

During the 1990s, after Huttenlocher chaired a task force convened by the provost that led to the creation of the Faculty of Computing and Information Science (CIS), he became one of the first professors appointed to the school’s faculty and held its first named professorship.

The two continued to stay in touch after Huttenlocher was appointed dean of CIS and then dean of Cornell Tech. In recent years, Neafsey has stayed informed about Cornell Tech through conversations, touring the construction site and visiting with Cornell Tech students.

He likes what he sees.

“Dan is terrific at recruiting faculty,” he said, “and has broken the mold in some ways, hiring not just academic Ph.D.s, but individuals without Ph.D.s who are really good at what they do. He has created a first-class faculty.”

Cornell Tech is attracting a higher caliber of students and a greater number of them, he noted. Last spring, he sat in on an Open Studio, an event for student teams to pitch ideas for startup companies. “The students were very energetic and the event simulated what goes on in the real world. Teamwork is how things get done,” he said, “and fostering teams distinguishes Cornell’s teaching.”

Neafsey said he owes a debt to Cornell, which “was very good to me and gave me support. I held a lot of jobs on and off campus to pay my room and board, but Cornell gave me a full tuition scholarship for six years. That’s part of the reason why I give back.”

Looking ahead, Neafsey sees promise and opportunity for Cornell Tech.

“We’re just beginning to understand how to stimulate creative careers in technology, computer science, engineering and other disciplines,” he said. “We’re still in infancy when it comes to the art of encouraging innovations that produce contributions to society and the ways in which we live.”

Diane Lebo Wallace is a writer for Alumni Affairs and Development.

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NEW YORK – Cornell Tech professor of information science Helen Nissenbaum and associate professor of computer science Thomas Ristenpart are collaborating on a new $3 million National Science Foundation project on accountable decision systems that respect privacy and fairness expectations. The project team also includes Carnegie Mellon University Cylab associate professor Anupam Datta, Matthew Fredrikson, assistant professor of computer science at CMU, Ole Mengshoel, principal systems scientist in electrical and computer engineering at CMU, and Michael C. Tschantz, senior researcher at the International Computer Science Institute in Berkeley.

Increasingly, decisions and actions affecting people’s lives are determined by automated systems processing personal data. Excitement about these systems has been accompanied by serious concerns about their opacity and threats they pose to privacy, fairness, and other values. Examples abound in real-world systems: Target’s use of predicted pregnancy status for marketing; Google’s use of health-related search queries for targeted advertising; race being associated with automated predictions of recidivism; gender affecting displayed job-related ads; race affecting displayed search ads; Boston’s Street Bump app focusing pothole repair on affluent neighborhoods; Amazon’s same day delivery being unavailable in black neighborhoods; and Facebook showing either “white” or “black” movie trailers based upon “ethnic affiliation”.

Recognizing these concerns, the project seeks to make real-world automated decision-making systems accountable for privacy and fairness by enabling them to detect and explain violations of these values. The project will explore applications in online advertising, healthcare, and criminal justice, in collaboration with domain experts.

“A key innovation of the project is to automatically account for why an automated system with artificial intelligence components exhibits behavior that is problematic for privacy or fairness,” said CMU’s Anupam Datta, project PI. “These explanations then inform fixes to the system to avoid future violations.”

Thomas Ristenpart, associate professor at Cornell Tech adds, “Unfortunately, we don’t yet understand what machine learning systems are leaking about privacy-sensitive training data sets. This project will be a great opportunity to investigate the extent to which having access to prediction functions or their parameters reveals sensitive information, and, in turn, how to improve machine learning to be more privacy friendly.”

“Committing to philosophical rigor, the project will integrate socially meaningful conceptions of privacy, fairness, and accountability into its scientific efforts,” said Helen Nissenbaum, professor at Cornell Tech, “thereby ensuring its relevance to fundamental societal challenges.”

In order to address privacy and fairness in decision systems, the team must first provide formal definitional frameworks of what privacy and fairness truly entail. These definitions must be enforceable and context-dependent, dealing with both protected information itself—like race, gender, or health information—as well as proxies for that information, so that the full scope of risks is covered.

“Although science cannot decide moral questions, given a standard from ethics, science can shed light on how to enforce it, its consequences, and how it compares to other standards, ” said Tschantz.

Another fundamental challenge the team faces is in enabling accountability while simultaneously protecting the system owners’ intellectual property, and privacy of the system’s users.

“Since accountability mechanisms require some level of access to the system, they can, unless carefully designed, leak the intellectual property of data processors and compromise the confidentiality of the training data subjects, as demonstrated in the prior work of many on the team,” said Fredrikson.

The interdisciplinary team of researchers combine the skills of experts in philosophy, ethics, machine learning, security, and privacy. Datta hopes to successfully enable accountability in automated decision systems—an achievement that would add a layer of humanity to artificially intelligent systems.

Cornell Tech’s faculty’s research efforts reflect collaboration with the New York City tech industry, from startups to established enterprises. Bolstered by our foundation in academic rigor, we nurture projects that are both visionary and reflective, simultaneously advancing theory and technical practice. Since our founding, we continue to evolve through exploration and boundary-pushing. Guided by both academic excellence and practical impact, we work determinedly to advance life within and beyond our campus. Our purpose-driven research program spurs relevant and valuable progress in five areas: Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Security & Privacy, Artificial Intelligence, Data & Modeling and Business, Law and Policy.

About Cornell Tech

Cornell Tech brings together faculty, business leaders, tech entrepreneurs and students in a catalytic environment to produce visionary results grounded in significant needs that will reinvent the way we live in the digital age.

From 2012-2017, the campus was temporarily located in Google’s New York City building. In fall 2017, 30 world-class faculty and almost 300 graduate students moved to the first phase of Cornell Tech’s permanent campus on Roosevelt Island, continuing to conduct groundbreaking research, collaborate extensively with tech-oriented companies and organizations and pursue their own startups. When fully completed, the campus will include two million square feet of state-of-the-art buildings, over two acres of open space, and will be home to more than 2,000 graduate students and hundreds of faculty and staff.

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Cornell Tech alumni startups Trigger Finance and GitLinks were recently chosen to join the Morgan Stanley Innovation Lab for Multicultural and Women-led Startups accelerator program, Business Wire reports.

The Lab is designed to help drive positive economic outcomes for entrepreneurs of color and women by providing content, visibility, technical support and connectivity with important stakeholders who might be essential in accelerating the growth of their businesses.

  • GitLinks protects the integrity of open source in application development by using its automated software to monitor and oversee security, updates and legal compliance for enterprises.
  • Trigger Finance allows the DIY Investor to set “If-Then” statements that can turn any financial or world event into an action on their portfolio using their proprietary rules-based investing platform.

Read the full announcement on Business Wire.

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With Cornell Law School, Cornell SC Johnson College of Business and Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute, Cornell Tech welcomes top-tier faculty conducting groundbreaking research at the intersection of digital technology and society

NEW YORK – Cornell Tech today announced four new professors have joined the campus’s world-class faculty. With research and industry experience in intellectual property, human-robot interaction, automated vehicles, operations, and business, the professors further expand Cornell Tech’s research groups, fostering integrated learning across fields key to the digital economy and conducting innovative research. Founded in 2012, Cornell Tech is opening its brand-new campus on Roosevelt Island in New York City this fall.

“We are very excited to welcome these outstanding new faculty members who are at the forefront of their fields and dedicated to exploring the societal and economic impact of the digital age,” said Dan Huttenlocher, Dean and Vice Provost, Cornell Tech. “Our outstanding team of professors has developed distinguished research groups and is tackling some of the most relevant issues facing society today.” Research groups include Security & Privacy, Artificial Intelligence, Data & Modeling, Human-Computer Interaction & Social Computing, and Business Law & Policy.

The new professors include:

  • Matthew D’Amore, Professor of the Practice at Cornell Tech and Cornell Law School. D’Amore comes to Cornell after a 20-year career at the international law firm Morrison & Foerster, where he represented technology and life sciences clients in the resolution of complex intellectual property disputes and in licensing matters. D’Amore has also been recognized for his pro bono work for children denied special education services and for citizens deprived of the right to vote. D’Amore brings his legal industry experience to the Cornell Tech community, teaching Technology Transactions and Trade Secret Law and Practice. D’Amore received his B.S., with distinction, from the Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, in biology and society, and his J.D. from Yale Law School.
  • Karan Girotra, Professor of Operations and Technology at Cornell Tech and the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business. Girotra collaborates with companies building new business models in the areas of urban living, smart transportation and e-commerce, helping them build rigorous research based solutions. Girotra is author of the bestseller The Risk-Driven Business Model and has been named on Poets&Quants Best 40 under 40 business professors list. His research team has been recognized with the prestigious Wickham Skinner Early Career Research Award and multiple best paper awards. In addition to his academic work, Girotra was one of the founders of Terrapass Inc., which The New York Times identified as one of the most noteworthy ideas of 2005. Since then, TerraPass has helped businesses and individuals reduce more than 100 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Girotra holds Ph.D. and A.M. degrees from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and B.A. from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.
  • Wendy Ju, Assistant Professor at the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. Ju comes to Cornell Tech from the San Francisco Bay Area, where she was Associate Professor of Interaction Design in the Design MFA program at California College of the Arts since 2008, and Executive Director for Interaction Design at the Center for Design Research at Stanford University since 2013. Her work in the areas of human-robot interaction and automated vehicle interfaces highlights the ways interactive devices can communicate and engage people without interrupting or intruding. She has innovated numerous methods for early-stage prototyping of automated systems to understand how people will respond to systems before the systems are built. Ju has a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University and an M.S. in Media Arts and Sciences from MIT. Her monograph on The Design of Implicit Interactions was published in 2015.
  • Garrett van Ryzin, Professor of Operations, Technology and Information Management at Cornell Tech and the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business. Van Ryzin’s research focuses on algorithmic pricing, demand modeling and estimation, stochastic optimization, and the interface of operations and economics. He has extensive consulting experience in pricing analytics in established industries as well as technology startups. Prior to joining Cornell Tech, van Ryzin was on the faculty of Columbia Business School and served as Division Chair of the Decision, Risk and Operations Division from 2010-2015. Since 2015, he has been on academic leave working as Head of Marketplace Optimization Advanced Development at Uber Technologies. He is coauthor of the leading scientific book on revenue management, The Theory and Practice of Revenue Management, which won the 2005 Lanchester prize for the best published work in operations research. He is an INFORMS and MSOM Fellow, recipient of the INFORMS Impact Award and has served as Editor in Chief of Manufacturing & Service Operations Management and Area Editor for Operations Research. Van Ryzin received a B.S.E.E. degree from Columbia University, and S.M. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Ph.D. in Operations Research from MIT.

“Wendy is doing exceptionally innovative work in interaction design. We are excited for her to bring her cutting-edge research, her wealth of knowledge, and her unique experience to our faculty and our students. We are thrilled to welcome her to the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute,” said Ron Brachman, Director of the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech.

“Johnson’s partnership with Cornell Tech is vital and enhances our opportunity to attract top scholars such as Garrett and Karan,” said Johnson Dean Mark Nelson. “Great faculty enable us to continue to provide a state-of-the-art curriculum to our MBA students in Ithaca and in New York City.”

“Matthew’s addition to the law faculty at Cornell Tech brings his extraordinary depth of knowledge and experience to our program in Law, Technology and Entrepreneurship,” said Allan R. Tessler Dean and Professor of Law Eduardo M. Penalver. “As a seasoned intellectual property practitioner, he will be an invaluable bridge between our students and the world of tech practice.”

Reflecting the faculty’s breadth across disciplines, Cornell Tech is also launching a new quarterly series of workshops related to their research areas and expertise. The workshops will feature presentations and training including: Seminars on Blockchains led by the Institute for CryptoCurrencies & Contracts; Youth Data Science with Professor Tapan Parikh and Cornell Tech’s K-12 Director Diane Levitt; Speed, bringing together information science, law, computer science, philosophy and more to look at the mismatch between the speed that computers can think and act vs human capability with professors Helen Nissenbaum and James Grimmelmann; and Operations in a Digital Age: Data, Modeling and Optimization with professors Itai Gurvich, Nathan Kallus, and Huseyin Topaloglu. For more information visit https://tech.cornell.edu/research.

About Cornell Tech

Cornell Tech brings together faculty, business leaders, tech entrepreneurs and students in a catalytic environment to produce visionary results grounded in significant needs that will reinvent the way we live in the digital age. The Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute embodies the academic partnership between the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and Cornell University on the Cornell Tech campus.

Cornell Tech has been up and running in Google’s Chelsea building since 2012, with a growing world-class faculty, and student body who conduct groundbreaking research, collaborate extensively with tech-oriented companies and organizations and pursue their own start-ups. In the 2017-18 school year, Cornell Tech will have around 300 graduate students and 30 faculty on its stunning permanent campus on Roosevelt Island. When fully completed, the campus will include two million square feet of state-of-the-art buildings, over two acres of open space, and will be home to more than 2,000 graduate students and hundreds of faculty and staff.

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Media Highlights

Bloomberg Law

Ripple Ruling Blurs Definition of Cryptocurrencies as Securities

Mental Daily

Study Takes A Closer Look At NYPD Patrol Patterns Using Dashcam Footage

Tech Policy Press

Content Moderation, Encryption, and the Law

Princeton University

Tech Expert Arvind Narayanan Takes the Helm at Princeton Center for Information Technology Policy

Marktechpost

A New AI Research from Stanford, Cornell, and Oxford Introduces a Generative Model that Discovers Object Intrinsics from Just a Few Instances in a Single Image

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