New York, N.Y. – Bloomberg L.P. co-founder and philanthropist Tom Secunda today announced a landmark donation to Cornell Tech, Cornell University’s tech campus in New York City, totaling $10.5 million to create the Cornell Empire AI Post-Doctoral Fellowship Program Fund. This donation will advance the mission of Empire AI, providing researchers and faculty with unparalleled access to computing power and opportunities to engage in groundbreaking AI research for the public good.
“I’m proud to be supporting Cornell’s top AI researchers in their pursuit of new, groundbreaking AI developments that will benefit the people of New York. By giving these researchers the freedom to explore all the opportunities that this nascent technology has to offer, we are opening up a new world of technological development,” said Secunda, who is a member of the steering committee for the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech. “I’m also honored to be contributing to the advancement of Empire AI, which is shaping up to be one of the most impactful public-private technology partnerships in recent memory.”
Secunda’s gift, which totals $10.5 million over 5 years, will establish the Cornell Empire AI Post-Doctoral Fellowship Program Fund at Cornell Tech in partnership with the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute. The gift will benefit researchers at both the Cornell Tech campus in New York City and at Cornell’s Bowers College of Computing and Information Science in Ithaca. It will also support an annual public conference to be held at Cornell Tech to showcase the research work being conducted by the Cornell fellows and faculty utilizing Empire AI.
“Mr. Secunda’s generous support represents a remarkable opportunity for Cornell University, which is already a national leader in AI research, to bring more top AI scholars from around the world to both its Cornell Tech campus in New York City and to the Bowers College of Computing and Information Science on our Ithaca campus,” said Kavita Bala, Provost of Cornell University. “The transformational potential of their work will be facilitated by the computing resources now available through the Empire AI consortium and will also showcase New York State’s leadership in AI.”
Empire AI is a new resource for high-performance computing power that enables responsible AI research and development. The public-private technology partnership was anchored by key support from New York State and Governor Kathy Hochul in 2024. The Empire AI Consortium connects Cornell and several other collaborating research universities and institutions across New York to a central computing infrastructure.
“This computing resource is a partnership in a research instrument – one that can be matched in compute capability with these researchers’ combination of leading-edge discovery and thoughtfulness about how AI is harnessed to address many real-world challenges,” said Krystyn Van Vliet, Cornell Vice President for Innovation and External Engagement Strategy.
“The Cornell Tech community is grateful to Tom Secunda for his wisdom and generosity in creating this opportunity for our campus and for the AI research community,” added Greg Morrisett, Jack and Rilla Neafsey Dean and Vice Provost of Cornell Tech. “Tom’s support allows us to significantly expand our research in AI here in New York City by attracting an elite cohort of the best researchers in the world. Their work, which will now progress much more quickly thanks to Empire AI, will allow our campus to further increase its significant economic impact on New York City and its growing tech sector.”
Faculty associated with the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech will also be key participants. The fellowship program will drastically increase capacity for faculty doing AI research by allowing them to recruit an elite cohort of up-and-coming researchers. The highly selective cohort will additionally benefit from Empire AI’s large computing resources. The very first of these systems at Empire AI, called Alpha, was launched in October of 2024. Out of the gate, Alpha was among the top 250 most high-performing systems in the world, notably at the current leading edge of processor capabilities for AI-enabled research.
About Empire AI
Launched in April 2024 by Governor Kathy Hochul, Empire AI is a bold partnership of multiple new academic research institutions coming together to establish a state-of-the-art artificial intelligence academic research computing resource, housed at SUNY’s University at Buffalo. The consortium comprises several higher education institutions including Columbia University, Cornell University, The City University of New York (CUNY), New York University (NYU), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), and The State University of New York (SUNY) as well as philanthropic backers such as Tom Secunda and the Simons Foundation, whose Flatiron Institute works to advance research through computational methods. Intended to promote responsible academic research and development, and unlock AI opportunities focused on public good in New York, Empire AI is bridging the gap between private funding and public interest through investments in both sectors to accelerate the development of AI centered in public interest for the state. Additional information can be found here.
About Cornell Tech
Cornell Tech is Cornell University’s state-of-the-art campus in New York City that develops leaders and technologies for the AI era through foundational and applied research, graduate education, and new ventures. Located on Roosevelt Island, the growing campus was founded in partnership with the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and in close collaboration with the NYC Economic Development Corporation after Cornell won a worldwide competition initiated by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s administration to create an applied sciences campus in New York City. More than 1,000 Cornell students are now educated annually on the campus, including 700 in Cornell Tech programs. Since opening in 2012, nearly 120 new companies have spun out from startup programs at Cornell Tech and 95 percent of them are based in New York City. Cornell Tech continues to have a transformative economic impact on the region’s tech sector.
