Website shines spotlight on Stanford's bid to build a campus in New York City

By Kathleen J. Sullivan

A view of Manhattan from Roosevelt Island, one of the locations being explored for Stanford's New York City campus. (Photo: Joergen Geerds Photography)

Stanford has created a new website – Stanford in New York City – that describes why the university is well positioned to create a state-of-the-art engineering and applied sciences campus in New York City.

"Stanford, with its culture of innovation and entrepreneurship, offers New York City a partner experienced in offering world-class education and research, transferring innovation to the marketplace, attracting the best faculty and students worldwide and graduating successful business leaders," the university says on the new website.

The website will provide the latest information about Stanford's NYC campus proposal, which is being developed this fall for submission in late October.

The site currently features a fact sheet on Stanford's preliminary proposal; a one-hour video of President John Hennessy's presentation to the Academic Council on the proposal, followed by a panel discussion and a Q&A; a list of companies that faculty and alumni have helped create; and a list of some of the technologies whose origins can be traced to basic research at Stanford, including modern web-search algorithms, digital sound synthesis and genome sequencing.

"By leveraging Stanford's formidable strengths in engineering and computer science, the Stanford Applied Science and Engineering campus in New York City will drive technology development and innovation; attract world-class engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs and investors; and generate dozens of new companies and thousands of new jobs," the university says in a fact sheet.

Stanford's proposal for New York City features:

• A campus housing programs from the School of Engineering, the Graduate School of Business, the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design and the Stanford Technology Ventures Program;
• An eventual faculty of 100 and a graduate student body of about 2,200, including 200 doctoral students and 1,500 master's students;
• An initial focus on information technology (electrical engineering and computer science), entrepreneurship education and research, and executive education in technical fields and management;
• Access to Stanford's world-renowned professors and scientists on both coasts and seamless interaction between campuses;
• The same classroom experience for which Stanford is acclaimed, with the same access to Stanford's distinguished professors and scientists;
• A campus envisioned on Roosevelt Island, or another potential site within the city, with established transit, access and space in or near Manhattan;
• A design to include residential towers and academic buildings, cafes, retail shops, student life and public amenities – growing eventually to 1.8 million square feet.

In July, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the city was issuing a request for proposals to build a new campus for engineering and applied sciences. It was the latest step in a city initiative, unveiled last December, to seek a university, institution or consortium to develop and operate a new or expanded campus, in exchange for access to city-owned land.

Bloomberg also announced that the city was prepared to offer up to $100 million in support to the selected institution or consortium. The mayor said he hoped the initiative, called Applied Sciences NYC, would result in an engineering and applied sciences campus that will drive technology development in the city, diversify the New York City economy and generate new companies and jobs.

Stanford officials are currently preparing the university's proposal, which is due Oct. 28. New York City is expected to make a decision in December.

Earlier this year, Stanford responded to a request for expression of interest from the New York City Economic Development Corporation regarding the creation of an applied science and engineering campus.

Stanford was one of 27 institutions submitting initial expressions of interest. Cornell, Columbia, Purdue and the University of Chicago were among the other universities that submitted proposals during that initial round.

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