By Nitasha Tiku 12/20/11 9:54pm

Silicon Alley U

Gleaming the cubes.

Safety School? As Stanford Says ‘See Ya!’ Bloomberg Hops in Bed with Big Red

On Monday, the lobby of the Weill Cornell Medical College, which resides on a particularly gray stretch of the Upper East Side, was crawling with men and women in wooly blazers dotted with “carnelian” buttons—the technical name for the maroon hue that invariably moves Cornell students to chant some version of “Go Big Red!”

Inside the auditorium, as an assembly of press, pols, and local technorati waited for Mayor Bloomberg to appear, a giant projector flashed a mosaic of the Cornell University logo.

The news had been leaked to every major news outlet by midnight on Sunday; there was no point in being coy. Read More

By Nitasha Tiku 12/19/11 9:34pm

Silicon Alley U

Mr. Feeney via the Cornell Chronicle

New York Times Identifies Anonymous Cornell Alum Who Donated $350 M. Towards the Tech Campus

Looks like Sandy Weill will have to be okay with having only two Cornell institutions named after him. The New York Times just outed the Big Red enthusiast responsible for a $350 million anonymous donation towards Cornell and Technion’s proposed applied sciences campus. The individual is 80-year-old Charles F. Feeney who made his billions running the Duty Free Shoppers Group. The donation was made through Atlantic Philanthropies, an organization founded by Mr. Feeney.

Well that explains the duty free joke during today’s presser announcing Cornell and Technion as the winner. Early in the presentation, Technion president Peretz Lavie said he was told on Friday afternoon to buy a ticket for New York. When Betabeat asked whether that meant the decision wasn’t made until Friday (after Stanford dropped out of the race), Mayor Bloomberg quipped: Read More

By Nitasha Tiku 12/19/11 12:42am

Silicon Alley U

via Belsky Bits

Bloomberg Reported to Announce Cornell the Winner of the $100 M. Tech Campus Bid

Who knew a request for proposal to build a tech campus would offer such edge-of-your-seat drama? Late Sunday night, the Wall Street Journal, New York Post, Bloomberg, and the New York Times all put out stories saying that Cornell won the bid to build a tech campus on Roosevelt Island. Mayor Bloomberg will reportedly make the announcement Monday.

This latest development caps a tumultuous 72 hours in the year-long process of trying to build an engineering mecca that would transform New York into the next Silicon Valley. On Friday afternoon, Stanford–widely thought to be a front-runner and openly courted by Mayor Bloomberg–abruptly announced that it was dropping out of the race. Hours later, Cornell announced an anonymous $350 million donation towards its applied sciences campus proposal. Read More

By Nitasha Tiku 12/16/11 4:54pm

Silicon Alley U

via Belsky Bits

Hours After Stanford Drops Out, Cornell Announces $350 M. Donation For Tech Campus

They must be popping champagne in Ithaca right now. Mere hours after Stanford dropped the bomb that it would be withdrawing its bid to build an engineering mecca on Roosevelt Island, Cornell just announced that it has received a $350 million anonymous donation in support of its applied science campus proposal.

Anonymous, hmm . . . Perhaps it’s someone with an extra $88 million lying around? “We’re not commenting!” is all Cornell offered by way of response. Read More

By Nitasha Tiku 10/27/11 10:47am

Silicon Alley U

Notice the plethora of subway lines? Ahem. (via NYU)

NYU Wants the Tech Campus to Transform Brooklyn, But Is It a Match for StanfordNYC’s $2.5 B.?

As we expected, with RFPs due tomorrow, this week has turned into something of a PR blitzkrieg to win a chance to build on an applied sciences mecca on city-owned land. After all, once the proposals are in, the competing schools are forbidden to speak publicly about their proposals. Until when? we asked Cornell’s PR wrangler Dan Levitan. “Forever!” he said ominously.

Hence yesterday afternoon brought some specs from “StanfordNYC” and NYU’s plan transform the MTA’s former headquarters at 370 Jay St. into a Center for Urban Science and Progress that will “make Brooklyn the urban center of the universe,” as NYU senior vice provost for research Paul Horn told the Daily News. Read More

By Nitasha Tiku 10/24/11 11:34am

Silicon Alley U

AerialRendering_proposed

Get Ready for a Tech Campus PR Blitz! Starting with Cornell and Technion’s Shmancy Net-Zero Energy Building

After months of public jockeying and lobbying strategic consulting, this Friday marks the final deadline for applications to build a tech campus that will transform New York into the next Silicon Valley. That means you can expect five days of attempts at showstopping revelations from the universities. Think of it like an Advent Calendar, except with building details instead of candies and a chance to build on city-owned land instead of the birth of baby Jesus.

Cornell is first out of gate with its announcement this morning that its proposed tech campus, which it is building in a 50/50 partnership with Israel’s Technion, will feature the “largest net-zero Energy building in eastern United States,” at least according to its PR firm, BerlinRosen. Read More

By Nitasha Tiku 10/18/11 10:07am

Silicon Alley U

via Belsky Bits

Cornell Partners With Israel’s Technion and Unlike Stanford and CCNY, This Collabo’s 50/50

With less than two weeks until the deadline for the RFP, universities are ready to pull out the show-stoppers. Cornell just threw the process (and Betabeat!) for a loop by announcing that it would be partnering with Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in its bid.

Early on, Technion was rumored to be a favorite–along with Cornell and Stanford. Although it all depends on what’s proposed, the prospect of two frontrunners combining their efforts has to set the playing field off-kilter. Suri Kasirer, Cornell’s power lobbyist, and BerlinRosen, its PR firm hired especially for the occasion of the chance to build on city-owned land, certainly know how to make an announcement. Read More

By Nitasha Tiku 10/11/11 3:09pm

Silicon Alley U

bradley-tusk-flickr-via-eye-on-rusko-300x199

The Political Operative Managing Stanford’s Bid for Tech Campus Also Ran Mayor Bloomberg’s Last Election [UPDATED]

Almost immediately after hitting publish on a round-up of the latest hubbub over plans to build an engineering campus in New York,  Betabeat got an intriguing tip from an interested party. Apparently Cornell isn’t the only school tapping power players to help their campaign.

“About two weeks ago Stanford hired City Hall ‘fixer’ Bradley Tusk and his consulting firm Tusk Strategies to seal the deal on this Tech Campus bid,” wrote the source. We confirmed the tip with Tusk Strategies, but we needn’t have. The Stanford Daily actually reported the hire in a small item in late September, along with the news that the school had also signed up Edelman, the global public relations firm that also represents Wal-Mart.

Mr. Tusk, the man The Observer called Bloomberg’s “secret weapon,” back in 2010, engineered the mayor’s third term reelection in 2009. Coincidentally, Mr. Tusk was also hired by Wal-Mart earlier this year to the lead the corporation’s push into New York. The New York Times reported that Mr. Tusk, “is still close to the mayor, a strong supporter of Wal-Mart’s campaign.” Read More

By Nitasha Tiku 10/11/11 10:34am

Silicon Alley U

custom_1269548222971_2008_11_04_office_01

Cornell Keeps Gunning for That Tech Campus. But NYU, Columbia, Carnegie Mellon and Stanford Unveil Surprise Plans

With less than three weeks left until proposals are due to build a Stanford-like engineering mecca on the isle of Manhattan, no one is taking any chances. Rumor may have it that Stanford proper is a lock for the contract. But as Betabeat has reported, a source familiar with the decision-making process says it’s pretty much about the RFP. (Even Mayor Bloomberg’s imprimatur is merely  a “small to medium plus,” said the source.)

Cornell’s PR firm and power lobbyist, hired to help manage the school’s campaign, seem convinced that a little community spirit can’t hurt. This Saturday, October 15th, Cornell will be the only academic sponsor for Next Jump’s Silicon Alley 500 recruiting event on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, matching engineers and engineering students with hot Made in NYC startups like 10gen, Etsy, Boxee, Meetup, SecondMarket, and Tumblr.

Cornell may need the good will. Over the weekend, NYU, Carnegie Mellon, and Columbia all showed a little RFP leg–with proposals that opt for Brooklyn and Manhattanville over Roosevelt Island. And this morning Stanford just announced that it’s partnering with CUNY and City College. Read More

By Adrianne Jeffries 9/16/11 12:52pm

Silicon Alley U

(cornellbasketball.blogspot.com)

Cornell Really Wants Its Name on That New NYC Tech Campus Bloomberg’s Been Talking About

The mayor’s campaign for a New York tech campus has stretched on for almost a year, but final proposals are due Oct. 28 and the choice will be made by the end of the year for who will host the New York City applied sciences campus.

Mayor Mike Bloomberg has batted his eyes at Stanford for the new campus, but the local contenders are putting up a fight. Both NYU and Cornell want their names on the new campus real bad. Earlier this summer, Betabeat heard Stanford, Cornell, and Israel’s Technion are the favorites.

It seems Cornell is ready to put on the full-court press before the decision is made. Read More