Dear Commons Community,

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is advancing his idea for a new college of applied science.  This college would essentially be an engineering school with a focus on applied research and development.   Part of the justification for such a school is the Mayor’s assertion that New York City does not have a top-ten ranked engineering school.   Columbia University’s School of Engineering is the highest ranked school in the City at No. 16.

Besides Columbia, the City is already home to several engineering schools at NYU, Cooper Union and City College.   Mayor Bloomberg’s proposal has detractors who suggest that it would be more beneficial to invest in the existing programs.

In response to the Mayor’s call for proposals, Columbia, joined by the City University of New York, has proposed a 1,200-student, 80-professor institute for communication technologies in West Harlem. New York University  joined by CUNY, Carnegie Mellon, the University of Toronto and I.B.M., has suggested a center for urban science that would be home to 300 students and 100 researchers in Brooklyn or on Roosevelt Island.

All in all, an interesting idea!  It is also good to see the private and pubic institutions in the City collaborating.

Tony