Governor Kathy Hochul on January 17, 2024, announced that the City University of New York is receiving $75 million from the Simons Foundation, the University’s largest-ever donation. The gift earmarks $50 million to establish CUNY as a hub for computational science and $25 million to support CUNY’s participation in the Governor’s proposed Empire AI project. Computational science uses programming techniques to solve problems in fields such as biology, astrophysics and neuroscience.
“For many New Yorkers, higher education is critical to pursuing a career and building a brighter future for themselves,” Governor Hochul said. “This incredible donation from the Simons Foundation will help expand New York’s role in the future of AI at CUNY, preparing our students to fill the jobs of tomorrow right here in our state.”
The funding allows CUNY to create a new master’s degree program, hire new faculty, and create workforce opportunities for students and faculty at the nation’s largest and most diverse urban public university. The program, housed at the CUNY Graduate Center, will strengthen the University’s research and innovation capabilities and will build new career pathways into the advanced computer industry, projected to add over 300,000 new jobs in the coming decade.
This investment builds on CUNY’s reputation as a top tier research institution with alumni winning 13 Nobel Prizes and 26 MacArthur “Genius” Grants.
CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez said, “CUNY is deeply grateful to the Simons Foundation for this historic investment. This generous gift, reflecting our position as a research powerhouse with more than 10,000 researchers and an engine of upward mobility for a student body in which 60% are first-generation college students and more than 80% are persons of color, will propel CUNY to the forefront of research and guarantee access for our diverse community.”
Simons Foundation President David Spergel said, “This gift aims to strengthen computational research at CUNY, to build on its traditions of excellence, its record of inclusion and opportunity, and to enable outstanding students and researchers to have the tools needed to be at the forefront of the field.”
