One of the nation's leading universities is coming to South Florida. Carnegie Mellon unveiled plans for a massive new Wynnewood campus, a project fueled by billionaire Ken Griffin's historic $3 billion gift. I sat down with Griffin and the president of Carnegie Mellon, Farnam Jahanian, to talk about this historic project. Ken, President, thank you so much for joining us and for doing this. And congratulations on this historic day.
It's been widely reported. Of course, this is a historic gift of an individual person giving to an institution of higher education. We're talking $3 billion with a B — $1 billion for Pittsburgh and $2 billion to start from the ground up a campus here in Miami. But how does one come up with a number like $3 billion?
It's the largest investment in higher education in the history of our country. But the size of the investment represents the magnitude of the aspiration. Carnegie Mellon University leads our nation in higher education — number one in computer science, number one in artificial intelligence, number one in cybersecurity, a world-renowned robotics program, and an incredible humanities program. The gift of $3 billion will support this extraordinary institution in its ambitions in Pittsburgh and in transforming Miami into an epicenter of technological innovation and development.
Why did you pick Carnegie Mellon for this gift?
So again, where are they on the forefront of the fields that will define the future of our country? And obviously, computer science, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, robotics — this is the future of our economy. The reindustrialization of America will take place because of the innovations and advancements in robotics that are taking place at CMU.
I want to talk about CMU and Miami. Why did you believe it was a good fit?
Miami with CMU. You know, let me give you a little bit of context about our conversation. CMU, throughout its history, has always made big bets when there was a consequential moment. And in fact, if you think about the history of CMU, it was created by Andrew Carnegie in the early 1900s to educate sons and daughters of the working class. So when you think about the last 125 years, we're used to making big bets. And as you see advances in technology reshaping every sector of our economy, accelerating scientific discovery, having such an important impact on our national security, our economic prosperity, it was very clear that we needed to rethink the future of higher ed. How do we educate our students? How do we prepare them for the future ahead? And that led to a conversation about Miami. If we were to do this and do it from the ground up, just reimagine the future of higher ed — in conversation with, of course, Ken and his team — we realized that this was the right place. This is a place to come and envision the future of higher ed, but also totally integrate it with Carnegie Mellon. That's in Pittsburgh. But this is one of the top universities in the country. And as Ken mentioned, number one in AI, cybersecurity, computer science.
So there's a standard there. How do you control that and keep that standard at another campus in Miami?
Well, that's really a good question. We've envisioned Miami not as a branch campus. We will envision it as being very much part of all of Carnegie Mellon. We will bring the same commitment to excellence. We will bring the same intensity about research, learning, support for our students to this campus. That's kind of natural to us. And to be really candid about this, we have applications from all around the country. However, Miami is going to give us an opportunity to expand our footprint in a location that's the future. For that reason, in fact, access to students in this region and also access to students in the Sun Belt — we're confident we're going to get the kind of quality of students that's going to be as good as we have ever seen at Carnegie Mellon.
There's no doubt that this is a transformational gift and what it could do for this community. Wynwood, specifically, has really gone through a renaissance. You had mentioned that. What does it mean as it trickles down not only to this community, to the city and the state, but to the colleges, universities, and to the students?
So if we look at Pittsburgh, the industrial heart of America, the economic renaissance that Pittsburgh enjoys today is being driven by Carnegie Mellon, its students and alumni — 250 companies that are deep in the technology space, 100 companies in the area focused on robotics. Imagine that here in Miami. And what does this mean? If you grow up in Miami, you might go to the University of Miami, you might go to FIU, you might go off to Gainesville. Some of the greatest colleges in America are here in our state today. But Carnegie Mellon will bring to this area the companies that define the economic future of our country. And those companies are going to employ both the graduates of CMU Miami and countless other thousands and thousands, tens of thousands of today's children, tomorrow's young men and women who will work for the companies of Miami right here in Miami.
I love that, the impact that this will have. I was born and raised here in Miami, so I know the significance of what something like this means in this community. I wanted to ask you, what is it about Miami? Because when you speak about Miami, there's a passion in your delivery. It seems like you really love this community. Why? Of all the places in this country and in the world, quite frankly, why did you pick Miami as your home base?
