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Billionaire Citadel founder Ken Griffin is placing a $2 billion bet on Wynwood’s future as an academic research hub as he and Carnegie Mellon University officials look to transform the ever-changing neighborhood into a college town by 2028.
The new Carnegie Mellon University Miami is part of what university administrators referred to as the largest individual gift in higher education history: a $1 billion donation to support the Pittsburgh campus’ computer science program (which will be renamed the Kenneth C. Griffin School of Computer Science) and another $2 billion for the new Miami campus, according to the university. The new Miami campus comes to a neighborhood in transition from a low-rise arts district to a densely packed mixed-use neighborhood, as Axios Miami reported, and now a center for “the next era of American innovation,” a university spokesperson said in a statement.
Once complete, the 35-acre campus will enroll more than 3,500 students, close to 300 faculty, and more than 600 staff members, according to administrators. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2027.
Carnegie Mellon University is a private global research university based in Pennsylvania known for its top-rated computer science and engineering programs. When the Miami campus holds its first classes (it hopes to enroll its first students in 2028), the school will focus on “grand challenge areas spanning human health and biological discovery; national security and strategic capabilities; energy and climate resilience; and advanced manufacturing and industrial transformation. The campus will also serve as a platform for curricular innovation, new approaches to teaching and hands-on learning,” according to the university.
Griffin, set to join the university’s board of trustees, joined university president Farnam Jahanian to share details about the project in a Pittsburgh-based public address featuring city and state leaders from across Pennsylvania.
“We must continue to elevate our institutions of excellence. Carnegie touches me because of its commitment to excellence,” Griffin said of the university before telling the crowd he hopes to emulate people like university namesakes’ steel magnate Andrew Carnegie and former U.S. Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon.
“Carnegie Mellon University has made profound contributions to America’s preeminence in science, engineering, technology, and the arts and humanities,” Griffin said in a press release provided to New Times before the address. “Since its founding, Carnegie Mellon has fostered remarkable talent, pioneered scientific breakthroughs, and expanded the frontiers of research — shaping global leaders and innovators.”
At the public address, Jahanian said the new campus won’t be like traditional satellite campuses, which he says use a hub-and-spoke model.
“The idea was: ‘Can we think about where we need to go in higher education? Let’s not organize Miami around colleges and departments, but organize it around societal challenges. What challenges are important to society, to our nation?’ Healthcare, national security, manufacturing, artificial intelligence — these are the challenges important to people,” Jahanian said at the address.
“Artificial intelligence represents one of the defining intellectual developments of our time, and it demands that we rethink how we educate students, conduct research and partner with others,” Jahanian said in a written statement provided to New Times. “Together, we have an opportunity to extend the very qualities that have long distinguished Carnegie Mellon — our agility, creativity, interdisciplinary culture and relentless focus on impact — to build a new model for higher education that meets the urgency of this moment.”
According to a description provided by administrators, “the campus will support a comprehensive student experience and an interdisciplinary environment designed for learning, research and collaboration. Plans include space for industry research labs and venture studios, creating opportunities for students, faculty, industry and community partners to work alongside one another.”