mathbabe

Stanford has bowed out of the Bloomberg administration’s competition for an engineering center in New York City. From the New York Times article:

Stanford University abruptly dropped out of the intense international competition to build an innovative science graduate school in New York City, releasing its decision on Friday afternoon. A short time later, its main rival in the contest, Cornell, announced a $350 million gift — the largest in its history — to underwrite its bid.

From what I’d heard, Stanford was the expected winner, with Cornell being a second place. This changes things, and potentially means that Columbia’s plan for a Data Science and Engineering Institute is still a possibility.

Cool and exciting, because I want that place to be really really good.

It also seems like the open data situation in New York is good and getting better. From the NYC Open Data website:

This catalog supplies hundreds of sets of public data produced by City agencies and other City organizations. The data sets are now available as APIs and in a variety of machine-readable formats, making it easier than ever to consume City data and better serve New York City’s residents, visitors, developer community and all!

Maybe New York will be a role model for good, balancing its reputation as the center of financial shenanigans.