By Debra Nussbaum Cohen, JNS
“This funding directly connects Cornell Tech’s technical capabilities with New York City’s recent policy goal of reaching 30% tree canopy coverage to combat extreme heat and climate change,” Michael Samuelian of Cornell Tech told JNS.
Despite New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's past calls to boycott Cornell Tech because of its partnership with Israel's Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, city officials and Jewish community leaders on Wednesday announced a $250,000 investment in a Cornell Tech research initiative aimed at expanding New York City's tree canopy to combat rising temperatures.
New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin, the first Jewish woman to hold the post, and other officials unveiled the funding for Cornell Tech's Urban Tech Hub at the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute on Roosevelt Island.
The grant will launch the Generative Tree Canopy Project, which will use artificial intelligence, aerial imagery, the city's tree census and climate forecasting to develop neighborhood-specific tree-planting strategies intended to reduce extreme heat and related health risks, according to the project announcement.
The initiative will begin in three underserved neighborhoods in the boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx, where tree coverage is roughly one-third lower than in better-resourced parts of the city. New York City’s overall tree canopy covers about 22% of the city, and officials hope to increase that figure to 30% over time, a goal established in the city's Urban Forest Plan. Trees help lower temperatures, improve air quality, reduce energy use and mitigate heat-related health risks.
The century-old nonprofit New Yorkers for Parks is partnering with Cornell Tech's Urban Tech Hub to lead community engagement for the project.
Cornell Tech is a partnership between Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel. The partnership won a competition launched by then-New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2011 to establish a world-class applied sciences and engineering campus in New York. The city committed Roosevelt Island land and some $100 million toward the project, which opened its first academic buildings in 2017 after construction began in 2014.
Since then, Cornell Tech has expanded graduate programs in artificial intelligence, health technology, computer science, law, business and engineering while helping launch dozens of technology startups.
“When Cornell Tech was created through the Applied Sciences NYC initiative, its core mandate was to bridge research and city impact,” Michael Samuelian, director of campus planning and sustainability and founding director of Cornell’s Urban Tech Hub, told JNS. “Securing direct, discretionary budget allocation from the City Council validates our role as a civic innovation engine working directly with local communities.”
“This funding directly connects Cornell Tech's technical capabilities with New York City’s recent policy goal of reaching 30% tree canopy coverage to combat extreme heat and climate change,” he said.
Samuelian added that the initiative uses high-resolution LiDAR data, aerial imagery and AI to map heat vulnerability at a micro-level, down to individual trees and street shadows.
'Investing in innovation'
The campus generates more than $700 million annually in economic activity for New York City, said Mark Treyger, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York.
“This is exactly what investing in innovation looks like,” he stated. “Advancing climate resilience, strengthening our economy, expanding opportunities for students, and bringing New York closer to the future.”
The JCRC-NY and its Israel in New York initiative helped connect Menin with Cornell Tech. Treyger and representatives of UJA-Federation of New York joined more than 20 attendees at the new funding announcement at Cornell Tech on Wednesday.
According to a City Council source, Menin said during the event that UJA-Federation and the JCRC "played an important role in securing this funding and generally highlighting Cornell Tech as an important institution for New York."
The $250,000 allocation is included in the city's fiscal year 2027 budget.
The announcement comes despite Mamdani's longstanding support for the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel. During his 2020 campaign for the New York State Assembly, Mamdani argued that Cornell Tech should be scrutinized because of its partnership with the Technion, saying the joint campus was an appropriate target for a BDS campaign because the Israeli university receives government funding and conducts defense-related research.
As a student at Bowdoin College in Maine, Mamdani co-founded the school's chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, a group that supports the BDS movement.
Despite political controversy surrounding its Israeli partnership, Cornell Tech has become a major driver of New York City's technology sector and startup ecosystem.
"By turning cutting-edge technology into practical tools that protect our communities, Cornell Tech delivers on its research mission while providing a direct impact to New York City," stated Greg Morrisett, the Jack and Rilla Neafsey Dean and vice provost of Cornell Tech.
Menin said the Tree Canopy Project is intended to become “a national model for improving public health outcomes and facilitating environmental justice through urban canopies.”
