A Stanford contingent, including President John Hennessy, traveled to New York City late last week to interview with NYC officials regarding Stanford’s bid for Applied Sciences NYC. Stanford spokeswoman Lisa Lapin confirmed the trip, but declined to comment further due to the City’s request that participants not discuss their proposals or the process until a winner is selected.

According to the New York Daily News, two schools have already been eliminated from the competition. Cornell University and Stanford have been discussed as the frontrunners by numerous media sources. Columbia University, New York University and Carnegie Mellon University are also in the running.

In a Nov. 29 speech at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg claimed that Stanford and Cornell are both “desperate.”

“Stanford is desperate to do it – I’m not exaggerating,” Bloomberg said, according to the New York Daily News. “Cornell is desperate to do it. I’m not exaggerating there.”

Dr. Lisa Coico, president of the City College of New York, was on campus today to meet with Hennessy and other officials to discuss the recent Stanford@CCNY partnership between the two schools.

This collaboration is not a formal part of Stanford’s NYC proposal, but the partnership will involve creating a joint-degree program between the institutions if Stanford is granted a campus on Roosevelt Island.

According to Lapin, New York City has set an internal deadline of January 15. However, Lapin noted that a deadline for the public announcement has not been firmly established.

 – Billy Gallagher