Oct 2, 2026 · 34 min · 13 segments
We looked at the game-changing plan announced to bring a high-tech Carnegie Mellon University campus to Miami’s hip Wynwood district, courtesy of billionaire Ken Griffin (01:03). We also discussed a…
Tim PadgettHostSaif IshoufGuestJenny StiletovichGuestJohn BeckfordGuest
Ken Griffin, as you know, Saif was in Wynwood yesterday to tout this project, and he expressed this pretty lofty vision for it.
will mean that every child in this city will have a far greater chance to realize their dreams and their potentials in their careers working for companies located here in our great city.
Saif, Griffin is foreseeing there nothing less than the transformation of the Miami and South Florida economy, a place where college grads actually want to stay instead of move away from, as so many do today.
Is it hyperbole or will Carnegie Mellon University Miami really bring that tech metamorphosis, AI, cybersecurity, climate resilience that that he promised this week?
In 1873, John Hopkins left a gift of $7 million to Baltimore, and it resulted in reinventing the American Research University.
50 years later, and then two world wars thereafter, we saw the birth of the semiconductor industry.
1900, Carnegie did the same thing to educate the children of steel mill workers that were being laid off and created a juggernaut.
That is a continuation of the momentum that we've been seeing a trend line over the last 20 plus years in the innovation economy in a place that many people in America had overlooked and forgotten.
But Saif, why Carnegie Mellon? Why did Griffin, a Harvard graduate and a transplant from Chicago, for that matter, why did he choose this Pittsburgh institution as the recipient of, as I said, the largest donation ever to a U.S.
I think he chose it in many regards, because if you look objectively, I was on the leadership team of FIU for a number of years.
I've done work with Miami Dade College, and there's nobody who bleeds deeper around our local academic institutions.
In fact, I helped staff the Academic Leaders Council, which is the coalition of all higher ed institutions convened via our region's economic development agency.
He was able to bring in an institution, if you look at the numbers in what you call those frontier areas of technology, they're number one for AI, they're number one for computer science, they're number one on planet Earth for advanced robotics.
A lot of the haters, when they look at South Florida, the comment was often, but we don't have a serious engineering, scientific research institution.
Ken Griffin, as you know, Saif was in Wynwood yesterday to tout this project, and he expressed this pretty lofty vision for it.
will mean that every child in this city will have a far greater chance to realize their dreams and their potentials in their careers working for companies located here in our great city.
Saif, Griffin is foreseeing there nothing less than the transformation of the Miami and South Florida economy, a place where college grads actually want to stay instead of move away from, as so many do today.
Is it hyperbole or will Carnegie Mellon University Miami really bring that tech metamorphosis, AI, cybersecurity, climate resilience that that he promised this week?
In 1873, John Hopkins left a gift of $7 million to Baltimore, and it resulted in reinventing the American Research University.
50 years later, and then two world wars thereafter, we saw the birth of the semiconductor industry.
1900, Carnegie did the same thing to educate the children of steel mill workers that were being laid off and created a juggernaut.
That is a continuation of the momentum that we've been seeing a trend line over the last 20 plus years in the innovation economy in a place that many people in America had overlooked and forgotten.
But Saif, why Carnegie Mellon? Why did Griffin, a Harvard graduate and a transplant from Chicago, for that matter, why did he choose this Pittsburgh institution as the recipient of, as I said, the largest donation ever to a U.S.
I think he chose it in many regards, because if you look objectively, I was on the leadership team of FIU for a number of years.
I've done work with Miami Dade College, and there's nobody who bleeds deeper around our local academic institutions.
In fact, I helped staff the Academic Leaders Council, which is the coalition of all higher ed institutions convened via our region's economic development agency.
He was able to bring in an institution, if you look at the numbers in what you call those frontier areas of technology, they're number one for AI, they're number one for computer science, they're number one on planet Earth for advanced robotics.
A lot of the haters, when they look at South Florida, the comment was often, but we don't have a serious engineering, scientific research institution.
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