Carnegie Mellon University gets $3 billion gift to build new Miami campus

Carnegie Mellon University has received a $3 billion gift to build a new campus in Miami, Florida, and to enhance the university's Pittsburgh campus and overall vision. 

The gift, provided by Citadel founder Ken Griffin, is said to be the largest gift ever by an individual in the history of higher education. Citadel is one of the world's largest hedge fund firms.

The new 35-acre campus, known as CMU Miami, is expected to start enrolling students in 2028. The campus is expected to support more than 3,500 students, nearly 300 faculty and over 600 staff members. 

CMU said the new campus in Miami's Wynwood neighborhood will be designed in a way that will "empower students to thrive in a changing world, and strengthen American competitiveness." 

As part of the $3 billion gift, CMU said that $1 billion will be used on its existing Pittsburgh campus, split evenly between "flexible support" for what the university deems its top priorities and the School of Computer Science, which will be named after Griffin. He will also be joining CMU's Board of Trustees. 

"Carnegie Mellon University has made profound contributions to America's preeminence in science, engineering, technology, and the humanities," Ken Griffin said in a statement. "Since its founding, Carnegie Mellon has fostered remarkable talent, pioneered scientific breakthroughs, and expanded the frontiers of research — shaping global leaders and innovators."

Griffin said that CMU Miami represents "a generational opportunity to build a new center of research and intellectual life" that will attract bright minds from across the world. 

In a statement, CMU President Farnam Jahanian said that the university is deeply grateful to Griffin for his vision, partnership and belief in what CMU can achieve. 

"Throughout our history, CMU has anticipated moments of profound technological change and responded with new ways of thinking and solving problems," Jahanian said. "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. 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."

Carnegie Mellon currently ranks No. 1 in the nation in undergraduate computer science and No. 3 in the nation in graduate earnings by academic major, according to the U.S. News & World Report's 2027 rankings.