NEW YORK CITY-Last week, at the Regional Plan Association’s Innovation and the Global City summit, New York City deputy mayor for economic development Robert K. Steel highlighted his belief that the city’s economic future hinges, in part, on it becoming a hub for the study of the applied sciences. “People talk about college towns and they mention Cambridge or Ann Arbor,” Steel told the crowd, adding that a strong “science and engineering” presence in the city would compliment existing academic activities in the city. “This seems to be something that can be a long stick as a fulcrum to really boost the economy for the long term.”

That goal seems one step closer to reality now, with Stanford University continuing to voice its interest in Roosevelt Island as a location for a New York City campus in a presentation to the school’s academic council last week. Stanford president John Hennessy told those assembled that past proposals to establish satellite campuses didn’t work due to concern about the ability to establish “a cohort of faculty and students whose quality matched that of our home campus.” New York is different, he added, because of it is attractive to both students and faculty.

Though nothing has been decided officially, Roosevelt Island was among four locations the city suggested to the 27 institutions that expressed interest in coming to the city. Those schools included the University of Chicago, Purdue University and several foreign-based schools. “Of the four sites, we have looked most carefully at Roosevelt Island and considered how it might be developed,” Hennesey said. The other three sites were Governor’s Island, the Brooklyn Navy Yard and Farm Colony on Staten Island.