BOSTON—What would you do with a $118 million gift? That's just what the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has been grappling with following the generous endowment given by alumnus Samuel Tak Lee. The money is earmarked for a real estate entrepreneurship lab but it still leaves the school in the enviable position of determining the best way to allocate the funds.

Albert Saiz, the new director of theSamuel Tak Lee MIT Real Estate Entrepreneurship Lab and an MIT professor, sat down with GlobeSt.com to discuss the myriad of possibilities ahead of him in this EXCLUSIVE interview.

GlobeSt.com: What will you do with this gift?

Albert Saiz: A lot of stuff. The gift is joined with the Department of Urban Studies & Planning and part of the donation is for Building Nine, on Massachusetts Ave., the building where both departments are located. Then another part of the gift will be devoted to fellowships to take part in our master's in real estate program. The third part of the gift is for research. We're going to make an open call for research projects—and invite applicants to apply for grants—on real estate development, the environmental impact of real estate, socially responsible investment, issues related to development in China, and more.

Part four is about building strong relationships with China. We're going to establish a visiting program where researchers and practitioners come in. Also, we want to create what's known as a massive online open course, offering real estate and urban development education, through a number of courses, in English and Mandarin. It will target students interested in socially conscious, urban development and we want to create an innovative curriculum.

GlobeSt.com: What will be the cost of that education?

Saiz: The model is free; there might be a certification that people pay for though. But we're still working on it.

GlobeSt.com: What's the timeline?

Saiz: The research part is what we hope to move fast on. The visiting program will take time but we just appointed a director, we're working hard and fast. We're going to have to redo the space to bring it up to what we want for Mr. Lee. But we're already doing things and thinking about China.

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Rayna Katz

Rayna Katz is a seasoned business journalist whose extensive experience includes coverage of the lodging sector, travel and the culinary space. She was most recently content director for a business-to-business publisher, overseeing four publications. While at Meeting News, a travel trade publication, she received a Best Reporting award for a story on meeting cancellations in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.

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