This is so depressing -- what NYC really needs is Stanford or MIT. Cornell is a wonderful school, but there is nothing to indicate that they know anything about tech...
"Among graduate engineering programs, Cornell was ranked 9th in the United States by U.S. News in 2008" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornell_University
I don't think NYC needs a Stanford or MIT, they need someone who will treat the NYC campus as a primary focus. For that reason Columbia and Cornell should come first. You might argue that Columbia already has a presence but that doesn't mean they're NOT hurting for space. Furthermore, Cornell already has a NYC presence as well.
#5 in CS: http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-gradu... #9 in Engineering: http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/...
A number of Cornellians have been prominent innovators, starting with Thomas Midgley, Jr. ('11),[287] the inventor of Freon. Jeff Hawkins ('79)[288] invented the Palm Pilot and subsequently founded Palm, Inc. Graduate Jon Rubinstein ('78)[289] is credited with the development of the iPod. William Higinbotham developed Tennis for Two in 1958, one of the earliest computer games and the predecessor to Pong, and Robert Tappan Morris developed the first computer worm on the Internet. The most direct evidence of dark matter was provided by Vera Rubin ('51).[290] Jill Tarter ('66)[291] is the current director of the SETI Institute and Steve Squyres ('81)[292] is the principal investigator on the Mars Exploration Rover Mission. Eight Cornellians have served as NASA astronauts. Bill Nye ('77) is best known as "The Science Guy".[293]
Really, you should know the Robert Morris one off the top of your head at the very least.
Don't know about the rest.