Citadel's Griffin donates $3 billion to Carnegie Mellon with plans for Miami campus - Reuters

Ken Griffin, founder of the hedge‑fund firm Citadel, has pledged a $3 billion donation to Carnegie Mellon University, the largest single gift ever made to a U.S. university. The bulk of the contribution, $2 billion, is earmarked for the development of a new campus in Miami’s Wynwood neighbourhood, an area just north of downtown that Citadel relocated to in 2022 after moving its headquarters from Chicago.

The Wynwood campus is planned to occupy roughly 35 acres and is slated to begin construction next year. It is designed to enroll about 3,500 undergraduate, master’s and doctoral students and will organize its curriculum around “grand challenge areas” rather than traditional academic majors. The identified focus areas include human health and biological discovery, national security and strategic capabilities, energy and climate resilience, and advanced manufacturing and industrial transformation.

The remaining $1 billion of Griffin’s gift will be divided equally between Carnegie Mellon’s computer‑science program— which will be renamed in Griffin’s honor— and other unspecified projects at the university’s main Pittsburgh campus. University President Farnam Jahanian said the donation reflects Carnegie Mellon’s history of anticipating periods of profound technological change and responding with new ways of thinking and problem‑solving.

Griffin’s involvement extends beyond the financial contribution; he is also backing the Wynwood campus’s distinctive educational model that emphasizes interdisciplinary solutions to societal challenges. The initiative aligns with Citadel’s broader strategy of positioning itself in Miami, a city the firm now calls home.

The announcement was made through a joint news release from Carnegie Mellon and Citadel, confirming the scale of the gift, the allocation of funds, and the timeline for the Miami campus project. No conflicting details have emerged from the reports.