Ken Griffin Announces Record $3B Donation to Carnegie Mellon

Ken Griffin, the founder and CEO of Citadel, the most profitable hedge fund in history, has made an unprecedented donation of $3 billion to Carnegie Mellon University, marking the largest single donation ever given to an American higher education institution. The funds will be used for both Carnegie Mellon's existing campus in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and a new campus in Miami, Florida.

Griffin, who relocated his company from Chicago to Miami due to concerns about crime, plans to use $1 billion of the donation to support Pittsburgh's main campus, focusing on areas like financial aid for students and strengthening its computer science program, which will now be known as the Kenneth C Griffin School of Computer Science. The remaining $2 billion will go toward establishing a new 35-acre campus in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood, set to begin construction by 2027.

The donation highlights the university's strategic expansion into technology and research fields such as health sciences, national security, energy, climate resilience, and advanced manufacturing. While celebrated in Pittsburgh and Miami for its educational benefits, it has drawn criticism from New York City business leaders who see it as a loss to their city's economic growth opportunities.