(JTA) – Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has donated $100 million to Cornell University’s new high-tech campus co-founded with Israel’s Technion Institute in New York City. The donation, made through Bloomberg Philanthropies, will go toward construction of the Bloomberg Center, which will house graduate academic programs in the applied sciences, according to the Cornell Daily Sun. The goal of the center on Roosevelt Island will be for students to launch companies or products. Cornell broke ground on the building in a ceremony Tuesday, June 16. It is slated to open in 2017 and was dedicated in honor of Bloomberg’s daughters. Bloomberg, who is Jewish, is the founder of Bloomberg L.P., a media and financial software company, and the 10th richest person in the United States, according to Forbes magazine.