In 1999, the world was wary that the Y2K bug would wreak havoc on global computer systems, the Blackberry and Matrix was released, and Prince was realizing his ultimate party year.

Here in Ithaca, New York, we were announcing the advent of Cornell Computing and Information Science [CIS], which was created to respond uniquely to the educational and scientific challenges of the advancing information age.

Anticipating where other universities would be decades later, Cornell debuted an innovative concept: an interdisciplinary unit that would integrate across campus and mold the next generation of tech innovators and thought leaders.

Over the next 20 years, CIS exploded into a three-department powerhouse, which has seen its majors multiply sixfold in the past decade alone, its faculty teaching one in 10 Cornell students campuswide, and its research reputation reaching world-renown for prowess in critical computing fields–from machine learning to human-computer interaction, robotics to security and tech ethics.

And in that same span of time, CIS built a new home at Cornell – Bill and Melinda Gates Hall – and helped create an entirely new campus on the shores of Manhattan, with the opening of Cornell Tech on Roosevelt Island in 2017.

If you want to learn what Cornell CIS is doubling down on for the next 20 years, and how it plans to influence the future of tech, as well as create the next generation of computational leaders with a conscience, then please join us for INSPIRE • INNOVATE • IMPACT, Computing and Information Science @20 to find out some of the best tech bets for the next two decades.