With the arrival of the president, Shirley Ann Jackson, came the "Rensselaer Plan" announced in 1999. Its goal is to achieve greater prominence for Rensselaer as a technological research university. Various aspects of the plan include bringing in a larger graduate student population and new research faculty, and increasing participation in undergraduate research, international exchange programs, and "living and learning communities". So far, there have been a number of changes under the plan: new infrastructure such as the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies, Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center, and Computational Center for Nanotechnology Innovations (CCNI) have been built to support new programs, and application numbers have increased. In 2018, Rensselaer received a record number of applications: 20,337. According to Jared Cohon in 2006, then president of Carnegie Mellon University, "Change at Rensselaer in the last five years has occurred with a scope and swiftness that may be without precedent in the recent history of American higher education."