But for now, facilities like Maxwell Dworkin and projects like I-Campus remain private.

Cornerstone of Choice

Although for the moment, MIT is the bride of choice in this academic-industrial marriage, Microsoft hints that it may find other academic partners in the future. The trade school down the river simply won the honor of being first.

"This alliance [I-Campus] will become the cornerstone for similar alliances which will seek to broadly improve higher education over the next 10 years in the United States," a Microsoft spokesperson wrote in an e-mail message.

The spokesperson said Microsoft's experience with MIT should serve as a model for partnerships with other schools.

"Rather than working with many and be spread thin, Microsoft decided to work with one university at a much more engaged level than before," the spokesperson wrote.

This kind of corporate partnership is not confined to MIT's computer science work. It's also in a $30 million, 10-year alliance with biotechnology giant Amgen and a $20 million, five-year alliance with Ford Motor Company.

Other partners include pharmaceutical company Merck, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, Merrill Lynch and DuPont.