Carnegie Mellon

Carnegie Mellon University(opens in new window) and the AI Strike Team today unveiled new details for the Powering the Future of Sport: A Draft Week Showcase(opens in new window) — an invite-only gathering that will bring together global investors, founders, innovators and sports leaders to Carnegie Mellon during one of professional football’s most high-profile weeks. Meredith Meyer Grelli “This showcase reflects the spirit of Pittsburgh, a City of Champions where excellence…

A century of transformative research Carnegie Mellon’s influence on Pittsburgh’s innovation economy was built over decades of sustained investment in research that’s foundational to modern technology.   Theresa Mayer CMU’s research enterprise spans more than 100 interdisciplinary institutes and centers, including  the Software Engineering Institute(opens in new window) — which has shaped how the federal government approaches cybersecurity — and the Robotics Institute(opens in new window), the first of its kind in the world…

At Carnegie Mellon University students anticipate the Spring Carnival(opens in new window) and century-old annual Sweepstakes(opens in new window) race by spending months building sleek, carbon-fiber buggies to push a driver around the hills behind campus.Sam Radziwon had an idea akin to long-ago races: The mechanical engineering senior built a wooden buggy, named Balsa, which will roll in an exhibition race Friday morning.Two years ago, Radziwon served as Booth(opens in new window)…

Carnegie Mellon University secured six No. 1 rankings in the newly released 2026 Best Graduate Schools(opens in new window) rankings from the U.S. News & World Report.Carnegie Mellon ranks first for overall graduate computer science programs, tied with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Stanford University. Among computer science programs, CMU also earned No. 1 rankings in Programming Language(opens in new window), Artificial Intelligence(opens in new window), and Systems(opens in new window), along with…

Cassidy R. Sugimoto, a globally recognized scholar whose work lies at the intersection of information science and science policy, will join Carnegie Mellon University as the next Bess Family Dean of the Marianna Brown Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences(opens in new window), effective July 1, 2026.Sugimoto joins CMU from the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she serves as school chair, Tom and Marie Patton Chair and Professor in the…

Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping how scientists explore the universe — turning massive amounts of data into discoveries that were once out of reach. At Carnegie Mellon University, a new initiative will bring together experts in AI, statistics and astrophysics to accelerate that shift. Supported by the Simons Foundation, the Keystone Astronomy & AI (KAAI) Visiting Fellows Program will accelerate the use of AI in cosmological and astronomical research through an…

Carnegie Mellon alumnae Justine Lee, right, and Tria Chang brought the structure of a typical Make America Dinner Again event to CMU's Rangos Ballroom on Sunday, March 29, inviting students of differing beliefs to engage in "radical empathy" over dinner. April 1, 2026 By: Alexander Johnson Email Media Inquiries Name Cassia Crogan Title University Communications & Marketing The Carnegie Mellon University community gathered together for “Listening, Learning and Leading Across…

On NFL draft day, every team has the chance to win — or lose — big. With millions of dollars on the line and just minutes to make a final decision on each pick, a single choice can shape a franchise for years. Carnegie Mellon University experts said those intense moments offer a window into how people make decisions when the stakes are highest.The science of choking under pressureThe draft…

March 27, 2026 By: Alexander Johnson Email Media Inquiries Name Cassia Crogan Title University Communications & Marketing Ted Decker(opens in new window), CEO and president of The Home Depot, returned to his alma mater on Thursday, March 26, as a distinguished speaker for the President’s Lecture Series(opens in new window) at Carnegie Mellon University.The series brings thought leaders and world leaders to campus to discuss topics of emerging and preeminent…

Sean Qian is the director of the Mobility Data Analytics Center at CMU.  The NFL draft is coming to Pittsburgh on April 23, 2026 and bringing an estimated 500,000-700,000 visitors with it for the weekend. The impact of such a massive influx(opens in new window) of people will put the city’s transportation systems to the test. Carnegie Mellon University’s Sean Qian(opens in new window), civil and environmental engineering(opens in new window) professor in the Heinz…

A biological process long thought to protect biodiversity and help species coexist may actually threaten diversity when species are separated by natural landscapes, infrastructure or other barriers, according to new research(opens in new window) from Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Computer Science(opens in new window). The finding could help scientists better protect biodiversity — and may even offer new insights into how diseases like cancer evolve.Researchers from the Ray and Stephanie…

Carnegie Mellon University will award honorary degrees to four individuals at its 2026 Commencement(opens in new window) ceremony set for Sunday, May 10 in Gesling Stadium. The recipients will be recognized for their contributions to business, the arts, research and engineering.Jensen Huang, the electrical engineer, philanthropist and business executive who co-founded NVIDIA, will be the Commencement speaker and receive an Honorary Doctor of Science and Technology degree.College of Fine Arts…

Before enrollment and beyondSupport at CMU begins before students even enroll, with the expansion of educational opportunity.These efforts include the CMU Pathway Program(opens in new window), which offers tuition-free attendance to students from households earning under $75,000 annually. The program also offers loan-free attendance to those whose families earn $100,000 or less annually.Others, like the Tartan Scholars(opens in new window) and Rales Fellows(opens in new window) programs, allow the university to bring in…

Pittsburgh has reinvented itself from a steel powerhouse to a hub for health care and education. But the city’s industrial past left a hidden legacy: toxic compounds like benzene and toluene in the soil. While most life can’t survive such a contamination, some microbes adapted to use the pollutants as food.  Catherine Armbruster Now, scientists at Carnegie Mellon University are exploring whether these microbes can help clean up what the…

Carnegie Mellon University is one of six institutions partnering with the Viewpoints Fellowship(opens in new window), a yearlong, paid leadership program designed to equip students with the necessary skills to productively navigate disagreement, lead constructive dialogue and foster more resilient campus communities.The fellowship is a partnership between the student-founded nonprofit The Viewpoints Project(opens in new window) and CMU’s Civility Initiatives(opens in new window) and Office of Community Engagement and Leadership Development(opens in new window).Through…

The Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Innovation Center(opens in new window) (RIC) hummed with energy on Monday as it partnered with Hazelwood Local to host a family-friendly open house. The event, on the heels of the RIC’s opening celebration(opens in new window) last month, showcased robot demonstrations, offered guided tours and built direct connections with CMU to explore programs, relationships and resources.Zoie Pitzarella of Hazelwood watched her 6-year-old son, Kyng, use a video…

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University are developing new technology that could lower how much energy data centers need to operate, reducing the strain on the energy grid that Americans rely on.Why it mattersThe electricity required to run data centers, specifically those powering artificial intelligence, is straining the U.S. energy grid. AI energy demands are projected to double or triple(opens in new window) in the next few years, according to the U.S.…

Today, Carnegie Mellon University researchers are directly advancing the next generation of energy innovation by helping to design resilient, transportable microreactors. This work builds on the Pittsburgh region's century-long legacy as a leader in energy, from the nation's first commercial nuclear power plant to Westinghouse's global reactor technology breakthroughs.“As we work to cut air pollution from fossil fuels and reduce the greenhouse gases driving climate change, small modular reactors offer…

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University attest that while the United States needs to lower system-wide costs and air pollution to shape the future of energy, the core priority should be ensuring individuals can afford and access that energy. Destenie Nock Destenie Nock(opens in new window), assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering(opens in new window) and engineering and public policy(opens in new window), leads a research group comprised of graduate students at CMU…

At Carnegie Mellon University, researchers are helping cities learn how to make room for too much of a good thing: renewable energy.Shixiang (Woody) Zhu(opens in new window), an assistant professor of data analytics within the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy(opens in new window), is using his expertise in statistics and operations research to help one Midwestern city, Indianapolis, rethink its grid. Zhu and his research colleagues partnered with utility…

In rural areas, the number of low-wage jobs, such as those in retail or warehousing, has increased, research by a Carnegie Mellon University junior found. At the same time, income in rural areas from high-wage jobs, such as those in health care and professional services, has also grown.Kausthub Satluri set out to study “brain drain,” or the movement of skilled and intelligent workers from rural to urban areas, and the…

Olivia LaFond, a Carnegie Mellon University senior majoring in biomedical and chemical engineering, created a 3D-printed device that one day could be used to reduce the need for invasive procedures or could help deliver medication directly inside the body over time.The design of the device, meant to attach to the small intestine, is inspired by tapeworms. People may eat food, especially meat, where the parasites have laid microscopic eggs that then…

“Pittsburgh’s strength has always been translating ideas into impact,” said Farnam Jahanian(opens in new window), president of Carnegie Mellon University. “With the NFL Draft coming to our city, it is a fitting moment to highlight how sport — through play, performance, engagement, and entertainment — has become a proving ground for the next era of AI. There is no better place to tell that story than the Robotics Innovation Center,…

“Pittsburgh’s strength has always been translating ideas into impact,” said Farnam Jahanian(opens in new window), president of Carnegie Mellon University. “With the NFL Draft coming to our city, it is a fitting moment to highlight how sport — through play, performance, engagement, and entertainment — has become a proving ground for the next era of AI. There is no better place to tell that story than the Robotics Innovation Center,…

Farnam Jahanian “Today, this facility is bringing state-of-the-art infrastructure together with the ability to tap into the nation's and region’s most comprehensive regional network of robotics testing sites. And it demonstrates how a university can invest locally and meet national needs while enhancing our economic competitiveness and national security,” CMU President Farnam Jahanian said. “What excites me most about this space is the serendipity it will spark: Researchers crossing paths…

When Leo Wang arrived at Carnegie Mellon University from Hong Kong, he was already fascinated by robots. But it wasn’t until he joined the Robomechanics Lab led by Aaron Johnson(opens in new window) that his interest evolved into a mission: to teach quadrupedal robots to climb steep terrain using reinforcement learning.“I’ve always dreamed of building general-purpose robots that could help in the home or navigate complex environments,” said Wang, now a…

When removing cancerous tissue in the brain, neurosurgeons often use “awake brain mapping” to minimize the risk of causing unintended disruptions to a patient’s quality of life while removing as much tumor as possible. This practice, which has been used for decades, involves waking a patient up mid-surgery to test their neurocognitive functions in real time by stimulating the brain surface and assessing for functional changes.A new study published today…

Downed power lines, flooding and collapsed buildings are dangerous obstacles emergency responders must navigate when searching for survivors of catastrophic events. But robots that can overcome these challenges could save lives without putting human rescuers at risk. Soon, search-and-rescue robotics researchers at Carnegie Mellon University will be able to build on their work at the Robotics Innovation Center(opens in new window) (RIC) to test their inventions. Flying robots to the rescueResearchers…

Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Innovation Center(opens in new window) (RIC) has secured its first corporate tenant, bringing the high-growth robotics unicorn FieldAI(opens in new window) to the university’s new research facility at Hazelwood Green. The move, announced ahead of the facility’s formal opening this week, embeds an industry leader in physical artificial intelligence into a 2,500-square-foot lab and office suite on the building’s second floor. Ali Agha "We've always believed that the best…

Five Carnegie Mellon University faculty members from the School of Computer Science(opens in new window), Mellon College of Science(opens in new window) and Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences(opens in new window) are among the 126 recipients of 2026 Sloan Research Fellowships, which honor early career scholars whose achievements put them among the best scientific minds working today.Christopher Eur(opens in new window), an assistant professor in the Department of…

Carnegie Mellon University's standing as a powerhouse in engineering research is underscored by the election of Jonathan Cagan(opens in new window), CMU President Farnam Jahanian(opens in new window), and alumnus Ira J. Pitel to the prestigious National Academy of Engineering(opens in new window)'s 2026 class. Election to the NAE is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer. Cagan, the David and Susan Coulter Head of Mechanical Engineering, is known for his advancements in…

Nearly one in four adults in the U.S. lives with chronic pain(opens in new window). Opioids like morphine help by reducing the brain’s perception of pain, but they come with risks and side effects researchers still don’t fully understand. Across neuroscience, biomedical engineering and artificial intelligence, esearchers from Carnegie Mellon University’s Neuroscience Institute(opens in new window) are exploring how pain is measured, understood and treated to support safer, more effective care.Understanding pain behavior could…

The long-standing interplay between artificial intelligence and the evolution of physics played a pivotal role in awarding the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics to two AI trailblazers. “AI for physics and physics for AI are concepts you hear,” said Matteo Cremonesi(opens in new window), an assistant professor of physics at Carnegie Mellon University. “The fact that the Nobel Prize went to AI pioneers is not surprising. It’s a recognition of…

It's increasingly difficult to discern between content generated by humans and artificial intelligence. To help create more transparency around this issue and detect when AI-generated content is used maliciously, computer scientists are researching ways to label content created by large language models (LLMs). One solution: using watermarks. A new study(opens in new window) from School of Computer Science(opens in new window) researchers looks at the tradeoffs of some of the…

When researchers need to collect data about a worksite’s soil quality, they can run into several problems. Using excavators to access sites can be challenging, expensive, and may limit the ability to collect samples. Once an excavator does return a scoop of soil, scientists must still collect soil samples by hand for shipping and analysis at an off-site commercial lab. In short, their work is often dirty, dangerous and expensive.…

In the dramatic arts, training artists and actors holds as much importance as teaching tools for expression, according to Carnegie Mellon alumni with ties to Broadway. “Arts education allowed me to see that there was not one way to be, not one way to learn, not one way to process information,” said Nate Bertone(opens in new window) (CFA 2016), a member of the Tartans on the Rise Class of 2024(opens in new window).…

Deepfake videos generated by artificial intelligence grow increasingly difficult to identify as false, a challenge that could significantly skew the results of the upcoming presidential election. Laurie Heller(opens in new window), Carnegie Mellon University professor of psychology, collaborated with Hafsa Ouajdi, Oussama Hadder, Modan Tailleur and Mathieu Lagrange of École Centrale Nantes(opens in new window) to analyze the errors made by the first deep neural network detector the research team developed…

Picture this: hundreds of ant-sized robots climbing over rubble, under rocks and between debris to inspect the damage of a fallen building before human rescuers explore on-site. Downscaling legged robots to the size of an insect enables access to small spaces that humans and large robots cannot reach. A swarm of small robots can even collaborate like their insect counterparts to haul objects and protect one another. Picotaur, a new…

Artificial intelligence rapidly changed the ways that companies screen applicants for positions, and now job seekers themselves use generative AI to navigate this evolving career landscape. According to Sean McGowan, director of employer relations at Carnegie Mellon University’s Career and Professional Development Center(opens in new window) (CPDC), generative AI can be a speedy and powerful tool in the job search process — when used ethically and responsibly — yet traditional approaches…

Co-painting is by its nature collaborative, and developing data that trains a robot to collaborate is difficult and time-consuming. To get around this complication, CoFRIDA uses self-supervised training data based on FRIDA's stroke simulator and planner. The researchers created a self-supervised, fine-tuning dataset by having FRIDA simulate paintings that consisted of a sequence of brush strokes, from which some strokes could be removed to produce examples of partial paintings. The…