Carnegie Mellon University
Leadership  ›  The President  ›  Messages from the President  ›  2024  ›  Another Exceptional Year for CMU!

Another Exceptional Year for CMU!

Dear Members of the CMU Community:

What an incredible time to be a Tartan!

As this page illustrates: Carnegie Mellon’s faculty, students and staff filled the last academic year with extraordinary milestones and memories.

These examples preview a much longer, larger success story. They serve as proof points for our mission in action — evidence of our community’s ongoing push to create and leverage knowledge that advances society in profound and powerful ways.

And our future looks just as bright.

Earlier this month, we welcomed a new wildly talented first-year class to Pittsburgh. These students — the product of another 34,000-strong application pool — joined a global CMU community that is gaining momentum with every passing moment.

So, here’s to celebrating past successes, embracing new opportunities and continuing to grow our record of excellence – together – in the year ahead.

Warm regards,
Farnam Jahanian

Advancing Academic Excellence

We led the way with world-class people and programs.

A photo collage of students and faculty from the 2023-24 academic year.
  • Our faculty added to their prestigious awards and recognitions this year, including earning election into the American Association for the Advancements of Science, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Mathematical Society. They also won Andrew Carnegie and Guggenheim fellowships, National Science Foundation's CAREER Awards in the fields of electrical, computer and chemical engineering — and more.
  • We retained our No. 1 ranking in six undergraduate programs or special areas: Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, Software Engineering, Mobile/Web Applications, Management Information Systems and Computer Engineering.
  • We were among the first leading computer science schools to offer a Bachelor of Science in Robotics Undergraduate degree.
  • The talents and skills of our students were recognized on a national and global scale. They earned Barry Goldwater, Udall, Beinecke, Fulbright and Critical Language scholarships as well as a Hertz fellowship, Society of Women Engineers scholarships — and more.
  • We established online graduate certificate programs in artificial intelligence, 3D bioprinting and biofabrication, and computational data science for working professionals.
  • CMIST (Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy and Technology) launched two new academic programs: The Bachelor of Science in Political Science, Security, and Technology and the Minor in Political Science, Security, and Technology.
  • We added a full-time accelerated MBA, which students can complete in three semesters instead of four, as well as new master of science programs in management, additive manufacturing and computational biomedical engineering.
  • Our alumni excelled! In the last year, they earned election into the National Academy of Engineering and had their expertise and artistry recognized with Schwarzman and Stanford Knight-Hennessy scholarships; Grammy, Emmy and Tony award wins — and more.
  • We received a $25 million gift from Ray and Stephanie Lane, which created an endowment to establish the first named department at CMU: The Ray and Stephanie Lane Computational Biology Department.


At the Edge of Cutting-Edge

We solidified our reputation as a leading authority in emerging technologies, like artificial intelligence, robotics and machine learning. 

  • We grew our roster of federally funded national research centers that lean on CMU’s rich history of AI implementation and innovation. Recent additions include the CDC's Center for Innovation in Outbreak Analysis and Disease Modeling, the DOD's Center for Calibrated Trust Measurement and Evaluation Center, and the CDAO Academic Innovation Council on Responsible AI. Also, new for CMU this year: The Artificial Intelligence Security Incident Response Team and the NSF's Intelligent Science Stations initiative.
  • We joined a historic $110 million U.S.-Japan partnership in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Commerce to accelerate AI innovation.
  • We launched a partnership with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to develop state-level standards and a governance framework for generative AI; this was the first framework of its kind nationwide.
  • We co-hosted a Senate Robotics Showcase and Demo Day to advise national decision-makers on the critical role of robotics in enhancing U.S. productivity and regional economic development. The event culminated nearly a year of deep engagement on the future of national AI policy, with CMU faculty and leadership participating in the historic Senate Inform Sessions, testifying at four hearings, participating in over 20 briefings — and more.


Making (More) Dreams Possible

We made bold moves to widen the road to opportunity.

  • We selected our first-ever class of CMU Rales Fellows, who will join the CMU community this fall. This program, new to campus for Fall 2024, offers comprehensive and holistic support to talented graduate students in STEM fields who might otherwise have overlooked the opportunity due to cost. This support extends beyond full tuition coverage and also includes mentoring, network building, a cost of living stipend, health insurance and more.
  • We continued to invest in making a world-class CMU education more affordable and accessible. Our instituitional commitment for undergraduate financial aid has increased 75% since 2016 — from nearly $78 million annually to $136 million annually.
  • Our extended CMU community pushed our Make Possible Campaign to over $2.3 billion. This funding has unlocked $430 million in new support for fellowships and scholarships, established 61 endowed professorships — and more.
  • We grew our Tartan Scholars program, which now spans over 450 students and a retention rate of ~99% from year 1 to year 2. The program, which we launched in 2019 with just 40 students, is succeeding in its mission of helping high-achieving students from limited-resource backgrounds thrive at CMU.


Future Focused

We evolved our infrastructure to drive excellence for decades to come.

A photo collage featuring new CMU buildings and spaces on campus.
  • We broke ground on our Robotics Innovation Center, which will expand our footprint for robotics research, development and testing, including in the related fields of AI and automation.
  • We cut the ribbon on the new Allan Magee Scaife Hall of Engineering, home to our College of Engineering, to better serve the discipline's changing needs, technology, population and pedagogy.
  • We broke ground on the Richard King Mellon Hall of Sciences, a $330 million transformational hub that will define the future of science.
  • We opened a new residence hall — our Forbes Beeler Apartments — which is also home to our first-ever on-campus grocery store, Scotty's Market. This building, paired with our Fifth and Clyde Residence Hall, were the first new construction student housing additions on campus in 20 years.
  • We hit the construction homestretch on our Highmark Center for Health, Wellness and Athletics. The center, which is scheduled to open in fall 2024, will house a variety of clinical, health and wellness services for students, as well as CMU athletics programming.
  • We overhauled Fairfax Apartments, an upper-class residential facility. The project involved extensively renovating the building’s apartments, community spaces, study spaces and fitness areas.


Commanding the Spotlight

We continued to invest and excel in all things creative arts.

A photo collage of CMU's Fine Arts achievements from the 2023-24 academic year.


A Stronger Community

We built bridges of collaboration, connection and understanding.

  • We launched a university-wide initiative, called Deeper Conversations, that is devoted to exploring divergent viewpoints on some of today’s most challenging issues.
  • We kicked off the President’s Lecture Series with distinguished lectures and fireside chats, featuring Army General Laura Richardson in the fall and Harvard cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker in the spring.
  • Our CMU-Africa campus partnered with Volkswagen Mobility Solutions Rwanda, Deutsche Gessellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, GmbH and others to open The Smart Mobility Lab in Kigali. The space is devoted to fostering innovation, sustainability and digital transformation in the mobility sector.
  • We took the Tartan community on the road — stopping in Los Angeles, Silicon Valley, Seattle, Pittsburgh, Boston, Chicago and New York City — to catch up with CMU alum, family and friends across the nation.


Record Setters

We made our mark in history (and in the history books!).

A photo collage of record setting events from CMU's 2023-24 academic year, including the women's golf team and graduates from CMU Qatar.