Developing New Fields of Discovery
Answers to the world’s toughest questions are being formed at CMU
Make Possible: The Campaign for Carnegie Mellon University has attracted more than $185 million in investments in new centers and institutes that are at the forefront of new and evolving fields of study.
These interdisciplinary collaborations are answering some of the most complex problems facing the world — from economic equity to the mysteries of the human mind to the future of manufacturing.
- Manufacturing Futures Institute
- Ballay Center for Design Fusion
- Center for Shared Prosperity
- Center for Machine Learning and Health
- Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship
- Neuroscience Institute
- Block Center for Technology and Society
The Manufacturing Futures Initiative was created in 2016 to promote interdisciplinary research in the creation and implementation of new materials and new processes that will transform manufacturing.
A $30 million commitment from the Richard King Mellon Foundation has expanded the Manufacturing Futures Initiative into the Manufacturing Futures Institute (MFI). As a permanent organization supporting manufacturing activities across the entire campus and managed by Carnegie Mellon College of Engineering, the newly established institute will have both the long-term vision and funding to address the complex challenges facing U.S. and global manufacturing and enhance economic development.
The Ballay Center for Design Fusion establishes a formal presence of design expertise and outreach at CMU and also will serve as a central hub for design courses for the CMU campus community, executive education, sponsored projects and collaborations, and design research.
A $10 million gift from alumnus and emeritus faculty member Joseph Ballay and his wife, Sue, established the center and is the single largest gift ever presented to the College of Fine Arts.
The Center for Shared Prosperity aims to create a sustainable and replicable model for community-university collaboration, with a focus on deploying solutions for socio-economic inequities and making measurable progress toward greater economic prosperity and overall well-being of residents.
The Heinz Endowments committed $30 million over six years to the initiative, which has funded the creation and launch of the center as well as real-world projects that are identified by community partners and grounded in community.
One of two centers launched under the umbrella of the Pittsburgh Health Data Alliance, which formed in 2015 to unite CMU’s applied computer capabilities, the University of Pittsburgh’s’ world-class health sciences research, and UPMC’s clinical are and commercialization expertise — the Center for Machine Learning and Health supports great science and engineering that can lead to innovative health solutions and new businesses.
Located in the Tepper Quad at the heart of CMU’s campus, the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship is a multidisciplinary startup ecosystem that inspires and supports budding CMU entrepreneurs.
Originally formed as the Carnegie Mellon Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in 2012, a $31 million gift from alumnus an entrepreneur Jim Swartz transformed the center into a booming, bustling hub of entrepreneurial, collaborative spirit.
Launched in 2018, CMU’s Neuroscience Institute answers critical brain science questions through multi-disciplinary research at the pivotal intersection of biology, cognitive psychology, computer science, statistics and engineering.
The Institute expands on decades of work by researchers at the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition. It grew out of the university’s BrainHub initiative, launched in 2014 through a gift by Henry L Hillman. A $10 million gift from alumnus and trustee Frank Brunkhorst will help fund CMU’s upcoming next-generation science building, which will be home to the Neuroscience Institute, and provide program support for the institute. Neuroscience Institute researchers are exploring areas ranging from better identification of early signs of Alzheimer’s disease to the development of robotic prosthetics for people recovering from spinal cord injury or stroke.
Housed in the Heinz College for Information Systems and Public Policy, the Block Center for Technology and Society employs researchers across disciplines to develop innovative policy recommendations to help promote widespread access to the benefits of technological change.
Keith Block, former co-CEO of Salesforce, and his wife, Suzanne Kelley, made the lead $15 million gift to establish the center and ensure advanced technology has positive benefits for all members of the global community.