Carnegie Mellon University
Encyclopedia
Carnegie Mellon University (also known as Carnegie Mellon or simply CMU) is a private
Private university
Private universities are universities not operated by governments, although many receive public subsidies, especially in the form of tax breaks and public student loans and grants. Depending on their location, private universities may be subject to government regulation. Private universities are...

 research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

The university began as the Carnegie Technical Schools, founded by Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...

 in 1900. In 1912, the school became Carnegie Institute of Technology
Carnegie Institute of Technology
The Carnegie Institute of Technology , is the name for Carnegie Mellon University’s College of Engineering. It was first called the Carnegie Technical Schools, or Carnegie Tech, when it was founded in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie who intended to build a “first class technical school” in Pittsburgh,...

 and began granting four-year degrees. In 1967, the Carnegie Institute of Technology merged with the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research
Mellon Institute of Industrial Research
Mellon Institute of Industrial Research, founded in 1913 by Andrew W. Mellon and Richard B. Mellon, merged with the Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1967 to form Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States...

 to form Carnegie Mellon University. The university's 140 acre (0.5665604 km²) main campus is 3 miles (4.8 km) from Downtown Pittsburgh
Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Downtown Pittsburgh, colloquially referred to as the Golden Triangle and officially the Central Business District, is the urban Downtown center of Pittsburgh. It is located at the confluence of the Allegheny River and the Monongahela River whose joining forms the Ohio River. The "triangle" is...

 and abuts the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh
Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh
Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh are four museums that are operated by the Carnegie Institute headquartered in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...

, Schenley Park
Schenley Park
Schenley Park is a large municipal park located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, between the neighborhoods of Oakland, Greenfield, and Squirrel Hill. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district...

, and the campus of the University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...

 in the city's Oakland
Oakland (Pittsburgh)
Oakland is the academic, cultural, and healthcare center of Pittsburgh and is Pennsylvania's third largest "Downtown". Only Center City Philadelphia and Downtown Pittsburgh can claim more economic and social activity than Oakland...

 and Squirrel Hill
Squirrel Hill
Squirrel Hill is a residential neighborhood in the east end of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The city officially divides it into two neighborhoods, Squirrel Hill North and Squirrel Hill South, but it is almost universally treated as a single neighborhood...

 neighborhoods, partially extending into Shadyside
Shadyside (Pittsburgh)
Shadyside is a neighborhood in the East End of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It has zip codes of both 15232 and 15206, and has representation on Pittsburgh City Council by the council member for District 8...

.

Carnegie Mellon has seven colleges and independent schools: the Carnegie Institute of Technology (engineering), College of Fine Arts
Carnegie Mellon College of Fine Arts
The College of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA oversees the Schools of Architecture, Art, Design, Drama, and Music; along with its associated centers, studios, and galleries....

, Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Mellon College of Science
Mellon College of Science
The Mellon College of Science at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA houses the Chemistry, Mathematical Sciences, Physics, and Biological Sciences departments...

, Tepper School of Business
Tepper School of Business
The Tepper School of Business is a private business school located on Carnegie Mellon University’s campus in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.The school consistently ranks highly among the top business schools in the U.S., as well as in a wide range of specializations, such as finance,...

, School of Computer Science
Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science
The School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA is a leading private school for computer science established in 1965. It has been consistently ranked among the top computer science programs over the decades. U.S...

, and H. John Heinz III College.

Carnegie Mellon students come from all 50 U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

s and 93 countries. It consistently ranks among the top 25 universities in the United States and was named one of the "New Ivies
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...

" by Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...

in 2006. The campus neighbors the University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...

, and the two schools have collaborated on such projects as the Pittsburgh Commuting Center, the Immune Modeling Center and the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition. Some professors hold joint professorships between the two schools, and CMU students may take classes at Pitt (with approval of the university), and vice-versa. Students from both schools can register in dual-degree programs, and CMU students and faculty also have access to the University of Pittsburgh library system.

History

Post-Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

 industrialists accumulated unprecedented wealth and were eager to found institutions in their names as part of their philanthropy
Philanthropy
Philanthropy etymologically means "the love of humanity"—love in the sense of caring for, nourishing, developing, or enhancing; humanity in the sense of "what it is to be human," or "human potential." In modern practical terms, it is "private initiatives for public good, focusing on quality of...

 campaigns. Washington Duke
Washington Duke
George Washington Duke was an American tobacco industrialist and philanthropist.-Biography:Duke was born in Orange County, North Carolina , to Taylor Duke and Dicey Jones...

 at Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...

, Ezra Cornell
Ezra Cornell
Ezra Cornell was an American businessman and education administrator. He was a founder of Western Union and a co-founder of Cornell University...

 at Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...

, Johns Hopkins
Johns Hopkins
Johns Hopkins was a wealthy American entrepreneur, philanthropist and abolitionist of 19th-century Baltimore, Maryland, now most noted for his philanthropic creation of the institutions that bear his name, namely the Johns Hopkins Hospital, and the Johns Hopkins University and its associated...

 at Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...

, Leland Stanford
Leland Stanford
Amasa Leland Stanford was an American tycoon, industrialist, robber baron, politician and founder of Stanford University.-Early years:...

 at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

, and Cornelius Vanderbilt
Cornelius Vanderbilt
Cornelius Vanderbilt , also known by the sobriquet Commodore, was an American entrepreneur who built his wealth in shipping and railroads. He was also the patriarch of the Vanderbilt family and one of the richest Americans in history...

 at Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the...

 are several notable examples of Andrew Carnegie's gospel of wealth
The Gospel of Wealth
"Wealth", more commonly known as "The Gospel of Wealth", "the Richest man in the World," is an essay written by Andrew Carnegie in 1889 that described the responsibility of philanthropy by the new upper class of self-made rich...

 mentality and Carnegie Mellon University is one such result.

Carnegie Mellon predecessor institution, Carnegie Technical Schools, was founded in 1900 in Pittsburgh by the Scottish American
Scottish American
Scottish Americans or Scots Americans are citizens of the United States whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in Scotland. Scottish Americans are closely related to Scots-Irish Americans, descendants of Ulster Scots, and communities emphasize and celebrate a common heritage...

 industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, who wrote the time-honored words "My heart is in the work", when he donated the funds to create the institution. Carnegie's vision was to open a vocational training school for the sons and daughters of working-class Pittsburghers (Many of whom worked in his mills). The campus began to take shape in the Beaux-Arts architecture style of Henry Hornbostel
Henry Hornbostel
Henry Hornbostel was an American architect.He designed more than 225 buildings, bridges, and monuments in the United States; currently 22 are listed on the National Register of Historic Places....

, winner of the 1904 competition to design the original institution and later the founder of what is now the Carnegie Mellon School of Architecture
Carnegie Mellon School of Architecture
The Carnegie Mellon School of Architecture in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is a degree-granting institution founded in 1906 as one of five divisions of Carnegie Mellon University's College of Fine Arts. It is widely regarded as one of the best schools of architecture, and one of a shrinking number...

. The name was changed to the Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1912, and the school began offering four-year degrees. In 1965, it merged with Andrew Mellon
Andrew W. Mellon
Andrew William Mellon was an American banker, industrialist, philanthropist, art collector and Secretary of the Treasury from March 4, 1921 until February 12, 1932.-Early life:...

's Mellon Institute of Industrial Research to become Carnegie Mellon University. In addition, Carnegie founded Carnegie Mellon's coordinate women's college
Women's colleges in the United States
Women's colleges in the United States are single-sex U.S. institutions of higher education that exclude or limit males from admission. They are often liberal arts colleges...

, Margaret Morrison Carnegie College
Margaret Morrison Carnegie College
Margaret Morrison Carnegie College , was the women's college for Carnegie Mellon University. It was founded in 1903 and opened its doors to students in 1906 as the Margaret Morrison Carnegie School for Women. The school was closed in 1973....

 in 1903 (which closed in 1973).

There was little change to the campus between the first
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 and second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. A 1938 master plan by Githens and Keally suggested acquisition of new land along Forbes Avenue, but the plan was not fully implemented. The period starting with the construction of the Graduate School of Industrial Administration building (1952) and ending with Wean Hall (1971) saw the institutional change from Carnegie Institute of Technology to Carnegie Mellon University. New facilities were needed to respond to the University's growing national reputation in artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...

, business, robotics and the arts. In addition, an expanding student population resulted in a need for improved facilities for student life, athletics and libraries. The campus finally expanded to Forbes Avenue
Forbes Avenue
Forbes Avenue is one of the longest streets in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It has a length of about ten miles and is named for General John Forbes , whose expedition recaptured Fort Duquesne and who renamed the place Pittsburgh in 1758.The westernmost terminus of Forbes Avenue lies at...

 from its original land along Schenley Park
Schenley Park
Schenley Park is a large municipal park located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, between the neighborhoods of Oakland, Greenfield, and Squirrel Hill. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district...

. A ravine long known as "the cut" was gradually filled in to campus level, joining "the Mall" as a major campus open space.

The buildings of this era reflect current attitudes toward architectural style. The International Style
International style (architecture)
The International style is a major architectural style that emerged in the 1920s and 1930s, the formative decades of Modern architecture. The term originated from the name of a book by Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson, The International Style...

, with its rejection of historical tradition and its emphases on functionalism and expression of structure, had been in vogue in urban settings since the 1930s. It came late to the Carnegie campus because of the hiatus in building activity and a general reluctance among all institutions of higher education to abandon historical styles. By the 1960s, it was seen as a way to accomplish the needed expansion and at the same time give the campus a new image. Each building was a unique architectural statement that may have acknowledged the existing campus in its placement, but not in its form or materials.

During the 1970s and 1980s, the tenure of legendary University President Richard M. Cyert (1972–1990) witnessed a period of unparalleled growth and development. The research budget soared from roughly US$12 million annually in the early 1970s to more than US$110 million in the late 1980s. The work of researchers in new fields like robotics
Robotics
Robotics is the branch of technology that deals with the design, construction, operation, structural disposition, manufacture and application of robots...

 and software engineering
Software engineering
Software Engineering is the application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software, and the study of these approaches; that is, the application of engineering to software...

 helped the university build on its reputation for innovation and practical problem solving. President Cyert stressed strategic planning and comparative advantage, pursuing opportunities in areas where Carnegie Mellon could outdistance its competitors. One example of this approach was the introduction of the university's "Andrew
Andrew Project
The Andrew Project was a distributed computing environment developed at Carnegie Mellon University beginning in 1982. It was an ambitious project for its time and resulted in an unprecedentedly vast and accessible university computing infrastructure....

" computing network in the mid-1980s. This pioneering project, which linked all computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...

s and workstations on campus, set the standard for educational computing and established Carnegie Mellon as a leader in the use of technology in education and research. On April 24, 1984, cmu.edu, Carnegie Mellon's internet domain, became amongst the first six .edu
.edu
The domain name edu is a sponsored top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet. The "domain is intended for accredited post-secondary educational U.S. institutions" and this intention is strictly enforced....

 URLs.

Carnegie Mellon today

In the 1990s and into the 2000s, Carnegie Mellon solidified its status among elite American universities, consistently ranking in the top 25 in US News and World Report rankings. Carnegie Mellon is distinct in its interdisciplinary approach to research and education. Through the establishment of programs and centers that are outside the limitations of departments or colleges, the university has established leadership in fields such as computational finance
Computational finance
Computational finance, also called financial engineering, is a cross-disciplinary field which relies on computational intelligence, mathematical finance, numerical methods and computer simulations to make trading, hedging and investment decisions, as well as facilitating the risk management of...

, information systems management, arts management, product design, behavioral economics, human-computer interaction, entertainment technology
Entertainment technology
Entertainment technology is the discipline of using manufactured or created components to enhance or make possible any sort of entertainment experience. Because entertainment categories are so broad, and because entertainment models the world in many ways, the types of implemented technology are...

, and decision science. Within the past two decades, the university has built a new University Center, theater and drama building (Purnell Center), business school building (Posner Hall), a new student union, and several dormitories. Baker Hall was renovated in the early 2000s, and new chemistry labs were established in Doherty Hall soon after. Several computer science buildings, such as Newell Simon Hall
Newell Simon Hall
Newell Simon Hall is in the northwestern part of the Carnegie Mellon campus named after the late Herbert Simon and Allen Newell. It was built atop two earlier buildings acquired from the United States Bureau of Mines....

, also were established, renovated, or renamed in the early 2000s. The university has most recently completed building the Gates Hillman Complex and continues renovating historic academic and residence halls.

The Gates Hillman Complex, opened for occupancy on August 11, 2009, sits on a 5.6 acres (22,662.4 m²) site on the university's West Campus, surrounded by Cyert Hall, the Purnell Center for the Arts, Doherty Hall, Newell-Simon Hall, Smith Hall, Hamburg Hall and the Collaborative Innovation Center. It contains 318 offices as well as labs, computer clusters, lecture halls, classrooms and a 250-seat auditorium. The Gates Hillman Complex was made possible by a $20 million lead gift from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest transparently operated private foundation in the world, founded by Bill and Melinda Gates. It is "driven by the interests and passions of the Gates family"...

 and an additional $10 million grant from The Henry L. Hillman Foundation. The Gates Hillman Complex and the Purnell Center for the Arts are connected by the Randy Pausch
Randy Pausch
Randolph Frederick "Randy" Pausch was an American professor of computer science and human-computer interaction and design at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania....

 Memorial Footbridge.

On April 15, 1997, Jared L. Cohon
Jared Cohon
Jared Leigh Cohon is the eighth President of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.He holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology,...

, former dean of Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

's School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, was elected president by Carnegie Mellon's Board of Trustees. During Cohon's presidency, Carnegie Mellon has continued its trajectory of innovation and growth. He leads a strategic plan that aims to leverage the University's strengths to benefit society in the areas of biotechnology
Biotechnology
Biotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose...

 and life sciences
Life sciences
The life sciences comprise the fields of science that involve the scientific study of living organisms, like plants, animals, and human beings. While biology remains the centerpiece of the life sciences, technological advances in molecular biology and biotechnology have led to a burgeoning of...

, information and security technology, environmental science
Environmental science
Environmental science is an interdisciplinary academic field that integrates physical and biological sciences, to the study of the environment, and the solution of environmental problems...

 and practices, the fine arts and humanities
Humanities
The humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....

, and business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...

 and public policy
Policy
A policy is typically described as a principle or rule to guide decisions and achieve rational outcome. The term is not normally used to denote what is actually done, this is normally referred to as either procedure or protocol...

.

On July 1, 2003 Carnegie Mellon launched Insp!re Innovation, a $1 billion comprehensive fund raising campaign. Half of the campaign goal is intended for the endowment to provide long-lasting support for faculty, students and breakthrough innovations. As of November 2011, the campaign had brought in $957.8 million, with $512.4 million going toward Carnegie Mellon’s endowment. It also enabled the university to establish 24 endowed professorships, 73 endowed fellowships and 190 endowed scholarships. On September 7th, 2011, William S. Dietrich II
William S. Dietrich II
William S. Dietrich II was the successful industrialist who grew Dietrich Industries and late in life made two of the largest charitable contributions to the University of Pittsburgh, Thiel College and Carnegie Mellon University.- Philanthropy :On September 7, 2011 Carnegie Mellon University...

, the former chairman of Dietrich Industries, Inc., a subsidiary of Worthington Industries, Inc., pledged a gift of $265 million, effective on October 6th, 2011, upon his death. In response to this gift, Carnegie Mellon renamed the College of Humanities of Social Sciences as the Marianna Brown Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences after William Dietrich's mother.

Peer institutions of Carnegie Mellon's institutional research and analysis program include Caltech
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...

, Cornell
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...

, Duke
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...

, Emory
Emory University
Emory University is a private research university in metropolitan Atlanta, located in the Druid Hills section of unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The university was founded as Emory College in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia by a small group of Methodists and was named in honor of...

, Georgia Tech
Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...

, MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...

, Northwestern
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....

, Princeton
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

, Rice
Rice University
William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...

, RPI
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Stephen Van Rensselaer established the Rensselaer School on November 5, 1824 with a letter to the Rev. Dr. Samuel Blatchford, in which van Rensselaer asked Blatchford to serve as the first president. Within the letter he set down several orders of business. He appointed Amos Eaton as the school's...

, Stanford
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

, Penn
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...

 and Washington University
Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis is a private research university located in suburban St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1853, and named for George Washington, the university has students and faculty from all fifty U.S. states and more than 110 nations...

.

Campus

Carnegie Mellon's 140 acre (0.5665604 km²) main campus is three miles (5 km) from downtown Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...

, between Schenley Park
Schenley Park
Schenley Park is a large municipal park located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, between the neighborhoods of Oakland, Greenfield, and Squirrel Hill. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district...

 and the Squirrel Hill
Squirrel Hill
Squirrel Hill is a residential neighborhood in the east end of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The city officially divides it into two neighborhoods, Squirrel Hill North and Squirrel Hill South, but it is almost universally treated as a single neighborhood...

, Shadyside
Shadyside (Pittsburgh)
Shadyside is a neighborhood in the East End of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It has zip codes of both 15232 and 15206, and has representation on Pittsburgh City Council by the council member for District 8...

, and Oakland
Oakland (Pittsburgh)
Oakland is the academic, cultural, and healthcare center of Pittsburgh and is Pennsylvania's third largest "Downtown". Only Center City Philadelphia and Downtown Pittsburgh can claim more economic and social activity than Oakland...

 neighborhoods. Carnegie Mellon is bordered to the west by the campus of the University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...

. Carnegie Mellon owns 81 buildings in the Oakland
Oakland (Pittsburgh)
Oakland is the academic, cultural, and healthcare center of Pittsburgh and is Pennsylvania's third largest "Downtown". Only Center City Philadelphia and Downtown Pittsburgh can claim more economic and social activity than Oakland...

 and Squirrel Hill
Squirrel Hill
Squirrel Hill is a residential neighborhood in the east end of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The city officially divides it into two neighborhoods, Squirrel Hill North and Squirrel Hill South, but it is almost universally treated as a single neighborhood...

 neighborhoods of Pittsburgh.

For decades the center of student life on campus was "Skibo Hall", the University's student union. Built in the 1950s, Skibo Hall's design was typical of Mid-Century Modern
Mid-century modern
Mid-Century modern is an architectural, interior and product design form that generally describes mid-20th century developments in modern design, architecture, and urban development from roughly 1933 to 1965...

 architecture, but was poorly equipped to deal with advances in computer and internet connectivity. The original Skibo was razed in the summer of 1994 and replaced by a new student union that is fully wi-fi enabled. Known as University Center, the building was dedicated in 1996.

A large grassy area known as "the Cut" forms the backbone of the campus, with a separate grassy area known as "the Mall" running perpendicular. The Cut was formed by filling in a ravine (hence the name) with soil from a nearby hill that was leveled to build the College of Fine Arts building.

The northwestern part of the campus (home to Hamburg Hall, Newell-Simon Hall, Smith Hall, and Gates Hillman Complex) was acquired from the United States Bureau of Mines
United States Bureau of Mines
For most of the 20th century, the U.S. Bureau of Mines was the primary United States Government agency conducting scientific research and disseminating information on the extraction, processing, use, and conservation of mineral resources.- Summary :...

 in the 1980s.

In 2006, Carnegie Mellon Trustee Jill Gansman Kraus donated the 80 feet (24.4 m)-tall sculpture Walking to the Sky
Walking to the Sky
Walking to the Sky is a landmark public sculpture by Jonathan Borofsky. The original was installed at Rockefeller Center in the fall of 2004 before being moved to the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas, Texas in 2005. A copy is installed on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh,...

, which was placed the lawn facing Forbes Ave between the University Center and Warner Hall. The sculpture was controversial for its placement, the general lack of input that the campus community had, and its aesthetic appeal.

Beyond Pittsburgh

In addition to its Pittsburgh campus, Carnegie Mellon has a branch campus in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

, Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, which offers a full undergraduate curriculum with degree programs in computer science, business administration and information systems. It also has graduate-level extension campuses in Mountain View, California in the heart of Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...

 (offering masters programs in Software Engineering
Software engineering
Software Engineering is the application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software, and the study of these approaches; that is, the application of engineering to software...

 and Software Management). The Tepper School of Business
Tepper School of Business
The Tepper School of Business is a private business school located on Carnegie Mellon University’s campus in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.The school consistently ranks highly among the top business schools in the U.S., as well as in a wide range of specializations, such as finance,...

 maintains a satellite center in downtown Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

 and the Heinz College maintains one in Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...

, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 and one in Washington, DC. Carnegie Mellon also maintains the Carnegie Mellon Los Angeles Center in North Hollywood, California where students in the Master of Entertainment Industry Management program are required to relocate to Los Angeles in their second year and attend classes at this facility. Carnegie Mellon's Information Networking Institute
Information Networking Institute
The Information Networking Institute was established by Carnegie Mellon in 1989 as the nation’s first research and education center devoted to information networking....

 offers graduate programs in Athens, Greece and Kobe, Japan, in collaboration with Athens Information Technology and the Hyogo Institute of Information Education Foundation, respectively. In the fall of 2007, the cities of Aveiro and Lisbon, Portugal were added to the Information Networking Institute
Information Networking Institute
The Information Networking Institute was established by Carnegie Mellon in 1989 as the nation’s first research and education center devoted to information networking....

's remote locations. The Institute for Software Research International (ISRI) offers graduate programs in Coimbra, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

.The Entertainment Technology Center offers graduate programs in Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, and Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

. The Human-Computer Interaction Institute offers a masters degree in conjunction with the University of Madeira
University of Madeira
The University of Madeira is a Portuguese public university, created in 1988 in Funchal. It houses the following departments and autonomous sections.-Departments:* Art and Design - * Biology - * Educational Sciences -...

, in Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

.

In media, entertainment, and culture

The Carnegie Mellon University campus in Pittsburgh has served as the locale for many motion pictures. Alumnus George A. Romero
George A. Romero
George Andrew Romero is a Canadian-American film director, screenwriter and editor, best known for his gruesome and satirical horror films about a hypothetical zombie apocalypse. He is nicknamed "Godfather of all Zombies." -Life and career:...

 filmed Creepshow
Creepshow
Creepshow is a 1982 American horror anthology film directed by George A. Romero and written by Stephen King. The film's ensemble cast included Ted Danson, Leslie Nielsen, Hal Holbrook, E.G...

(1982) in and around Margaret Morrison Hall. Much of the on-campus scenes in the 2000 film Wonder Boys
Wonder Boys (film)
Wonder Boys is a dark comedy film based on the 1995 novel of the same title by Michael Chabon. Directed by Curtis Hanson, it stars Michael Douglas as professor Grady Tripp, a novelist who teaches creative writing at an unnamed Pittsburgh university...

, starring Michael Douglas
Michael Douglas
Michael Kirk Douglas is an American actor and producer, primarily in movies and television. He has won three Golden Globes and two Academy Awards; first as producer of 1975's Best Picture, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and as Best Actor in 1987 for his role in Wall Street. Douglas received the...

 and Tobey Maguire
Tobey Maguire
Tobias Vincent "Tobey" Maguire is an American actor and producer. He began his career in the 1980s, and has achieved his greatest fame for his role as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man films.-Early life:...

, were filmed in Carnegie Mellon's campus. Other movies filmed at Carnegie Mellon include The Mothman Prophecies
The Mothman Prophecies (film)
The Mothman Prophecies is a 2002 psychological horror film directed by Mark Pellington, based on the 1975 book of the same name by parapsychologist and Fortean author John Keel. The screenplay was written by Richard Hatem...

, Dogma
Dogma (film)
Dogma is a 1999 American adventure fantasy comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith, who also stars in the film along with an ensemble cast that includes Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Alan Rickman, Bud Cort, Salma Hayek, Chris Rock, Jason Lee, George Carlin, Janeane Garofalo,...

, Lorenzo's Oil, The Dark Knight Rises
The Dark Knight Rises
The Dark Knight Rises is an upcoming epic superhero film. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film will be the third and final installment in Nolan's Batman film series, and is a sequel to Batman Begins and The Dark Knight...

, and Flashdance
Flashdance
Another song used in the film, "Maniac", was also nominated for an Academy Award. It was written by Michael Sembello and Dennis Matkosky, and was inspired by the 1980 horror film Maniac. The lyrics about a killer on the loose were rewritten so that it could be used in Flashdance...

. The university is also featured prominently in the film Smart People
Smart People
Smart People is a 2008 American comedy-drama film starring Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, Ellen Page and Thomas Haden Church. The film was directed by Noam Murro, written by Mark Poirier and produced by Michael London, with Omar Amanat serving as executive producer.Smart People was filmed on...

, starring Sarah Jessica Parker
Sarah Jessica Parker
Sarah Jessica Parker is an American film, television, and theater actress and producer.She is best known for her leading role as Carrie Bradshaw on the HBO television series Sex and the City , for which she won four Golden Globe Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two Emmy Awards...

 and Dennis Quaid
Dennis Quaid
Dennis William Quaid is an American actor known for his comedic and dramatic roles. First gaining widespread attention in the 1980s, his career rebounded in the 1990s after he overcame an addiction to drugs and an eating disorder...

, and in the anime Summer Wars
Summer Wars
is a 2009 Japanese animated science fiction romance film directed by Mamoru Hosoda, animated by Madhouse and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film's voice cast includes Ryunosuke Kamiki, Nanami Sakuraba, Mitsuki Tanimura, Sumiko Fuji and Ayumu Saitō...

. It was also referenced on an episode
Take My Life, Please
"Take My Life, Please" is the tenth episode of the twentieth season of The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 15, 2009...

 of The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...

 and in the movie Mean Girls 2
Mean Girls 2
Mean Girls 2 is a 2011 American teen television film directed by Melanie Mayron. It is a stand-alone sequel/spin-off to the 2004 film, Mean Girls. The film was released on January 23, 2011 by ABC Family with a DVD release set for February 1, 2011. The film stars Meaghan Jette Martin and features as...

.
Carnegie Mellon was identified as the university "Rat" went to in the science fiction movie The Core, as well as the university that one of the astronauts attended in the film Deep Impact
Deep Impact (film)
Deep Impact is a 1998 science-fiction disaster-drama film released by Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks in the United States on May 8, 1998. The film was directed by Mimi Leder and stars Robert Duvall, Elijah Wood, Téa Leoni, and Morgan Freeman...

.


The play Pippin
Pippin (musical)
Pippin is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Roger O. Hirson. Bob Fosse, who directed the original Broadway production, also contributed to the libretto...

was originally conceived by Stephen Schwartz
Stephen Schwartz (composer)
Stephen Lawrence Schwartz is an American musical theatre lyricist and composer. In a career spanning over four decades, Schwartz has written such hit musicals as Godspell , Pippin and Wicked...

 as a student musical performed by the Scotch'n'Soda student theatre troupe.

While enrolled at Carnegie Mellon, acting students Michael McKean
Michael McKean
Michael John McKean is an American actor, comedian, writer, composer and musician, perhaps best known for his portrayal of Squiggy's friend, Leonard 'Lenny' Kosnowski, on the sitcom Laverne and Shirley; and for his work in the Christopher Guest ensemble films, particularly as David St...

 and David Lander
David Lander
David L. Lander is an American actor, comedian, composer, musician, and baseball scout. David is also the Goodwill Ambassador for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.- Biography :...

 (class of 1969) created the characters "Lenny & Squiggy". The pair continued performing the characters in live comedy routines before joining the cast of the TV series Laverne and Shirley.

In 2008, Carnegie Mellon professor Randy Pausch
Randy Pausch
Randolph Frederick "Randy" Pausch was an American professor of computer science and human-computer interaction and design at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania....

's "Last Lecture
Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams
Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams was a lecture given by Carnegie Mellon University computer science professor Randy Pausch on September 18, 2007 that received a large amount of media coverage, and was the base for The Last Lecture, a New York Times best-selling book co-authored with Wall...

" became a pop culture phenomenon. Based on a lecture he gave in September 2007 - shortly after he learned his cancer had metastasized - his book quickly rose to the top of bestseller lists around the country. Named in Time Magazines "Time 100
Time 100
Time 100 is an annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, as assembled by Time. First published in 1999 as a result of a debate among several academics, the list has become an annual event.-History and format:...

" list of influential people, he died in July 2008 from pancreatic cancer.

Carnegie Mellon also established and administers the Robot Hall of Fame
Robot Hall of Fame
The Robot Hall of Fame was established in 2003 by the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. It is designed to honor both achievements in robotics technology and robots from science fiction that have served as creative inspiration in robotics...

 in partnership with the Carnegie Science Center
Carnegie Science Center
The Carnegie Science Center, located in the Chateau neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, opened in 1991.With a history that dates to October 24, 1939, the Carnegie Science Center is the most visited museum in Pittsburgh...

.

Schools and divisions

  • The Carnegie Institute of Technology
    Carnegie Institute of Technology
    The Carnegie Institute of Technology , is the name for Carnegie Mellon University’s College of Engineering. It was first called the Carnegie Technical Schools, or Carnegie Tech, when it was founded in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie who intended to build a “first class technical school” in Pittsburgh,...

    includes seven engineering departments: Biomedical Engineering
    Biomedical engineering
    Biomedical Engineering is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology. This field seeks to close the gap between engineering and medicine: It combines the design and problem solving skills of engineering with medical and biological sciences to improve...

    , Chemical Engineering
    Chemical engineering
    Chemical engineering is the branch of engineering that deals with physical science , and life sciences with mathematics and economics, to the process of converting raw materials or chemicals into more useful or valuable forms...

    , Civil
    Civil engineering
    Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings...

     and Environmental Engineering
    Environmental engineering
    Environmental engineering is the application of science and engineering principles to improve the natural environment , to provide healthy water, air, and land for human habitation and for other organisms, and to remediate polluted sites...

    , Electrical
    Electrical engineering
    Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...

     and Computer Engineering
    Computer engineering
    Computer engineering, also called computer systems engineering, is a discipline that integrates several fields of electrical engineering and computer science required to develop computer systems. Computer engineers usually have training in electronic engineering, software design, and...

    , Engineering and Public Policy
    Engineering and Public Policy
    Engineering and Public Policy, informally known as EPP, is an interdisciplinary academic department within the Carnegie Institute of Technology , Carnegie Mellon University's engineering college. EPP combines technical analysis with social science and policy analysis, in order to address problems...

    , Mechanical Engineering
    Mechanical engineering
    Mechanical engineering is a discipline of engineering that applies the principles of physics and materials science for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. It is the branch of engineering that involves the production and usage of heat and mechanical power for the...

    , and Materials Science
    Materials science
    Materials science is an interdisciplinary field applying the properties of matter to various areas of science and engineering. This scientific field investigates the relationship between the structure of materials at atomic or molecular scales and their macroscopic properties. It incorporates...

     and Engineering, and two institutes, the Information Networking Institute
    Information Networking Institute
    The Information Networking Institute was established by Carnegie Mellon in 1989 as the nation’s first research and education center devoted to information networking....

     and the Institute for Complex Engineered Systems.

  • The College of Fine Arts
    Carnegie Mellon College of Fine Arts
    The College of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA oversees the Schools of Architecture, Art, Design, Drama, and Music; along with its associated centers, studios, and galleries....

    is the second oldest college of fine arts in the United States (behind the Maryland Institute College of Art), and today it is a federation of schools with professional training programs in the visual and performing arts
    Performing arts
    The performing arts are those forms art which differ from the plastic arts insofar as the former uses the artist's own body, face, and presence as a medium, and the latter uses materials such as clay, metal or paint which can be molded or transformed to create some physical art object...

    : Architecture
    Architecture
    Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...

    , Art
    Art
    Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....

    , Design
    Design
    Design as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...

     (ranked #1 MFA program in Multimedia and Visual Communication), Drama
    Drama
    Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...

     and Music
    Music
    Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

    . The college shares research projects, interdisciplinary centers and educational programs with other units across the university. The college initiated several interdisciplinary program which facilitate graduate student research and enrich their knowledge.

  • The H. John Heinz III College offers masters degrees in Public Policy
    Policy
    A policy is typically described as a principle or rule to guide decisions and achieve rational outcome. The term is not normally used to denote what is actually done, this is normally referred to as either procedure or protocol...

     and Management
    Management
    Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...

    , Health Care Policy and Management, Biotechnology and Management, Medical Management, Public Management
    Public management
    Public management is a term that considers that government and non-profit administration resembles private-sector management in some important ways. As such, there are management tools appropriate in public and in private domains, tools that maximize efficiency and effectiveness...

    , Arts Management, Entertainment Industry Management, Information Systems Management, Information Technology, and Information Security Policy and Management. It consists of the School of Information Systems & Management and the School of Public Policy & Management. It also offers various Ph.D. and executive education programs.

  • The Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences is the university's liberal and professional studies college and emphasizes the study of the human condition through rigorous analysis and technology. Departments include Economics
    Economics
    Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...

    , English
    English studies
    English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language , English linguistics English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the U.K., U.S.,...

    , History
    History
    History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

    , Modern Languages, Philosophy
    Philosophy
    Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

    , Psychology
    Psychology
    Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...

    , Social and Decision Sciences
    Social and Decision Sciences
    Social and Decision Sciences, informally known as SDS, is an interdisciplinary academic department within the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University headquartered in Porter Hall in Pittsburgh, PA and led by Department Head John H...

     and Statistics
    Statistics
    Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....

    . The college also offers undergraduate degree programs in Information systems
    Information systems
    Information Systems is an academic/professional discipline bridging the business field and the well-defined computer science field that is evolving toward a new scientific area of study...

     and International Relations and Politics
    International relations
    International relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...

    .

  • The Mellon College of Science
    Mellon College of Science
    The Mellon College of Science at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA houses the Chemistry, Mathematical Sciences, Physics, and Biological Sciences departments...

    includes four departments: Biological Sciences, Chemistry
    Chemistry
    Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....

    , Mathematical Sciences
    Mathematical sciences
    Mathematical sciences is a broad term that refers to those academic disciplines that are primarily mathematical in nature but may not be universally considered subfields of mathematics proper...

     and Physics
    Physics
    Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...

    . In addition, the college is expanding efforts in green chemistry
    Green chemistry
    Green chemistry, also called sustainable chemistry, is a philosophy of chemical research and engineering that encourages the design of products and processes that minimize the use and generation of hazardous substances...

    , bioinformatics
    Bioinformatics
    Bioinformatics is the application of computer science and information technology to the field of biology and medicine. Bioinformatics deals with algorithms, databases and information systems, web technologies, artificial intelligence and soft computing, information and computation theory, software...

    , computational biology
    Computational biology
    Computational biology involves the development and application of data-analytical and theoretical methods, mathematical modeling and computational simulation techniques to the study of biological, behavioral, and social systems...

    , nanotechnology
    Nanotechnology
    Nanotechnology is the study of manipulating matter on an atomic and molecular scale. Generally, nanotechnology deals with developing materials, devices, or other structures possessing at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometres...

    , computational finance
    Computational finance
    Computational finance, also called financial engineering, is a cross-disciplinary field which relies on computational intelligence, mathematical finance, numerical methods and computer simulations to make trading, hedging and investment decisions, as well as facilitating the risk management of...

    , sensor research and biological physics.

  • The School of Computer Science
    Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science
    The School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA is a leading private school for computer science established in 1965. It has been consistently ranked among the top computer science programs over the decades. U.S...

    : Carnegie Mellon University helped define, and continually redefines, the field of computer science
    Computer science
    Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...

    . The School of Computer Science is recognized internationally as one of the top schools for computer science.

  • The Tepper School of Business
    Tepper School of Business
    The Tepper School of Business is a private business school located on Carnegie Mellon University’s campus in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.The school consistently ranks highly among the top business schools in the U.S., as well as in a wide range of specializations, such as finance,...

    offers undergraduate programs in Business Administration and Economics
    Economics
    Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...

    . Undergraduate Tepper students can choose from an array of tracks including: Finance
    Finance
    "Finance" is often defined simply as the management of money or “funds” management Modern finance, however, is a family of business activity that includes the origination, marketing, and management of cash and money surrogates through a variety of capital accounts, instruments, and markets created...

    , Information Technology
    Information technology
    Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...

    , Entrepreneurship
    Entrepreneurship
    Entrepreneurship is the act of being an entrepreneur, which can be defined as "one who undertakes innovations, finance and business acumen in an effort to transform innovations into economic goods". This may result in new organizations or may be part of revitalizing mature organizations in response...

    , Management
    Management
    Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...

    , Consulting
    Management consulting
    Management consulting indicates both the industry and practice of helping organizations improve their performance primarily through the analysis of existing organizational problems and development of plans for improvement....

    , and Marketing
    Marketing
    Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...

    . In addition to choosing a track, undergraduate Tepper students must also choose a minor from one of the other colleges on campus and take a variety of supplemental breadth courses outside of the business program. The Tepper School offers masters degrees in Business Administration (MBA
    Master of Business Administration
    The Master of Business Administration is a :master's degree in business administration, which attracts people from a wide range of academic disciplines. The MBA designation originated in the United States, emerging from the late 19th century as the country industrialized and companies sought out...

    ) and joint degrees in Computational Finance
    Computational finance
    Computational finance, also called financial engineering, is a cross-disciplinary field which relies on computational intelligence, mathematical finance, numerical methods and computer simulations to make trading, hedging and investment decisions, as well as facilitating the risk management of...

     (MSCF) with the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences, the Mellon College of Science, and the School of Computer Science. In addition, joint degrees are offered with Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Heinz College. The Tepper School also offers doctoral degrees in several areas and presents a number of executive education
    Executive Education
    Executive Education refers to academic programs at leading graduate-level business schools worldwide for executives, business leaders and functional managers. These programs are non-credit and non-degree granting...

     programs.


In addition to the research and academic institutions, the University hosts the Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Sciences
Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Sciences
The Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Sciences was one of the Pennsylvania Governor's Schools of Excellence, a group of five-week summer programs for gifted high school students in the state of Pennsylvania. Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh has hosted the program since its inception...

, a state-funded summer program that aims to foster interest in science amongst gifted high school students, and the Carnegie Mellon Institute for Talented Elementary and Secondary Students program (C-MITES). The Cyert Center for Early Education is a child care center for Carnegie Mellon faculty and staff, as well as an observational setting for students in child development courses.

Carnegie Mellon University Libraries include Hunt Library, the Engineering and Science Library, the Mellon Institute Library, the Posner Center, and the Qatar Library. Additionally the Libraries manage the Software Engineering Institute
Software Engineering Institute
The Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute is a federally funded research and development center headquartered on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. SEI also has offices in Arlington, Virginia, and Frankfurt, Germany. The SEI operates...

 Library, and the Universal Digital Library. The library system includes a number of special collections such as the Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...

 Collection, Herbert Simon
Herbert Simon
Herbert Alexander Simon was an American political scientist, economist, sociologist, and psychologist, and professor—most notably at Carnegie Mellon University—whose research ranged across the fields of cognitive psychology, cognitive science, computer science, public administration, economics,...

 Collection, Allen Newell
Allen Newell
Allen Newell was a researcher in computer science and cognitive psychology at the RAND corporation and at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Computer Science, Tepper School of Business, and Department of Psychology...

 Collection, the H. John Heinz III
H. John Heinz III
Henry John Heinz III was an American politician from Pennsylvania, a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate .-Early life:...

 Collection, and the Posner Memorial Collection among many others. Carnegie Mellon students and faculty also have access to the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh is the public library system in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Its main branch is located in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, and it has 19 branch locations throughout the city...

 and the University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...

 libraries through the Oakland Library Consortium. The Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation (HIBD), a research division of Carnegie Mellon University, and its library collections are located on the top floor of Hunt Library, but are not part of the University Library System.

Carnegie Mellon also manages the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps
Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps
The Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps program is a college-based, commissioned officer training program of the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps.-Origins:...

 in Pittsburgh on which students throughout Pittsburgh's universities rely. Carnegie Mellon relies on the University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...

 to provide opportunities in Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps
Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps
The Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps is the United States Army component of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps. It is the largest ROTC program, with 20,000 ROTC cadets in 272 ROTC programs at major universities throughout the United States.The modern Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps...

 and Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps to its students.

Undergraduate profile

In 2011, the Pittsburgh campus received a record 27,913 unique applicants and admitted 5,948 (21%). 1,443 students enrolled in the class of 2015 (24%).

In 2011, the most selective undergraduate college was the School of Computer Science, which admitted only 13.6% of total applicants. The largest college, in terms of enrollment, is the Carnegie Institute of Technology with 455 students in the class of 2015, followed by the Dietrich College of Humanities & Social Sciences with 241, and the College of Fine Arts with 235. The smallest college in terms of total undergraduate enrollment is the Tepper School of Business (with 90). Carnegie Mellon enrolls students from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and 15.6% of the students are citizens of countries other than the United States, representing more than 40 countries. About 96.3% of first-year students enrolled in 2009 returned for their second year, and 72.7% of students in the class of 2010 graduated within four years. Undergraduate tuition is $43,160 and room and board is $11,110.

Research

For the 2006 fiscal year, the University spent $315 million on research. The primary recipients of this funding were the School of Computer Science ($100.3 million), the Software Engineering Institute
Software Engineering Institute
The Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute is a federally funded research and development center headquartered on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. SEI also has offices in Arlington, Virginia, and Frankfurt, Germany. The SEI operates...

 ($71.7 million), the Carnegie Institute of Technology ($48.5 million), and the Mellon College of Science ($47.7 million). The research money comes largely from federal sources, with federal investment of $277.6 million. The federal agencies that invest the most money are the National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...

 and the Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...

, which contribute 26% and 23.4% of the total university research budget respectively.

The Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center
Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center
The Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center is a high performance computing and networking center. PSC is a joint effort of Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh together with Westinghouse Electric Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1986 by...

(PSC) is a joint effort between Carnegie Mellon University, University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...

, and Westinghouse Electric Company
Westinghouse Electric Company
Westinghouse Electric Company LLC is a nuclear power company, offering a wide range of nuclear products and services to utilities throughout the world, including nuclear fuel, service and maintenance, instrumentation and control and advanced nuclear plant designs...

. PSC was founded in 1986 by its two scientific directors, Dr. Ralph Roskies of the University of Pittsburgh and Dr. Michael Levine of Carnegie Mellon University. PSC is a leading partner in the TeraGrid
TeraGrid
TeraGrid is an e-Science grid computing infrastructure combining resources at eleven partner sites. The project started in 2001 and operated from 2004 through 2011....

, the National Science Foundation’s cyberinfrastructure program.

The Robotics Institute
Robotics Institute
The Robotics Institute is a division of the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is considered to be one of the leading centers of robotics research in the world....

(RI) is a division of the School of Computer Science and considered to be one of the leading centers of robotics research in the world. The Field Robotics Center (FRC) has developed a number of significant robots, including Sandstorm
Sandstorm (vehicle)
Sandstorm is an autonomous vehicle. Created by Carnegie Mellon University's Red Team, it is a heavily modified 1986 M998 HMMWV. It competed in the DARPA Grand Challenge in 2004 and 2005.Sandstorm qualified in first position in the 2004 DARPA Grand Challenge...

 and H1ghlander
H1ghlander
H1ghlander is an autonomous vehicle. Created by Carnegie Mellon University's Red Team, it is a heavily modified 1999 HUMMER H1. It competed in the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge....

, which finished second and third in the DARPA Grand Challenge
DARPA Grand Challenge
The DARPA Grand Challenge is a prize competition for driverless vehicles, funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the most prominent research organization of the United States Department of Defense...

, and Boss, which won the DARPA Urban Challenge. The RI is primarily sited at Carnegie Mellon's main campus in Newell-Simon hall.

The Software Engineering Institute
Software Engineering Institute
The Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute is a federally funded research and development center headquartered on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. SEI also has offices in Arlington, Virginia, and Frankfurt, Germany. The SEI operates...

(SEI) is a federally funded research and development center
Federally funded research and development center
Federally Funded Research and Development Centers conduct research for the United States Government. They are administered in accordance with U.S Code of Federal Regulations, Title 48, Part 35, Section 35.017 by universities and corporations....

 sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense and operated by Carnegie Mellon University, with offices in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Arlington, Virginia, and Frankfurt, Germany. The SEI publishes books on software engineering
Software engineering
Software Engineering is the application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software, and the study of these approaches; that is, the application of engineering to software...

 for industry, government and military applications and practices. The organization is known for its Capability Maturity Model
Capability Maturity Model
The Capability Maturity Model is a development model that was created after study of data collected from organizations that contracted with the U.S. Department of Defense, who funded the research. This model became the foundation from which CMU created the Software Engineering Institute...

 (CMM) and Capability Maturity Model Integration
Capability Maturity Model Integration
Capability Maturity Model Integration is a process improvement approach whose goal is to help organizations improve their performance. CMMI can be used to guide process improvement across a project, a division, or an entire organization...

 (CMMI), which identify essential elements of effective system and software engineering processes and can be used to rate the level of an organization's capability for producing quality systems. The SEI is also the home of CERT/CC
CERT Coordination Center
The CERT Coordination Center was created by DARPA in November 1988 after the Morris worm struck. It is a major coordination center in dealing with Internet security problems....

, the federally-funded computer security organization. The CERT Program's primary goals are to ensure that appropriate technology and systems management practices are used to resist attacks on networked systems and to limit damage and ensure continuity of critical services subsequent to attacks, accidents, or failures.

The Human-Computer Interaction Institute (HCII) is a division of the School of Computer Science and is considered one of the leading centers of human-computer interaction research, integrating computer science, design, social science, and learning science. Such interdisciplinary collaboration is the hallmark of research done throughout the university.

The Language Technologies Institute
Language Technologies Institute
The Language Technologies Institute is a division of the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, and focuses on the area of language technologies....

(LTI) is another unit of the School of Computer Science and is famous for being one of the leading research centers in the area of language technologies. Primary research focus of the institute is on machine translation
Machine translation
Machine translation, sometimes referred to by the abbreviation MT is a sub-field of computational linguistics that investigates the use of computer software to translate text or speech from one natural language to another.On a basic...

, speech recognition
Speech recognition
Speech recognition converts spoken words to text. The term "voice recognition" is sometimes used to refer to recognition systems that must be trained to a particular speaker—as is the case for most desktop recognition software...

, speech synthesis
Speech synthesis
Speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this purpose is called a speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or hardware...

, information retrieval
Information retrieval
Information retrieval is the area of study concerned with searching for documents, for information within documents, and for metadata about documents, as well as that of searching structured storage, relational databases, and the World Wide Web...

, parsing
Parsing
In computer science and linguistics, parsing, or, more formally, syntactic analysis, is the process of analyzing a text, made of a sequence of tokens , to determine its grammatical structure with respect to a given formal grammar...

 and information extraction
Information extraction
Information extraction is a type of information retrieval whose goal is to automatically extract structured information from unstructured and/or semi-structured machine-readable documents. In most of the cases this activity concerns processing human language texts by means of natural language...

. Until 1996, the institute existed as the Center for Machine Translation that was established in 1986. From 1996 onwards, it started awarding graduate degrees and the name was changed to Language Technologies Institute.

Carnegie Mellon is also home to the Carnegie School
Carnegie School
The "Carnegie School" was a so-called "Freshwater" economics intellectual movement in the 1950s and 1960s based at Carnegie Mellon University and led by Herbert Simon, James March, and Richard Cyert....

of management and economics. This intellectual school grew out of the Tepper School of Business
Tepper School of Business
The Tepper School of Business is a private business school located on Carnegie Mellon University’s campus in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.The school consistently ranks highly among the top business schools in the U.S., as well as in a wide range of specializations, such as finance,...

 in the 1950s and 1960s and focused on the intersection of behavioralism and management. Several management theories, most notably bounded rationality
Bounded rationality
Bounded rationality is the idea that in decision making, rationality of individuals is limited by the information they have, the cognitive limitations of their minds, and the finite amount of time they have to make a decision...

 and the behavioral theory of the firm
Theory of the firm
The theory of the firm consists of a number of economic theories that describe the nature of the firm, company, or corporation, including its existence, behavior, structure, and relationship to the market.-Overview:...

, were established by Carnegie School management scientists and economists.

Carnegie Mellon has made a concerted effort to attract corporate research labs and offices to the Pittsburgh campus. Apple Inc., Intel, Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...

, Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...

, Disney, IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...

, General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...

, Bombardier Inc., and the Rand Corporation have established a presence on or near campus. In collaboration with Intel, Carnegie Mellon has pioneered research into claytronics
Claytronics
Claytronics is an abstract future concept that combines nanoscale robotics and computer science to create individual nanometer-scale computers called claytronic atoms, or catoms, which can interact with each other to form tangible 3-D objects that a user can interact with. This idea is more broadly...

.

Alumni and faculty


There are more than 86,500 Carnegie Mellon alumni worldwide. Famous alumni include former General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...

 CEO and Secretary of Defense, Charles Erwin Wilson
Charles Erwin Wilson
Charles Erwin Wilson , American businessman and politician, was United States Secretary of Defense from 1953 to 1957 under President Eisenhower. Known as "Engine Charlie", he previously worked as CEO for General Motors. In the wake of the Korean War, he cut the defense budget significantly.-Early...

; billionaire hedge fund
Hedge fund
A hedge fund is a private pool of capital actively managed by an investment adviser. Hedge funds are only open for investment to a limited number of accredited or qualified investors who meet criteria set by regulators. These investors can be institutions, such as pension funds, university...

 investor David Tepper
David Tepper
David Alan Tepper is an American hedge fund manager and the founder of Appaloosa Management. His investment specialty is distressed companies....

; James Gosling
James Gosling
James A. Gosling, OC is a computer scientist, best known as the father of the Java programming language.-Education and career:In 1977, Gosling received a B.Sc in Computer Science from the University of Calgary...

, creator of the Java
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...

 programming language; Andy Bechtolsheim
Andy Bechtolsheim
Andreas von Bechtolsheim is an electrical engineer who co-founded Sun Microsystems in 1982 and was its chief hardware designer....

, co-founder of Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...

; pop artists Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...

 and Burton Morris
Burton Morris
Burton Morris is an American pop artist in the tradition of Andy Warhol.Like Warhol, Morris was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania....

; Mountaineer and Author Aron Ralston
Aron Ralston
Aron Lee Ralston is an American mountain climber and inspirational public speaker. He is widely known for having survived a 2003 canyoneering accident in Utah in which he was forced to amputate his own right arm with a dull pocketknife in order to free himself from a dislodged boulder.The incident...

; and astronaut
Astronaut
An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....

 Judith Resnik, who perished in the Space Shuttle Challenger
Space Shuttle Challenger
Space Shuttle Challenger was NASA's second Space Shuttle orbiter to be put into service, Columbia having been the first. The shuttle was built by Rockwell International's Space Transportation Systems Division in Downey, California...

 disaster. A memorial to Judy Resnik can be found near Porter Hall, sponsored by the engineering fraternity.

Overall, Carnegie Mellon is affiliated with eighteen Nobel laureates, eleven Turing Award
Turing Award
The Turing Award, in full The ACM A.M. Turing Award, is an annual award given by the Association for Computing Machinery to "an individual selected for contributions of a technical nature made to the computing community. The contributions should be of lasting and major technical importance to the...

 winners, ninety seven Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...

 recipients (including ten time recipient Steven Bochco), six Academy Award recipients, and twenty two Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...

 recipients (including Andrew Omondi). John Forbes Nash
John Forbes Nash
John Forbes Nash, Jr. is an American mathematician whose works in game theory, differential geometry, and partial differential equations have provided insight into the forces that govern chance and events inside complex systems in daily life...

, a 1948 graduate and winner of the 1994 Nobel Prize in Economics, was the subject of the book and subsequent film A Beautiful Mind
A Beautiful Mind (book)
A Beautiful Mind is an unauthorized biography of Nobel Prize-winning economist and mathematician John Forbes Nash, Jr. by Sylvia Nasar, professor of journalism at Columbia University...

. Alan Perlis
Alan Perlis
Alan Jay Perlis was an American computer scientist known for his pioneering work in programming languages and the first recipient of the Turing Award.-Biography:...

, a 1943 graduate was a pioneer in programming languages and recipient of the first ever Turing award
Turing Award
The Turing Award, in full The ACM A.M. Turing Award, is an annual award given by the Association for Computing Machinery to "an individual selected for contributions of a technical nature made to the computing community. The contributions should be of lasting and major technical importance to the...

.

Carnegie Mellon alumni have had success in Hollywood, Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

, television, and the music industry. They include Best Actress Academy award winner Holly Hunter
Holly Hunter
Holly Hunter is an American actress. Hunter starred in The Piano for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She has also been nominated for Oscars for her roles in Broadcast News, The Firm, and Thirteen...

 (1980), ten time Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...

-winning TV producer/writer Steven Bochco
Steven Bochco
Steven Ronald Bochco is a US television producer and writer. He has developed a number of popular television hits including Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, and NYPD Blue, as well as some notable flops such as Cop Rock....

, actor Patrick Wilson
Patrick Wilson
Patrick Wilson may refer to:*Patrick Wilson , US theater and film actor*Patrick Wilson , Saint Lucian boxer*Patrick Wilson , British musician/composer...

, actor George Peppard
George Peppard
George Peppard, Jr. was an American film and television actor.Peppard secured a major role when he starred alongside Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's , portrayed a character based on Howard Hughes in The Carpetbaggers , and played the title role of the millionaire sleuth Thomas Banacek in...

 (1951), actor Frank Gorshin
Frank Gorshin
Frank John Gorshin, Jr. was an American actor and comedian. He was perhaps best known as an impressionist, with many guest appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show...

 (did not graduate), actor René Auberjonois (1962), actor Jack Klugman
Jack Klugman
Jacob Joachim "Jack" Klugman is an American stage, film and television actor known for his roles in sitcoms, movies, and television and on Broadway...

 (1948), actress Carol Channing
Carol Channing
Carol Elaine Channing is an American singer, actress, and comedienne. She is the recipient of three Tony Awards , a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination...

 (1943), actor Robert Cummings
Robert Cummings
Charles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings , mostly known professionally as Robert Cummings but sometimes as Bob Cummings, was an American film and television actor....

 (1930), actress Mariette Hartley
Mariette Hartley
Mary Loretta "Mariette" Hartley is an American character actress.-Personal life:Hartley was born in Weston, Connecticut, the daughter of Mary Ickes “Polly” , a manager and saleswoman, and Paul Hembree Hartley, an account executive. Her maternal grandfather was psychologist John B...

 (1965), actor Ethan Hawke
Ethan Hawke
Ethan Green Hawke is an American actor, writer and director. He made his feature film debut in 1985 with the science fiction movie Explorers, before making a supporting appearance in the 1989 drama Dead Poets Society which is considered his breakthrough role...

 (did not graduate), actor Zachary Quinto
Zachary Quinto
Zachary John Quinto is an American actor and producer. Quinto grew up in Pennsylvania and was active in high school musical theater. In the early 2000s he guest starred in television series and appeared in a recurring role in the serial drama 24 from 2003 to 2004...

 (1999), actor James Cromwell
James Cromwell
James Oliver Cromwell is an American film and television actor. Some of his more notable roles are in Babe , for which he earned Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, Star Trek: First Contact , L.A...

 (1964), Get Smart
Get Smart
Get Smart is an American comedy television series that satirizes the secret agent genre. Created by Mel Brooks with Buck Henry, the show starred Don Adams , Barbara Feldon , and Edward Platt...

actress Barbara Feldon (1955), actor Ted Danson
Ted Danson
Edward Bridge “Ted” Danson III is an American actor best known for his role as central character Sam Malone in the sitcom Cheers, and his role as Dr. John Becker on the series Becker. He also plays a recurring role on Larry David's HBO sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm and starred alongside Glenn Close...

 (1972), actor Robert Brooks
Robert Brooks
Robert Darren Brooks is a former American football wide receiver who attended University of South Carolina and played for the Green Bay Packers and the Denver Broncos.-Early life:...

 (1969), actor Michael McKean
Michael McKean
Michael John McKean is an American actor, comedian, writer, composer and musician, perhaps best known for his portrayal of Squiggy's friend, Leonard 'Lenny' Kosnowski, on the sitcom Laverne and Shirley; and for his work in the Christopher Guest ensemble films, particularly as David St...

 (1969), actor David Lander
David Lander
David L. Lander is an American actor, comedian, composer, musician, and baseball scout. David is also the Goodwill Ambassador for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.- Biography :...

 (1969), actress and stunt woman Patricia Tallman
Patricia Tallman
Patricia J. Tallman is an American actress and stunt performer, sometimes credited as Pat Tallman.-Early life:Patricia is the daughter of Jerry Tallman, a radio entertainer...

, legendary horror director George A. Romero
George A. Romero
George Andrew Romero is a Canadian-American film director, screenwriter and editor, best known for his gruesome and satirical horror films about a hypothetical zombie apocalypse. He is nicknamed "Godfather of all Zombies." -Life and career:...

, actor Van Hansis
Van Hansis
Van Hansis is an American actor. Hansis, who uses the name Van professionally, starred on the long-running CBS soap opera As the World Turns as Luke Snyder, the son of one of the show's signature supercouples, Holden and Lily Snyder ,...

, actor Rhys Coiro
Rhys Coiro
Rhys Coiro is an American film, television and stage actor. Coiro may be best known for his role on the HBO original series Entourage as Billy Walsh.-Personal life:...

, actor Blair Underwood
Blair Underwood
Blair Underwood is an American television and film actor. He is perhaps best known as headstrong attorney Jonathan Rollins from the NBC legal drama L.A. Law, a role he portrayed for seven years. He has gained critical acclaim throughout his career, receiving numerous Golden Globe Award...

 (1988), broadway actress/singer Megan Hilty
Megan Hilty
Megan Kathleen Hilty is an American stage and television actress.- Early years :Hilty was born in Bellevue, Washington and is the daughter of Jack and Donna Hilty. She attended Sammamish High School in Bellevue and the Washington Academy of Performing Arts Conservatory High School in Redmond,...

 (2004), actress Cote de Pablo
Cote de Pablo
María José de Pablo Fernández, better known as Coté de Pablo , is a Chilean-American actress and recording artist. De Pablo has won an ALMA Award for her role as NCIS Special Agent Ziva David in the television series NCIS...

 (2000), actress Jean Carson
Jean Carson
Jean Carson was an American stage, film and television actress best known for her work on the classic 1960s sitcom The Andy Griffith Show as one of the "fun girls".-Biography:Born to Alexander W...

 (1945), actress Cherry Jones
Cherry Jones
Cherry Jones is an American actress and recipient of the 2009 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Drama Series and the 2005 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play.-Career:...

 (1978), actress Nancy Marchand
Nancy Marchand
Nancy Marchand was an American actress, whose career encompassed both stage and screen. She appeared in various theatre productions throughout the early 1950s, before being offered roles on film and television....

 (1949), actress Sada Thompson
Sada Thompson
Sada Carolyn Thompson was an American stage, film, and television actress.-Life and career:Born in Des Moines, Iowa in 1927 to Hugh Woodruff Thompson and his wife Corlyss , and raised in New Jersey, Thompson earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, after...

 (1949), actress Jill Eikenberry
Jill Eikenberry
Jill Eikenberry is an American film, stage, and television actress. She is best known for her role as lawyer Ann Kelsey in L.A. Law...

 (did not graduate), actor Gaius Charles
Gaius Charles
Gaius Charles is an American stage, television and film actor best known for playing Brian "Smash" Williams on NBC's Friday Night Lights.-Early life:...

 (2005), actor G. Wood
G. Wood
George Wood was an American film and television actor, usually billed as G. Wood.Wood was born in Forrest City, Arkansas...

 (1945), actress Barbara Bosson
Barbara Bosson
Barbara Bosson is an American actress who has starred on television and in film.-Biography:Bosson was born in Charleroi, Pennsylvania to a tennis coach father. During her childhood, she lived in an American Craftsman Style house on Price Avenue in the borough of North Belle Vernon...

 (did not graduate), baritone opera singer Liam Bonner
Liam Bonner
Liam Bonner is a New York based baritone opera singer. He is currently in the company of The Metropolitan Opera in New York, NY. He frequently guests with the Houston Grand Opera in Houston, Texas, among other American and European opera companies...

, actor Josh Gad
Josh Gad
Joshua “Josh” Gad is an American film-, television-, and stage-actor best known for playing Elder Arnold Cunningham in the Broadway musical The Book of Mormon and the role of Ryan Church in the television series Back to You. Gad has also appeared in episodes of ER, The Daily Show, Modern Family...

 (2003), actor Matthew Bomer (2001), and actor Gabriel Macht
Gabriel Macht
Gabriel S. Macht is an American actor. Macht is known for playing The Spirit in the film of the same name, and lately for his role as Harvey Specter on the USA Network series Suits.-Personal life:...

 (1994).

Rankings and reputation

University Rankings
Ranking #

US News & World Report (National) 23
Times Higher Education (World) 21
QS World University Rankings
QS World University Rankings
The QS World University Rankings is a ranking of the world’s top 500 universities by Quacquarelli Symonds using a method that has published annually since 2004....

43


In 2011 Carnegie Mellon ranked 23rd among "national universities" in the US News and World Report and 21st by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings
Times Higher Education World University Rankings
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings is an international ranking of universities published by the British magazine Times Higher Education in partnership with Thomson Reuters, which provided citation database information...

. Carnegie Mellon is ranked 1st for graduate studies in computer science, a position consistently held in the past except in 2009. It is also 6th for graduate studies in engineering, 7th for graduate studies in fine arts, 7th for graduate studies in electrical engineering, 10th for graduate studies in public affairs, 16th for graduate studies in business, 19th for graduate studies in economics, 9th for graduate studies in statistics, and 17th for graduate studies in psychology in the 2011 rankings released by US News and World Report.
The undergraduate business program is also ranked 2nd for information systems, production/operations, and quantitative analysis, 5th for supply chain management, 9th for finance, 16th for entrepreneurship, 24th for general management, and 7th as an undergraduate business program overall by the 2011 US News and World Report.
In 2010, the Wall Street Journal ranked Carnegie Mellon 1st in computer science, 4th in finance, 7th in economics, 10th overall, and 21st in engineering according to job recruiters.
The university is one of 62 elected members of the Association of American Universities
Association of American Universities
The Association of American Universities is an organization of leading research universities devoted to maintaining a strong system of academic research and education...

 and its academic reputation has led it to be included in Newsweek’s list of “New Ivies”. BusinessWeek
BusinessWeek
Bloomberg Businessweek, commonly and formerly known as BusinessWeek, is a weekly business magazine published by Bloomberg L.P. It is currently headquartered in New York City.- History :...

's rankings of college return on investment placed Carnegie Mellon at 17th in the country. BusinessWeek
BusinessWeek
Bloomberg Businessweek, commonly and formerly known as BusinessWeek, is a weekly business magazine published by Bloomberg L.P. It is currently headquartered in New York City.- History :...

's 2011 rankings of the best undergraduate business schools have also placed the Tepper School of Business
Tepper School of Business
The Tepper School of Business is a private business school located on Carnegie Mellon University’s campus in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.The school consistently ranks highly among the top business schools in the U.S., as well as in a wide range of specializations, such as finance,...

's undergraduate business program at 3rd for starting salaries (competing with Wharton School of Business and the MIT Sloan School of Management
MIT Sloan School of Management
The MIT Sloan School of Management is the business school of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in Cambridge, Massachusetts....

) and 4th for academic quality. In SmartMoney's rankings of the most valuable colleges, Carnegie Mellon ranked 4th amongst private universities and 23rd amongst all universities nation-wide.

Carnegie Mellon's offerings in computer science
Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science
The School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA is a leading private school for computer science established in 1965. It has been consistently ranked among the top computer science programs over the decades. U.S...

, engineering
Carnegie Institute of Technology
The Carnegie Institute of Technology , is the name for Carnegie Mellon University’s College of Engineering. It was first called the Carnegie Technical Schools, or Carnegie Tech, when it was founded in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie who intended to build a “first class technical school” in Pittsburgh,...

, business, economics
Tepper School of Business
The Tepper School of Business is a private business school located on Carnegie Mellon University’s campus in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.The school consistently ranks highly among the top business schools in the U.S., as well as in a wide range of specializations, such as finance,...

, public policy, information systems, psychology, statistics, creative writing
Carnegie Mellon College of Humanities and Social Sciences
The Marianna Brown Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences is the liberal and professional studies college and the second largest academic unit by enrollment at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA...

, entertainment technology
Entertainment Technology Center
The Entertainment Technology Center is a department at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located at the Pittsburgh Technology Center....

, decision science
Social and Decision Sciences
Social and Decision Sciences, informally known as SDS, is an interdisciplinary academic department within the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University headquartered in Porter Hall in Pittsburgh, PA and led by Department Head John H...

, and the arts
Carnegie Mellon College of Fine Arts
The College of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA oversees the Schools of Architecture, Art, Design, Drama, and Music; along with its associated centers, studios, and galleries....

 are considered among the best in their fields.

Student life

Carnegie Mellon's student life includes over 225 student organizations, art galleries, and various unique traditions. Student organizations provide social, service, media, academic, spiritual, recreational, sport, religious, political, cultural, and governance opportunities. Carnegie Mellon's campus houses several galleries such as The Frame, a student-devoted gallery, and the Regina Gouger Miller Gallery, an art gallery that specializes in contemporary professional artists. The Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic, Carnegie Mellon School of Drama
Carnegie Mellon School of Drama
The Carnegie Mellon School of Drama is the oldest degree-granting drama program in the United States, founded in 1914 as a division of the College of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....

 and the student-run theatrical organization Scotch'n'Soda
Scotch'n'Soda
Scotch'n'Soda is a student run theatre organization that resides on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University. Its initial dedication was the creation and production of original musicals, but due to declining student interest in writing musicals over the past decade, it has taken to performing both...

 provides campus with a variety of world-class performance arts events. The university has a strong Scottish motif inspired by Andrew Carnegie's Scottish heritage, as well as Andrew Mellon's Scots-Irish ancestry. Examples include Scotty, the Scottish Terrier
Scottish Terrier
The Scottish Terrier , popularly called the Scottie, is a breed of dog. Initially one of the highland breeds of Terrier that were grouped under the name of Skye Terrier, it is one of five breeds of terrier that originated in Scotland, the other four being the modern Skye, Cairn, Dandie Dinmont, and...

 mascot, The Tartan
The Tartan
The Tartan, formerly known as The Carnegie Tartan, is the original student newspaper of Carnegie Mellon University. Publishing since 1906, it is one of Carnegie Mellon's largest and oldest student organizations. It currently has over 170 student members, who contribute on a weekly basis...

 student newspaper, Skibo
Skibo Castle
Skibo Castle is located to the west of Dornoch in the Highland county of Sutherland, Scotland overlooking the Dornoch Firth. Although the castle dates back to the 12th century, the present structure is largely of the 19th century, and early 20th century, when it was the home of industrialist...

 Gymnasium, and The Thistle
Thistle
Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. Prickles often occur all over the plant – on surfaces such as those of the stem and flat parts of leaves. These are an adaptation that protects the...

 yearbook.

Traditions

  • The Fence - In the early days of Carnegie Tech, there was a single bridge, which connected Margaret Morrison Women's College with the Carnegie Institute of Technology. The bridge was a meeting place for students. In 1916, the bridge was taken down and the university filled in the area. The administration built a wooden fence as a new meeting place. The students did not understand why anyone would want to meet at a fence. Administration was about to give up and tear it down but that night a fraternity, as a prank, painted the entire fence advertising a fraternity party. Ever since, painting the Fence has been a Carnegie Mellon tradition. The Fence at Carnegie Mellon lies at the center of campus, in the area known as “the cut." Students “guard” the fence 24 hours a day, and, as long as two vigils are maintained, no other student may “take” the fence. The fence can then be painted by the group that has it, but only between midnight and 6 am. Only hand brushes may be used; the use of spray paint or paint rollers is considered vandalism and results in a fine. The previous paint cannot be stripped, and each new painting adds a new layer. The original wooden fence finally collapsed in the 1990s due to the weight from over 1' of surrounding paint, and was immediately replaced with an identical one manufactured from concrete. Today the fence is considered "the world's most painted object", by the Guinness Book of World Records.

  • Spring Carnival - Usually held in April, Spring Carnival is the biggest event of the school year. In addition to classic carnival attractions, the Spring Carnival features the “Buggy Sweepstakes” and "Booth" (a competition between various organizations to build small, elaborate booths based on a theme chosen each year).


  • Buggy Races - Buggy, officially called Sweepstakes, is a race around Schenley Park
    Schenley Park
    Schenley Park is a large municipal park located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, between the neighborhoods of Oakland, Greenfield, and Squirrel Hill. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district...

    . It can be thought of as a relay race with five runners, using the buggy vehicle as the baton. Entrants submit a small, usually torpedo-shaped, vehicle that is pushed uphill and then allowed to roll downhill. The vehicles are unpowered, including the prohibition of such energy-storing devices as flywheels. They are, however, steered by a driver who is usually a petite female student lying prone, arms stretched forward to steer via a turning mechanism. Space is so tight inside the buggies that the drivers usually cannot change position beyond turning their heads.


  • Mobot - "Mobot,' a portmanteau for "mobile robot," is an annual competition at Carnegie Mellon that made its debut in 1994. In this event, robots try (autonomously) to pass through gates, in order, and reach the finish line. There is a white line on the pavement connecting the gates, and the line is normally used to find the gates, though it is not mandated by the rules that the robots follow the line.

  • Bagpipers - As one of the only Colleges offering a degree in bagpipe music (the other being UC Riverside), Carnegie Mellon's Pipe Band features the sounds of Scottish bagpipes and performs at University events. Head of the Pipe Band is champion piper Andrew Carlisle, a highly decorated solo piper and long time member of six times World Pipe Band Champions Field Marshal Montgomery.

  • The Kiltie Band- Carnegie Mellon's Kiltie Band, dressed in full Scottish regalia including kilts and knee socks, performs during every home football game.

  • Autographing the Green Room - Seniors in the College of Fine Arts
    Carnegie Mellon College of Fine Arts
    The College of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA oversees the Schools of Architecture, Art, Design, Drama, and Music; along with its associated centers, studios, and galleries....

     sign the Green Room's walls and ceilings before leaving the university. Supposedly, Oscar-winning actress Holly Hunter
    Holly Hunter
    Holly Hunter is an American actress. Hunter starred in The Piano for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She has also been nominated for Oscars for her roles in Broadcast News, The Firm, and Thirteen...

     broke university tradition by signing the Green Room during her freshman year.

Housing

Carnegie Mellon offers conventional housing for its students through single-gender, coeducational, and special interest options. Students can choose from standard, prime, or suite-style rooms, efficiencies, one or two bedroom apartments, and houses. There are 20 residential buildings on campus and 5 off campus in the Oakland area of Pittsburgh.

Most incoming freshmen are assigned to the dedicated freshman residence halls on campus, including: Morewood E-Tower, Residence on Fifth, and the Boss, Donner, Hamerschlag, McGill, Mudge, Scobell, and Stever houses. The upperclassmen who choose to live in university housing do so in the remaining residence halls: Morewood Gardens and West Wing in addition to the Doherty, Fairfax, Margaret Morrison, Neville, Shady Oak, Shirley, and Woodlawn Apartments and the Henderson, Resnik, Roselawn, Spirit, Tech, Webster, and Welch houses.

Fraternities and sororities

The Greek tradition at Carnegie Mellon University began nearly 100 years ago with the founding of the first fraternity on campus, Theta Xi
Theta Xi
Theta Xi was founded at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York on 29 April 1864. Theta Xi Fraternity was originally founded as an engineering fraternity, the first professional fraternity...

, in 1912. The Panhellenic sorority community was founded in 1945, by Chi Omega
Chi Omega
Chi Omega is a women's fraternity and the largest member of the National Panhellenic Conference. Chi Omega has 174 active collegiate chapters and over 230 alumnae chapters. Chi Omega's national headquarters is located in Memphis, Tennessee....

, Delta Delta Delta
Delta Delta Delta
Delta Delta Delta , also known as Tri Delta, is an international sorority founded on November 27, 1888, the eve of Thanksgiving Day. With over 200,000 initiates, Tri Delta is one of the world's largest NPC sororities.-History:...

, Delta Gamma
Delta Gamma
Delta Gamma is one of the oldest and largest women's fraternities in the United States and Canada, with its Executive Offices based in Columbus, Ohio.-History:...

, Kappa Alpha Theta
Kappa Alpha Theta
Kappa Alpha Theta , also known as Theta, is an international fraternity for women founded on January 27, 1870 at DePauw University, formerly Indiana Asbury...

, and Kappa Kappa Gamma
Kappa Kappa Gamma
Kappa Kappa Gamma is a collegiate women's fraternity, founded at Monmouth College, in Monmouth, Illinois, USA. Although the groundwork of the organization was developed as early as 1869, the 1876 Convention voted that October 13, 1870 should be recognized at the official Founders Day, because no...

. The Chi Omega chapter at Carnegie Mellon has since become Alpha Chi Omega
Alpha Chi Omega
Alpha Chi Omega is a women's fraternity founded on October 15, 1885. Currently, there are 135 chapters of Alpha Chi Omega at colleges and universities across the United States and more than 200,000 lifetime members...

, although the similarity between the two women's fraternity names is incidental.

Currently, Carnegie Mellon University has ten active Fraternities: Alpha Epsilon Pi
Alpha Epsilon Pi
Alpha Epsilon Pi , the Global Jewish college fraternity, has 155 active chapters in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Israel with a membership of over 9,000 undergraduates...

, Beta Theta Pi
Beta Theta Pi
Beta Theta Pi , often just called Beta, is a social collegiate fraternity that was founded in 1839 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, USA, where it is part of the Miami Triad which includes Phi Delta Theta and Sigma Chi. It has over 138 active chapters and colonies in the United States and Canada...

, Delta Tau Delta
Delta Tau Delta
Delta Tau Delta is a U.S.-based international secret letter college fraternity. Delta Tau Delta was founded in 1858 at Bethany College, Bethany, Virginia, . It currently has around 125 student chapters nationwide, as well as more than 25 regional alumni groups. Its national community service...

, Kappa Sigma
Kappa Sigma
Kappa Sigma , commonly nicknamed Kappa Sig, is an international fraternity with currently 282 active chapters and colonies in North America. Kappa Sigma has initiated more than 240,000 men on college campuses throughout the United States and Canada. Today, the Fraternity has over 175,000 living...

, Sigma Alpha Epsilon
Sigma Alpha Epsilon
Sigma Alpha Epsilon is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity founded at the University of Alabama on March 9, 1856. Of all existing national social fraternities today, Sigma Alpha Epsilon is the only one founded in the Antebellum South...

, Sigma Nu
Sigma Nu
Sigma Nu is an undergraduate, college fraternity with chapters in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Sigma Nu was founded in 1869 by three cadets at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia...

, Sigma Phi Epsilon
Sigma Phi Epsilon
Sigma Phi Epsilon , commonly nicknamed SigEp or SPE, is a social college fraternity for male college students in the United States. It was founded on November 1, 1901, at Richmond College , and its national headquarters remains in Richmond, Virginia. It was founded on three principles: Virtue,...

, Sigma Tau Gamma
Sigma Tau Gamma
Sigma Tau Gamma Fraternity also named "Sig Tau" or "the Knights" is a U.S. all-male college secret-social fraternity founded on June 28, 1920 at University of Central Missouri...

, Sigma Chi
Sigma Chi
Sigma Chi is the largest and one of the oldest college Greek-letter secret and social fraternities in North America with 244 active chapters and more than . Sigma Chi was founded on June 28, 1855 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio when members split from Delta Kappa Epsilon...

 (colony) and Delta Upsilon
Delta Upsilon
Delta Upsilon is the sixth oldest international, all-male, college Greek-letter organization, and is the oldest non-secret fraternity in North America...

 (colony).

In addition to participating in campus traditions such as Buggy and Booth, the fraternities and sororities hold an annual fundraiser called Greek Sing, one of the largest Greek events of the year. Each year, the organizations vote on a cause to support and raise money through ticket sales, ad sales, corporate sponsorships and donations. Each organization performs a 13-minute long original show or a rendition of a popular show. In Spring 2010, Greek Sing raised over $42,000 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Athletics

The Carnegie Mellon Tartans were a founding member of the University Athletic Association
University Athletic Association
The University Athletic Association is an American athletic conference that competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division III. Member teams are located in Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Ohio, and New York...

 of the NCAA Division III. Prior to World War II Carnegie Mellon (as Carnegie Tech) played with NCAA Division I teams and in 1939 the Tartan football team earned a trip to the NCAA National Championship at the Sugar Bowl
Sugar Bowl
The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Sugar Bowl has been played annually since January 1, 1935, and celebrated its 75th anniversary on January 2, 2009...

. That same year, Robert Doherty, university president at the time, banned the football team from competing in postseason bowl games. In 1936 the Carnegie Tech riflery team won the national intercollegiate championship. Currently, varsity teams are fielded in basketball, track, cross country, football, golf, soccer, swimming, volleyball, tennis, and cheerleading. In addition, club teams exist in ultimate frisbee, rowing
Rowing (sport)
Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...

, rugby, lacrosse, hockey, baseball, softball, skiing & snowboarding, water polo, and cycling. Carnegie Mellon Athletics runs a comprehensive and popular intramural system, maintains facilities (primarily Skibo Gymnasium, University Center, and Gesling Stadium), and offers courses to students in fitness and sports. Carnegie Mellon's primary athletic rivals are fellow UAA
University Athletic Association
The University Athletic Association is an American athletic conference that competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division III. Member teams are located in Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Ohio, and New York...

 schools Case Western Reserve University
Case Western Reserve University
Case Western Reserve University is a private research university located in Cleveland, Ohio, USA...

 and Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis is a private research university located in suburban St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1853, and named for George Washington, the university has students and faculty from all fifty U.S. states and more than 110 nations...

; the Tartans have an especially intense rivalry with the latter's football team.

Football

On November 27, 1926, the 6–2 Carnegie Tech football team shutout Knute Rockne
Knute Rockne
Knute Kenneth Rockne was an American football player and coach. He is regarded as one of the greatest coaches in college football history...

's undefeated Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team is the football team of the University of Notre Dame. The team is currently coached by Brian Kelly.Notre Dame competes as an Independent at the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision level, and is a founding member of the Bowl Championship Series coalition. It is an...

 19–0 at Forbes Field
Forbes Field
Forbes Field was a baseball park in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1909 to 1971. It was the third home of the Pittsburgh Pirates Major League Baseball team, and the first home of the Pittsburgh Steelers, the city's National Football League franchise...

. It would be the only loss for the Irish all season and only the second time they allowed a touchdown that season. The game was ranked the fourth-greatest upset in college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 history by ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

.

Bowl Game and AP rankings

In the 1930s Carnegie Tech (as it was known then) was among the top football programs in the country. In 1938 and 1939 the team achieved national rankings in the AP Poll. Carnegie Tech earned a January 1 Bowl game date following their 1938 campaign in the Sugar Bowl
Sugar Bowl
The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Sugar Bowl has been played annually since January 1, 1935, and celebrated its 75th anniversary on January 2, 2009...

 losing 15–7 to Texas Christian
Texas Christian University
Texas Christian University is a private, coeducational university located in Fort Worth, Texas, United States and founded in 1873. TCU is affiliated with, but not governed by, the Disciples of Christ...

.

Carnegie Tech's AP Ranking history includes:
  • October 17, 1938 #13
  • October 24, 1938 #16
  • October 31, 1938 #19
  • November 7, 1938 #6
  • November 14, 1938 #6
  • November 21, 1938 #7
  • November 28, 1938 #6
  • December 5, 1938 #6 FINAL
  • October 16, 1939 #15

Modern achievements

In 2006, the varsity football team was offered a bid to the NCAA Division III playoffs, and became one of the first teams in school history (the first team to win a Division III playoff game was in 1977, when Carnegie Mellon beat Dayton) and University Athletic Association (UAA
University Athletic Association
The University Athletic Association is an American athletic conference that competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division III. Member teams are located in Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Ohio, and New York...

) conference history to win an NCAA playoff game with a 21-0 shutout of Millsaps College
Millsaps College
Millsaps College is a private liberal arts college located in Jackson, Mississippi. Founded in 1890, the college is recognized as one of the country's best private colleges dedicated to undergraduate teaching and educating the whole individual. Affiliated with the United Methodist Church, Millsaps...

 of the SCAC conference. In addition to winning a playoff game, several team members were elected to the All American and All Region Squads. The 2006 team won more games in a single season than any other team in school history. The current coach is Rich Lackner
Rich Lackner
Rich Lackner is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head football coach at the Carnegie Mellon University, a position he has held since 1986.-Playing career:...

, who is also a graduate of Carnegie Mellon and who has been the head coach since 1986.

Track and cross country

In recent years, the varsity track
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...

 and cross country
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...

 programs have seen outstanding success on the Division III national level. The men's cross country team has finished in the top 15 in the nation each of the last three years, and has boasted several individual All-America
All-America
An All-America team is an honorary sports team composed of outstanding amateur players—those considered the best players of a specific season for each team position—who in turn are given the honorific "All-America" and typically referred to as "All-American athletes", or simply...

ns. The men's track team has also boasted several individual All-Americans spanning sprinting, distance, and field disciplines. Recent All-Americans from the track team are Brian Harvey (2007–2009), Davey Quinn (2007), Nik Bonaddio (2004, 2005), Mark Davis (2004, 2005), Russel Verbofsky (2004, 2005) and Kiley Williams (2005).

Volleyball

With much of the team's support, Lauren Schmidt received the NCAA Pennsylvania Woman of the Year award (2003), was a two-time All-American (2001 and 2002), a four-time All-University Athletic Association selection (1999–2002), and the conference’s Player of the Year (2001).

See also

  • Astrobotic Technology
    Astrobotic Technology
    Astrobotic Technology is a privately held seed-stage company formed by Carnegie Mellon professor Red Whittaker and his associates, with the goal of winning the Google Lunar X Prize...

  • Carnegie Mellon Qatar Campus
  • Carnegie Mellon University traditions
    Carnegie Mellon University traditions
    Carnegie Mellon University is home to a variety of unique traditions, some of which date back to the early days of its over 100-year history. Many of these traditions hearken to the university's strength in engineering such as the buggy races and the mobots while others are purely social in nature...

  • Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley
  • cmuTV
  • List of Carnegie Mellon University people
  • Disney research
  • Kiltie Band
    Kiltie Band
    The Kiltie Band is the concert and marching band of Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, known for wearing kilts, chanting famous cheers, and deriding enemies with notorious anti-cheers...


  • Scotch'n'Soda
    Scotch'n'Soda
    Scotch'n'Soda is a student run theatre organization that resides on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University. Its initial dedication was the creation and production of original musicals, but due to declining student interest in writing musicals over the past decade, it has taken to performing both...

  • The Tartan
    The Tartan
    The Tartan, formerly known as The Carnegie Tartan, is the original student newspaper of Carnegie Mellon University. Publishing since 1906, it is one of Carnegie Mellon's largest and oldest student organizations. It currently has over 170 student members, who contribute on a weekly basis...

  • WRCT
    WRCT
    WRCT is a non-commercial freeform radio station based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The station, which is hosted in the basement of Carnegie Mellon's University Center, is run by students, staff, faculty, and community members. WRCT broadcasts on 88.3 MHz with an ERP of 1.75 kW, from atop...

  • IBM/Google Cloud Computing University Initiative
    IBM/Google Cloud Computing University Initiative
    IBM/Google Cloud Computing University Initiative is an apparatus providing a special computing environment for the universities of all countries, which relates to the cloud computing environment....

  • ARPANET
    ARPANET
    The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network , was the world's first operational packet switching network and the core network of a set that came to compose the global Internet...

  • TeraGrid
    TeraGrid
    TeraGrid is an e-Science grid computing infrastructure combining resources at eleven partner sites. The project started in 2001 and operated from 2004 through 2011....

  • Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center
    Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center
    The Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center is a high performance computing and networking center. PSC is a joint effort of Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh together with Westinghouse Electric Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1986 by...

  • Association of Independent Technological Universities
    Association of Independent Technological Universities
    The Association of Independent Technological Universities is a group of private American engineering colleges established in 1957. The purpose of the association is to share ideas and practices that promote innovation and entrepreneurship, promote technology-oriented careers and advance...



External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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