Carnegie Mellon University

Carnegie Mellon University (also known as CMU or simply Carnegie Mellon) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university began as the Carnegie Technical Schools, founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1900. In 1912, the school became Carnegie Institute of Technology and began granting four-year degrees. In 1967, the Carnegie Institute of Technology merged with the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research to form Carnegie Mellon University. The University’s 140-acre (0.57 km2) main campus is 3 miles (4.8 km) from Downtown Pittsburgh and abuts the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, Schenley Park, and the campus of the University of Pittsburgh in the city's Oakland neighborhood, partially extending into Squirrel Hill and Shadyside.

Carnegie Mellon has seven colleges and independent schools: the Carnegie Institute of Technology (engineering), the College of Fine Arts, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, the Mellon College of Science, the Tepper School of Business, the School of Computer Science, and the H. John Heinz III College.

Carnegie Mellon students come from all 50 U.S. states and 93 countries and was named one of the "New Ivies" by Newsweek in 2006.

History

Andrew Carnegie

Post-Civil War industrialists accumulated unprecedented wealth and were eager to found institutions in their names as part of their philanthropy campaigns. Washington Duke at Duke University, Leland Stanford at Stanford University, and Cornelius Vanderbilt at Vanderbilt University are several notable examples of Carnegie's gospel of wealth mentality.

Carnegie Technical Schools was founded in 1900 in Pittsburgh by the Scottish American 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. The campus began to take shape in the Beaux-Arts architecture style of Henry Hornbostel, winner of the 1904 competition to design the original institution and later the founder of what is now the Carnegie Mellon School of Architecture. 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 the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research to become Carnegie Mellon University. In addition, Carnegie founded Carnegie Mellon's coordinate women's college, Margaret Morrison Carnegie College in 1903 (the college closed in 1973).[5]

There was little change to the campus between World War I and II. 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, 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 from its original land along Schenley Park. A ravine long known as "the cut" was gradually filled in to campus level, joining "the Mall" as a major campus open space.

Hamerschlag and Roberts Halls are two of the teaching facilities of the College of Engineering

The buildings of this era reflect current attitudes toward architectural style. 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 $12 million annually in the early 1970s to more than $110 million in the late 1980s. The work of researchers in new fields like robotics and software engineering 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" computing network in the mid-1980s. This pioneering project, which linked all computers 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 URLs.

Carnegie Mellon today

Wean Hall, home of the world's first internet-enabled soda vending machine.[6]

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, information systems management, arts management, product design, behavioral economics, human-computer interaction, entertainment technology, 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), 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, 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-acre (23,000 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 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 Memorial Footbridge.[7]

On April 15, 1997, Jared L. Cohon, former dean of Yale University'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 and life sciences, information and security technology, environmental science and practices, the fine arts and humanities, and business and public policy.

On July 1, 2004, Carnegie Mellon launched Inspire 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 May 31, 2010, the campaign has brought in $640.5 million, with $263.6 million going toward Carnegie Mellon’s endowment. It has also enabled the university to establish 17 endowed professorships, 43 endowed fellowships and 146 endowed scholarships.[8]

Peer institutions of Carnegie Mellon's institutional research and analysis program include Caltech, Cornell, Duke, Emory, Georgia Tech, MIT, Northwestern, Princeton, Rice, RPI, Stanford, Penn and Washington University.[9]

Campus

Carnegie Mellon's 140-acre (0.57 km2) main campus is three miles (5 km) from downtown Pittsburgh, between Schenley Park and the Squirrel Hill, Shadyside, and Oakland neighborhoods. Carnegie Mellon is bordered to the west by the campus of the University of Pittsburgh. Carnegie Mellon owns 81 buildings in the Oakland and Squirrel Hill neighborhoods of Pittsburgh.

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 in the 1980s.

In 2006, Carnegie Mellon Trustee Jill Gansman Kraus donated the 80-foot-tall sculpture Walking to the Sky, 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.[10]

A panoramic view of Carnegie Mellon University's Pittsburgh campus from the College of Fine Arts Lawn.
From left to right: College of Fine Arts, Hunt Library, Baker and Porter Hall, Hamerschlag Hall, University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning (in the background), Wean Hall and Doherty Hall, Purnell Center, and the University Center. Also visible are "The Fence," and the "Walking to the Sky" sculpture.

Beyond Pittsburgh

In addition to its Pittsburgh campus, Carnegie Mellon has a branch campus in the Middle East, Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, which offers a full undergraduate curriculum with degree programs in computer science, business administration and information systems. Also, it has graduate-level extension campuses in Mountain View, California in the heart of Silicon Valley (offering masters programs in Software Engineering and Software Management). The Tepper School of Business maintains a satellite center in downtown Manhattan and the Heinz College maintains 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 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's remote locations. The Entertainment Technology Center offers graduate programs in Portugal, Japan, and Singapore.

In media, entertainment, and culture

The Carnegie Mellon University campus in Pittsburgh served as the locale for many of the on-campus scenes in the 2000 film Wonder Boys, starring Michael Douglas and Tobey Maguire. Other movies filmed at Carnegie Mellon include The Mothman Prophecies, Dogma, Lorenzo's Oil, and Flashdance. The university is also featured prominently in the film Smart People, starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Dennis Quaid and in the anime Summer Wars. It was also referenced on an episode of The Simpsons and as being the university "Rat" went to in the sci-fi movie The Core.[11]

In 2008, Carnegie Mellon professor Randy Pausch's "Last Lecture" 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 Magazine's "Time 100" list of influential people, he died in July 2008 from pancreatic cancer.[12]

Carnegie Mellon also established and administers the Robot Hall of Fame in partnership with the Carnegie Science Center.

Schools and divisions

Margaret Morrison Hall, home of the Carnegie Mellon School of Design
  • The Carnegie Institute of Technology includes seven engineering departments: Biomedical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Engineering and Public Policy, Mechanical Engineering, and Materials Science and Engineering, and two institutes, the Information Networking Institute and the Institute for Complex Engineered Systems.
  • The College of Fine Arts 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: Architecture, Art, Design (ranked #1 MFA program in Multimedia and Visual Communication),[13] Drama and Music. 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 and Management, Health Care Policy and Management, Medical Management, Public Management, 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 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, English, History, Modern Languages, Philosophy, Psychology, Social and Decision Sciences and Statistics. The college also offers undergraduate degree programs in Information Systems and International Relations and Politics.
  • The Mellon College of Science includes four departments: Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Mathematical Sciences and Physics. In addition, the college is expanding efforts in green chemistry, bioinformatics, computational biology, nanotechnology, computational finance, sensor research and biological physics.
The Hunt Library at Carnegie Mellon University is the largest library on the Pittsburgh Campus
  • The School of Computer Science: Carnegie Mellon University helped define, and continually redefines, the field of computer science. The School of Computer Science is recognized internationally as one of the top schools for computer science.[14]
  • The Tepper School of Business offers undergraduate programs in Business Administration and Economics. The Tepper School offers masters degrees in Business Administration (MBA) and joint degrees in Computational Finance (MSCF) with the 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 offers doctoral degrees in several areas and presents a number of executive education programs.

In addition to the research and academic institutions, the University hosts the Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Sciences, a state-funded summer program that aims to foster interest in science amongst gifted high school students. 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 Library, and the Universal Digital Library. The library system includes a number of special collections such as the Andrew Carnegie Collection, Herbert Simon Collection, Allen Newell Collection, the H. John Heinz III Collection, and the Posner Memorial Collection among many others. Carnegie Mellon students and faculty also have access to the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh 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.[15]

Carnegie Mellon also manages the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps in Pittsburgh on which students throughout Pittsburgh's universities rely. Carnegie Mellon relies on the University of Pittsburgh to provide opportunities in Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps and Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps to its students.

Undergraduate profile

Posner Hall, home of the Tepper School of Business

For the undergraduate class of 2013, the admission rate was 27.4%. In 2009, the Pittsburgh campus received a record 23,131 unique applicants, and admitted 6,348.[16] The number of students enrolled is 1,477, and the percentage of students enrolled is 27.7%, with a 0.9% decrease from 2008. The 2013 class had an average SAT verbal score of 669 and math score of 718.

In 2009, the most selective undergraduate college was the School of Computer Science, which admitted only 15.3% of total applicants. The largest college, in terms of enrollment, is the Carnegie Institute of Technology with 425 students in the class of 2013, followed by the College of Humanities & Social Sciences (with 301) and the College of Fine Arts (with 248) . The smallest college in terms of total undergraduate enrollment is the Tepper School of Business (with 80). Carnegie Mellon enrolls students from 43 states and the District of Columbia, and 12% of the students are citizens of countries other than the United States. About 95.4% of first-year students enrolled in 2008 return for their second year, and 70.9% of students in class of 2009 graduated within four years. Undergraduate tuition is $40,920 for the class of 2013, room and board is $10,840, books and supplies is $1,000, and other expenses is $1,400.[17]

Research

The LORAX rover Nomad being tested on New Hampshire's Mascoma Lake with its wind turbine deployed.
Scarab lunar rover is being developed by the RI.

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 ($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 and the Department of Defense, which contribute 26% and 23.4% of the total university research budget respectively.[17]

The Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (PSC) is a joint effort between Carnegie Mellon University, University of Pittsburgh, and Westinghouse Electric Company. 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, the National Science Foundation’s cyberinfrastructure program.[18]

The Robotics Institute (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 and H1ghlander, which finished second and third in the DARPA Grand Challenge, and Boss, which won the DARPA Urban Challenge. The RI is primarily sited at Carnegie Mellon's main campus in Newell-Simon hall.[19]

The Software Engineering Institute (SEI) is a federally funded research and development center 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 for industry, government and military applications and practices. The organization is known for its Capability Maturity Model (CMM) and Capability Maturity Model Integration (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, 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.[20]

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.[21] Such interdisciplinary collaboration is the hallmark of research done throughout the university.

The Language Technologies Institute (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, speech recognition, speech synthesis, information retrieval, parsing and information extraction.[22] 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 of management and economics. This intellectual school grew out of the Tepper School of Business in the 1950s and 1960s and focused on the intersection of behavioralism and management. Several management theories, most notably bounded rationality and the behavioral theory of the firm, 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, Microsoft, Disney, General Motors, 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.[23]

Alumni and faculty

John Forbes Nash, subject of A Beautiful Mind

There are more than 70,000 Carnegie Mellon alumni worldwide. Famous alumni include former General Motors CEO and Secretary of Defense, Charles Erwin Wilson; billionaire hedge fund investor David Tepper; James Gosling, creator of the Java programming language; Andy Bechtolsheim, co-founder of Sun Microsystems; Vinod Khosla, billionaire venture capitalist and co-founder of Sun Microsystems; India's Union Minister for Environment and Forests, Jairam Ramesh, pop artist Andy Warhol and Burton Morris; astronaut Judith Resnik, who perished in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.

Overall, Carnegie Mellon is affiliated with 18 Nobel laureates,[24] ten Turing Award winners, seven Emmy Award recipients, three Academy Award recipients, and four Tony Award recipients (including Andrew Omondi). John Forbes Nash, a 1948 graduate and winner of the 1994 Nobel Prize in Economics, was the subject of the book and subsequent film A Beautiful Mind. Alan Perlis, a 1943 graduate was a pioneer in programming languages and recipient of the first ever Turing award.

Carnegie Mellon alumni have had success in Hollywood, Broadway, television, and the music industry. They include Best Actress Academy award winner Holly Hunter, actor Zachary Quinto, actor James Cromwell, Get Smart actress Barbara Feldon, actor Ted Danson, legendary horror director George Romero, actor Van Hansis, actor Rhys Coiro, actor Blair Underwood, broadway actress/singer Megan Hilty, actress Cote de Pablo, and actor Matthew Bomer.

Rankings and reputation


University rankings (overall)


ARWU World[25] 59
ARWU National[26] 40
Times Higher Education[27] 27
USNWR National University[28] 22

Carnegie Mellon is ranked 22nd[29] amongst "national universities" in the most recent US News and World Report national rankings. In the 2009 THE-QS World University Rankings (known from 2010 onwards as the QS World University Rankings), Carnegie Mellon ranks 27th[30] overall in the world (14th in the United States), 9th in the world in the Engineering/IT category, 55th in the Social Sciences category, 88th in the Natural Sciences category, and 113th in the Arts & Humanities category.[31] The university is one of 62 elected members of the Association of American Universities and its academic reputation has led it to be included in Newsweek’s list of “New Ivies”.[32] Global University Ranking also ranked Carnegie Mellon University 21st[33] in the world (14th in the United States) in 2009. Academic Ranking of World Universities published by Shanghai Jiaotong University in 2009 ranks Carnegie Mellon as the 59th[34] in the world and the 40th in USA. BusinessWeek's rankings of college return on investment placed Carnegie Mellon at 17th in the country[35]

Carnegie Mellon's offerings in computer science, engineering, business and economics, public policy, information systems, psychology, statistics, and the arts are considered among the best in their fields. Carnegie Mellon is ranked 1st for graduate studies in computer science, a position consistently held in the past (except 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 the US News and World Report.[36] Detailed information on the rankings of undergraduate and graduate programs at Carnegie Mellon is available on the University website.[37]

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 and the student-run theatrical organization Scotch'n'Soda 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. Examples include Scotty, the Scottish Terrier mascot, The Tartan student newspaper, Skibo Gymnasium, and The Thistle yearbook.

Traditions

The Fence
  • 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.[38] 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 this vigil is maintained, no other students may “take” the fence. Once the fence is taken, however, the painting must occur between midnight and 6am. Only hand brushes may be used; the use of spray paint or paint rollers is considered vandalism and results in a fine.
  • 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).
Two pushers exchange the buggy for Kappa Delta Rho on the first hill of Sweepstakes.
  • Buggy Races - Buggy, officially called Sweepstakes, is a race around Schenley Park. 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.
A Mobot competing in the annual Mobot challenge
  • 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 the only College offering a degree in bagpipe music,[39] Carnegie Mellon's Pipe Band features the sounds of Scottish bagpipes and performs at University events. Head of the Pipe Band is world champion piper Alasdair Gillies, formerly a highly decorated pipe major in the British Army.
  • 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 sign the Green Room's walls and ceilings before leaving the university. Supposedly, Oscar-winning actress Holly Hunter broke university tradition by signing the Green Room during her freshman year.

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, in 1912. The Panhellenic sorority community was founded in 1945, by Alpha Chi Omega, Delta Delta Delta, Delta Gamma, Kappa Alpha Theta, and Kappa Kappa Gamma. During the spring semester of 2006, the Greek community consisted of 26 active fraternities and sororities: 5 Panhellenic sororities; 12 Interfraternity Council fraternities; 4 Asian American groups, 2 fraternities and 2 sororities; 4 National Pan-Hellenic (historically African American) chapters represented on campus (3 fraternities and 1 sorority); 1 Music Fraternity for Women, and 1 Professional Business fraternity. Of Carnegie Mellon’s undergraduates, 965 were members of social Greek-letter organizations. This number reflected 18.4% of the campus population.

Current Interfraternity Council fraternities:

  • Alpha Epsilon Pi
  • Beta Theta Pi
  • Delta Tau Delta
  • Kappa Sigma
  • Phi Kappa Theta
  • Pi Kappa Alpha
  • Sigma Alpha Epsilon
  • Sigma Nu
  • Sigma Phi Epsilon
  • Sigma Chi
  • Sigma Tau Gamma
  • Zeta Beta Tau

Current Panhellenic sororities:

  • Alpha Chi Omega
  • Delta Delta Delta
  • Delta Gamma
  • Kappa Alpha Theta
  • Kappa Kappa Gamma

Current Pan-Hellenic Chapters (Historically African-American):

  • Alpha Kappa Alpha
  • Alpha Phi Alpha
  • Kappa Alpha Psi
  • Omega Psi Phi

Current Multicultural Greek Council fraternities and sororities:

  • Alpha Kappa Delta Phi
  • Kappa Phi Lambda
  • Lambda Phi Epsilon
  • Pi Delta Psi

Current Professional fraternities:

  • Alpha Kappa Psi
  • Sigma Alpha Iota

Athletics

The Carnegie Mellon Tartans were a founding member of the University Athletic Association 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. 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.[40] 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,[41] rowing,[42] rugby, lacrosse, hockey,[43] baseball,[44] softball, skiing & snowboarding, water polo,[45] and cycling.[46] 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 schools Case Western Reserve University and Washington University in St. Louis. The Tartans have an especially intense rivalry with the Washington University in St. Louis Football team.

Football

In 1926, Carnegie Tech's football team beat Knute Rockne's Notre Dame Fighting Irish.[47] The game was ranked the fourth-greatest upset in college football history by ESPN.[48]

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 losing 15–7 to Texas Christian.

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) conference history to win an NCAA playoff game with a 21-0 shutout of Millsaps College of the SCAC conference.[49] 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, 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 and cross country 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-Americans. 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, 2008, 2009), Davey Quinn (2007), Nik Bonaddio (2004, 2005), Mark Davis (2004, 2005), Russel Verbofsky (2004, 2005) and Kiley Williams (2005).

Photo gallery

No comments:

Post a Comment