So my first question for you is: what made Carnegie Mellon the place that you wanted to make the largest investment in higher education? Why CMU?
I'm so thrilled to be making this $3 billion investment in Carnegie Mellon University. Carnegie Mellon University is one of the greatest institutions of higher education in the world. It leads America in computer science, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity, and has a world-renowned program in robotics. Carnegie Mellon represents excellence in higher education, and it is a privilege and an honor to support the leadership team, the faculty, and the students here at Carnegie Mellon.
Now, two-thirds of the gift will go to Miami, but a third will stay here in Pittsburgh. What do you want Pittsburghers to know about the investment you're making in not only future students here, but also just the local economy here in Pittsburgh?
So, a meaningful portion of the gift will be funded this week and will come right here to Pittsburgh to be put to work at the mission here at CMU. And CMU, of course, has a wonderful array of uses for this money — from strengthening the programs in computer science and robotics, attracting world-class faculty, helping to broaden access to the university by making the university more affordable for families that would otherwise struggle to pay the high cost of a university education. Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh is, as you well know, an important part of the future of this city. All great American cities are anchored by great universities. And if you look at Pittsburgh and the hundred different robotics startups in the area, for example, that's Carnegie Mellon alumni. That's the students and the past students of CMU calling Pittsburgh home and really building the businesses of tomorrow, the companies that will help the reindustrialization of America take place. So I'm really excited about the work that happens here in Pittsburgh. And again, it's such a privilege to support the leadership team here, their vision and their ability to execute to make these things happen.
President Jahanian, what does this gift make possible for CMU tomorrow that wasn't possible yesterday?
You know, CMU during its entire history, as your audience knows, CMU was founded by Andrew Carnegie to educate the sons and daughters of the working class. And during our entire history, whenever there are massive technological changes, societal changes, CMU makes big, bold bets. And this is one of the bets we're making about the future of higher ed, about what we need to do. As advances in technology are transforming every sector of our economy, as AI is accelerating scientific discovery, it's having implications for national security and our economic prosperity. The question for us is: how do we prepare the next generation?
How are we preparing to essentially shape the future? And as part of this investment, I should say, in Pittsburgh and beyond, we're re-envisioning the future of higher ed. We're re-envisioning how we in fact serve our core mission, which is educating the next generation and creating knowledge to benefit society, including the kind of economic impact that Ken talked about. As you can imagine, Ken has learned a lot over the years about Carnegie Mellon and Pittsburgh. And his love for this country and his love for essentially the future of higher ed have led us to this moment.
And you're really turning it on its head. Who came up with the idea? Let's not have a traditional school, and let's take these issues that we are facing and try to challenge our students to figure out how to tackle them. Who takes credit?
Yeah. In all the years of building Citadel, I have always looked for extraordinary leaders — people that think outside the box — and you and your team have done just that. I think it's really important that you talk about one of the key concepts that you have and how we may transform higher education.
I got to tell you that over the past two years, we've been envisioning this future of higher ed and this model. So instead of thinking about it in terms of traditional departments, colleges, and majors, we're looking at it as these grand challenge areas. For example, human health, national security and cybersecurity, energy and climate resiliency, renovation of the industrial base as well as advanced manufacturing. To do this, you bring individuals with their disciplinary background into an interdisciplinary environment to tackle these problems. So not only are we going to approach research that way, but we're also going to approach education that way — how learning takes place in an interdisciplinary setting, which, as you know, is so core to CMU, right?
For sure. And it's interesting that it's not classified as a satellite campus — it's its own separate campus. How do you ensure that resources aren't pulled from Pittsburgh, and how do you even begin to find the best to bring down to Miami without impacting the long-established Carnegie Mellon here in Pittsburgh?
