Carnegie Mellon University

Mellon College of Science Facts

Fast Facts

INTERIM DEAN: Curtis Meyer; UNDERGRADUATES: 793; GRADUATE STUDENTS: 315; FACULTY: 134; FAC/STUDENT RATIO: 1:8

Fast Facts

Nobel Causes

MCS has been home to 10 of the university's 17 Nobel Laureates, including John Nash Jr. who earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in mathematics in 1948 and won the Nobel Prize in Economic Science in 1994.

Nobel Causes

High Achievers

MCS students’ achievements have earned them recognition as Rhodes Scholars, Gilliam Fellows, Goldwater Scholars, NSF Graduate Research Fellows, Department of Homeland Security Scholars and Beckman Scholars.

High Achievers

Going Green

Professor Terry Collins’s Green Chemistry course—which was the first university course on green chemistry when it was taught in 1992—students learn how to design safer substitutes for hazardous chemicals and find green ways to reduce their adverse impacts.

Going Green

Out of This World

If you look with a telescope into the night sky you may see 4177 Kohman, an asteroid named for Emeritus Chemistry Professor and Adjunct Professor of Physics Truman Kohman. It orbits the Sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter once every 6.02 years.

Out of This World

Opportunity Awaits You

More than 70% of MCS students are involved in undergraduate research. And they aren’t just repeating experiments that have been done before. MCS students are discovering new science, publishing their results in top journals and presenting their work at local and national conferences.

Opportunity Awaits You

Bulletproof

MCS alumna Stephanie Kwolek (S’1946) invented Kevlar®, the fabric used in bulletproof vests.

Bulletproof

Global Impact

Internationally renown Professor Krzysztof Matyjaszewski developed atom transfer radical polymerization, which transformed the way plastics are made.

Global Impact

Life Changing

Professor Alan Waggoner created the CyDye(TM) labeling technologies, flourescent dyes which have been widely commercialized and have made a profound impact on biomedical research.

Life Changing

In The Movies

The Mellon Institute has been a backdrop in several movies, including George Romero’s “Monkey Shines” (1988), “Hoffa” (1992), “Lorenzo's Oil” (1992), “The Mothman Prophecies” (2002), and "The Dark Knight Rises" (2012).

In The Movies

Discoveries Today for a Better Tomorrow

Prior to the merger with Carnegie Institute of Technology, Mellon Institute Fellows made significant advances over the years, including a Nobel prize to Paul Lauterber (2003) for “discoveries concerning magnetic resonance imaging.”

Discoveries Today for a Better Tomorrow

Our Silly Side

In the early 1940s, the silicone rubber in Silly Putty was discovered by a Dow Corning employee Earl Warrick working on a research fellowship at Mellon Institute.

Our Silly Side