Tackling tech, from in-app to in orbit

Luis von Ahn and Connor Colombo are cut from the same Tartan cloth: CMU grads with tech-driven careers, ties to Project Olympus and a fearless founder spirits. What truly unites them, though, is something deeply Carnegie Mellon: an unshakable drive to ask, “What’s next?”

Luis had found success with reCAPTCHA, which helps digitize books while also keeping bots at bay. But while employed as a professor at CMU in 2009, he began working on a language learning app: Duolingo. He wasn’t sure it would work, but by 2013, Duolingo had 5 million users and topped the Google Play education charts and became the first Pittsburgh startup to reach unicorn status.

Connor’s journey began with Savor Robotics, building adaptable robots for the food service industry. But when the opportunity to work on the Iris Moon Rover came along, he pivoted, trading kitchens for the cosmos. Today, he’s a senior avionics engineer at Astrobotic, helping send tech to the moon and beyond.

From decoding how humans learn to designing machines that explore space, both Luis and Connor embody the CMU mindset: bold, curious and always ready to turn the page to something extraordinary.

By Kate Flynn and Eric Hoffman