Events

Making Hard Choices: Spiritual Tools for Decision-Making

Monday, Oct. 27, 4 to 5 p.m., Well-being Lab (Room 104), Highmark Center

Deciding between multiple good options is hard, especially when our choices could radically impact our lives, regardless of our spiritual commitments. Explore several ways to approach personal decision-making, each offering gems from a different spiritual tradition. All are welcome: no registration required.

Broadcasting Fidelity: Early German Radio and the Rise of Electronic Music

Monday, Oct. 27, 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., Rachel Mellon Walton Room, Posner Hall

When we turn on a radio or stream a playlist, we can usually recognize the instrument we hear, whether it’s a cello, a guitar or an operatic voice. Such fidelity was not always true of radio.

This talk discusses how the problem of broadcast fidelity pushed German scientists beyond the traditional bounds of their disciplines and led to the creation of one of the most important electronic instruments of the early twentieth century.

In the early days of radio, acoustical distortions made it hard for even the most discerning musical ears to differentiate instruments and voices. The physicists and engineers of interwar Germany, with the assistance of leading composers and musicians, tackled this daunting technical challenge. Research led to the invention in 1930 of the trautonium, an early electronic instrument capable of imitating the timbres of numerous acoustical instruments and generating novel sounds for many musical genres.

Get the Scoop on History Ice Cream Social

Monday, Oct. 27, 5 to 6:30 p.m., Baker 246A

Come enjoy ice cream sandwiches (including gluten- and dairy-free options), cookies, mochi and fresh fruit, all while learning about the History Department’s spring 2026 courses! This is an easy opportunity for you to talk informally with history faculty and program advisors about the rich array of upcoming classes and experiential opportunities. It’s also a chance to explore whether a major or additional major in Social & Political History, Global Studies or Ethics, History & Public Policy is right for you!

From Passion to Purpose: A Journey Through Social Enterprise

Monday, Oct. 27, 5 to 7 p.m., Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship

Join us for an inspiring conversation with distinguished alum Leah Lizarondo, founder of the groundbreaking Food Rescue Hero platform.

Leah will share her journey in social entrepreneurship, discussing how she turned a passion for climate action and community impact into a scalable, technology-driven venture that has redirected over 175 million pounds of food from waste. Learn how to harness innovation and apply your own skills to drive positive change in the world.

Snacks will be provided.

Pre-registration is appreciated but not required.

Learn more about Leah’s journey here.

Philosophy Halloween Talk

Monday, Oct. 27, 5 to 6:30 p.m., Giant Eagle Auditorium (Baker A51)

Mark your calendars for the second annual Philosophy Halloween Talk! This event is open to all students, faculty, and staff. Join us for a spooky discussion on "A Bayesian Reduction of Causation" presented by Prof. Adyin Mohseni. Halloween candy will be provided. Feel free to dress up or come as yourself! Hope to see you there!

Heinz College Accelerated Master's Info Session

Tuesday, Oct. 28, 1 to 2:30 p.m., Zoom

Are you a student in your junior year with strong academic abilities and proven leadership skills? Are you interested in fast-tracking your learning process to hit the job market sooner? When Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy designed our accelerated programs, we had you in mind!  Earn your undergraduate and graduate degree in five years instead of six through the Accelerated Master's Programs (AMP).

Join us for a virtual information session to get an overview of our programs and ask your questions about the curriculum and Heinz College. We'll also discuss the admissions process and financial aid.

Accelerated Master's Programs: 

• Master of Information Systems Management (MISM)
• Master of Information Systems Management - Business Intelligence and Data Analytics (MISM-BIDA)
• Master of Information Security Policy and Management (MSISPM)
• Master of Science in AI Systems Management (AIM)

Register to attend.

How Local Government Makes Your Life Better (or Worse)

Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2 to 3 p.m., Peter, Wright, McKenna Rooms, CUC

In anticipation of Democracy Day, the office of Community Engagement and Leadership Development will be offering How Local Government Makes Your Life Better (or Worse). This brief presentation will introduce students to the responsibilities and structure of local government and discuss how students can make a positive impact on their community. A light snack will be provided.

Participants can register on TartanConnect.

Think Like a Recruiter: LinkedIn Strategies for Success

Tuesday, Oct. 28, 4 to 5 p.m., Zoom

Want to make your LinkedIn profile stand out? Join us for an inside look at how recruiters use LinkedIn - and how you can use it to your advantage! In this virtual session, you’ll learn how to:

• See your profile from a recruiter’s perspective and highlight your top skills.
• Use LinkedIn Learning’s AI-powered tools to identify and close skill gaps.
• Expand your network with mentors, industry insights, and informational interviews.

Register for Think Like a Recruiter

Film Screening: Bad Press

Tuesday, Oct .28, 5:10 to 7:30 p.m. Location TBD

Join us for a screening of the Sundance award-winning documentary Bad Press, which follows Muscogee journalist Angel Ellis as she challenges her nation’s sudden censorship of the press.

Courageously confronting government corruption, Ellis fights to protect free expression in a historic battle with far-reaching implications for all of Indian Country. Following the film screening, join Directors Rebecca Landsberry-Baker and Joe Peeler, and Journalist Angel Ellis — the film’s central protagonist, for a panel discussion.

• Doors Open — 5:10 p.m.
• Film Begins — 5:30 p.m. (run time 1h 38m)
• Panel Discussion — 7:10 p.m.

Register for the screening.

This event is presented by the Department of Languages, Cultures & Applied Linguistics (LCAL).

In addition to hosting the screening and conversation with the filmmakers and Ellis, LCAL invites student groups, classes and colleagues to arrange workshops or sessions on topics such as documentary practice, newsroom ethics, Indigenous media and the importance of independent reporting in civic life. To schedule a visit or meet with students and colleagues, please contact Stephan Caspar. 

Department of Social and Decision Sciences Waffle Registration Brunch

Wednesday, Oct. 29, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., SDS Conference Room (Porter 223D)

Join SDS advisors and friends for spring '26 registration conversations. 

Freshly made waffles will be provided!

Founders & Funders Leadership Speaker Series with Jim Swartz

Wednesday, Oct. 29, noon, Simmons Auditorium B, Tepper Building

Join President Farnam Jahanian for a fireside chat with venture capitalist and Accel Partners co-founder, Jim Swartz (TPR 1966; HON 2016), followed by an opportunity for Q&A.

Register for the discussion.

Film Screening: HBO Original - "A Tree of Life: The Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting"

Wednesday, Oct. 29, 5 p.m., McConomy Auditorium, CUC

On Oct. 27, 2018, a gunman opened fire inside a Pittsburgh synagogue, murdering 11 people as they prayed, in what would become the deadliest antisemitic attack in American history. "A Tree of Life: The Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting" is a deeply personal portrait of the survivors, victims and family members, who share their harrowing first-hand accounts of the impact of the shooting on the community.

The film is rooted in a community working to rebuild and heal in the aftermath of a violent attack. Despite core differences, they come together to determine what justice looks like and how best to move forward while honoring and learning from the past. The film sheds light on the collective trauma suffered by a tight-knit group and brings into sharp focus the hate-based rhetoric surrounding many of the mass shootings today, threatening the fabric of our society.

The story of the attack is told through voices from the community, including Carol Black, Dr. Joseph Charny, Anthony Fienberg, Martin Gaynor, Audrey Glickman, Daniel Leger, Hannibal Lokumbe, Wasi Mohamed, Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, Brad Orsini, Rabbi Jonathan Perlman, Michele Rosenthal, Diane Rosenthal, Augie Siriano, Ellen Surloff, Andrea Wedner, Stephen Weiss, Barry Werber, Eliezer Rosenthal and Joy Rosenthal.

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with survivors. 

Complimentary sandwiches and snacks will be provided.

Register for the screening.

Voices from the Shadows: LGBTQ+ Experiences During the Holocaust

Wedesday, Oct. 29, 6 to 8 p.m., Rodef Shalom Congregation, 4905 Fifth Avenue

Join podcaster Eric Marcus on “Voices from the Shadows: LGBTQ+ Experiences During the Holocaust,” for a program by our community partner, the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh.

Drawing on extensive research conducted for this first-of-its kind audio documentary, Eric shares archival clips during a 45-minute presentation (followed by 15-minute Q&A) that brings this painful, often hidden history to life through the voices of the people who lived it.

CMIST's Politics & Pie

Wednesday, Oct. 29, 5 to 6 p.m., Posner Grand Room (Posner 340)

Stop by to talk with CMIST faculty, academic advisors and your peers to learn about the wide variety of international relations and political science courses offered by CMIST in spring 2026 - all while enjoying delicious pie from Piebird!

Immigration, Justice and Pittsburgh's Latine Community

Thursday, Oct. 30, 5 to 6 p.m., Doherty Hall, Room 2315

Join us for a conversation exploring how deportation are affecting Latine communities in Pittsburgh. Hear from advocates, legal experts and policy voices on what's happening and the responses from community and elected officials.

Speakers:

• Sheila I. Velez Martinez, profesor of asylum refugee and immigration law, University of Pittsburgh School of Law
• Jaime Martinez, community defense organizer, Casa San Jose

Book Talk - Martyrs and Migrants: Coptic Christians and the Persecution Politics of US Empire

Thursday, Oct. 30, 5 to 6:30 p.m., Posner Grand Room (Posner 340)

Journeying with migrants between Egypt and the United States, this talk examines how American religious imaginaries of global Christian persecution have remapped Coptic collective memory of martyrdom.

Candace Lukasik argues that the commingling of American conservatives and Copts has shaped a new kind of Christian kinship in blood, operating through a double movement between glorification and racialization.

Copies of Dr. Lukasik’s book, "Martyrs and Migrants: Coptic Christians and the Persecution Politics of US Empire" (NYU Press, 2025), will be available for purchase by City of Asylum Bookstore at this event This event is co-sponsored by CMU’s Departments of Languages, Cultures & Applied Linguistics and History as well as the Humanities Scholars Program and the Wilmber Fund Christian Studies in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Pittsburgh.

About Our Guest Lecturer: Candace Lukasik is an assistant professor of religion and affiliate faculty of anthropology and Middle Eastern cultures at Mississippi State University. Her research focuses on the transnational politics of violence, migration, race and indigeneity in the Middle East, specifically Egypt and Iraq and its U.S. diasporas.

Humanities Spring Schedule Spooktacular!

Thursday, Oct. 30, 5 to 7 p.m., Baker A60G

Join us for the Humanities Spring Schedule Spooktacular!

Interested in learning more about the cool courses the humanities (English, Philosophy, LCAL and History) departments will be offering this spring? Want opinions from other students about which humanities courses they’ve loved in the past? Trying to find a buddy for that class you’re pumped about?

This event will be an awesome opportunity to talk with your fellow students, advisors and faculty members about the amazing humanities courses that will be offered this coming spring, and enjoy some delicious spooky treats.

The Lucas Critique of AI - When Algorithms Reshape Behavior

Friday, Oct. 31, 3:30 to 4:50 p.m., Baker A36

A colloquium with Elizabeth Maggie Penn, professor of political science and data & decision sciences at Emory University

Algorithmic classifiers are often evaluated as if they act upon a fixed population, implicitly assuming that their predictions do not alter the behaviors they predict. Yet, in reality, classification changes incentives: people invest, cheat, or withdraw in anticipation of being classified. This talk develops a formal theory of strategic classification, in which individuals and algorithms interact in equilibrium.

Building on a simple Stackelberg model, I’ll show that optimal classifiers can take counterintuitive forms—sometimes even rewarding low signals—because doing so induces more favorable levels of compliance or deters gaming. This endogenous-response framework connects a range of well-known paradoxes across the social sciences: the Lucas Critique in macroeconomics (policies that fail once expectations adjust), Goodhart’s Law (metrics that lose meaning when targeted), the Braess Paradox in networks (adding capacity worsens congestion), and Jevons’ Paradox in energy (efficiency raises consumption). Each reflects the same structural insight: optimizing with respect to static behavior can backfire once agents react. I’ll show how this perspective reframes questions about algorithmic fairness and AI governance, suggesting that fairness metrics should consider the behaviors algorithms induce.

The Formal Launch of the Pittsburgh Review of Books

Monday, Nov. 3, 4:30 to 6 p.m., Rachel Mellon Walter Room, Posner Hall

Join us for the formal launch of The Pittsburgh Review of Books (PRoB)! The event celebrates PRoB as a new platform for literature and culture, highlighting collaborations with local and national partners and emphasizing the role of the humanities in fostering creativity and dialogue.

Register to attend

Spring Courses to Get You Out of the Classroom

Monday, Nov. 3, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., Adamson Wing (Baker A36)

Interested in undergraduate research, gaining hands-on experience or learning in a more exciting or nontraditional setting? Discover upcoming spring semester courses and Dietrich College opportunities that may align with your professional and academic goals - and hear from students who have already taken them!

Snacks and drinks will be provided!

Students can register online here

Pride and Prejudice Read-Along Kick-Off Tea Party

Monday, Nov. 3, 5 to 6:30 p.m., Danforth Lounge, CUC

Gather with members of the campus community for tea and petit-fours as we kick-off the birthday celebration! Guests will be entered in a raffle for a basket filled with Jane Austen and Regency Era-related goodies. After enjoying some refreshments, we’ll read the first chapter together out loud, with volunteer readers rotating through the pages of the chapter. And if you want to show up in your finest Regency attire, please do!

Restorative Reflections Student Dinner

Tuesday, Nov. 4, 5 to 6 p.m., Center for Shared Prosperity (Baker 131A)

Come and join your fellow Dietrich College students for a lovely light dinner filled with engaging conversation! We’ll be discussing both local and global social challenges and opportunities. This is a wonderful opportunity for you to learn, listen and collaborate with others on efforts to address these important issues.

Recovering the Lost Worlds of Jewish Artist Rahel Szalit with Kerry Wallach

Wednesday, Nov. 5, 5:15 p.m., Cathedral of Learning, Room 602

Join us for the inaugural Edith Balas Memorial Lecture.

What strategies can we use to recover lives and artwork nearly lost to history? This talk focuses on the life and work of Rahel Szalit, one of the best known Jewish women artists of Weimar Berlin. Born in Eastern Europe in 1888, Szalit ran in artist and queer circles in Berlin and Paris in the 1920s and 1930s. Her soulful, humorous illustrations and paintings made her a sought-after artist in both the German and Jewish press. After Szalit was murdered by the Nazis in 1942, her fascinating life and work were nearly forgotten.

Kerry Wallach, professor and chair of German Studies and an affiliate of the Jewish Studies Program at Gettysburg College, will take us through the painstaking process of rediscovering Szalit’s life and legacy.

The US-German Strategic and Economic Partnership: Transatlantic Industry in an Age of Disruption

Thursday, Nov. 6, 11 a.m. to 12:20 p.m., Posner Grand Room (Posner 340)

The Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy & Technology, in collaboration with the German Embassy, is hosting a strategic dialogue with leading German industry partners. This event will explore collaborative approaches to advanced manufacturing technology and supply chain resilience in critical sectors, including next-generation energy systems, advanced computing, and a modernization of the defense industrial base.

In an era of heightened geopolitical risk, this roundtable will examine practical frameworks for reshoring and friendshoring initiatives that strengthen transatlantic industrial partnerships while addressing tech security and supply chain vulnerabilities. Participants will discuss actionable strategies for building more secure, diversified supply networks that leverage complementary strengths between German and US manufacturing capabilities.

This event will feature Thorsten Scheer, Regional President of Bosch Mobility Electronics Division in North America and Plant Manager of the Semiconductor Fab and Jonathan Tubb, Industrial Cyber Security Officer, Gas Services North America, Siemens Energy, Inc. Harry Krejsa, CMIST Director of Studies, will moderate the discussion.

Register for the talk

Film Screening: “In Exile”

Friday, Nov. 7, 7 p.m, Harris Theater, 809 Liberty Avenue

Join us for the premiere of the documentary “In Exile” by CMU’s Ralph Vituccio and Reem Alghazzi.

“In Exile”is a deeply moving documentary that brings to life the powerful stories of artists, writers, musicians and political activists forced to flee their homelands. Each individual represents a nation in turmoil — from authoritarian regimes to war-torn landscapes — yet their voices rise above silence and displacement.

Through intimate interviews and powerful imagery, “In Exile” offers a rare glimpse into the personal cost of exile and the resilience of the creative spirit. These are not just stories of survival, but of resistance, identity and the enduring power of art to challenge injustice. More than a film, “In Exile” is a call to empathy — a timely exploration of forced migration, cultural memory and the long shadow of political violence that continues to shape our world.

Get Tickets

NOVA GenAI Hackathon

Saturday, Nov. 8, 10:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship

ScottyLabs is hosting NOVA, CMU's first GenAI playground hackathon. NOVA participants build incredible projects over the course of just one day. Unlike other hackathons, NOVA is uniquely focused on AI. Participants are provided with free, special access to top generative AI models through API credits to power their ideas. Participants can form teams of up to four students, and compete for over $2,000 in prizes.

Sponsors include Agentuity, Jane Street, Sandia National Laboratories, CodeRabbit, and Accenture.

Lunch and dinner will be provided.

Check out the detailed schedule at nova.scottylabs.org.

Follow @cmu.scottylabs on Instagram for Nova updates.

Be sure to register by Nov. 7 if you're interested! We hope to see you there!