From Online to On-Campus: MIIPS Online Students Experience Pittsburgh

For students in Carnegie Mellon University’s Online Master of Integrated Innovation for Products & Services (MIIPS) program, collaboration often happens across cities, states, and even countries. During CMUiii Online: Experience Pittsburgh, those virtual connections became in-person ones as students traveled to Pittsburgh for two days of campus tours, professional conversations, and opportunities to connect with the broader CMU and Pittsburgh communities. 

The event took students beyond the online classroom and into spaces across the CMU campus, including the Robotics Innovation Center, the Joseph Ballay Center for Design Fusion, and the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship. Students also met with founders, industry professionals, and guest speakers while spending time with classmates they had primarily known through Zoom.

Susanna Zlotnikov, Assistant Teaching Professor and Director of the MIIPS Online program at CMU’s Integrated Innovation Institute (iii), said the goal of Experience Pittsburgh was to bring together students while also giving them the chance to experience CMU’s campus firsthand.

"The goal is to have our online students, who are based all over the country, and even all over the world, spend time together, and really get to feel like the CMU students that they are. Just because the program is online doesn't mean you don't get to interact with people every day, through live calls, live classes, and even in person for events like this."

Connecting in Pittsburgh

The event began Thursday evening, when students traveled into the city for a trolley tour and ride on Pittsburgh’s iconic Duquesne Incline. The evening gave students the opportunity to explore Pittsburgh while spending time with classmates and members of the iii community in a relaxed, off-screen setting. 

Exploring CMU Resources

Friday began with one-on-one coffee chats featuring CMU faculty and industry professionals, allowing students to start the day with in-person conversation and networking. For MIIPS online student Shea Davison, the coffee chats were a highlight of the two-day event.

"Every time I speak with a TA or professor or a peer, I’m always shocked by the insights they have across different disciplines and different industries. I always walk away feeling like I have a much better direction than where I started." - Shea Davidson, MIIPS Online student

Following the coffee chats, students visited the Robotics Innovation Center (RIC) in Hazelwood, where they met with research faculty member David Quinn and PhD candidate Xiaoyang Zhan. Students explored the spaces used for daily robotics research, development, and startup activity.

The visit gave students a closer look at the research and technologies being developed within CMU’s robotics community. Through conversations with David and Xiaoyang, students learned more about the work taking place at the RIC and the ways research, technology, and entrepreneurship intersect across the university.

Professional Perspectives

Following the RIC visit, students returned to the iii building for lunch and a panel discussion with featured guests Brad Dietrich and Jim Rooney. Brad brought insights from his experience across engineering, entrepreneurship, and technology leadership, while Jim drew on decades of work spanning leadership development, organizational culture, strategy, and professional sports.

Brad, a 1997 CMU graduate in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science, is currently a Distinguished Engineer at Shopify and has held leadership roles at companies including Google, Symphony, and Cloud Engines. Jim is President of Rooney Consulting and the author of A Different Way to Win: Dan Rooney’s Story from the Super Bowl to the Rooney Rule. 

For Sam Boyer, Senior Director of Organizational Development at CMU and a current MIIPS online student, helping bring Jim and Brad to campus was one of the highlights of the event.

“Jim and Brad I’ve known for a long time, and being able to share their wealth of information with others is special. I’ve had a front row seat with them in their careers, and not everybody does. I love sharing the resources.” - Sam Boyer, Senior Director of Organizational Development at CMU

From Design to Entrepreneurship

Following the panel discussion, students traveled to the Joseph Ballay Center for Design Fusion for a customized design workshop hosted by Matt Zywica, Associate Teaching Professor in CMU’s School of Design. The session was developed specifically for the MIIPS online students by Susanna in collaboration with Matt and Mark Baskinger, the inaugural director of the Center for Design Fusion.

Students then continued to the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, where they met with Aleks Petkov and student founders. The visit introduced students to another part of CMU’s innovation ecosystem and gave them the opportunity to hear directly from student entrepreneurs developing ideas and ventures on campus.

Beyond the Screen

For students accustomed to collaborating through live classes and virtual projects, Experience Pittsburgh created opportunities to turn those online relationships into in-person ones. Suraj said one of the most meaningful parts of the event was simply being able to share physical space with classmates he had previously worked with online.

“This particular event gave me the opportunity to have moments with people who have attended class online with me. There is a possibility of taking something we did on Zoom to real life. That was the best.” - Suraj, MIIPS Online Student

Looking beyond Experience Pittsburgh, Susanna said she is most excited about continuing to meet the students who become part of the MIIPS online community.

“The students that I’m going to get to meet—the quality of students, their backgrounds,” Susanna said. “I feel very grateful that we have that space.”