An Update: Building CMU’s Next Chapter Together

Thursday, October 22, 2026

Dear Members of the Carnegie Mellon Community:

Ken Griffin’s historic $3 billion investment in Carnegie Mellon is a defining moment for CMU and an unprecedented opportunity to strengthen our leadership in education, research and innovation for generations to come.

Here are four key takeaways from this update:

  1. The $1 billion Pittsburgh investment will begin strengthening our academic and research enterprise immediately. Provost Jim Garrett will chair an advisory committee dedicated to gathering CMU community input — through town halls, targeted conversations, digital platforms and other forums — on utilizing the $500 million university-wide investment. Dean Martial Hebert and the SCS community will lead planning for the $500 million investment in the Kenneth C. Griffin School of Computer Science.

  2. Jignesh Patel will serve as dean and vice president of CMU Miami, leading the development of the campus’ academic structure and research agenda in partnership with faculty and academic leaders.

  3. The launch of the Miami campus will be a deliberate, multiyear effort during which we will inform and broadly engage CMU community members and stakeholders. A university-wide faculty committee will initially focus on developing CMU Miami’s educational graduate programming as well as opportunities to build connections across colleges and campuses.

  4. We have launched faculty working groups to advance plans across our four initial grand challenge areas. We are also regularly meeting with deans and academic and administrative leaders and continue to engage faculty, students and staff from across the university to help shape this work.

Ken Griffin’s commitment includes $1 billion to strengthen our Pittsburgh campus and $2 billion to establish Carnegie Mellon University Miami. The benefits for Pittsburgh begin immediately, with transformative new resources for the Kenneth C. Griffin School of Computer Science and university-wide priorities. At the same time, we are beginning the disciplined work of building CMU Miami, which is a 15-year endeavor that will draw on the imagination, expertise and engagement of our entire university community.

The excitement on our campuses, across our alumni community and far beyond our university has been remarkable. I am grateful to everyone who has reached out, shared ideas and raised important questions. Our community’s continued engagement will be essential as we translate this opportunity into lasting benefits for Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, in Miami and beyond.

Today, I wish to share several updates on the planning now underway.

Advancing the Pittsburgh Investment

Ken Griffin’s $1 billion investment in our Pittsburgh campus includes $500 million to support strategic initiatives, strengthen human capital development, enhance access and affordability, and bolster our Pittsburgh campus’ role as an intellectual anchor.

I have asked Provost and Chief Academic Officer Jim Garrett to chair an advisory committee that will help guide this university-wide investment. Provost Garrett will be joined by Theresa Mayer, vice president for research; Gina Casalegno, vice president for student affairs and dean of students; as well as Jeanne Cunicelli (DC ’88), a member of our Board of Trustees. The areas of investment for Pittsburgh will be varied and will not be limited to grand challenge areas. I am grateful for this committee and for Provost Garrett’s steadfast commitment to CMU’s academic mission and his exceptional leadership as we navigate this historic moment for our university.

The advisory committee’s charge sets an expectation of engaging “the CMU community through town halls, targeted conversations, digital platforms and other forums that invite faculty, staff, students and alumni to contribute ideas and perspectives.” We expect this community input process to run through the end of the calendar year and inform the group’s priority recommendations to university leadership and the Board of Trustees.

Strengthening the Kenneth C. Griffin School of Computer Science

Ken Griffin’s investment in Pittsburgh also includes $500 million to support the newly named Kenneth C. Griffin School of Computer Science. I have charged Griffin School Dean Martial Hebert to engage faculty, staff and students to develop a plan for how this investment can strengthen the school’s global leadership and connections university-wide. This work comes at a defining moment, as computing, AI and data-intensive approaches are reshaping nearly every field — from science and engineering to business, public policy, the humanities and the arts.

This $1 billion investment in Pittsburgh will begin strengthening our academic and research enterprise now, even as the longer-term work of building CMU Miami gets underway.

Announcing CMU Miami’s Academic Leader

CMU Miami offers us the opportunity to build an innovative, grand challenge-focused campus that draws on Carnegie Mellon’s established strengths and puts them to work against some of society’s most consequential issues.

I am pleased to announce that Jignesh Patel will serve as dean and vice president of CMU Miami. I have asked Professor Patel to work closely with Provost Garrett, Vice President Mayer and Senior Vice Provost for Academic Initiatives Amy Burkert — as well as our deans, academic leaders and faculty colleagues — to guide the development of CMU Miami’s academic structure, research agenda and implementation plan.

A member of CMU since 2023, Professor Patel most recently served as interim head of our Computer Science Department. His professional record includes an impressive combination of scholarly distinction, entrepreneurial experience and institutional perspective, and he understands the need to build CMU Miami thoughtfully and sustainably while partnering closely with colleagues across the university.

Planning CMU Miami’s Educational Mission

Planning is also underway regarding CMU Miami’s educational mission. I am grateful to Senior Vice Provost Burkert and Professor Illah Nourbakhsh, who are co-chairing a university-wide education committee charged with developing the campus’ academic vision and roadmap.

Consistent with the 15-year timeline for building CMU Miami, we will develop our educational programs in deliberate phases. The education committee, composed of faculty and academic leaders, will initially focus on graduate programming and seek to build a strong foundation from which CMU Miami’s educational portfolio can grow over time. This work includes identifying opportunities that build on CMU’s academic strengths; connect with the grand challenge areas; engage in pedagogical and curricular innovation; and respond to the evolving needs of students, employers and society as we envision the future of higher education.

The committee will also consider how programs in Miami can foster collaboration and create new educational opportunities across colleges and campuses while upholding the academic rigor, student experience and commitment to innovation that define a Carnegie Mellon education.

Developing Our Initial Grand Challenge Areas

We are launching faculty working groups spanning the four grand challenge areas. These are:

  • Human Health and Biological Discovery, led by faculty co-chairs Tzahi Cohen-Karni, Jana Kainerstorfer and Roni Rosenfeld
  • National Security and Strategic Capabilities, led by faculty co-chairs Lujo Bauer and Jeff Schneider
  • Energy and Climate Resilience, led by faculty co-chairs Neil Donahue, Vivian Loftness and Costas Samaras
  • Advanced Manufacturing and Industrial Transformation, led by faculty co-chairs Tom Mitchell and Tony Rollett

These faculty leaders and working groups are in the early stages of identifying the institutional and intellectual capacity needed to operationalize programming across their respective grand challenge areas. In the coming weeks, they will be focused on connecting new opportunities in Miami to existing strengths in Pittsburgh. They will also be working to cultivate new partnerships, identify new research prospects, and determine when new and emerging benefits can serve the broader university community.

The grand challenge areas will organize much of our research vision. At the same time, we plan to leverage several cross-cutting areas of strength — including our leadership in learning science; arts, design and creative practice; as well as expertise in management science and economics — to help create opportunities in CMU Miami and across the university. Together, these capabilities will help us rethink not only what we study, but how people learn, create, collaborate and lead in today’s rapidly changing world.

Continuing the Conversation

The university’s academic and administrative leaders will continue to be engaged in decision making related to Ken Griffin’s investment in CMU. We recently hosted two university-wide faculty and staff town halls, updated the department heads, deans, Faculty Senate, Staff Council leaders and student government leaders as well as scheduled meetings with the Undergraduate Student Senate, Graduate Student Assembly and alumni. Across the university, these conversations are surfacing thoughtful questions, valuable perspectives and important ideas, and we will continue to solicit community input and share information as planning advances across our university.

We will also post regular updates online and add to our FAQs as new information becomes available and new decisions are made.

As we look to the future and the new opportunities before us, we recognize that our ambitions must be matched by thoughtful governance, academic excellence and long-term sustainability. Carnegie Mellon will continue to govern our academic standards, priorities and programs, with our commitment to academic freedom and institutional integrity unchanged.

As an institution, CMU has never shied away from taking big leaps and making bold bets, and the ingenuity and commitment to excellence shared by our talented faculty, students and staff have long fueled our collective success. I am confident that Ken Griffin’s historic investment in Carnegie Mellon will not only strengthen our foundation in Pittsburgh, but also create new opportunities across the university and expand our impact in the world. And I look forward to realizing this future together.

Thank you for your continued commitment to Carnegie Mellon.

Sincerely,

Farnam Jahanian
President
Carnegie Mellon University