2021
June
Carnegie Mellon awarded $150 million grant
The Wall Street Journal
Carnegie Mellon University was featured in The Wall Street Journal after being awarded a $150 million grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation. Half of the funding with be used in building the Robotics Innovation Center, with construction expected to be complete by the 2025-2026 school year, as well as making the current Manufacturing Futures Initiative a permanent institute at the university. The other half will be dedicated toward constructing a new science building, located on the Oakland campus. This story was also featured in: Forbes, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, WESA, NEXT Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Business Times, Trib Live, and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
April
Zhao quoted on simulations
WIRED
MechE’s Ding Zhao was quoted in WIRED about using simulations for industrial applications. There’s growing interest in using AI to control robots and other industrial machines. This often uses an AI approach called reinforcement learning, which involves an algorithm experimenting and learning, from positive feedback, how to achieve a specific goal. “This is definitely the way to go,” says Zhao. He says simulations are crucial to using AI for industrial applications. “Machine learning is data-hungry, and collecting it in the real world is expensive and risky,” he says.
2020
December
Mill 19 solar power public monitor available online
Next Pittsburgh
The public monitor for Hazelwood Green’s Mill 19, home to CMU’s Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing and Manufacturing Futures Initiative, went live last week, reports Next Pittsburgh. One can, at any given time, see how much energy the country’s largest single-sloped solar array produces via an online solar monitor showing real-time output.
July
CMU wins additive manufacturing award
America Makes
In a partnership with the University of Utah and the Los Alamos National Laboratory, CMU was named one of the awardees in America Makes and the Air Force Research Laboratory’s additive manufacturing challenge titled “Mirco-scale Structure-to-Properties.” MSE’s Tony Rollett represents CMU on this project. The team collaborated to advance the accuracy of modeling and simulation for AM metals. In particular, the challenge aimed to improve the accuracy of model predictions for metal AM, using INCONEL® nickel-chromium alloy 625 (IN625).
“Going into the AFRL AM Modeling Challenge Series, we knew that the outcomes would potentially lead to significantly improved predictability and accuracy of models and simulations, and the qualification of AM process and materials,” said America Makes Executive Director John Wilczynski. “The awardees certainly made solid contributions. They improved our understanding of the micro- and macro-structure level variability that was needed to advance the accuracy of modeling and simulation for AM metal. We thank all those who participated and extend our congratulations to the awardees.”