Latest News

New AI Helps Make Sense of Privacy Policies

by Daniel Tkacik | Friday, March 2, 2018

If you're anything like the average internet user, you probably didn't spend the estimated 244 hours it would take to read every privacy policy for every website you visited last year. That's exactly why a team led by Carnegie Mellon University just launched an interactive website aimed at helping users make sense of their privacy on the web.

Enigma Machines Among Computing Gems Added to University Libraries Collection

by Shannon Riffe | Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Crucial World War II encryption devices have found a home at the Carnegie Mellon University Libraries thanks to the generosity of author Pamela McCorduck, wife of late Computer Science Department Head Joseph Traub.

Carnegie Mellon Will Help Develop Camera To See Through Skin

NSF Awards $10 Million to Interdisciplinary Researchers at Five Universities

by Byron Spice | Monday, February 26, 2018

Carnegie Mellon University is part of a five-year, $10 million program sponsored by the National Science Foundation to develop a new type of camera that peers deep beneath the skin to help diagnose and monitor a wide variety of health conditions.

AI Pioneer Tuomas Sandholm Receives Angel Jordan Professorship

New chair honors late Carnegie Mellon provost, tech visionary

by Byron Spice | Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Tuomas Sandholm, a computer scientist whose innovative algorithms have paired donors of life-saving kidneys with recipients and also defeated top professionals in a poker contest, will be the first recipient of Carnegie Mellon University's Angel Jordan Professorship in Computer Science.

Seventeen Magazine Names CMU "2018 Cool School"

Editors Cite "Strong Community of Female Coders"

by Byron Spice | Thursday, February 15, 2018

Seventeen magazine has named Carnegie Mellon University one of its 2018 "Cool Schools," citing the large number of women enrolled in science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs.

SCS Scientists Receive Sloan Research Fellowships

by Byron Spice | Thursday, February 15, 2018

School of Computer Science faculty members Chris Harrison, Bryan Parno, Andrew Pavlo and Andreas Pfenning have received 2018 Sloan Research Fellowships, which honor early career scholars whose achievements put them among the very best scientific minds working today. They, along with CMU mechanical engineer Venkat Viswanathan, are among 126 outstanding North American researchers honored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Winners receive a two-year, $65,000 fellowship to further their research.

SCS Alum, CMU Trustee Named to National Academy of Engineering

by Carnegie Mellon News | Friday, February 9, 2018

Carnegie Mellon University alumnus and trustee Edward Frank, who led the development of four generations of Macintosh computers, has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering — one of the highest professional distinctions an engineer can receive.

Tartan Team Competes for 2018 Amazon Alexa Prize

CMU Team Will Receive $250,000 To Develop Socialbot

by Byron Spice | Tuesday, February 6, 2018

Amazon has selected a Carnegie Mellon University team as one of eight worldwide to compete for its Alexa Prize by developing a socialbot to converse coherently and engagingly with people on a range of popular topics and current events, from sports to technology.

Widdowson Earns Alumni Award

by Susie Cribbs | Friday, February 2, 2018

School of Computer Science alumnus Andrew Widdowson will receive Carnegie Mellon University's 2018 Alumni Service Award, which recognizes alumni for their dedication to serving CMU and the impact of that service on the university and its alumni.

Winter 2017 Issue

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CMU WEF Contingent Boasts Strong SCS Participation

by Laura Kelly and Susie Cribbs | Wednesday, January 24, 2018

The School of Computer Science is a large component of Carnegie Mellon University's contingent this week at the World Economic Forum, held in Davos, Switzerland, through Jan. 26.

This year's theme at Davos, "Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World," aims to rededicate international leaders from across industries and disciplines to developing a shared narrative that improves the world.

Harchol-Balter, Guruswami Named ACM Fellows

by Byron Spice | Thursday, December 21, 2017

The Association for Computing Machinery has selected Mor Harchol-Balter and Venkatesan Guruswami, both professors in the Computer Science Department, as ACM Fellows in recognition of their major contributions to computer science.

They are among 54 members of the 2017 class of ACM fellows, including MIT’s Shafi Goldwasser, a CMU alumna and Turing Award recipient. They join 33 current and former CMU faculty members previously named as fellows.

Carnegie Mellon Reveals Inner Workings of Victorious Poker AI

Libratus AI Defeated Top Pros in 20 Days of Poker Play

by Byron Spice | Sunday, December 17, 2017

Libratus, an artificial intelligence that defeated four top professional poker players in No-Limit Texas Hold'em earlier this year, uses a three-pronged approach to master a game with more decision points than atoms in the universe, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University report.

GeekWire Chooses Pittsburgh for Temporary HQ2

by Byron Spice | Tuesday, December 12, 2017

GeekWire is coming to Pittsburgh — at least for a while.

The Seattle-based technology news hub announced today that it will establish a second, temporary headquarters in Pittsburgh for the month of February. The idea to create a reporting outpost was prompted by the much-publicized Amazon HQ2, with GeekWire placing special emphasis on choosing a city that it considers a strong contender for the Amazon prize.

Garlan Named Associate Dean for Master's Programs

by Byron Spice | Thursday, December 7, 2017

David Garlan, professor of computer science in the Institute for Software Research, has been named associate dean for master's programs in the School of Computer Science.

"We are very lucky to have David in this role because he was one of the original pioneers of master's education within the college, successfully nurturing the Master of Science in Software Engineering to its current status as the gold standard around the world for graduate education in software engineering," said SCS Dean Andrew Moore.

Research Paper on Libratus AI Wins NIPS Best Paper Award

by Byron Spice | Tuesday, December 5, 2017

A research paper describing a key component of Libratus, an artificial intelligence that displayed its poker prowess earlier this year, won one of three best paper awards at the Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS 2017) conference this week in Long Beach, Calif.

First-Years Weigh-In on First Semesters

by Aisha Rashid (DC 2019) | Wednesday, November 29, 2017

We're racing toward the end of the semester in the School of Computer Science, and now seemed like an opportune time to catch up with a few first-year students. We asked them what kinds of expectations they had coming into SCS, and how their experiences on campus this semester compared to those expectations. Here are their answers, in their own words.

Trevor Arashiro

All Aces: Libratus AI Wins Supercomputing Prize

Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center Receives Five HPCwire Awards

by Byron Spice | Monday, November 13, 2017

Carnegie Mellon University's Libratus artificial intelligence, which scored an historic victory over four human poker pros earlier this year, has won the HPCwire Reader's Choice Award for Best Use of AI. The award from the supercomputing trade publication was announced at the 2017 International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis (SC17) in Denver, Colo.

Ph.D. Women Take Women@SCS to the Next Level

by Aisha Rashid (DC 2019) | Monday, November 13, 2017

The School of Computer Science's Ph.D. women are hard at work bringing new and exciting opportunities to Carnegie Mellon's Women @ SCS program. Directed by Carol Frieze, Women @ SCS creates and supports academic, social and professional opportunities for women in computer science. The program includes a wide range of women including undergraduate, master's and Ph.D. students — as well as faculty.

Carnegie Mellon University graduate student awarded Department of Energy fellowship

by Thomas R. O'Donnell | Friday, November 10, 2017

Priya Donti, a doctoral candidate co-advised by Zico Kolter and Inês Azevedo at Carnegie Mellon University, has been awarded a Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship (DOE CSGF) to support her Computer Science and Energy Policy research.

"I-Cut-You-Choose" Cake-Cutting Protocol Inspires Solution to Gerrymandering

CMU Researchers Say Fair Redistricting Possible Even With Partisan Maneuvering

by Byron Spice (SCS) and Jocelyn Duffy (MCS) | Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Getting two political parties to equitably draw congressional district boundaries can seem hopeless, but Carnegie Mellon University researchers say the process can be improved by using an approach children use to share a piece of cake.

Just as having one child cut the cake and giving the second child first choice of the pieces avoids either feeling envious, having two political parties sequentially divide up a state in an "I-Cut-You-Freeze" protocol would minimize the practice of gerrymandering, where a dominant political party draws districts to maximize its electoral advantage.

Undergraduate Women Meet Leading Researchers at OurCS Workshop

by Byron Spice | Friday, October 20, 2017

About 100 female computer science majors from across the U.S. and overseas will gather at Carnegie Mellon University this weekend to attend OurCS, a workshop designed to give them hands-on experience with research.

Nancy Amato, Regents Professor and Unocal Professor in computer science and engineering at Texas A& M University, and Alison Derbenwick Miller, vice president of Oracle Academy, will share their insights on computer science research during the three-day event, which begins today.

Eric Zhu Earns Stehlik Scholarship

by Susie Cribbs | Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Carnegie Mellon University senior Eric Zhu technically majors in computer science, but he's a true Renaissance man. He's served two years on CMU's Student Senate, spent a year as a resident assistant, made an effort to take at least one humanities course each semester, participated in CMU Mock Trial and has never abandoned his love of classical piano.

Mason Wins 2018 IEEE Robotics and Automation Award

CMU Professor Is Renowned for Work in Robotic Manipulation

by Byron Spice | Thursday, October 12, 2017

Matthew T. Mason, a researcher renowned for his work in robotic manipulation, has won the 2018 IEEE Robotics and Automation Award — one of the top awards in the field of robotics.

SCS Hosts Computer Science Education Summit

Educators Address Challenges of Burgeoning CS Enrollments

by Byron Spice | Friday, September 29, 2017

The School of Computer Science is bringing together about 80 educators and computer science leaders for a two-day summit to discuss the challenges facing undergraduate computer science programs as enrollments continue to surge.