Frequently Asked Questions

CMU Miami is a new Carnegie Mellon University campus in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood, made possible by a historic gift of more than $3 billion from Ken Griffin. It will be a new campus organized around societal challenges instead of traditional academic majors, designed to prepare future leaders for a rapidly changing world while accelerating research and discovery in areas of critical importance to society. CMU Miami will do this by bringing together education, research, industry, government and civic partners, while extending the academic excellence, interdisciplinary culture and practical impact that have defined Carnegie Mellon for more than a century.

This is not simply an expansion of existing programs into a new city. It is an opportunity to build a major research university campus from the ground up, drawing on CMU’s proven strengths and creating new opportunities for students, faculty and partners.

Miami is a global, entrepreneurial city shaped by technology, finance, health, culture, climate and public life, and strong connectivity to South America and Europe. Those strengths create natural opportunities for Carnegie Mellon’s distinctive combination of research, creativity and real-world engagement.

It is also a dynamic city with its own history, pressures, neighborhoods, leaders and concerns. CMU’s work must begin with listening, learning and building relationships. We will earn trust through partnership, humility and shared benefit.

CMU has always anticipated moments of profound technological change and placed big bets to shape the future. CMU Miami offers a rare opportunity to extend that tradition in a global city, expand access to a Carnegie Mellon education and create new partnerships in research, industry and civic life that foster an ecosystem of innovation and discovery.

Today, the world is rapidly changing, shaped by advances in science, technology, creativity and human knowledge. CMU Miami is being designed for that pace of change — and for the responsibility universities have to prepare students, advance discovery and translate ideas into impact.

Ken Griffin’s commitment strengthens Carnegie Mellon as a whole.

His gift includes $1 billion for CMU’s Pittsburgh campus, split evenly between flexible support for the university’s highest priorities and support for its top-ranked School of Computer Science, now renamed the Kenneth C. Griffin School of Computer Science.

More broadly, Miami gives CMU new capacity, partnerships and research opportunities as well as a new platform from which to extend the university’s longstanding strengths.

It’s still one Carnegie Mellon, now with deeper reach and greater capacity.

CMU Miami will introduce a new model for higher education. It will organize learning and inquiry around grand societal challenges—such as human health, national security, and climate resilience—rather than traditional academic majors. It unites education, research, industry, and community partners to translate ideas into impact through hands-on learning, interdisciplinary collaboration, and flexible movement for faculty among laboratories, classrooms, and public agencies.

CMU Miami is designed to move beyond the traditional hub-and-spoke model of university expansion. Rather than simply extending individual programs or research activities into a new city, CMU Miami will develop into a comprehensive university campus where education and research are equally central to the mission, built to the same standards of academic excellence that define CMU.

At the same time, the campus builds on Carnegie Mellon's decades of learning-by-doing while steadfastly preserving the core academic obligations of rigorous inquiry, academic freedom, ethical debate, and the education of the whole person.

Yes. Every great Carnegie Mellon story begins with partnership. Students and faculty will have opportunities to collaborate across CMU’s campuses. The spirit of this project is connection, not separation.

CMU Miami is being designed as a comprehensive campus that draws on the full breadth of Carnegie Mellon. Computing will be an important part of CMU Miami, reflecting Carnegie Mellon’s top-ranked School of Computer Science and its longstanding leadership across the field. Students across disciplines will have opportunities to understand and use emerging technologies, including AI, while developing the judgment to assess their possibilities, limitations and broader effects.

Computing will be one important strength, and it will pull in lessons and insights from engineering, science, business, public policy, design, the arts, humanities and social sciences. The goal is to give students a rigorous Carnegie Mellon education and meaningful opportunities to connect ideas across fields.

The current plan is for the first students to enroll in 2028, pending the necessary regulatory approvals.

Yes. CMU Miami will maintain the same standards of academic excellence that define Carnegie Mellon and students there will receive Carnegie Mellon degrees.

CMU Miami is still in the early stages of its launch. As positions become available, we look forward to connecting with people interested in joining our team. To share your interest, please contact CMU Human Resources at recruiting@andrew.cmu.edu.

We are excited to partner with nonprofit organizations, peer institutions, industry, and the local community. We are still in the early stages, listening and learning from the many new people we meet, and we are unable to commit to anything at this time. If you are interested in connecting, please reach out to cmumiami@andrew.cmu.edu to share your interest.