Carnegie Mellon University has received its largest private foundation grant in the school’s history.
A $30 million grant provided by the Richard King Mellon Foundation will go toward a new institute to coordinate the university’s energy activities.
CMU President Jared Cohon said all seven colleges of the university are working on the topic of energy in some form. He said the grant will allow more collaboration between those colleges and their work.
“This will greatly expand the research and education and facilities of Carnegie Mellon in energy and allow the (Wilton E.) Scott Institute to have a tremendous impact both regionally and nationally,” he said.
M. Granger Morgan, director of the Scott Institute, said it will research the delivery and use of more efficient energy, expanding the mix of energy sources and innovation of technology policy.
He said the grant allows the Scott Institute to better follow the university’s energy research and puts them in one place.
Morgan said the money also allows CMU to hire more faculty and accept more doctoral students.
Cohon said CMU is in the right region for this grant “not just because we’ve got these resources and the history, but we’re also a region that knows how to work together.”
“In my 16 years here I’ve been impressed and delighted at the degree of cooperation I’ve seen on every manner of problem," Cohon said, "and energy and Marcellus Shale gas opportunity is no exception.”
Cohon said CMU has a history of cooperation with energy research including collaborating on research with the National Energy Technology Laboratory and partnering with American Fuel and Petrochemicals Manufacturers (a fuel trade association) to work on “manufacturing renaissance” around Marcellus Shale.
