Investing in the city’s future
The recent announcement of a record $150 million grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation to Carnegie Mellon University goes beyond investing in a world-class engineering and research institute. It’s also an investment in the future of Pittsburgh.
Half of the foundation grant, the largest in its history, will help fund a new $210 million cutting-edge science building on the CMU campus, while the other half will transform nearly 8 acres of a former steel mill site into a new robotics innovation center and manufacturing futures institute.
The robotics center at Hazelwood Green will be about 150,000 square feet and feature reconfigurable high bays, multiple testing facilities and flexible space, as well as pre-incubator spaces for future CMU-affiliated companies.
This will be a facility where the next generation of robotics development and innovation can take place, creating new technologies and a skilled workforce. CMU officials envision robotics work that could include agricultural robots to help optimize breeding and plant growth to meet food production challenges, aerial robots to collect environment measurements, and personal robots to help the elderly and disabled.
The manufacturing futures institute to be established with part of the grant money is intended to expand work in advanced manufacturing while creating more training and educational opportunities.
The planned developments exemplify once again the important connection between the city’s foundations and universities, and the promises they hold for Pittsburgh’s future in fields such as robotics development and manufacturing. And with the recent decision by U.S. Steel to cancel plans for a $1.5 billion investment in the Mon Valley Works, this record-setting development grant helps soften the blow of that setback, even if it’s on a smaller scale.
The fact that a sizeable part of the investment is taking place on the site of a former steel mill reflects the change the city has undergone over the past several decades and a commitment to economic development in the future. It’s the kind of investment that holds much promise for Pittsburgh.