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| CORE SWARTZ CENTER EVENTS, PROGRAM DEADLINES & ANNOUNCEMENTS
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The CMU Swartz Center Announces StartUP PGH, September 14-18!
Pittsburgh is becoming one of the nation's frontier technology hubs, where world-leading research moves into companies, capital and jobs. This September, the region's innovation community is coming together to make that momentum impossible to miss.
The Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University is proud to announce StartUP PGH, a region-wide week running September 14-18, 2026, celebrating Pittsburgh's strength in AI, robotics and life sciences.
Fifteen partner organizations have aligned their flagship annual events into a single coordinated week, with new programming built alongside. From the Pittsburgh Robotics Network's Discovery Day to the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Alliance's Health Innovation Symposium to Innovation Works' Venture Expo, the week brings the region's founders, investors, students and corporate partners into one shared moment.
StartUP PGH builds on CMU Startup Week, which the Swartz Center originated and launched in fall 2025. That inaugural run spanned 25 events over four days, drawing 2,000 participants and over 200 investors and corporate partners from outside the region.
Carnegie Mellon will host four signature events during the week, including Lab to Market, AI Robotics Venture Day in partnership with Innovation Works, the SPARK Startup Job Fair, and the Swartz Student Startup Showcase.
We're grateful to our partners across the region, and to Mayor Corey O'Connor and Allegheny County Chief Executive Sara Innamorato for standing behind the founders and researchers building
Pittsburgh's future.
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| Meet the 2026 Tartan Entrepreneurs Fund Cohort!
The CMU Swartz Center is excited to announce the 2026 Tartan Entrepreneurs Fund cohort.
Designed to support high-potential CMU alumni and faculty founders building the next generation of transformative companies in Pittsburgh, the Tartan Entrepreneurs Fund provides investment capital, mentorship, and connections to help companies accelerate their growth.
This year's cohort highlights the strength of the Carnegie Mellon startup ecosystem, with founders pushing the boundaries of AI, robotics, cybersecurity, healthcare and advanced technologies.
Congratulations to the 2026 cohort:
Analogical Engines - founded by Vikram Mohanty (PhD), Aniket Kittur (Faculty), Nikolas Martelaro (Faculty), Cole Biehle, and Dafna Shahaf (Faculty) is building the AI engine that augments your team to solve your hardest R&D challenges with novel ideas from unexpected domains.
Glacian Technologies - founded by Jie Zhao (PhD) and Wangda Zuo, helps data centers expand AI compute capacity by reducing the power consumed by cooling systems without utility permits or
major construction.
North Star Labs - founded by Mitchell Sipus (PhD), Jenafer Howard, and Jeff Howard provides advanced cybersecurity solutions to counter nation-state adversaries and protect critical infrastructure against long-horizon APT.
Origami Robotics - founded by Quanting Xie (PhD) and Yonatan Bisk (Faculty) is building the Physical AI infrastructure for the future of robotics manipulation.
Sooth Labs - founded by Yaser Sheikh (Faculty), Russ Salakhutdinov (Faculty) and Chuck Hoover, is developing foundation models for long-horizon institutional forecasting, helping organizations make better decisions over extended time horizons.
Each company will receive $100K in investment and strategic support through the Fund as they continue building and scaling their ventures. We are proud to support these founders and look forward to following their progress as they advance breakthrough innovations from Pittsburgh and beyond.
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AI & Robotics Venture Day!
A curated showcase of CMU-affiliated and Pittsburgh-region most investment-ready AI and robotics startups. Presented by the CMU Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship in partnership with Innovation Works, the event brings together investors, founders, university leaders, and the regional startup community to spotlight high-potential companies building in AI, robotics, autonomy, and embodied intelligence.
Date: Wednesday, September 16, 2026
Location: Carnegie Mellon University, McConomy Auditorium, 5000 Forbes Ave.
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Appy by August 1 for the Fall 2026 CSL Project Course and CSL Fellows Program!
The Corporate Startup Lab at Carnegie Mellon University works with companies to foster greater innovation, entrepreneurship and future readiness. Through partnerships with CMU graduate students, CSL helps organizations explore real-world challenges, identify new opportunities and bring the latest thinking in technology, innovation and startup methods into their companies.
For Students: Applications are now open for the Fall 2026 CSL Project Course and CSL Fellows Program. These incredible opportunities give Carnegie Mellon University graduate students the chance to gain valuable hands-on experience, build meaningful professional connections, and expand their networks while working on impactful projects.
The CSL Fellows Program is a paid position that offers students the opportunity to be compensated while developing skills to support their academic and career goals.
Both programs are open to Carnegie Mellon University graduate students. Please note that the CSL Project Course is restricted to Pittsburgh campus students.
For Corporate Partners: Organizations interested in engaging CSL graduate students to help address a real-world challenge are encouraged to connect with the CSL team. This is a unique opportunity to collaborate with talented CMU graduate students, gain fresh perspectives and explore innovative approaches to meaningful business, technology and societal challenges. Reach out to Jim Jen if interested, jjen@andrew.cmu.edu.
Students, click the links below to learn more about each program and apply by August 1!
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Third Coast Foundry Hosts Official Opening in San Francisco During Midwest Deep Tech Demo Day
This week, Swartz Center Managing Director & Interim Executive Director Meredith Meyer Grelli attended the official opening of Third Coast Foundry, a new shared hub in San Francisco, CA for university-backed founders and startups. In a LinkedIn post shared by Swartz Center Sr. Director of Strategic Partnerships Namrata Banerjee, she mentions that Mayor Daniel Lurie also joined the event for the ribbon cutting, which was followed by the Midwest Deep Tech Demo Day.
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NoRILLA Wins Global Competition
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science won an international competition aimed at transforming kindergarten through 12th grade learning. The SCS team won in the Transform category for their project, "NoRILLA: AI-Enhanced Hands-On Science Learning."
NoRILLA, which stands for Novel Research-Based Intelligent Lifelong Learning Apparatus, is a mixed-reality educational system that enhances STEM learning for children. Researchers in CMU's Human Computer Interaction Institute (HCII), including Nesra Yannier, Ken Koedinger and Scott Hudson, developed the system.
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Agility, Maker of Humanlike Robots, to Go Public in $2.5 Billion SPAC Deal
Agility Robotics, a startup that makes humanlike robots used in manufacturing facilities and warehouses, is set to go public in a deal valuing it at about $2.5B. Agility Robotics maintains a significant engineering and testing presence in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, closely tied to CMU’s robotics ecosystem and the National Robotics Engineering Center.
Agility's co-founders, Jonathan Hurst and Damion Shelton, met while earning their Ph.D.s in
robotics at CMU.
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OTHER APPLICATION DEADLINES
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Apply for the AlphaLab '27 Cohort by July 17!
AlphaLab is now accepting applications for AL27. AlphaLab is a six-month on-site accelerator based in Pittsburgh that invests $100K as an uncapped convertible note in early-stage startups across software, hardware, health, and robotics. The program provides hands-on mentorship, deep connections to investors, customers, and talent, and a built-in network of 300+ alumni
companies that have raised more than $1.3 billion in follow-on funding.
The AL27 application is open to early-stage startups that are incorporated in the U.S. and ready to commit to spending significant time in Pittsburgh during the program. Applications are free and reviewed on a rolling basis.
Schedule office hours or apply at alphalab.org/apply.
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| CONNECTS/START SMART LEGAL SEMINARS
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| Can't make a CONNECTS? Watch on our YouTube channel.
See the full schedule and register for ALL of the seminars here!
The CONNECTS/START SMART Legal Seminars will resume in the
Fall 2026 semester.
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CMU ENTREPRENEURSHIP CLUBS
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| Click the images to find out more about each of the Clubs!
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The CMU T&E has a jobs board, available for people across the community to share and seek new opportunities in the startup and entrepreneurship ecosystem. Find out more and visit the website here.
The CMU Tech & Entrepreneurship group aims to build a bridge between CMU students and alumni across the startup and tech continuum. With main chapters in NYC, Pittsburgh, and SF, we offer a range of in-person and online events and programming in the form of panels, workshops, founder/investor engagements, startup support, and socials to foster collaboration, innovation, and networking opportunities.
Join 7,000+ Tartans on our Slack workspace and mailing list for resources and updates on how you can engage in the community and CMU entrepreneurial ecosystem.
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The following companies help directly support our programming and entrepreneurs.
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Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
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Legal Services Weekly Virtual Office Hours with Matt Kirmayer
Mondays 1:00-3:00 PM ET (10-12 PT)
Matt Kirmayer of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, is offering office hours for newly established startup and emerging companies. Matt specializes in representing technology startups and emerging growth companies, assisting with entity formation, fundraising and overall growth needs. Startup companies with a founder who is a CMU graduate, undergraduate or alumni is eligible to register for
an appointment. Complete the Signup Form for a 30 minute session by the Thursday prior to your
desired appointment.
Contact Daria Stokes or Sean Mawhinney for office hours outside of these regular hours.
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PwC
Our purpose—to build trust in society and solve important problems—is at the core of everything we do. It guides how we serve our clients, our people and the world. To help our clients build trust and deliver sustained outcomes, PwC provides professional services across two segments: Trust Solutions and Consulting Solutions. Within these segments we bring a range of capabilities to help organizations solve faster, solve more and realize more value. These capabilities include cloud and digital, deals, ESG, cybersecurity and privacy, governance/boards, risk, transformation, tax services and much more. Across our global network of more than 295,000 professionals in 156 countries, we are committed to advancing quality in everything we do.
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| HOW TO WORK OUT OF THE SWARTZ CENTER
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Swartz Center Education and Resources
No matter what phase of the entrepreneurship cycle you're in, there are programs and resources at the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship that will take your idea to the next level.
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COMMUNITY OPPORTUNITIES/RESOURCES
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FIND OUT WHAT OUR PARTNERS ARE DOING
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Have startup news or opportunities to share? Have questions about the Swartz Center Weekly Bulletin? Send news, opportunities or questions to Sonya Ford, Program Manager.
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Carnegie Mellon University Swartz Center For Entrepreneurship
5000 Forbes Avenue | Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890 |
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