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| CORE SWARTZ CENTER EVENTS, PROGRAM DEADLINES & ANNOUNCEMENTS
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Carnegie Mellon Names Damion Shelton Associate Vice President and Executive Director of the Swartz Center
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Carnegie Mellon University has named Damion Shelton (SCS 2004, 2007) as Associate Vice President and the next Executive Director of the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, appointing an experienced entrepreneur, technology executive and Carnegie Mellon alumnus to lead the university's next phase of growth in entrepreneurship, enterprise creation and research commercialization.
Damion will officially start on Monday, August 17.
Shelton's appointment reflects the University's commitment to placing experienced entrepreneurs at the center of its innovation ecosystem. Throughout his career, he has worked at the intersection of research, entrepreneurship and commercialization, bringing firsthand knowledge of the challenges founders face as they transform breakthrough technologies into sustainable companies. Those experiences closely align with the Swartz Center's mission to help Carnegie Mellon innovators navigate the journey from laboratory discovery to marketplace impact. His appointment also marks a continued commitment to Pittsburgh, where he maintains strong connections to the region’s technology and robotics community.
Previously, Shelton helped to found one of the nation’s leading Physical AI deep-technology startups. As co-founder of Agility Robotics, he led the company from an emerging robotics startup to one of the world's leading developers of humanoid robots.
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In Just Two Weeks!
Join us on Friday, August 28
The Swartz Center is excited to invite all CMU students to this year's Entrepreneurship Bootcamp, a one-day glimpse into entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University and around Pittsburgh. Join us on Friday, August 28 to learn more about what CMU has to offer regarding entrepreneurship, funding and programming, while enjoying snacks, networking and a keynote speaker.
View the full schedule.
All registrants will receive a Swartz Center t-shirt!
Co-sponsored by the Carnegie Mellon Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, Graduate Entrepreneurship Club, Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Association, Scottie Ventures, ScottyLabs and Sigma Eta Pi.
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|  | 2025-27 Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellows
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CMU First-year Graduate Students!
Applications Open for the 2026-28 Swartz Fellows Program
Are you a CMU first-year graduate student passionate about entrepreneurship with goals to build a successful startup? Interested in joining a strong network of startup-minded students and alumni? Applications for the next cohort of James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellows are currently open.
The Swartz Fellows program is a two-year opportunity that fast-tracks the careers of CMU's graduate students who are passionate about entrepreneurship. Students must currently be working on a startup idea to be considered for this highly selective program. The program focuses on hands-on experiences, networking, mentoring and courses in entrepreneurship, as well as a mentored summer internship with a top-tier VC-backed startup, preferably within the high-tech, high-growth environment of California's Silicon Valley and San Francisco (Bay area encouraged but not required).
Applications will be accepted through Sunday, October 4 at 11:59 PM ET.
Virtual Info Session:
Find out more about the program and hear from current Swartz Fellows.
Wednesday, September 9 ~ 12:30 PM ET (Via Zoom)
Register
Students must currently be working on a startup idea to be considered. Early applications are encouraged.
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Carnegie Mellon University Startup Week is a multiday celebration of entrepreneurship, innovation, and frontier tech. The diverse line up of events will highlight founders from all stages, researchers, and community partners across our entire ecosystem.
This year's event is part of StartUP PGH 2026. Check out the StartUP PGH website for more information about the week-long event being put on by fifteen regional partners.
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CMU Lab To Market ~ Tuesday, September 15
Lab to Market is a curated gathering of investors for an exclusive look at Carnegie Mellon University’s most promising research-driven startups. This day-long event spotlights breakthrough ventures emerging from CMU labs, including those led by CMU faculty, PhDs and postdocs—advancing the frontier in AI, robotics, cybersecurity, healthcare, and beyond.
We are excited to announce that Andrew Moore, Founder & CEO, Lovelace AI, will be the opening keynote speaker and Sujal Shah, Co-Founder & Managing Director, Juvia Group, will be the closing keynote speaker.
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AI & Robotics Venture Day ~ Wednesday, September 16
AI & Robotics Venture Day is 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.
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|  | Chair of CMU's Board of Trustees David Coulter, Director of the Richard King Mellon Foundation Sam Reiman and CMU President Farnam Jahanian
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Rare Ventures, a First-of-its-kind Platform for Accelerating Rare Disease Therapies, Launches in Pittsburgh
Carnegie Mellon University is a founding partner in a Pittsburgh-based partnership that brings together leaders in medicine, biotechnology and artificial intelligence to speed the development of treatments
for rare diseases.
The Richard King Mellon Foundation has committed up to $25 million to launch Rare Ventures™, a first-of-its-kind venture philanthropy platform designed to accelerate the development of therapies for rare diseases and to create a new model for medical innovation.
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Skylight Health, a VC-backed Multi-specialty Care Coordination Platform, Acquires YC-backed Saffron Health
Skylight Health, a mission-driven healthcare company committed to Making Specialty Care Better for All, announced it has acquired certain intellectual property assets of Saffron Health, a referral automation company. Saffron Health co-founders are Carnegie Mellon alumni Michael Kronovet and Tanishq Kancharla.
Saffron is now focusing on building open source software to help companies automate legacy portals: both in browser and on-prem. Learn more about their open source work and reach out to michael@libretto.sh for more information.
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CMU Startup, Fort Featured in New York Post
In a recent New York Post publication, CMU startup Fort (VentureBridge '25), is listed among seven other jewelry-inspired devices that prove that the future of health tracking can be just as stylish as it is smart.
Founded by Miranda Nover, Fort is part of a new generation of smarter, sleeker wearables that don’t force customers to choose between style and stats.
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STARTUP JOB OPPORTUNITIES
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CMU Startup Opportunity for Quantitative Marketing Platform
Maximus is a quantitative marketing platform that helps businesses grow. It turns market signals into actions through a patented, closed-loop system. Founded by a Tepper '22 alumnus, the team is building its founding team and looking for their first technical hire: someone strong in data science, machine learning or software engineering who wants real ownership, early equity and the chance to shape a product from the ground up alongside the founder. The position is full-time or part-time/remote.
Apply at maximus.software/work-with-us or reach out at cguzzi@maximus.software.
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Join us on Tuesday, August 25!
Nicole Granath, a former climate tech founder now at Fifty Years, will share hard-won insights on choosing the right idea and building a deep tech startup as we race toward AGI: what becomes exponentially more valuable on that path (and what becomes worthless), the physical constraints that will define our thriving future, and why most AI startups are building the wrong thing.
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|  | Brandon Rosas (TPR 2010)
Founder and Managing Partner, FOHRT Consulting
| |  | Patrick Colletti
Adjunct Professor, Tepper School of Business
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From Startup to Scale-Up:
The Headcount Thresholds That Will Change Your Company
Date:September 2, 2026
Time: 12:00 - 1:00pm ET | Virtual on Zoom
Presented by the CMU Alumni Association, this session is designed to provide founders and operators a practical framework for what happens when you hit the key staffing milestones of 15, 50 and 100 employees: Which laws apply, what states have strict legislation you need to keep an eye on and what your HR infrastructure should look like.
Drawing on years of HR and operational leadership across Private Equity-backed and founder-led businesses, Brandon Rosas brings real-world experience helping companies navigate exactly these moments and knows firsthand the costs when you are not prepared, whether that is government penalties or enhanced consultant expenses.
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OTHER APPLICATION DEADLINES
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| Apply for 5050 by August 23
5050 is a free, 12-week program by Fifty Years that helps great scientists and engineers become great founders and start deep tech startups. Alumni have started 115 companies, including Boltz, Electroflow, Medra, and Plasmidsaurus, with a 96% raise-success rate among those who fundraise. No deck, co-founder, or polished idea required, and it's built to fit around your PhD or job until you gain conviction to go full-time. 100% free: no equity, no fees, no weird clauses.
Got questions? Email Alvaro Borda, alvaro@50y.com
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| CONNECTS/START SMART LEGAL SEMINARS
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| CONNECTS & START SMART LEGAL seminars are back for the upcoming
Fall semester!
Can't make a CONNECTS? Watch on our YouTube channel.
See the full schedule and register for ALL of the seminars here!
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 9/1
REGISTERCONNECTS: Design Thinking (Ming Ming Chapman, CMU/Tepper)
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REGISTER
CONNECTS: Business Model Canvas: *A Practical Guide (Craig Markovitz, EIR, CMU Swartz Ceneter)
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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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Steptoe & Johnson PLLC
Steptoe & Johnson PLLC is a multi-jurisdictional, full-service law firm that takes a progressive approach to providing counsel at each stage of a client’s life cycle. Our dedicated team works closely with our clients to form entities, advise on the most advantageous entity type, and design and negotiate joint ventures and mergers and acquisitions. If a client has a dispute, Steptoe & Johnson has a team of business and product liability litigators and labor and employment lawyers to guide clients through these often stressful and disruptive situations.
Steptoe & Johnson brings a strong skillset for data privacy, cyber security and intellectual property matters which are frequent concerns for startups and technology companies. We offer competitive and flexible rates and aim to provide value to our clients.
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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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