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Meredith Meyer Grelli Appointed Interim Director
at the CMU Swartz Center
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In an announcement made by Carnegie Mellon University last week, Dave Mawhinney, founding Executive Director of the CMU Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, has returned to faculty as of June 2025, after nearly a decade of visionary leadership shaping the Center's growth. The university has named Meredith Grelli as the Swartz Center’s interim director.
Meredith, who has worked closely with Dave and the CMU startup community over the years, will retain her other responsibilities as director of the Project Olympus Incubator Program, assistant dean for entrepreneurial initiatives within the School of Computer Science and associate teaching professor of entrepreneurship at the Tepper School of Business. Dave will continue to serve as a teaching professor of Entrepreneurship in the Tepper School of Business.
The university is planning a celebration to honor Dave's legacy of impact to take place in the Fall of 2025.
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|  | Genesis AI founders: Zhou Xian (left) and Théophile Gervet
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Genesis AI Launches with $105M Seed Funding to Build
AI Models for Robots
Genesis AI, a startup that aims to build a foundational model for powering all kinds of robots, has emerged from stealth with a giant $105M seed round co-led by Eclipse and Khosla Ventures.
Founded last December by Zhou Xian, who holds a PhD in robotics from Carnegie Mellon University, and Théophile Gervet, a former research scientist with the French AI lab Mistral, the startup aims to build a general-purpose model that will enable robots to automate a wide range of repetitive tasks, from lab work to housekeeping.
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The CMU Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship and Project Olympus Announce 2025-26 Innovation
Commercialization Fellows
The CMU Swartz Center and Project Olympus are excited to announce the 2025-2026 cohort of Innovation Commercialization Fellows.
The Innovation Commercialization Fellows is a yearlong program aimed at accelerating the process of commercializing university research. It aims to foster entrepreneurship among graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and research personnel who work directly with faculty investigators to conduct scientific experiments, solve problems and innovate. Fellows are awarded $50K in funding and participate in dedicated workshops and intensive mentoring to pursue their startup idea. Since 2015 the program has awarded 55 fellowships, including this year's cohort.
For additional information about the program, contact Melanie Simko, Program Manager.
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Toyz Electronics Selected as a 2025 Black Ambition
Semi-Finalist
Toyz Electronics, co-founded by Damola Idowu and his son and CMU alumnus Wole, has been selected as a 2025 Black Ambition Semifinalist after a rigorous evaluation process where each application was reviewed by multiple business, investing and entrepreneurial experts.
Black Ambition, founded by Pharrell Williams, is working to close the wealth gap by investing in bold ideas and providing underrepresented founders with the resources, capital and community they need to thrive.
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WVU, Pitt, and CMU Lead Regional Consortium Selected as NSF Semifinalist forTransformative Energy Initiative
A regional innovation consortium led by West Virginia University (WVU), the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt), Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), and United States Research Impact Alliance (USRIA), has been selected as a semifinalist for the prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) Regional Innovation Engines $160M funding opportunity aimed at driving economic transformation through technological innovation.
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|  | Innovation Scholar alumnus Connor Colombo, Chief Engineer on Iris
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Iris Lunar Dream Capsule Will Head to Moon on Next Astrobotic Lander
Iris—the lunar rover built by 300 students across Carnegie Mellon University’s seven colleges—will head back to the moon. Members of the Iris team have assembled the Iris Lunar Dream Capsule, a tiny payload that will launch aboard Griffin-1, the next lunar lander from Carnegie Mellon spinout Astrobotic.
“Lunar archeologists, maybe 10,000 years from now, could find this and learn about Iris,” said CMU Engineering alumnus and Innovation Scholar Connor Colombo, the chief engineer on Iris who now works at Astrobotic.
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VENTUREBRIDGE '25 FOUNDER SPOTLIGHT
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Welcome to the VentureBridge '25 Founders Spotlight!
For the next few weeks, we will feature the founders of the '25 VentureBridge cohort.Join us in celebrating these amazing founders.
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|  | Neha Suresh (left), CEO and Co-Founder, April
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| Founder: Neha Suresh, CEO & Co-Founder of April
Meet Neha Suresh, CEO & Co-Founder of April, "getting you to inbox zero, anywhere, anytime, all with your voice".
Carnegie Mellon University’s VentureBridge program, an initiative of the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, supports CMU-alumni founded companies with capital, co-working space, access to mentorship and resources, and investor demo days across San Francisco, Pittsburgh, and New York City.
In this spotlight series, we take a behind the scenes look at an interview with Neha Suresh, Co-Founder & CEO of April. The interview below is slightly edited for clarity.
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| James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellow Alumni Welcome
New Baby Girl
When CMU Tepper School of Business alumni Grant (TPR '19) and Emily Ellis Vandenbussche (TPR '21) were working towards their MBA's, they also embraced their entrepreneurial passions by getting involved with the CMU Swartz Center and becoming James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellows. During their time as Swartz Fellows and while utilizing various resources and programming at the Center, they eventually got married and have recently welcomed their first child, Mary Keefe 'MK' Vandenbussche.
MK will be exposed to entrepreneurship at an early age as Emily and Grant continue their endeavors. Grant is leading US Venture Capital for Grupo Bimbo—as well as helping to scale CMU startups Lembas Health and Mach9 Robotics. Emily is working on a startup within Walmart Health and Wellness.
Congratulations Grant and Emily!
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| Apply to the Forge AI Pitch Challenge by August 8!
Spotlighting Pennsylvania’s most promising AI and AI-adjacent startups, the Forge AI Pitch invites deployment-ready ventures to showcase their solutions live on stage. Six finalists will pitch their solutions in front of national investors, tech leaders and media—showcasing how Pennsylvania startups are delivering real-world AI deployment, while competing for $50K in funding.
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Join the CMU T&E, in partnership with CMU's Graduate Entrepreneurship Club (GEC), for a casual mixer for Tartans in Pittsburgh to gather for connection and conversation.
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Come Join Swank Works on July 31!
The Swank Special Projects Team Invites the CMU Swartz Center and CMU/Pittsburgh entrepreneurship community to another friendly game of Pickleball on Thursday, July 31 from 7:00-8:30 am at Washington's Landing.
Email jaimel@swankco.com to RSVP!
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Date: Friday, August 8, 2025
Time: 3:00-7:00 PM | ET
Location: Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship
Welcome to the series of events with PITTSBURGH UNLOCKED, where you will learn from various community leaders and startups about their Startup Ecosystem. Pittsburgh Unlocked connects entrepreneurs with innovation centers and entrepreneurs across the region to increase knowledge and access.
Founders can apply to pitch for the Dell Business Partnerships Pittsburgh Demo Day.
Apply to pitch by July 25th!
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| CONNECTS/START SMART LAW 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!
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The CONNECTS/START SMART LAW Seminars have ended for the Spring semester and will resume in the Fall.
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The mission of 99 Tartans is to partner with the highest potential, early-stage CMU alumni companies and accelerate their success through access to capital and networks. Find out more.
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CMU ENTREPRENEURSHIP CLUBS
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| Click the images to see upcoming Club events!
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The CMU T&E has launched its new website, which also includes a newly revamped Jobs Board, available for people across the community to share and seek new opportunities in the startup & 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. Headline TextDesign best-practices suggest a large font size for easy readability both on desktop and mobile devices.
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The following companies help directly support our programming and entrepreneurs.
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| Pillsbury and Steptoe & Johnson, PLLC are holding office hours for the CMU Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship. The office hours are for any interested CMU graduate, undergraduate or alumni interested in entrepreneurship or connecting with members of the Swartz Center network.
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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. Find out more.
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Project Olympus Incubator Program
Want more help with finding product/market fit, developing your business model, making connections and attracting funding? Project Olympus will team you up with a business coach to develop a personalized ‘roadmap. Find out more.
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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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