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| CORE SWARTZ CENTER EVENTS, PROGRAM DEADLINES & ANNOUNCEMENTS
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Fireside Conversation with David Coulter, Chair,
Carnegie Mellon University Board of Trustees
Date: Tuesday, June 2
Time: 3-5 PM | ET
Location: Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, NYC
Join us for a discussion on leadership, innovation and Carnegie Mellon’s role in shaping the future as we host David Coulter, Chair of Carnegie Mellon University’s Board of Trustees, for a fireside conversation with Meredith Grelli, Managing Director & Interim Executive Director, Swartz Center
for Entrepreneurship.
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Join the CMU Swartz Center for CMU VentureBridge ’26 Demo Day, which will be held during a16z New York Tech Week - featuring CMU founders building across AI, robotics, biotech, and infrastructure.
The keynote will be followed by founder pitches.
Investors Only. Limited Spots!
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Appy for the Fall 2026 CSL Project Course and CSL Fellows Program by August 1!
Applications for the CSL Project Course and CSL Fellows for the Fall 2026 are now open! Click the links below to learn more about each program and apply! CSL programs are offered to all Carnegie Mellon University Graduate Students (Project Course is restricted to Pittsburgh campus students).
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| Hellbender Secures $12.5M Seed Round
Emerging as a foundational platform for Physical AI, Hellbender, Inc.—the robotics engineering and hardware firm—leverages an arsenal of IP to unlock on-edge computer vision for autonomous systems. The company has announced the closing of a $12.5M seed funding round, co-led by Magarac Venture Partners and Veredas Partners, with significant participation from Mana Ventures, Gaingels, Sum VC, and the Active Angels Network.
CMU Masters of Robotics Systems Development alumnus Roger Nasci, is Co-Founder and
VP of Projects at Hellbender.
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Pedal Power: How Two CMU Engineering Ph.D.s
Founded the Tartan Bike Project
Carnegie Mellon has a strong cycling culture, with many students, faculty and staff biking to campus or simply riding around Pittsburgh for exercise and recreation. In recent years, the university has invested in making campus more accessible and safer for cyclists and pedestrians alike with new policies, maps and bike paths, infrastructure, and dismount zones. Still, for some students, something core was missing.
For Kenedy Sánchez and Hosea Santiago-Cruz, that “something” missing was community. They founded the Tartan Bike Project at CMU to change that.
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STARTUP JOB OPPORTUNITIES
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| National Player Index ~ Hiring Founding Engineer & Architect
CMU undergraduate/graduate Engineering talent is invited to join the NPI team, a new AI-driven sports evaluation and player development app for youth/high school atheletes. There is an equity opportunity for the right candidate.
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Summer Internship: Startup Operations Associate
NetraMind Innovations, a company focused on AI-driven ophthalmology and eye disease diagnosis, is in need of an Operations Associate. CMU alumnus Justin Shaka is an experienced medical device executive and entrepreneur currently involved with the company, and as of 2025–2026, he is supporting NetraMind's commercialization and operational strategy. This is not a traditional corporate internship. It is a hands-on operational role working directly with startup leadership.
Email Justin Shaka at justin@netramind.ai for more information and find out more here (pdf).
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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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