Carnegie Mellon Launching $150 Million STEM Diversity Program, With Help Of $115 Million Private Gift

Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) has announced that it is creating a $150 million program to diversify graduate education in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) fields.

Much of the program’s ongoing funding will come from a gift by the Rales Foundation, which is providing an endowment of $110 million to support the initiative. CMU has committed an additional $30 million in endowment funds. Together, CMU and the Rales Foundation will also establish a $10 million fund to support the program’s initial years.

The purpose of the CMU Rales Fellows Program is to develop a diverse community of national STEM leaders from underrepresented or under-resourced backgrounds by eliminating cost as a barrier to graduate education. The program will offer fully-funded tuition, a stipend to cover the cost of living, housing and health insurance, and a full set of student and network supports. The intended recipients are students of color, women, students from low socioeconomic backgrounds and first-generation college students.

The first cohort of CMU Rales Fellows is slated to enroll in fall 2024. When fully implemented, the program is expected to underwrite 86 graduate students annually who are studying in a wide variety of STEM masters and PhD programs at CMU.

CMU Rales Fellows will have access to a comprehensive system of supports that will include cohort-based onboarding, career services, faculty mentoring, programs to expand their personal networks, and opportunities to build their leadership skills.

Initially, the program will be open to students pursuing graduate degrees in CMU’s College of Engineering, Mellon College of Science, School of Computer Science, Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences, and Neuroscience Institute. Eventually, the fellowships will be available to qualifying students in all of CMU’s graduate STEM programs.

Carnegie Mellon also has entered into a partnership with the Ron Brown Scholar Program to help identify and recruit candidates for the new program. In addition, CMU will continue to call upon other partnerships it has developed with the National GEM Consortium and other colleges and universities, including minority-serving institutions, to improve access to graduate STEM programs.

Commenting on the significance of the gift and the new program, CMU President Farnam Jahanian, said, as part of the university’s announcement, “At the heart of the CMU Rales Fellows Program is a commitment to remove existing barriers and empower this next generation of domestic talent so they can apply their skills and ingenuity to realize new scientific and technological breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity. CMU is grateful to the Rales Foundation for their generous support, and we are honored to partner with them to enact our shared vision for this initiative and to honor the legacy of Norman and Ruth Rales.”

The CMU initiative is an attempt to answer a need, identified by various agencies including both the National Science Foundation and the National Science Board, to increase and diversify the nation’s talent working in STEM fields.

According to a Vision 2030 report by the National Science Board, while the number of underrepresented people joining the science and engineering workforce has grown recently, greater increases will be necessary for the STEM pool to be representative of the U.S. population by 2030.

The Norman and Ruth Rales Foundation was established in 1986 by Norman and Ruth Rales. An orphan, Norman was raised in the Hebrew Orphan Asylum in Harlem, and Ruth was raised in Pittsburgh by parents who had fled the pogroms of Eastern Europe.

The couple went on to build a very successful business career in the home improvement and building supply industry, as well as in land development and timesharing. According to the CMU announcement, their goal in creating the foundation was “to continue their shared, lifelong desire to help people in need, as they had once been helped, and create opportunities through which others might thrive.”

“The Rales Foundation trustees are proud to partner with Carnegie Mellon to establish the CMU Rales Fellows Program. Expanding access to a graduate STEM education will bring to the table new voices and diverse talent, which will drive the innovations and breakthroughs for our nation’s and our world’s future,” said Joshua B. Rales, President and Trustee of the Rales Foundation. “This initiative aligns perfectly with the creative vision of our beloved parents, Norman and Ruth, who deeply believed in extending a helping hand to others and keeping alive the American spirit of generosity and possibility.”