Released at the beginning of each month, Dietrich College News is your chance to stay up-to-date on the latest news, events and accomplishments of Dietrich alumni, students, staff and faculty.

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Carnegie Mellon Launches Learnvia To Catalyze Student Success Nationwide

Carnegie Mellon University today announced Learnvia, Inc., a new nonprofit learning collaborative dedicated to improving outcomes in high-enrollment college courses with the potential to transform the academic and career trajectories of hundreds of thousands of learners nationwide. Developed in collaboration with the Gates Foundation, Learnvia is free to students and combines AI-enabled courseware, support for evidence-based instruction, and the power of learning research to strengthen student success and course outcomes at colleges and universities nationwide.

"For decades, Carnegie Mellon University has served as a global leader at the intersection of AI, research innovation and learning science," said CMU President Farnam Jahanian. "With support from the Gates Foundation, Learnvia is using this expertise to develop cutting-edge, AI-enabled courseware that is designed to improve outcomes at scale and help students across the nation not just endure gateway college courses but thrive in them.”

Learn how Learnvia builds on decades of learning science research from CMU faculty, including those at Dietrich College and the Simon Initiative.

David Badre To Lead Carnegie Mellon’s Neuroscience Institute

Carnegie Mellon University has named renowned cognitive neuroscientist David Badre as the next director of the Neuroscience Institute, charting an ambitious course for the next era of cross-disciplinary discovery. His appointment begins July 1, 2026.

Reflections from the deans:

“David Badre is a world-class neuroscientist whose work has deepened our understanding of how the brain supports planning, decision-making and goal-directed behavior. But even more importantly, he is an exceptional leader who communicates complex ideas clearly and builds strong interdisciplinary communities. I’m thrilled for the Neuroscience Institute to have a dynamic leader like David who will champion our research community and advocate for neuroscience — and for science more broadly.” 

-Barbara Shinn-Cunningham, Glen de Vries Dean of the Mellon College of Science 

“We are examining the brain through collaborations among biologists, computational biologists, machine learning faculty, cognitive neuroscientists, biomedical engineers, roboticists and medical researchers. In his own research on how human brains support making plans and then acting to implement these plans, David Badre practices exactly this kind of interdisciplinary neuroscience. I don’t think we could have found someone better suited to take the Neuroscience Institute to the next level.” 

-Richard Scheines, Bess Family Dean of Dietrich College

Learn more about what Badre brings to the Neuroscience Institute.

Why Climate Change and the Obesity Epidemic Are Not Your Fault

George Loewenstein is the Herbert A. Simon University Professor of Economics and Psychology in the Department of Social and Decision Sciences, and he has some good news for all of us.

According to Loewenstein's new book, many of the large, societal issues people fret over these days – from climate change to the obesity epidemic – are not actually our fault. Rather, he and co-author Nick Chater reveal how corporations and governments have successfully passed the buck onto everyday people through a behavioral science technique known as the "nudge."

Read more about Loewenstein's new book.

Carnegie Mellon University Launches Programs in Global Cultures & Emerging Technologies

In an age defined by rapid technological transformation and deepening global interconnectedness, Carnegie Mellon University has launched a bachelor’s degree that bridges cultures and emerging technologies. The B.A. in Global Cultures & Emerging Technologies (GCET) — housed within the Department of Languages, Cultures & Applied Linguistics (LCAL)  — prepares students to shape technology not only as a tool of innovation but to reflect and interact with global cultural dynamics.

Learn why LCAL Department Head Anne Lambright says the new major is "the first of its kind in the country and a quintessentially CMU program."

Faculty Spotlight: Ankit Pensia

Ankit Pensia is an assistant professor in the Department of Statistics & Data Science at Carnegie Mellon University. He was formerly a research fellow at the Simons Institute and a Herman Goldstine Postdoctoral Fellow at IBM Research. At CMU, Pensia's research tackles the challenges of designing outlier-robust algorithms for data science. Such algorithms have the potential to help the general public in a diverse array of fields, including climate science, health and computer science.

"As a faculty member in the Department of Statistics & Data Science at CMU, I am especially excited by the culture of interdisciplinary research and collaboration," said Pensia. "On the theoretical side, I look forward to working with colleagues in statistics, computer science, machine learning and mathematics to further develop the algorithmic foundations of robust statistics. On the empirical side, I also hope to collaborate with domain experts across campus to understand what kinds of outliers and noise arise in their data so that these insights can be used to design more effective algorithms."

Read about how Pensia first became interested in robust statistics and how they can impact people's lives.

Upcoming Events

• 2026 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Keynote Lecture (Pittsburgh): Join the Tartan community for a lecture given by Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum, President Emerita of Spelman College and author of "Peril and Promise: College Leadership in Turbulent Times," which publishes this September. The talk will be given on Feb. 4 from 5 to 6:15 p.m. in the Rangos Ballroom of the Cohon University Center.

• Ice Skating at Wolman Rink (New York City): Let's go ice skating in Central Park on Feb. 5! Meet at 6:30 p.m. for group photos and to get your ticket and rentals (if needed).

• Chicago Architectural Biennial Tour (Chicago): Explore the cultural, social and environmental transformations shaping our world today as alumnus Stephen Wierzbowski gives a 90-minute tour of a wide variety of exhibits and installations at the Chicago Cultural Center. Meet on Feb. 21 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

• Lunar New Year Celebration (Denver): Join us for dim-sum and a lion dance performance as we ring in the Lunar New Year, year of the Horse! This event is family friendly and takes place on Feb. 28 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.

• Alumni Events: From cherished, in-person Carnegie Mellon traditions to virtual learning experiences with researchers at the cutting-edge of their fields, CMU offers a variety of events for alumni to connect with each other and the university, expand their knowledge and networking opportunities, and make memories together. Explore alumni events.

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