In our last issue, we told you about the university’s ambitious future of science initiative, which supports a new building for science at CMU, the Carnegie Mellon University Cloud Lab and research of the future. In the last year, we’ve made a great deal of progress and I’m excited for you to learn more in this year’s issue of Science Connection.

We’re happy to announce that the plans for our new building, now called the Richard King Mellon Hall of Sciences, have expanded. In addition to the space for biological sciences, chemistry, the Neuroscience Institute and the Mellon College of Science Dean’s Office, we have invited computational biologists and faculty from the School of Computer Science’s machine learning and language technologies to join our interdisciplinary space. And the CMU Institute for Contemporary Art will have a new gallery in the building. As a result, the building project has grown to be the largest in Carnegie Mellon’s history and will truly be a place where people from many disciplines and backgrounds come together to discover and learn. We also have begun construction on the CMU Cloud Lab — the world’s first remote-controlled, automated lab at a university — which will be open for business this spring.

I encourage you to read the feature article, which gives an overview of the type of research we are pursuing under the future of science initiative. Eight of our young researchers talk about why interdisciplinary, automation-driven research is the future of their fields.

On a somber note, last year we lost one of our biggest supporters, MCS alumnus and CMU trustee, Glen de Vries. Glen was an inspiration to all of us, and his legacy will be felt in all that the college accomplishes for years to come. You can read more about his impressive life in this issue.

We have resumed in-person events, and I am traveling again to meet with our alumni throughout the country. I look forward to having the chance to talk with many of you in person about the college and its future.

Rebecca W. Doerge
Glen de Vries Dean, Mellon College of Science