School News

The College of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University on April 24 received a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Research Lab Grant, which is a highly visible national recognition of institutional leadership in arts research.

Each year, Carnegie Mellon Architecture’s graduating students elect a member of both the undergraduate and graduate graduating classes to speak during the diploma ceremony. We’re proud to announce this year’s undergraduate and graduate student speakers: Aayush Saxena, B.Arch ’26 and Suzy (Zekun) Li, PhD-BPD ’25.

In this edition of the newsletter, we take a deep dive into the Remaking Cities Institute, one of the major research platforms within CM–A. We also share photos from this year's Spring Carnival pavilion and an announcement about the spring award winners.

Each year at our diploma ceremony, Carnegie Mellon Architecture has the privilege of bringing a member of our alumni community back to campus to reflect on their education and share the wisdom they’ve gained in their career with our graduating students. We’re proud to announce this year’s alumni speaker: Rachel Zsembery (B.Arch '00), President and CEO of Bergmeyer.

Carnegie Mellon Architecture is proud to announce the student recipients of our Spring 2026 Architecture Awards. This spring's awards provide $30,000 of funding to support our undergraduate, master's and Ph.D. students. Awards recognize professional promise, public interest design and sustainable design. We extend our thanks to the juries and staff for supporting the awards program.

Carnegie Mellon Architecture is pleased to announce that applications are now open for the 2027 Delbert Highlands Travel Fellowship. Formerly offered on a biennial basis, the fellowship is now offered every year. We are excited to bring the fellowship into an annual offering along with our other awards and the opportunity this will offer to support more alumni research in the coming years. Applications are due Friday, October 30, 2026, at 11:59pm ET.

Carnegie Mellon Architecture is pleased to announce that Priyanka Thakur (M.Arch '24) has been selected as the winner of the 2026 Delbert Highlands Travel Fellowship for her proposal "Learning from the River: Building a New Vernacular with the Communities of Majuli, Assam, India." The Highlands Fellowship supports Carnegie Mellon Architecture alumni in the study of collections belonging to locales to promote the professional development of awardees and contribute to the richness of our surroundings.

This edition of the newsletter celebrates the community and work of Carnegie Mellon Architecture. Head of School Omar Khan reflects on how architectural education at CMU contributes to a bright view of the future. We also share videos and photography from school celebrations this spring, including the PJ Dick Innovation Fund Faculty Grants Program showcase and the "x-change" publication launch and welcome back celebration.

The Master of Architecture (M.Arch) program is proud to announce the recipients of the 2026 travel awards. The awards support travel proposals for work grounded in architectural design research across a range of diverse contexts, practices and cultures. Upon completion of their travel, the recipients deliver a Pecha Kucha style presentation of their travel study and ongoing research.

Carnegie Mellon Architecture (CM—A) is proud to announce the 2026 awardees of the PJ Dick Innovation Fund Faculty Grants Program. Funding has been awarded to 14 project and teaching grant proposals (9 and 5 respectively) during this third round of the program. Established in 2023 by PJ Dick Trumbull Lindy Group, the Faculty Grants Program will award a total of $400,000 over four years beginning in 2024.