Events

K&L Gates-CMU Conference in Ethics and Computational Technologies: Generative AI - Ethics & Governance

March 18 and 11, All Day, Simmons Auditorium, Tepper Building

The K&L Gates Initiative in Ethics and Computational Technologies at CMU hosts an annual conference to promote discussion, debate and outreach around ethical challenges and opportunities presented by AI and other computational technologies.

This year’s conference focuses on Generative AI: Ethics and Governance and seeks to illuminate the new ethical considerations and societal implications of the technology and elucidate the pros and cons of existing approaches to the governance of the technology to ensure safe, responsible and ethical use.

Learn more about the conference

Register for the conference

Restorative Reflections

Tuesday, March 11, 5 to 6 p.m., Center for Shared Prosperity Conference Room (Baker 131A)

Come and join your fellow Dietrich College students for a lovely light dinner filled with engaging conversation. We'll be discussing both local and global social challenges and opportunities. This is a wonderful opportunity for you to learn, listen and collaborate with others on efforts to address these important issues.

RSVP by Feb. 28.

2025 Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Championship

Tuesday, March 11, 6 to 8 p.m., McConomy Auditorium, CUC or Online

Back for its tenth year at CMU, 3MT is an internationally recognized competition that challenges Ph.D. students to present a compelling oration on their thesis and its significance in just three minutes, in language that anyone can understand.

3MT is not an exercise in trivializing or ‘dumbing-down’ research but requires students to consolidate their ideas, crystallize their research discoveries and capture the imagination of their audience. The 2025 3MT Championship will feature the 10 preliminary round winners as they compete for first, second and third place, as well as a live audience vote for People’s Choice and a live virtual vote for the Alumni Award.

Register for the event

Sponsored by CMU Libraries

Commencement Fair

March 12 and 13, Rangos Ballroom, CUC

All graduating bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral students are invited to attend Commencement Fair to purchase their regalia and diploma frames, learn about alumni resources, enter a raffle and more.

Purchase your cap and gown at a special discounted rate that is only available in person on March 12 and 13!

Dietrich Tartan Scholars Community Meal

Wednesday, March 12, 5 to 6:30 p.m. Baker A60G

Undergraduate Tartan Scholars are invited to a community meal.

RSVP for the meal today

Nobuhiro Kiyotaki: Fiscal Deficit and Inflation - Is High Inflation Here to Stay?

Wednesday, March 12, 4 to 6 p.m., Simmons Auditorium, Tepper Building

Students and faculty are invited to join us for the inaugural Marvin Goodfriend Visiting Economist Lecture, honoring the legacy of former Tepper School of Business economics professor Marvin Goodfriend, made possible by a generous gift from Marsha Goodfriend.

We are excited to welcome Princeton University’s Nobuhiro Kiyotaki to discuss “Fiscal Deficit and Inflation: Is High Inflation Here to Stay?”

Reception to follow.

Register for the lecture

Egyptian Dinner and a Reading - Between Home and Accommodation: Parallel Lives of Egyptian Workers in Dubai

Wednesday, March 12, 5:30 to 7 p.m., College of Fine Arts, Room 111

Join us in the STUDIO for a talk and discussion with Dr. Samuli Schielke, moderated by Artists and Scholars at Risk (ASAR) fellow Mukhtar Shehata.

In this talk, Schielke combines two stories. The first is the story of a house that a fisherman built in an Egyptian village in the 1950s, along with the new houses his sons and grandchildren who were raised in that house have built. The second is the story of a life in shared accommodations, ethnically mixed workplaces and streets in a migrant metropolis that invites one to live one’s life and spend one’s money but does not welcome one to stay.

The moral contrast of home and accommodation, Schielke suggests, has an unintentional transformative capacity, resulting in rural and small-town lives that are conservative but not traditional, and urban careers that are characterised by the persistent open-ended question: what next?

The event is free but seating is limited; please RSVP.

Learn more about the event

Sponsored by the Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry, Center for the Arts in Society, and Artists and Scholars at Risk (ASAR)

WiDS Pittsburgh @ CMU 2025: Bringing Together the Region’s Data Science Community

March 13 and 14, All Day, TCS Hall and Cohon University Center

We are excited to welcome you to WiDS Pittsburgh @ CMU, returning in March 2025 as a premier gathering for data scientists across the Pittsburgh region. This event brings together students, researchers, industry professionals and organizations to explore the latest advancements in data science, foster connections and highlight impactful work happening in our community. WiDS Pittsburgh @ CMU is part of the global WiDS initiative, which originated at Stanford University and has grown to include more than 150 satellite events worldwide.

This event is open to anyone who is interested in data science and its transformative potential. Students and junior professionals are also welcome to share their resumes with WiDS partners and sponsors.

Register for WiDS

Learn more about the conference

Lawfully Speaking: The Revolution in Military Affairs, Technology, Law and the Future of Warfare

Thursday, March 13, 5 to 6:30 p.m., Posner Grand Room (Posner 340)

About our Event: CMIST's Lawfully Speaking: A Forum on Law & Ethics presents "The Revolution in Military Affairs, Law, and Future of Warfare," a timely discussion on the evolving intersection of technology, war, and law. Join us for a lecture by Renn Gade, Deputy General Counsel for Intelligence and Security, as he explores the legal and ethical implications of technological advancements in warfare. This lecture is essential for anyone seeking to understand the current context of conflict and its impact on international law and security.

Overview: The rapid pace of technological advancement is altering the nature of warfare. From drones and facial recognition to the rise of artificial intelligence, these innovations are driving a revolution in military affairs (RMA) that demands a reassessment of our current organizational and legal frameworks. This event will explore the challenges and implications of this evolving landscape and raise critical questions about how we prepare for and manage future conflicts.

About our Speaker: William Renn Gade is the Deputy General Counsel for Intelligence and Security, Department of Defense. He assumed this position in July 2021. In this capacity, Mr. Gade advises the DOD General Counsel, the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security, the Department of Defense Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer, Assistant Secretary of Defense of Cyber Policy and other senior leaders on a wide range of legal issues including intelligence, cyber, space, sensitive activities, security, artificial intelligence, and advanced technology.

Register for Lawfully Speaking

Doors open at 4:30 p.m.; refreshments served

Opening Reception - Uncommon Perfection: Illustrations by Derek Norman

Thursday, March 13, 5 to 7 pm., Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Hunt Library, 5th Floor

In celebration of the recent acquisition of over 200 artworks by Derek Norman, this exhibition highlights work created over the last three decades and reflects his lifelong interest in the beauty of nature.

Join us Thursday, March 13, from 5-7 p.m. for the opening reception.

Exhibition hours: Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Learn more about the exhibition

Unfamiliar Intelligence: Art, AI and Robots

Thursday, March 13, 5:30 to 7 p.m., College of Fine Arts, Room 111

Join us in the STUDIO for a visiting lecture from artist and engineer Ken Goldberg.

Shortly after the 1918 pandemic, the word “robot” was coined in a play about mechanical workers organizing a rebellion to defeat their human overlords. A century later, emerging advances in artificial intelligence and robotics, fueled by venture capital and governments, are disrupting labor, trade and political stability. Claims about “superintelligence” and existential threats to humanity raise new questions about the essential distinctions between humans and machines.

To contextualize a series of his artworks that explore this boundary, Goldberg references Sigmund Freud’s “Uncanny” (1919) and Masahiro Mori’s “Uncanny Valley” (1970). Goldberg will share robot paintings from his first art exhibit at CMU and art installations such as “The Telegarden” (1995-2004), a living garden tended by a robot operated by more than 100,000 visitors over the Internet, and “AlphaGarden” (2020-), a fully automated garden that took an unexpected twist during the pandemic.

Learn more about the event and speaker

Sponsored by the Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry, School of Computer Science, and Robotics Institute

Middle States Accreditation Self-Study Kickoff Meeting

Friday, March 14, 10 to 11 a.m., Rachel Mellon Walter Room, Posner Hall

Interested CMU students, faculty and staff are invited to participate in an open information and discussion session as CMU launches its next re-accreditation process. Join Dr. Ryan Hartnett, vice president of the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) for this session.

The re-accreditation process kicks off this semester starting with a self-study, and culminating in a peer team review visit in fall 2026, and a formal re-accreditation determination in spring 2027. Every eight years, CMU undergoes a reaffirmation of accreditation. This process underscores that our institution provides a high-quality educational experience aligned with our mission and MSCHE standards, demonstrating CMU’s commitment to excellence.

We encourage you to be part of this process and share your thoughts by attending the open information session!

ReFunct Media Workshop Showcase

Saturday, March 15, 1:30 to 3 p.m., 477 Melwod Avenue

Join us for a public showcase of multimedia sculptures that (re)use numerous “obsolete” electronic devices (digital and analogue media players and receivers).

Artist Ben Gaulon (aka Recyclism) and workshop participants will hack, misuse and combine devices into a complex chain of elements. To use an ecological analogy they will “interact” in different symbiotic relationships such as mutualism, parasitism and commensalism.

Sponsored by the 2024-2025 Sylvia and David Steiner Speaker Series and the Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry

MSA Community Fair

Saturday, March 15, 7 to 10 p.m., Rangos Ballroom, CUC

Join the Muslim Student Association for our annual Community Iftar! We will break our fast together and learn about Ramadan.

RSVP for the Community Fair

Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholars Lecture: Immigration "Crisis" at the Border

Monday, March 17, 5 to 6:30 p.m., Gregg Learning Hall (Porter 100)

Geraldo Cadava, Northwestern University Professor of History and Latina and Latino Studies, will discuss how immigration policy has changed over time, how the border evolved and what makes the present situation both similar to and different from earlier moments of crisis.

RSVP by for the lecture by March 10

YES YES YES

Tuesday, March 18, 5 to 6 p.m., CUC Studio Theater

The Office for Institutional Equity and Title IX, in partnership with the School of Drama and The Center for the Arts in Society, invites you to an award-winning, interactive theatre production co-created by CMU alumna Eleanor Bishop and Karin McCracken.

This dynamic production combines live performance, audience participation and video storytelling to explore the complexities of consent, healthy relationships and empathy. Audiences will follow two intertwined narratives: one focused on a positive romantic experience and the other on a young adult navigating the aftermath of sexual assault. Through live interaction, audience polling and powerful storytelling, this thought-provoking production offers a unique space for reflection, conversation and connection.

University Lecture Series: The Crisis of Climate Change and Migration

Tuesday, March 18, 5 to 6:30 p.m., McConomy Auditorium, CUC

Featuring Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, Global Refuge CEO and Lawyer.

Join us for a lecture that will describe how one of the greatest impacts of the climate crisis will be an ensuing mass migration across the globe.

The University Lecture Series (ULS) features a diverse range of lectures and performances by artists, scholars, and experts invited by Carnegie Mellon faculty, students, and staff.

This event is free and open to the public.

Register for The Crisis of Climate Change and Migration by March 18

Dietrich College Community Connect

Wednesday, March 19, 3 to 4 p.m., Baker Coffee Lounge (Baker A50)

Faculty, staff and graduate students are invited to join us for an opportunity to connect with members of our community, engage in conversation, and enjoy light refreshments. Drop by for a few minutes or stay for the entire event. Dean Richard Scheines and members of the college leadership team will be present to listen to your concerns and share what we know about new federal policies and their potential impact on higher education.

The Annual Margaret Morrison Distinguished Lecture in Women's History - Predatory Data: Eugenics in Big Tech & Feminist Solidarities for an Independent Future with Anita Say Chan

Wednesday, March 19, 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., Simmons Auditorium B, Tepper Building

The Annual Margaret Morrison Distinguished Lecture in Women's History this year will be Predatory Data: Eugenics in Big Tech & Feminist Solidarities for an Independent Future with Anita Say Chan, Associate Professor in the School of Information Sciences & Department of Media & Cinema Studies at the University of Illinois, Champaign.

The insidious legacy of eugenics lives on in the techno-surveillance, and algorithmic authoritarianism, and data-driven discrimination of Big Tech. This talk — drawn from her recent book, Predatory Data — explains how it happened explains how it happened and how to fight back.

Anita Say Chan, Ph.D., is a scholar and educator dedicated to feminist and decolonial approaches to technology. She is an Associate Professor of Information Sciences and Media, and founder of the Community Data Clinic at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her latest book Predatory Data: Eugenics in Big Tech and Our Fight for an Independent Future is available via Open Access and with the University of California Press.

Monthly Crafternoon

Thursday, March 20, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Well-being Lab, Room 104, Highmark Center

Come take a creative break and connect with others.

Fix-it Fair: Mending Workshop

Thursday, March 20, 3 to 7 p.m., Sustainability Studio, Hunt Library, First Floor

Do you have shirts missing buttons or pants that need hemmed? Don’t throw them out…bring them to the Fix-it Fair!

We’ll have menders available to help you repair your items and make them good as new. Don’t have anything needing repairing but want to learn? Stop by to learn a few new mending skills.

Politics & Pie

Thursday, March 20, 5 to 6 p.m., Posner Grand Room (Posner 340)

Stop by to talk with CMIST faculty, academic advisors and your peers to learn about the wide variety of international relations and political science courses offered by CMIST in fall 2025 - all while enjoying delicious pie from Piebird!

Spaces of Treblinka - A Conversation with Author Dr. Jacob Flaws

Thursday, March 20, 5 to 7 p.m., Steinberg Auditorium (Baker A53)

Author Dr. Jacob Flaws will discuss his new book "Spaces of Treblinka," which utilizes testimonies, oral histories and recollections from Jewish, German and Polish witnesses to create a holistic representation of the Treblinka death camp during its operation.

This narrative rejects the historical misconception that Treblinka was an isolated Nazi extermination camp with few witnesses and fewer survivors. Rather than the secret, sanitized site of industrial killing Treblinka was intended to be, Jacob Flaws argues, Treblinka’s mass murder was well known to the nearby townspeople who experienced the sights, sounds, smells, people, bodies and train cars the camp ejected into the surrounding world.

Through spatial reality, Flaws portrays the conceptions, fantasies, ideological assumptions and memories of Treblinka from witnesses in the camp and surrounding towns. To do so he identifies six key spaces that once composed the historical site of Treblinka: the ideological space, the behavioral space, the space of life and death, the interactional space, the sensory space and the extended space. By examining these spaces Flaws reveals that there were more witnesses to Treblinka than previously realized, as the transnational groups near and within the camp overlapped and interacted.

"Spaces of Treblinka" provides a staggering and profound reassessment of the relationship between knowing and not knowing and asks us to confront the timely warning that we, in our modern, interconnected world, can all become witnesses.

Fine and Rare V: New Acquisitions in Libraries Special Collections

Thursday, March 20, 6:30 p.m., Online

Join Curator of Special Collections Sam Lemley to learn about areas of collection strength, ongoing research and instructional programs in CMU’s Special Collections.

The University Libraries is pleased to announce the next event in the Fine and Rare series, spotlighting the diverse and valuable collections which fuel transformative exhibitions, groundbreaking research, and other programs that bring students, scholars and members of the public into Special Collections and CMU’s Libraries. The Libraries’ Special Collections is envisioned as an interdisciplinary workshop where humanistic modes of inquiry combine with innovative tools to study historical technologies, books and artifacts.

This is an online event. Please register to receive the link to attend Fine and Rare.

CMU Drama Presents: The Inseperables

March 20 through 29, times vary, Helen Wayne Rauh Studio, Purnell Cener for the Arts

Puppets. Pool noodles. Putting on a play!

The North American Unified Theatre Collaborators of the West really want to put on a show. Like, really bad. Under the leadership of their founder and director, this group of actors has decided to stage a new adaptation of “The Three Musketeers.” Only, they aren’t nearly as prepared as they should be. With puppets and pool noodles, this theatre group prepares for their glorious comeback…that may not happen.

Written by School of Drama professor TJ Young and directed by Head of School Robert Ramirez, this one is sure to leave you with something to laugh about!

By TJ Young

Directed by Robert Ramirez

Performances March 20-29

Purchase Tickets

Content and sensory advisories

Sustainability Symposium

Friday, March 21, noon to 2 p.m., Bosch Spark Conference Room (Scott Hall 5201)

The Steinbrenner Institute for Environmental Education and Research will be hosting its annual Sustainability Symposium. The symposium is an opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students to showcase projects and research of theirs which relate to sustainability in some way.

Lunch will be provided. Students across all schools and colleges at Carnegie Mellon University are eligible to sign up.

Projects are usually presented through posters, but there are no hard guidelines — they can be of any form. Easels will be provided for those presenting with posters. There will also be cardboard poster boards to back your posters if they require it. We recommend printing your posters to be 48” x 36”. Students should be present for the entire duration of the event, unless their project is performance-based, time sensitive, etc. Please describe project accommodations you will need in the sign-up form, whether that be equipment, extra space, etc.

A judging panel will independently evaluate projects based on quality of work, quality of presentation, and understanding of environmental relevance, with an emphasis on quality of work. Projects will be randomly assigned two judges and will get five minutes with each. Judges will then convene to determine winners of our two $1,500 Travel Award prizes, which are meant to cover travel expenses and registration fees for conferences. Winners will be notified by email after the event. T

The deadline to sign up is March 10, 2025 by 11:59 PM. Only those presenting at the symposium are required to sign up. 

Sign up for the symposium.