August 5, 2025

Dear Pittsburgh-Based Faculty Members and Course Instructors:

As we enter a new academic year, I want to ensure you have the necessary support and resources for a successful semester. This email highlights key resources and reminders to help you prepare for Fall 2025.

Timely Action Items and Requests

• Syllabus Registry and Canvas Requests: Add your course syllabi to the syllabus registry by the first day of class. This supports students on waitlists or considering course changes, and aids our preparation for the 2026 Middle States accreditation. For guidance, refer to the syllabus checklist. Additionally, request your course in Canvas as needed.
• Academic Calendar and Schedule: Familiarize yourself with the Fall 2025 Schedule of Classes and the AY25-26 Academic Calendar. See below for specific scheduling considerations.
• Student Services Suite (S3) Features: Explore the S3 Academic Activities and Advising Guidance for features related to rosters, scheduling, grading and more.
• Generative AI in the Classroom: Review updated FAQs on generative AI tools, and learn more about the Generative AI Teaching as Research (GAITAR) Initiative, which has opportunities related to generative AI’s impact on student learning and experience.

Scheduling Considerations

• Fall Break (Oct. 13-17): Coordinate assignments to avoid deadlines during or immediately after this period of intended rest and restoration.
• Democracy Day (Nov. 4): No classes or course-based activities will be held before 5 p.m., and the university will offer programming and discussions on civic service and democracy.
• Moratorium Hours (4:50-6:50 p.m. ET weekdays): Limit undergraduate course activities to allow students time for university-affiliated activities. Exception requests must be made to the university registrar for explicit approval.
• Inclusive Holiday Observations and Interfaith Calendar: Consider these dates when planning mandatory activities and assignments. Students are encouraged to share dates for which they need flexibility early in the semester.
• Reserve Classrooms and Labs via 25 Live: This includes spaces managed by Computing Services, computing labs, and spaces in the Cohon University Center, Tepper Building, Hamburg Hall and Mellon Institute.

Creating a Supportive Learning Environment

• Student Academic Success Center: The center offers a range of services to help students thrive, including academic coaching, tutoring, and communication and language support. It also provides accommodations for students with disabilities and works with faculty and staff to improve advising.
• Student Accommodations: Students can apply for accommodations at any time through the Office of Disability Resources. Students with approved accommodations must notify faculty via a secure portal for each class.
• CMU Cares Referral Form: Use this form to refer students — or for students to self-refer — to Student Affairs for general support or assistance. For immediate safety concerns, University Police is available 24-7 to help triage support, including Student Affairs staff on call.
• NameCoach: Use this tool to help with name pronunciation and pronouns.
• Early Course Feedback (ECF): Collecting ECF helps you understand student experiences in your course. This feedback provides actionable insights to make impactful adjustments during the semester.

Accessing Faculty Resources

• Incoming Faculty Orientation (Aug. 18-19): This two-day workshop is an opportunity for new faculty to connect and explore what Carnegie Mellon has to offer.
• Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation: Learn about resources and strategies for creating a supportive classroom environment.
• Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty: Explore faculty development opportunities and resources, including the Faculty Forward professional development series and mentoring guidance.

Federal Impact Resources and Updates

• University Resources on the Federal Transition: Access updates, guidance and tools to navigate national policies affecting higher education.
• Office of the Vice President for Research Federal Updates: Stay informed with timely updates on the evolving research landscape.
• Immigration Status and Visa Resources: View comprehensive information, tips and advice for students and scholars on maintaining immigration status.

I look forward to seeing you all soon for the new academic year, and thank you for everything you do to make CMU an exceptional learning environment for our students.

Sincerely,

James H. Garrett Jr.
Provost and Chief Academic Officer

July 23, 2025

Dear colleagues:

I am delighted to announce the appointment of Dr. Tania (Tani) Castañeda as Carnegie Mellon University’s new vice provost for enrollment management and dean of admission, effective Aug. 25, 2025.

Dr. Castañeda joins us from Teachers College, Columbia University, where she most recently served as vice president for enrollment management and student success. In that role, she spearheaded an institution-wide evolution of enrollment planning and strategy, financial aid management and student support. Her initiatives led to strengthened enrollment forecasting, increased application volume, the launch of new online degrees and innovative scholarship programs. She also secured substantial funding to streamline and improve student services. Before her time at Teachers College, Dr. Castañeda was the associate vice chancellor for enrollment management at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, where she led new student enrollment efforts for nine schools and colleges, optimized financial aid packaging, enhanced marketing impact and elevated student-centered service delivery. Dr. Castañeda completed her undergraduate studies at Wellesley College and earned master’s degrees in mental health counseling from Boston College and in psychology from Brandeis University. She holds an Ed.D. in organizational leadership and development from Northeastern University.

This appointment follows a comprehensive search, and I am immensely grateful to the dedicated members of the search committee for their efforts. Co-chaired by Dr. Becky Culyba, vice provost for operations and strategic initiatives and chief of staff to the provost, and Dr. Michael Murphy, distinguished service professor and executive director of the Center for Leadership Studies, the committee diligently worked to identify an exceptional leader for this critical role. Their service, along with the valuable input from our community, was instrumental in this successful outcome.

As we welcome Dr. Castañeda to CMU, I extend my sincere gratitude to Keith Gehres, associate vice provost for enrollment innovation and student experience, for his exceptional leadership in overseeing Enrollment Management operations during this transition. I also thank the entire Enrollment Management team for their ongoing dedication and positive impact on our prospective and current students. Finally, thank you to the entire CMU community for your engagement throughout this search process. 
 

Sincerely,

James H. Garrett Jr.
Provost and Chief Academic Officer

Monday, July 21, 2025

Dear Members of the CMU Community,

As a follow up to my message last week, I wish to share an update on The Fence.

First, The Fence is open for messages once again. I want to thank Student Government for their understanding when I asked to pause Fence activity to allow me to engage with the leadership of the Faculty Senate, Staff Council, the Alumni Association Board and the Board of Trustees. While these conversations are ongoing, we all agreed that the use of The Fence has impacts and implications beyond an individual or group’s right to speak their mind, especially when you consider engagement at the Fence over the past few years.

It is time to unpack these issues through a dedicated working group that includes representation from students, faculty, staff and alumni. Over the summer, I will consult with representatives from these groups to develop a charge and then launch this effort in the fall when campus is back in full session. The partnership of Student Government is critical to this effort, and I am grateful for their leadership. You have my assurance that we will not undermine the cherished legacy of The Fence, or the role it plays in the life of our student community every day.

Sexual violence causes profound harm, and I regret that my previous message did not unequivocally acknowledge the pain of sexual assault. As I often say in the context of free speech, the speaker should bear the responsibility for conveying the true intent of their message, not the listener. There are no excuses. I am deeply sorry.

I also fully acknowledge that the presence of President Trump on our campus has angered and hurt many in our community. How we engage with the federal government — especially on policies and positions that undermine our mission or are at odds with our values — is a legitimate and complex conversation, and we should continue to have that dialogue. At the same time, this is distinct from the discussion about the future of The Fence tradition. I am committed to creating space for both conversations.

As The Fence re-opens today, there are no new rules or changes to the tradition to convey. I only ask for our community members to consider the impact of their words on others, and the collateral damage of dialogue that takes place through slogans.

Thank you for continuing to engage with care as we work through these complex issues together.

Warm regards,

Farnam Jahanian
President
Henry L. Hillman President's Chair

Wednesday, July 16, 2025

Dear Members of the CMU Community,

Yesterday, Carnegie Mellon University hosted the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit at the request of U.S. Senator Dave McCormick. This major event was attended by more than 900 technology and business leaders who came to CMU's campus for important conversations.

Some members of our community used the Fence to share messages of protest leading up to the Summit, such as “No Trump” and “CMU Community Says Stop the Summit.” Most recently, “Protest the Summit” was painted and guarded by a group of students for several days leading up to Tuesday’s event. They included a link to more information on the group’s position and also invited in-person conversation. At the students’ request, the university also helped secure a safe and secure space for a press conference on Monday so that they could share their perspectives through broader media platforms. The university supported their right to express their views without hesitation. In fact, in consultation with the U.S. Secret Service, we advocated for keeping the Fence outside the security perimeter to allow consistent public access to it.

Yesterday morning, however, the Fence was unexpectedly repainted. The Forbes-facing side bore the phrase “No Rapists on Our Campus,” with no clear attribution. The only known context later appeared in an Instagram post from @CMUfence with the caption “You know who.” After significant deliberation with members of my leadership team, I made the decision to have this message painted over and to take the Fence offline.

There should be no confusion: CMU unequivocally supports peaceful protest, public dissent and the open exchange of ideas. These values are essential to our academic mission and to a thriving, inclusive community. At the same time, the Fence is not simply a blank canvas — it is a physical structure embedded in the heart of our campus and by its nature, carries significant implications for the institution and its 15,000 students, 130,000 alumni and 6,000 faculty and staff. And especially on a day when the national spotlight is on CMU, the complexity of the Fence tradition can be easily misunderstood, and its messages likely to be perceived as reflecting the views of the entire institution.

The Fence tradition has long symbolized the power of visible expression representing diverse viewpoints. But in recent years, it has too often been used to broadcast polarized, one-sided messaging — often anonymous, sometimes ad hominem, and increasingly disconnected from meaningful dialogue. When that happens, the Fence risks becoming less a platform for principled expression and more a graffiti wall — stripped of context, attribution and shared responsibility. This most recent instance crossed a line — not because of its viewpoint, but because of its personal, unaccountable nature, which undermined the spirit of civil discourse that had led up to it.

One moment from the Summit that resonated with me personally was watching Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro and Republican Senator Dave McCormick stand together to call for greater civility in public dialogue. As I reflected on their conversation, I was reminded that universities have a unique responsibility: to model how people with different perspectives can engage constructively, challenge each other thoughtfully, and still find common ground. That is what makes the Fence tradition so powerful when used as intended. But it is also what makes moments like yesterday so concerning — when the spirit of accountability and mutual respect is lost, the opportunity for genuine dialogue breaks down.

Moving Forward

As an institution, we have not always provided clear guidance to our students about the content that will be allowed on the Fence. We have said that speech must avoid obscenity or an incitement to violence but otherwise have leaned toward open use. This approach, while well-intentioned, has proven difficult to sustain. For example, just in the past academic year, there have been five instances where student government and the university administration struggled to determine the right approach to offensive messages at the Fence. For example, during Commencement weekend, a message equated “Nazism,” “Zionism,” and “Hindutva,” which caused hurt and pain to many students and their families during a time of celebration.

Earlier today, I met with the two Student Government presidents to discuss future engagement at the Fence. We all agreed that we are at a fork in the road when it comes to the Fence. I am in the process of reaching out to additional governance groups, including the Faculty Senate and Staff Council, and their input will be critical in informing the path forward. Once we determine how we will proceed, I will communicate again with the campus community. In the meantime, in order to afford time for these important discussions, the Fence will not be open for any new messages until sometime next week.

Supporting free expression while maintaining a civil and respectful campus environment is a difficult balancing act. It requires constant reflection, humility, and community participation. I look forward to reaffirming the purpose and potential of this unique tradition at the Fence.

Sincerely,

Farnam Jahanian
President
Henry L. Hillman President's Chair

August 4, 2025

Dear Members of the Carnegie Mellon Community:

I am pleased to officially announce a global search for a new executive director of the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship. As was recently announced, Dave Mawhinney stepped down from his role as founding executive director of the Swartz Center on July 1, 2025, and has returned to his full-time faculty position in the Tepper School of Business.

The Swartz Center launched in 2016, thanks to a transformative $31M gift from alumnus and distinguished venture capitalist and entrepreneur James R. Swartz (MSIA ’66). Today, it is a nationally recognized engine for entrepreneurship education, supporting Carnegie Mellon University startups through an array of programs including the Gebhardt Sandbox Fund, the McGinnis Venture competition, Venture Bridge pre-seed accelerator program, a robust EIR and mentor program, and the Tartan Entrepreneurs Fund. These programs have helped anchor CMU as a leading producer of startups among academic institutions, a primary driver of Pittsburgh’s growing dominance in emerging technologies and an incubator for innovation.

The executive director will accelerate the next phase of growth of CMU’s entrepreneurship ecosystem and advance our long-standing commitment to innovation and impact in the region, country and the world. I look forward to welcoming the center’s next leader, who will help us shape the next chapter of entrepreneurial excellence and impact by translating transformative ideas and research to power progress.

To guide this important search, I have assembled a search advisory committee that includes faculty, alumni and leaders from across the university and broader entrepreneurial community. I will co-chair the committee with Ron Bianchini, serial entrepreneur, trustee, alumnus and former engineering faculty member. Other members include:

• Isabelle Bajeux-Besnainou, Dean and Richard P. Simmons Professor of Finance, Tepper School of Business
• Lane Bess (DC 1983), CEO of Deep Instinct, Principal/ Founder of Bess Ventures and Advisory, CMU Trustee
• Jeanne Cunicelli (DC 1988), President of UPMC Enterprises, CMU Trustee
• Mary Jo Dively, Vice President and General Counsel, and Secretary of the Corporation
• Michael Donohue (SCS 2001), Technology Investor
• David Bennett, Vice President of University Advancement
• Martial Hebert, Dean and University Professor of Robotics, School of Computer Science
• Reeja Jayan, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Founder and CEO of SeaLion Energy
• Ashwini Karanth, Graduate Student, Tepper School of Business, Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellow, Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship
• Charles Kennedy, Chief Investment Officer
• Brandon Lucia, Kavčić-Moura Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering, Co-founder and CEO of Efficient Computer
• Jorgen Pedersen (ENG 1995, SCS 1998), CEO of the ARM Institute and Robotics Entrepreneur
• Sam Reiman (HNZ 2004), Director and Trustee at Richard King Mellon Foundation, CMU Trustee
• Matt Rogers (ENG 2004, 2005), Co-Founder of NEST and CEO of Mill
• Dug Song, Co-Founder and Former CEO, Duo Security

In partnership with the executive search firm Spencer Stuart, the committee will encourage nominations and applications to build a robust and highly qualified applicant pool. Throughout the fall semester, the committee will engage with stakeholders inside and outside of the university to gather input on the role and candidates, with the goal of filling the role by the end of the calendar year. To learn more about the role and the search process, as well as to submit confidential inquiries, nominations or applications, please visit the search website.

I am deeply grateful for Dave Mawhinney’s leadership in shaping the success of the Swartz Center, and a celebration to honor his legacy of impact will take place in the fall. I would also like to extend my gratitude to the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship team for their collaboration and guidance during this transitional period, with special thanks to Meredith Grelli, the managing director of the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, assistant dean for entrepreneurial initiatives and director of Project Olympus in the School of Computer Science, and associate teaching professor in the Tepper School of Business, for serving as interim executive director of the Swartz Center throughout the search process.

Sincerely,

Theresa Mayer
Vice President for Research

The search committee includes faculty, alumni and leaders from across the university and broader entrepreneurial community.

Co-Chairs

Committee Members

• Isabelle Bajeux Besnainou, Dean and Richard P. Simmons Professor of Finance, Tepper School of Business
• Lane Bess, CEO of Deep Instinct, Principal/ Founder of Bess Ventures and Advisory, CMU Trustee and Dietrich College Alumnus
• Jeanne Cunicelli, President of UPMC Enterprises, CMU Board of Trustees and Dietrich College Alumna
• Mary Jo Dively, Vice President and General Counsel, and Secretary of the Corporation
• Michael Donohue, Technology Investor, CMU School of Computer Science Alumnus
• David Bennett, Vice President of University Advancement
• Martial Hebert, Dean and University Professor of Robotics, School of Computer Science
• Reeja Jayan, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Founder and CEO of SeaLion Energy
• Ashwini Karanth, Graduate Student, Tepper School of Business, Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellow, Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship
• Charles Kennedy, Chief Investment Officer
• Brandon Lucia, Kavčić-Moura Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering, Co-founder and CEO of Efficient Computer
• Jorgen Pedersen, CEO of the ARM Institute, Robotics Entrepreneur, College of Engineering and School of Computer Science Alumnus
• Sam Reiman, Director and Trustee at Richard King Mellon Foundation, CMU Trustee and Heinz College Alumnus
• Matt Rogers, Co-Founder of NEST, CEO of Mill and CMU College of Engineering Alumnus
• Dug Song, Co-Founder and Former CEO, Duo Security

The Swartz Center launched in 2016, thanks to a transformative $31M gift from Carnegie Mellon alumnus and distinguished entrepreneur James R. Swartz (MSIA’66).

Today, it is a nationally recognized engine for entrepreneurship education with programs that have helped anchor Carnegie Mellon as a leading producer of startups among academic institutions — a primary driver of Pittsburgh’s growing dominance in emerging technologies and an incubator for innovation.

The Executive Director of the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship will accelerate the next phase of growth of Carnegie Mellon University’s entrepreneurship ecosystem and advance our long-standing commitment to innovation and impact in the region, country, and the world.

Learn more about the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship

Monday, July 14, 2025

Dear Members of the CMU Community,

For the past several weeks, Carnegie Mellon University has been preparing to host the inaugural Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit, convened by U.S. Senator David McCormick. Due to the participation of President Trump and other high-profile leaders such as Governor Josh Shapiro, we have not been in a position to share many details publicly; however, as we continue to work closely with the Senator’s team, I want to provide a brief overview of tomorrow’s events and invite you to follow along via a livestream link provided by the organizers.

As previously shared, and as I detail in my op-ed today in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, this nationally significant gathering will bring hundreds of influential voices in government, industry and academia to our campus to address some of the most urgent challenges at the intersection of energy and artificial intelligence. CMU faculty have active research engagement with many of the companies whose executives will be attending the Summit.

Information on the Day’s Agenda 

• A series of panel discussions will include business executives, senior public officials from both sides of the aisle, and university presidents. I will provide brief welcome remarks at the start of the day and then participate in the opening dialogue on AI. The panel conversations will cover a range of topics on the AI race, how we can power the AI revolution and the specific opportunities ahead for Pennsylvania.
• The Industry and Academic Expo, organized by CMU in close partnership with the Senator’s team, will serve as an anchor event throughout the Summit. It will feature a range of tech and energy companies as well as faculty innovators from several leading research universities across Pennsylvania that are advancing important work at the intersection of energy and AI. A strong contingent from our university community — including several CMU faculty and alumni and more than a dozen CMU-affiliated companies — will have the opportunity to highlight their research applications and impact throughout the day.
• A CEO Roundtable will close the Summit, during which Senator McCormick and President Donald Trump will engage in a conversation with senior industry leaders about shaping the future of American innovation.

Reaffirming CMU's Leadership on the National Stage

I recognize that CMU’s decision to host the Summit has prompted concern and disagreement among some members of our community. Let me be clear: as I have shared in the past, when we have significant policy disagreements with this Administration — regarding cuts to research funding and support for international students, for example — we have defended our position and vigorously advocated for higher education, working with our elected officials and our peers across AAU.

At the same time, I firmly believe that higher education must be a convener — a catalyst for ideas and partnerships that shape our future. And CMU has a long and proud tradition of doing exactly that. Universities must remain places where divergent perspectives can be expressed freely and peacefully. Even when we disagree with others or the views they hold, we embrace the opportunity to model civil discourse during a polarized time as well as the responsibility to welcome our guests with graciousness and respect. This commitment to open dialogue and civic engagement reflects a broader role CMU has played as an engine of innovation, collaboration and economic vitality across our region. For more than 25 years, our university has been at the heart of Pittsburgh’s renaissance, serving as a catalyst for research-driven partnerships and development that benefit the city, the Commonwealth and the nation. Now is the time to reaffirm our commitment to the vitality and economic prosperity of our region.

The Summit is one way we demonstrate our commitment to national leadership in research and innovation — but it is far from the only one. We intend to carry forward these important conversations on the future of AI and energy within our own community, through the Deeper Conversations initiative and other academic forums throughout the coming year.

CMU Research and Policy Memos: AI x Energy 

Earlier this morning and in parallel with the Summit, Carnegie Mellon released a series of faculty-authored position statements aimed at informing the national dialogue on energy and innovation. Curated with the support of Vice President for Research Theresa Mayer and faculty co-leads Costa Samaras and Zico Kolter, the Energy and AI Research Memos highlight CMU’s strengths at the intersection of artificial intelligence, energy and public policy. Developed by more than 35 faculty and researchers from across disciplines, this series of over two dozen white papers details CMU's contributions to some of the most complex and consequential challenges at the nexus of AI and energy, including:

• Powering the rapidly escalating energy demands of AI systems and data infrastructure;
• Safeguarding national resilience through advanced cybersecurity strategies;
• Accelerating scientific discovery through AI-driven research tools; and
• Ensuring the development of sustainable, equitable and ethically grounded AI solutions.

At a time when the spotlight is on Pittsburgh and CMU, these pieces help to clarify and elevate the value and relevance of CMU’s research during a moment of heightened national focus — ensuring that our faculty’s insights reach policymakers, industry leaders and the public well beyond the day’s events. I wish to acknowledge and thank the leadership and members of a cross-campus Faculty Advisory Committee, who shaped this effort with thoughtfulness and academic rigor. Special thanks to Margaret McGill, director of policy engagement in the Office of the Vice President for Research, for her support of this effort.The result is a series that reflects the breadth and strength of CMU’s research enterprise in this area.

Finally, I recognize that hosting an event of this scale is disruptive, and I am grateful to our entire community for your flexibility and understanding as we prepare to host the Summit. I wish to thank the many members of our university community who have made this day possible — especially our colleagues in University Advancement and Events, CMU Police, Facilities Management Services, Student Affairs, Government Relations, University Communications and Marketing and the many other campus partners who worked tirelessly behind the scenes.

Moments like these underscore both the complexity and the promise of our work — and I am grateful for the thoughtful engagement of this community as we navigate them together.

Warm regards,

Farnam Jahanian
President
Henry L. Hillman President's Chair

By: Theresa Mayer

Science is being revolutionized by AI. The U.S. has the opportunity to remain a global leader by transforming the way we do scientific research and translate it to high-impact innovations. Carnegie Mellon University researchers are leading the way by harnessing and integrating advances in AI, robotics, and autonomy in new ways to accelerate the pace of innovation.

Why it matters: The journey from basic research to impact often begins in quiet, brightly lit laboratories, where researchers in lab coats conduct controlled experiments using sophisticated instruments. It can take years or decades for their ideas and insights to become proven technologies and solutions.

What if we could significantly shorten that time frame, enabling individuals to move from medical diagnosis to an affordable and accessible personalized therapeutic in less than a week? Advances in AI could make this a reality, greatly reducing the time from lab to market.

• Countries around the world — from Canada to China — have recognized the huge potential and are making major investments to position them for this paradigm shift.
• The U.S. must supercharge our national AI infrastructure and research to have the world's best science and technology enterprise and secure our nation’s economic prosperity and security well into the future.

What we’re doing: Carnegie Mellon University is joining with federal agencies and partners across national labs, academia, and industry to spearhead a grass-roots initiative to build a national network of AI-enabled autonomous experimentation laboratories. This project would transform fragmented capabilities into a unified and integrated system that shortens the path from ideation to innovation to impact by dramatically accelerating discovery to translation from decades to months.

How it works: The national network is designed to connect autonomous agents across institutional boundaries, unlocking research spaces inaccessible to traditional approaches while providing broad access to cutting-edge technologies. These labs bring together AI, robotics, and computational workflows with large-scale computing, data storage and access to experimental facilities — all of which work in concert to allow researchers from across the nation to remotely run experiments and collect and analyze data. 

• This interconnected network of labs would accelerate the speed from idea to innovation, providing solutions to today’s challenges in scientific research, improving reproducibility and transparency, enhancing access and participation across a broad population and fostering interdisciplinary and agile collaboration.
• The goal is to hypercharge American innovation, shortening the timeframe for scientific problem-solving from decades or years to months or weeks.
• A network of AI-enabled autonomous experimentation laboratories could help researchers design and deploy bespoke materials, improve screening and prediction of drug toxicity earlier in the pipeline and develop safe and effective replacement materials for forever chemicals in a fraction of the time. 

To bring this vision to life, the U.S. needs to set bold new science priorities and support an integrated and coordinated fabric of computing, data, experimental infrastructure at a national scale, long-term research funding and workforce development programs that train scientists to work alongside AI. U.S. researchers also need new AI-ready data standards, compute capacity and regulatory flexibility to keep pace with the rapid evolution of AI-driven research.

The bottom line: As the global race to automate scientific discovery and translation accelerates, the U.S. must pursue a focused national effort that extends our leadership in basic and applied research.

Go deeper: Read the research paper on the Autonomous Interconnected Science Lab Ecosystem (AISLE) project, and other related work:

• Artificial intelligence in molecular biology
• Autonomous chemical research with large language models
• A call for built-in biosecurity safeguards for generative AI tools
• Rethinking Chemical Research in the Age of Large Language Models
• Scientific Discovery at the Press of a Button: Navigating Emerging Cloud Laboratory Technology