Welcome to Meeting of the Minds - Carnegie Mellon University’s Hybrid Undergraduate Research Symposium! 

We are thrilled that as many aspects of campus life have begun to regain in-person activity, we are able to offer a blend of in-person and virtual programming for Meeting of the Minds this year!

Meeting of the Minds started in 1995 to showcase the research and creativity of our students and their mentors. Since then, it has established itself as a highly respected campus-wide Carnegie Mellon tradition. What makes this event so special is that it highlights our undergraduate students as integral participants in the intellectual community that Carnegie Mellon is so well-known for. Together with their faculty mentors and other supporters, these young scholars and artists are shaping their fields - and with that, the world. Whether it’s renewable battery technology, ground-breaking historical findings that help us to better understand the present day, or improved medical devices, the work you see presented at this event showcases the power undergraduate researchers have to address our most pressing problems.

We are excited that this blend of in-person and virtual modalities will allow Meeting of the Minds to reach beyond our immediate campus community to include proud families; our wonderful alumni, many of whom presented themselves at past Meetings of the Minds; our donors whose generosity makes supporting these students possible; and our corporate partners whose commitment makes an enormous difference. 

Many members of the CMU community have made this day possible: our OURSD Committee, who review student research proposals with great care and diligence; our Trustees who insure our university’s health and our ability to hold these events; President Farnam Jahanian, Provost Jim Garrett, and Vice Provost for Education Amy Burkert, who are unwavering in their commitment to - and material support of - undergraduate research.  

Finally, congratulations to our students for their extraordinary contributions, their intellectual fearlessness, and their belief in the possibilities of a better world achieved through a commitment to knowledge. The results of their research on display today give all of us good reason to be proud of them, their faculty mentors, and the work that takes place at Carnegie Mellon. 

Getting the most out of Meeting of the Minds:

This year, we are hosting a hybrid symposium, with many presentations taking place here on our online platform, some groups presenting synchronously via Zoom, and others through in-person presentations on campus. Schedules for our in-person presentations are listed on our website. 

If you are on campus on May 4th, please stop by the Cohon University Center between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm to see some of the poster presentations in Kirr Commons. There will also be a few satellite locations on campus:

• 3rd floor Atrium, TCS Hall
  
• Rashid Auditorium, Gates-Hillman Building
  

We’d love to see some familiar faces!

Through this platform, you can view many presentations, including those that are participating in competitions. Along the top menu you will see a ‘Presentations’ link. This will take you to all student presentations, where you can click on an individual page to view a student’s work. Projects can be filtered using the menus on the left. You can also search for a presenter’s name or poster title. We encourage viewers to browse multiple student presentations to get a sense of the breadth and scope of undergraduate research and scholarly work taking place at Carnegie Mellon. 

Please also be sure to visit the live virtual presentations on May 4th only (by choosing the ‘Live Sessions’ link) for the following groups:  

• Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences Honors Thesis (10:00 AM - 1:40 PM EST)
  
• Quantitative Social Science Scholars (11:00 AM - 2:00 PM EST)
  

Anyone can view the posters, but you will be asked to create a Symposium account in order to comment on posters, enter the live sessions, and interact with other virtual attendees. Registration takes only a minute and does not require a CMU email. This is a very important part of our virtual Meeting of the Minds. You have a chance to learn about fields and contributions that you may never have known about and to engage with our next generation of ingenious problem solvers. Please comment on as many posters as you'd like and ask thoughtful questions about our presenters' work. They have put in countless hours on their projects and developing their posters, performances, projects, and presentations, so your questions and kudos are greatly appreciated!

Thank you for attending and for taking part in Meeting of the Minds.  

Richelle Bernazzoli and Jen Weidenhof