Carnegie Mellon Hosts President Barack Obama; University Lauds President's Call for Investment in Innovation, Education

PITTSBURGH, June 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Carnegie Mellon University President Jared L. Cohon supports U.S. President Barack Obama's call today for investment in education and innovation to build a new and stronger foundation for the nation's economy — one that will allow America to maintain a strategic edge globally.

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"This administration clearly understands the importance of investing in education, research and innovation and what that investment provides to the country in terms of economic growth," Cohon said. "President Obama understands perfectly that it's the key to growth and he understands government must play a key role in making those investments."

Cohon made his remarks after Obama delivered a speech to more than 300 people at Carnegie Mellon's Pittsburgh campus. It was the second time that Obama has visited Carnegie Mellon. He made a campaign stop on June 26, 2008, when he hosted a forum of industry leaders as part of a summit on ensuring America's competitiveness in the global economy.

"We are very honored that President Obama chose Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon as the venue for his speech today," Cohon said. "As the president said, Pittsburgh is a leading example of an industrial city that has transformed itself economically, and I think the administration recognizes that Carnegie Mellon is a major actor in that ongoing transformation."

In his speech, Obama mentioned the potential to create new businesses in fields such as education technology and advanced medical devices. Cohon noted that both Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh have worked together to generate new companies in these very fields.

"Pittsburgh affirms the president's vision that to invest in the future of research is to make a down payment on job creation," Cohon said.

About Carnegie Mellon: Carnegie Mellon (www.cmu.edu) is a private, internationally ranked research university with programs in areas ranging from science, technology and business, to public policy, the humanities and the fine arts. More than 11,000 students in the university's seven schools and colleges benefit from a small student-to-faculty ratio and an education characterized by its focus on creating and implementing solutions for real problems, interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation. A global university, Carnegie Mellon's main campus in the United States is in Pittsburgh, Pa. It has campuses in California's Silicon Valley and Qatar, and programs in Asia, Australia, Europe and Mexico. The university is in the midst of a $1 billion fundraising campaign, titled "Inspire Innovation: The Campaign for Carnegie Mellon University," which aims to build its endowment, support faculty, students and innovative research, and enhance the physical campus with equipment and facility improvements.

SOURCE Carnegie Mellon University