Research Assistance

Architect Behind CMU’s Iconic Campus Gets a New Chapter

Henry Hornbostel was an influential architect in the early twentieth century, who designed landmarks like the Williamsburg Bridge in New York City and the Harding Memorial, US President Warren Harding’s elaborate tomb. “Time Well Spent: An American Architect in Europe, 1893,” a new October 2025 release from Carnegie Mellon University Press, brings to life Hornbostel’s formative 1893 journey to Europe as a young man. This journey influenced him for the rest of his life, as he designed famous buildings across the country – and in Pittsburgh, where he built nearly half his works and designed Carnegie Mellon’s campus. “Time Well Spent” includes reproductions and transcriptions of Hornbostel’s sketchbook and journals, and contextualizes them with essays about the significance of travel in architectural education.

How the OSPO Helped the School of Computer Science’s Diagramming Platform Grow

Introduced in 2020 by researchers from the School of Computer Science, Penrose enables people to create beautiful diagrams just by typing notation in plain text, making it easy for nonexperts to create high-quality visuals that provide deeper insight into challenging technical concepts. The platform is made with open-source software, which means the code is freely available for modification and redistribution.

Carnegie Mellon University Joins Global Network for the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine

This fall, Carnegie Mellon University joined the Consortium for the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine (CHSTM), a global network of institutions committed to advancing research, teaching, and collection development in these dynamic fields.

Cultivating AI-Literate Researchers

AI tools like Scopus AI and Scite can be useful when exploring and synthesizing existing research, and using algorithms to work with data can automate repetitive tasks and increase efficiency. Generative AI can aid in brainstorming, organizing, and editing. But research about AI literacy and its impact on education is an emerging area, and it’s rapidly evolving. When Libraries AI specialist and STEM Librarian Haoyong Lan offered his first interdisciplinary research course in summer 2025, this was the topic he wanted to give his students the chance to explore.

Data & Code Support Team Builds Research Skills Across Campus

The University Libraries offers a variety of resources to help the CMU community master coding in open source programming languages and common data science tools, from workshops to recorded lessons available on YouTube. For those in need of more specialized assistance, students, staff, and faculty can also schedule virtual or in-person consultations with the Data & Code Support team.

Training Opportunities, Events Expand Open Science Offerings

Since launching one of the nation’s first open science programs in an academic library, Carnegie Mellon University Libraries has emerged as a national model for how libraries can lead in transparent, inclusive, and collaborative research. This fall, the Libraries will expand that leadership through a dynamic slate of training opportunities, community-building events, and published resources designed to equip researchers and librarians alike to work in the open.

2025 Reproducibility Hackathon Investigates LLM Writing Styles

On Tuesday, Feb. 18, the Libraries hosted its second annual Reproducibility Hackathon. 35 participants were challenged to replicate and augment published research, working with existing data and code to explore new possibilities for ideas and analyses and winning prizes for their contributions.

Doctoral Researchers Connect Beyond Disciplines in 3MT Championship

Ten doctoral students shared their complex research and made connections across disciplines during the championship round of Carnegie Mellon University's Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, held Tuesday, March 11 in McConomy Auditorium of the Cohon University Center. This year’s finalists, who hailed from departments across campus, were challenged to present their theses for a general audience in under three minutes.

Carnegie Mellon University Receives Generous Donation to Support Research and Special Projects at University Libraries

Carnegie Mellon University is pleased to announce a generous donation from Matthew (ENG 2005, 2005) and Sarah Brockmeyer, which will provide significant support for research and special projects at the University Libraries.

Love Data Week Photo Gallery

From Feb. 10–14, the Libraries celebrated Love Data Week 2025. This year’s theme, “Whose Data Is It, Anyway,” focused on how data collected by groups like researchers, governments, or companies is owned, shared, and published.