Carnegie Mellon University Launches Fund to Accelerate Engineering Education in Africa

KIGALI, Rwanda, Dec. 16, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Rwanda accelerates its capacity to educate and empower students with the establishment of the Innovators Forward Fellowship Fund. In 2012, Carnegie Mellon became the first American research institution to offer graduate engineering degree programs in Africa. CMU in Rwanda's audacious goal to transform graduate education throughout the African continent reached a milestone with the celebration of its inaugural graduation this past July 2014 (http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KXM_KoYQycc).

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CMU in Rwanda graduates are working for global corporations and receiving funding for innovative start-up ventures. Graduates of CMU in Rwanda are having a significant impact on emerging technology markets across Africa, as they fulfill their promise of being a new generation of thought leaders, innovators and industry producers.

The Innovators Forward Fellowship Fund is seeking donor support to enable even more graduate students with exceptional academic records and demonstrated leadership to study at CMU in Rwanda. Though the Fellowship Fund has already received outstanding support, continual contributions are needed to sustain CMU in Rwanda's powerful impact in Africa.  Larry Jennings Jr., a Carnegie Mellon alum, Life Trustee and one of the fund's inaugural donors, expressed, "East Africa, a sleeping giant, poses a new frontier for Carnegie Mellon and will be increasingly important to the overall global economy. We have to invest in this generation of exceptional students and give them opportunities to excel because they are our next world leaders and producers of innovative technology."

In addition to supporting the Innovators Forward Fellowship Fund, Mr. Jennings and his family established the Jennings Family Brave Companions Fund. This fund was set up to allow students to travel to developing countries and experience culture and socioeconomic challenges through their studies, research and participation in public service work. The Jennings family also supports a number of other programs and initiatives, including the Carnegie Mellon Advising Resource Center (CMARC), the Department of Mathematics and the University Libraries' Director's Fund.

With Sub-Saharan Africa becoming one of the fastest growing economic regions of the world and a population that is producing an increasingly large middle class, Carnegie Mellon University's partnership with Rwanda is vitally important to East Africa's emergence as a technology hub. Now, through the Innovators Forward Fellowship Fund, along with the support of Larry Jennings Jr. and other generous donors, more students will be empowered to transform their lives, their nation and the world. 

For more information about CMU in Rwanda's mission to expand the Innovators Forward Fellowship Fund, please contact: Andrea Ponce, Director International Marketing and Development, Carnegie Mellon University College of Engineering - [email protected], +1(413)-230-1119 or visit http://www.cmu.edu/rwanda/giving/index.html.

About Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Carnegie Mellon is ranked 1st for graduate studies in computer science, a position consistently held in the past except in 2009. It is also 5th for graduate studies in engineering, 7th for graduate studies in fine arts, 7th for graduate studies in electrical engineering, 9th for graduate studies in public affairs, 16th for graduate studies in business, 19th for graduate studies in economics, 9th for graduate studies in statistics, and 21st for graduate studies in psychology in the 2014 rankings released by U.S. News & World Report. Carnegie Mellon has been recognized as one of the best research facilities in the USA.  For more information about Carnegie Mellon University, please visit http://www.cmu.edu.

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SOURCE Carnegie Mellon University in Rwanda

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