List of Carnegie Mellon University people

This is a list of notable people associated with Carnegie Mellon University in the United States.

Notable students and alumni

Several names of Carnegie Mellon University Alumni Award recipients.^[1]^[2]Carnegie Mellon alumni (the select alumni list is arranged alphabetically).

Selected Carnegie Mellon alumni

Charles Geschke
co-founder of Adobe Inc.
Ted Danson
Emmy Award-winning actor
James Gosling
creator of Java
Stephanie Kwolek
inventor of Kevlar fiber
Edgar Mitchell
NASA astronaut
John Forbes Nash Jr.
Nobel laureate
Leslie Odom Jr.
Tony Award-winning actor
Judith Resnik
NASA astronaut
David Tepper
billionaire, founder of Appaloosa Management
Andy Warhol
artist

Nobel laureates

John L. Hall (B.S. 1956, M.S. 1958, Ph.D. 1961), 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics
Finn E. Kydland (Ph.D. 1973, faculty member), 2004 Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences
Dale Thomas Mortensen (Ph.D. 1967), 2010 Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences
John Forbes Nash (B.S. 1948, M.S. 1948), 1994 Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences, the subject of A Beautiful Mind
Edward C. Prescott (Ph.D. 1967, faculty member 1971–1980), 2004 Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences
Clifford Shull (B.S. 1937), 1994 Nobel Prize in Physics
Oliver E. Williamson (Ph.D. 1963), 2009 Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences

Turing Award recipients

Edward Feigenbaum (B.S. 1956, Ph.D 1960), artificial intelligence, 1994
Shafi Goldwasser (B.S. 1979), cryptography, 2012
Allen Newell (Ph.D 1957, faculty member 1961–1992), artificial intelligence, 1975
Alan Perlis (B.S. 1943, faculty member 1956–1971), compiler construction, 1966; first Turing Award winner
Ivan Sutherland (B.S. 1959), computer graphics, 1988

Wolf Prize recipients

Raoul Bott (Ph.D. 1949), Wolf Prize in Mathematics, 2000

Enrico Fermi Award winners

George Cowan (Ph.D. 1950), nuclear scientist who was involved in the Manhattan Project, the U.S. atomic initiative during World War II; founder of the Santa Fe Institute

Stockholm Prize in Criminology winners

Daniel Nagin (B.S, M.S. 1971, Ph.D. 1976, professor), criminologist, 2014

National Medal of Science recipients

Raoul Bott (Ph.D. 1949), Mathematical, Statistical, and Computer Sciences, 1987
Allen Newell (Ph.D. 1957, professor), Mathematical, Statistical, and Computer Sciences, 1992
George Pake (B.S., M.S. 1945), Physical Sciences, 1987
Frederick Rossini (B.S. 1925, M.S. 1926, DSc (hon.) 1948), Chemistry

National Medal of Technology and Innovation recipients

Robert Dennard (Ph.D. 1958), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), 1988
Stephanie Kwolek (B.S. 1946), inventor of Kevlar, 1996
Mary Shaw (Ph.D. 1972), software architecture pioneer, 2012
Frank L. Stulen (1943), numerical control of machine tools, 1985

MacArthur Fellows

Stefan Savage (B.S. 1991), professor at UC San Diego, 2017
Dawn Song (M.S. 1999), Carnegie Mellon professor of computer science (2002–2007), current professor at UC Berkeley, 2010
Luis von Ahn (Ph.D. 2005), Carnegie Mellon professor of computer science, 2006

Academia

Educators

Padmanabhan Balaram (Ph.D. 1973), director of Indian Institute of Science, India
Arthur T. Benjamin (B.S. 1983), mathematician and mathemagician specializing in combinatorics
John P. Crecine (B.S. 1961, M.S. 1963, Ph.D. 1966), former dean of the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Carnegie Mellon and Ppresident of Georgia Institute of Technology (1987–1994)
James W. Dean Jr., PhD, president of the University of New Hampshire^[3]
Michael D. C. Drout (B.A. 1990), professor at Wheaton College and scholar specializing in Anglo-Saxon and medieval literature, science fiction and fantasy, especially the works of J. R. R. Tolkien and Ursula K. Le Guin
Marvin L. Goldberger (B.S. 1943), former president of the California Institute of Technology (1978–1987), former director of Institute for Advanced Study (1987–1991), former dean of the natural science at University of California, San Diego (1994–1999)
John Graham (Ph.D. 1983), former dean of the Frederick S. Pardee RAND Graduate School and current dean of the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs
Leslie John (M.Sc., Ph.D. 2011), author, cehavioral scientist, professor at Harvard Business School
Pradeep K. Khosla (M.S. 1984, Ph.D. 1986), 8th chancellor of the University of California, San Diego
Robert Kibbee (died 1982), chancellor of the City University of New York
Robert Lepper, art professor who developed the country's first industrial design degree program
Rob Linsenmeier, professor emeritus of Biomedical Engineering and Professor Emeritus of Neurobiology, Northwestern University
Michael C. McFarland (M.S. 1979, Ph.D. 1981), president of College of the Holy Cross, former dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Gonzaga University (1996–2000)
Joseph S. B. Mitchell (B.S. 1981, M.S. 1981), professor, Applied Mathematics and Computer Science at Stony Brook University
William F. Pounds (B.S. 1950, M.S. 1959, Ph.D. 1964), dean of MIT Sloan School of Management (1966–1980)
Suh Nam Pyo (Ph.D. 1964), president of KAIST, South Korea
Madhav V. Rajan (Ph.D. 1990), former associate professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, full professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and dean of the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago^[4]
Mendu Rammohan Rao (M.S. 1968, Ph.D. 1969), dean emeritus of Indian School of Business, India
Larry Eugene Rivers (Ph.D. 1977), former president of Fort Valley State University
Suresh P. Sethi (Ph.D. 1972), Eugene McDermott Professor at the Naveen Jindal School of Management at The University of Texas at Dallas, former General Motors professor at the University of Toronto, Alumni Achievement Award from Tepper School, fellow of Royal Society of Canada, AAAS, INFORMS, IEEE
Jon Strauss (Ph.D. 1964), dean of Engineering, Whitacre College of Engineering, Texas Tech University, former president of Bainbridge Graduate Institute (2008–2009), Harvey Mudd College (1997–2006) and Worcester Polytechnic Institute (1985–1994)
Richard L. Van Horn (Ph.D. 1976), former president of the University of Houston and the University of Oklahoma
Hugh D. Young (Ph.D. 1959), longtime professor who taught physics for over 50 years at Carnegie Mellon; co-author of the later editions of the highly regarded textbook University Physics, now in its 15th edition; received many of Carnegie Mellon's highest awards

Members of National Academy of Sciences

Raoul Bott (Ph.D. 1949), Mathematics, 1964
Stephen Fienberg (B.S. 1979), Applied mathematical sciences, 1999
Marvin L. Goldberger (B.S. 1943), Physics, 1963
Shafrira Goldwasser (B.S. 1979), Computer and Information Sciences, 2004
John L. Hall (B.S. 1956, M.S. 1958, Ph.D. 1961), Physics, 1984
Leonard Lerman (B.S. 1945), Genetics, 1986
Philip Morrison (B.S. 1936), Physics, 1971
Frederick Mosteller (B.S. 1938, M.S. 1939), Mathematics, 1974
Allen Newell (Ph.D 1957, professor), Computer and Information Sciences, 1972
Frederick Rossini (B.S. 1925, M.S. 1926, DSc (hon.) 1948), Chemistry, 1951
Clifford Shull (B.S. 1937), Physics, 1975
Ivan Sutherland (B.S. 1959), Computer and Information Sciences, 1978
Oliver Williamson (Ph.D. 1963), Economic Sciences, 1994

Members of National Academy of Engineering

Andy Bechtolsheim (M.S. 1976), Electronics Engineering, 2000
Stuart Card (M.S. 1970, Ph.D. 1978), Computer Science & Engineering, 2007
Bernard Cohen (Ph.D. 1950), Electric Power/Energy Systems Engineering, 2003
Bob Colwell (Ph.D.), Computer Science & Engineering, 2006
Robert Dennard (Ph.D. 1958), Electronics Engineering, 1984
Charles Geschke (Ph.D. 1973), Computer Science & Engineering, 1995
Shafrira Goldwasser (B.S. 1979), Computer Science & Engineering, 2005
James Gosling (Ph.D. 1983), Computer Science & Engineering, 2004
Anita K. Jones (Ph.D. 1973), Computer Science & Engineering, 1994
Angel Jordan (M.S. 1959, Ph.D. 1959, Professor), Electronics Engineering, 1986
Pradeep K. Khosla (Dowd University Professor), Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Robotics, 2006
H. T. Kung (Ph.D. 1973), Computer Science & Engineering, 1993
Stephanie Kwolek (B.S. 1946), Chemical Engineering, 2001
James D. Meindl (B.S. 1955, M.S. 1956, Ph.D. 1958), Electronics Engineering, 1978
Shree K. Nayar (Ph.D. 1991), Computer Science and Engineering, 2008
John Ousterhout (Ph.D. 1980), Computer Science & Engineering, 2001
Alan Perlis (B.S. 1943, professor), Computer Science & Engineering, 1977
Jonathan Rothberg (B.S. 1985), Bioengineering, 2004
Stefan Savage (B.S. 1991), Computer Science & Engineering, 2023
Manuela M. Veloso (Ph.D. 1992, Professor), Computer Science & Engineering, 2022
William L. Whittaker (M.S. 1975, Ph.D. 1979, Professor), Computer Science & Engineering, 2009
Mao Yisheng (Ph.D. 1919), Civil Engineering, Materials Engineering, 1982

Other prominent faculty

Bob Altemeyer (PhD 1965), associate professor of Psychology at the University of Manitoba
Costas Azariadis (MBA 1971, Ph.D. 1975), Edward Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professor in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis
William A. Barnett (M.A. 1970, Ph.D. 1974), Oswald Distinguished Professor of Macroeconomics at the University of Kansas
Timothy Devinney (B.S., 1977), chair and professor of International Business University of Manchester, Fellow of Academy of Management, fellow of Academy of International Business
Ravi Jagannathan (M.S. 1981, Ph.D. 1983), Chicago Mercantile Exchange/John F. Sandner Professor of Finance at Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, former director of American Finance Association (2002–2005)
Kevin Lane Keller (MSIA 1980), E.B. Osborn Professor of Marketing at Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College
John E. Laird (Ph.D. 1983), John L. Tishman Professor of Engineering at University of Michigan, co-creator of Soar cognitive architecture
Rose Hum Lee (B.S. 1942), first woman and the first Chinese American to head a US university sociology department, at Roosevelt University
Charles E. Leiserson (Ph.D. 1981), professor of Computer Science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, co-author of the Introduction to Algorithms
Ronald D. Macfarlane (M.S. 1957, Ph.D. 1959), Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at Texas A&M University
Nolan McCarty (M.S. 1992, Ph.D. 1993), Susan Dod Brown Professor of Politics and Public Affairs at Princeton University
Greg Morrisett (M.S. 1991, Ph.D. 1995), Allen B. Cutting Professor of Computer Science and associate dean for Computer Science and Engineering, Harvard University
Michael S. Scott Morton (B.S. 1961), Jay W. Forrester Professor of Management (emeritus) at MIT Sloan School of Management
Jan Mossin (Ph.D.), made significant contribution to capital asset pricing model
John Muth (Ph.D., professor 1956–1964), father of the rational expectations revolution in economics
Jay Nunamaker (B.S. 1964), Regents Professor of Management Information Systems, Computer Science, and Communication at University of Arizona
Jeffrey Pfeffer (B.S. 1968, MSIA 1968), Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Stanford Graduate School of Business
Demetri Psaltis (B.S. 1974, M.S. 1975, Ph.D. 1977), Thomas G. Myers Professor of Electrical Engineering at California Institute of Technology
Norman Sadeh (PhD 1991), professor, founding CEO and chairman, Wombat Security Technologies; chief scientist, e-Commerce & e-Work Program, EU Commission
Millicent Sullivan (Ph.D. 2003), Alvin B. & Julie O. Stiles Professor Of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Delaware^[5]
Jerry D. Thompson (Doctor of Arts in history), Regents Professor of History, Texas A&M International University, Laredo, Texas; specialist on American Southwest
Sheridan Titman (M.S. 1978, Ph.D. 1981), Walter W. McAllister Centennial Professor of Finance at McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin, Ppresident of Western Finance Association
Andrew B. Whinston (M.S. 1960, Ph.D. 1962), Hugh Roy Cullen Centennial Professor in Business Administration at McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin

Architecture and design

Nader Ardalan, architect of the Iran Center for Management Studies^[6]
Roger Duffy, architect
Dan Friedman, graphic designer
Tasso Katselas, architect
David M. Kelley (B.S. 1973), co-founder of IDEO
Christian Schwartz, type designer
Steven Song, architect and theoretician
Cheng Tzu-tsai (M.Arch.), architect and political dissident ; designed the 228 Massacre Monument in 228 Peace Memorial Park

Art

Mel Bochner (1962), pioneer of postminimal arts and conceptual art
Jonathan Borofsky (1964), 20th-century conceptual artist and sculptor
Mia Brownell (1993), painter
Sheila Butler (1960), visual artist
Virgil Cantini (1946), artist and professor at the University of Pittsburgh
Elizabeth Carpenter (1976), author, clothing designer, creator of educational children's puzzles
John Currin (1984), contemporary figure and portrait painter
Ken Ferguson (1952), ceramist
Katie Grinnan (1992), multi-disciplinary artist and educator
Raymond Kaskey (1967), sculptor
Deborah Kass, painter
Matt Keegan (1998), visual artist^[7]
Joyce Kozloff (1942), artist and founder of Pattern and Decoration movement
Katharine Kuharic (1984), figurative painter and educator
Dane Mitchell (1997), visual artist^[8]
Burton Morris (1986), pop artist
Shalom Neuman (1970), painter and sculptor
Philip Pearlstein (1949), figure painter
Rob Rogers (1984), editorial cartoonist
Abigail Satinsky (2003), art curator
Jacqueline Thurston (1961), artist, writer and educator
Andy Warhol (1949), painter and major figure in the pop art movement

Business

Paul Allaire (M.B.A 1966), former Xerox director (1986–1990), CEO (1990–2000), and chairman (1991–2000)
Lenny Beer (B.A. 1971), media executive, producer and artist manager; co-founder and editor-in-chief of HITS Magazine and co-founder of MGMT Company
Lane Bess (B.S. 1983), executive and venture capitalist; former CEO of Palo Alto Networks; former COO of Zscaler; founder of Bess Ventures and Advisory
Peter Fitzhugh Brown (Ph.D.), hedge fund executive; CEO of Renaissance Technologies
Ted Decker (M.B.A. 1993), CEO and president of The Home Depot^[9]
Francisco D'Souza (Master of Science in Industrial Administration 1992), CEO of Cognizant Technology Solutions
Dina Dublon (Master of Science in industrial administration 1979), former EVP and CFO of JP Morgan Chase; board member of Microsoft, Accenture, PepsiCo, and Carnegie Mellon University
Marc Ewing (B.S. 1992), co-founder of Red Hat Inc., maker of Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Yoshiaki Fujimori (Master of Science in industrial administration 1981), president and CEO of Lixil Group
Scott Griffith (1981), chairman and CEO of Zipcar
Cormac Kinney (B.S. 1993, Master of Science in industrial administration 1994), software inventor and entrepreneur
Alexander Knaster (B.S. 1980), billionaire private equity investor; founder and chairman of Pamplona Capital Management
Jim Levy (B.S. 1965, Master of Science in industrial administration 1966), founding CEO of Activision (1979–1986)
Gerald C. Meyers (B.S., M.S.), former chairman of American Motors
Sulajja Firodia Motwani, Indian woman entrepreneur
Andrew Ng (B.S. 1997), co-founder of education technology company Coursera, director of Stanford University's Artificial Intelligence Lab
Ted Nierenberg (B.S. 1944), founder of Dansk International Designs^[10]
Brian Olsavsky (M.B.A), CFO of Amazon^[11]
Ratul Puri, chairman of Hindustan Powerprojects Private Limited
John Swearingen, petroleum industry executive
David Tepper (Master of Science in industrial administration 1982), founder and chairman of Appaloosa Management, owner of the NFL's Carolina Panthers, and the MLS's Charlotte FC
Madhavi Vuppalapati, CEO and chairperson of Prithvi Information Solutions^[12]
Romesh Wadhwani (M.S., Ph.D.), billionaire private equity investor; founder and chairman of Symphony Technology Group
Sunil Wadhwani, co-founder of Mastech Digital and IGATE
Charles Erwin Wilson (1909), CEO of General Motors (1946–1953), president of General Motors (1941–1953) (See also: Government and politics section)

Government, law, public policy, and military

Gust Avrakotos (attended for two years), directorate of Operations, Central Intelligence Agency
Nilofar Bakhtiar (M.S.), senator and federal minister for Tourism in Pakistan
Jonathan Berry, 5th Viscount Camrose (MBA), British hereditary peer; former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property; member of the House of Lords
Edmund Cheng (M.Arch. 1980), Chairman of Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore; former Chairman Singapore Tourism Board and National Arts Council
Malia Cohen (M.A.), 34th California state controller
Peter Corroon (B.S.), mayor of Salt Lake County, Utah
Carmen Yulín Cruz (MS in Public Policy and Management, 1986), member of the 28th House of Representatives of Puerto Rico (2009–2013); mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico (2013–2020)^[13]^[14]
Jody J. Daniels (B.S. 1983), U.S. Army Lieutenant general; first woman to serve as Chief of the Army Reserve and Commanding General, Army Reserve Command
Peter J. De Muth (BS 1914), U.S. congressman from Pennsylvania
Charles L. Evans (M.S., Ph.D. in Economics), president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, 2007–2023
Rich Fitzgerald (BSME 1981), president, Allegheny County Council, Pennsylvania (2001–present)
Gina M. Grosso (B.S. 1986), U.S. Air Force Lieutenant general; first woman to serve as Deputy Chief of Staff for Manpower, Personnel and Services; later Assistant Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Human Resources / Operations, Security and Preparedness
Karl F. Hausauer (BA, 1917), Adjutant General of New York^[15]^[16]
Anita K. Jones (Ph.D. 1973), director of Defense Research and Engineering of the U.S. Department of Defense
Sydney Kamlager-Dove (MA, 1994), United States representative for California's 37th district
Salim Saifullah Khan (BS Mechanical Engineering, 1968), senator and federal minister for Petroleum & Natural Resources, Commerce, Housing & Works, Inter-Provincial Coordination in Pakistan
Vasili Kuznetsov, Soviet political figure
Susie Lee (BS, 1989; MS, 1990), United States representative for Nevada's 3rd District
Nara Lokesh, former member of Legislative Council (2017–2023), Government of Andhra Pradesh, Republic of India
Keith B. McCutcheon (B.S. 1937), U.S. Marine Corps general and assistant commandant of the Marine Corps (1970)
Oopali Operajita (MAPW 1995), senior Parliamentary adviser, India
Joseph D. Patch, U.S. Army major general^[17]
Bill Peduto (attended), mayor of Pittsburgh
Jairam Ramesh (Master of Science in public policy and public management), former minister of rural development, Government of India^[18]
Joel Martin Rubin (M.S.), former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for House Affairs
Kei Satō (MPM 2010), Japanese politician; member of the House of Councillors; Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary
Henry J. Schultz (B.S. 1932), mayor of Easton, Pennsylvania (1976–1980)
Dennis B. Sullivan (non-degree program), U.S. Air Force brigadier general
Jeffrey W. Talley (Ph.D. 2000), U.S. Army lieutenant general retired, 32nd chief of Army Reserve (CAR) and 7th commanding general, United States Army Reserve Command (USARC) 2012–2016
Irene Tinagli (M.S. 2002, Ph.D.), Member of the European Parliament; former Chair of European Parliament Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs; former Deputy secretary of the Democratic Party
Charles Erwin Wilson (1909), United States secretary of defense (1953–1957) under President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Mike Yin (BS 2007), House minority floor leader in the Wyoming House of Representatives
Yarone Zober (MPM 2000), chief of staff, Mayor's Office, City of Pittsburgh (September 2006–present); former deputy mayor of the City of Pittsburgh (August – September 2006)

Literature

Michael Batterberry (attended), writer; co-founder and editor of Food & Wine and Food Arts
Lisa Jenn Bigelow, author of children's and young adult fiction; Hazel's Theory of Evolution; 2020 Lambda Literary Award winner
Ruth Cavin (1939), renowned book editor and associate publisher at Thomas Dunne Books for over 900 books
Michael Chabon (attended), Pulitzer Prize-winning author
Christina Crawford (attended), author of Mommie Dearest
Alice Crites (M.A.), researcher at The Washington Post; part of six Pulitzer Prize-winning teams, including the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting
Iris Rainer Dart (1966), author of Beaches
E. L. Konigsburg (1952), author of children's books and young adult fiction; Newbery Medal and American Library Association award winner
Jewell Parker Rhodes (B.A. 1975, M.A. 1976, D.A. 1979), novelist
William Roos, novelist, playwright, and screenwriter^[19]
Manil Suri (Ph.D. 1983), mathematician and writer
Astro Teller (Ph.D. 1998), author of Exegesis
Kurt Vonnegut (briefly attended), author, Slaughterhouse Five
Jeffrey Zaslow, columnist for the Wall Street Journal; co-author of The Last Lecture

Performing arts, film, television and video games

Jason Antoon (1994), actor, No Ordinary Family
Hale Appleman, actor, The Magicians
William Atherton (1969), film, stage and television actor, Die Hard, The Day of the Locust, The Girl Next Door
René Auberjonois (1962), actor, Benson, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Boston Legal
William Ball, director, founder of American Conservatory Theater
Brent Barrett, film and Broadway actor, singer; Chicago, Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular, The Producers
Shari Belafonte, actress, singer, Hotel, Cane River, The Heidi Chronicles
Natalie Venetia Belcon, actress, singer, originated role of Gary Coleman in Broadway musical Avenue Q
Paul Ben-Victor (1987), actor, The Wire, The Shield, Entourage
Benny Benack, orchestra leader, "King of Pittsburgh Dixieland"
Lourdes Benedicto, actress, NYPD Blue, ER, Dawson's Creek, 24
Denée Benton (2014), actress, Natasha, Pierre, & the Great Comet of 1812 (Tony nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role), The Book of Mormon
Robert Bernat (B.A.), composer and conductor; founder, artistic director, and conductor of the River City Brass Band
Joseph Beruh (CFA 1950), theatrical producer; produced Broadway and Off-Broadway shows including Godspell, The Magic Show, and American Buffalo
Steven Bochco (1966), writer, producer, Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, NYPD Blue; ten-time Emmy Award winner
Matthew Bomer (2000), actor, White Collar, The Normal Heart, Magic Mike
Liam Bonner (2004), baritone opera singer
Christian Borle, actor, Legally Blonde; Tony Award winner in 2012 for Peter and the Starcatcher and in 2015 for Something Rotten!, NBC's Smash
Barbara Bosson (1970), actress, Hill Street Blues, Murder One
Abby Brammell (2001), actress, The Unit
Albert Brooks (attended for two years), actor, screenwriter and director, Finding Nemo, Broadcast News, Lost in America
Lori Cardille (1976), actress, Day of the Dead
Anthony Carrigan (2006),^[20] actor, Barry
Jean Carson (1945), actress, The Andy Griffith Show
Arthur Chadwick (1997), set designer for Accidentally on Purpose
Donna Lynne Champlin (1993), actress, Crazy Ex Girlfriend
Carol Channing (1943), Tony Award-winning actress, Hello Dolly!
Gaius Charles (2005), actor, Friday Night Lights
François Clemmons (1969), founder/director of Harlem Spiritual Ensemble, special guest, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
Kat Coiro, director and writer
Rhys Coiro (2002), actor, HBO's Entourage
Frank Converse (1962), actor, Coronet Blue, The Rowdyman, N.Y.P.D.
Casey Cott (2016), actor, Riverdale
Corey Cott (2012), actor, Disney's Newsies, Bandstand, Gigi
Ellen Crawford (1975), actress, Boston Legal
James Cromwell (1964), actor, known for L.A. Confidential, The General's Daughter, Babe; Oscar nominee and winner of the 2013 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
Anne Marie Cummings (B.F.A. 1990), 4X Emmy-nominated TV creator, actress, writer, director of Conversations in L.A.
Bob Cummings (1930), actor, known for films Dial M for Murder, Saboteur and television's The Bob Cummings Show
Ted Danson (1972), actor, Cheers, Three Men and a Baby, The Good Place; two-time Emmy Award winner; three-time Golden Globe Award winner
Joan Darling (1957), actress, Mary Hartman, MASH
Cote de Pablo (2000), actress, NCIS
Nicole DeHuff, actress, Meet The Parents, Unbeatable Harold
Kim Director (2000), actress, Orange is the New Black
Neal Dodson, film producer
Dagmara Dominczyk (1998), actress, The Count of Monte Cristo
Neil Druckmann (2005), writer and creative director at Naughty Dog^[21]
Peggy Eisenhauer (1983), Tony Award-winning lighting designer
Esteban (1970), flamenco guitarist
Abe Feder (1930), lighting designer, lighting director
Barbara Feldon (1955), actress, Get Smart, Fitzwilly, Mad About You
Jules Fisher (1960), lighting designer; won a Tony Award
Seth Fisher (2004), director, The Good Wife
Sutton Foster (left after freshman year), actress, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Anything Goes, Shrek; won two Tony Awards
Robert Foxworth (1965), actor, Falcon Crest, Six Feet Under
Mark Frost (1975), producer, Twin Peaks
Sidney Furie (1955), director and screenwriter, The Ipcress File, The Entity
Josh Gad (2003), actor, "Olaf" in Frozen, The Book of Mormon, The Wedding Ringer
Herb Gardner (1956), Tony Award-winning playwright, A Thousand Clowns, I'm Not Rappaport
Yusuf Gatewood (2002), The Originals, The Umbrella Academy^[22]
Michael Goldenberg (1986), screenwriter and director Harry Potter
Renée Elise Goldsberry (1993), actress, Tony Award for Hamilton, The Lion King, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rent
Frank Gorshin (1955), actor, best known as "The Riddler" in the Batman live action television series
Javier Grillo-Marxuach (1991), television screenwriter, producer, best known for his work on the first two seasons of Lost
Josh Groban (left after freshman year), singer and Broadway actor, Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 (Tony Nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role)
Demetrius Grosse (2003), Justified
Ralph Guggenheim (1974), producer, Toy Story
Charles Haid (1968), actor and director, NYPD Blue, L. A. Law, Doogie Howser, M.D.
Van Hansis (2004), actor, Luke Snyder of As the World Turns; three-time Emmy Award nominee
Ian Harding (2009), actor, Pretty Little Liars
Mariette Hartley (1965), Emmy Award-winning actress, Ride the High Country, Peyton Place, The Incredible Hulk
Elizabeth Hartman, actress
Lisa Hartman-Black (1978), actress, Tabitha
David Haskell (1970), actor (Godspell)
Ethan Hawke (briefly attended), actor
Sian Heder (1999), writer, filmmaker; Orange Is The New Black, Tallulah
Grey Henson (2012), actor, The Book of Mormon, Mean Girls
Megan Hilty (2004), actress, played Glinda in Wicked, Ivy in TV series Smash, Doralee in Nine to Five
Leonard "Hub" Hubbard, Grammy Award winner, composer, bassist, The Roots
Chuck Hittinger (2005), Screamfest, Boogeyman 3
David Hornsby (1998), actor, screenwriter, producer, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Holly Hunter (1980), actress; won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award
Sam Hyde (attended for one year), actor, writer, comedian and co-creator of Million Dollar Extreme Presents: World Peace
Peter Hylenski (1997), sound designer, Tony Award for Best Sound Design winner^[23]
James Jacks (1969), producer, Raising Arizona, The Mummy, The Mummy Returns, Mallrats, Michael, Tombstone
Cherry Jones (1978), actress; won an Emmy Award and a Tony Award
David Kagen, actor, Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives
Caren Kaye (1973, M.S., Ph.D. in Psychology), lead actress, My Tutor
Arthur Kennedy (1936), actor, 5-time Oscar nominee, Lawrence of Arabia, All My Sons, Elmer Gantry
Jack Klugman (1948), Emmy Award-winning actor, best known for The Odd Couple, Quincy, M.E.
Frederick Koehler (1997), actor, Kate and Allie and All My Children
Michael Kooman, musical theater composer, half of Kooman and Dimond, whose works have been performed at The Kennedy Center, Williamstown Theater Festival, and American Conservatory Theater
David Lander (1969), actor, Squiggy on the sitcom Laverne and Shirley
David Larsen (1999), actor, The Book of Mormon
Eugene Lee (1962), two-time Tony Award-winning scenic designer
Telly Leung (2002), actor, Allegiance
Kara Lindsay (2006), actress, Newsies, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Judith Light (1970), Daytime Emmy Award and two-time Tony Award-winning actress, One Life to Live, Who's the Boss?
Keith Lockhart (1983), conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra
Arthur Lubin (1920), film director and producer of the 1943 film Phantom of the Opera and the 1960s TV series Mister Ed
Jordan Lund (1957), actor Lock Up
Gabriel Macht (1994), actor, Suits
Erin Mackey (2008), Broadway, television, and film actress, known for playing Glinda in Wicked
Henry Mancini (1947), composer; nominated for 72 Grammy Awards, winning 20; also nominated for 18 Academy Awards, winning four
Joe Manganiello (2000), actor
Sonia Manzano (1972), actress, writer, Maria Rodriguez on Sesame Street
Nancy Marchand (1949), actress, known for Lou Grant and HBO's The Sopranos; four-time Emmy Award winner
Rob Marshall (1982), director; nominated for two Academy Awards (Chicago, Memoirs of a Geisha)
Henry Mazer, conductor and recording artist for Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra and Chicago Symphony Orchestra^[24]
Gilmer McCormick (1969), actress, Godspell
John McDaniel, producer, composer, conductor, known for leading the band on The Rosie O'Donnell Show
Michael McKean (1969), actor and ensemble comedian (Best in Show, Waiting for Guffman, This Is Spinal Tap, Better Call Saul); played Lenny on Laverne and Shirley
Kennedy McMann (2018), actress,^[25] Nancy Drew
Michael McMillian (2002), True Blood
James Meena (1973), conductor and opera administrator
Patina Miller (2006), Tony Award-winning actress (Pippin, Sister Act, All My Children)
Katy Mixon (2003), actress, Mike & Molly, American Housewife
Roger Morgan (1961), The Crucifer of Blood
Greg Mottola (BFA, Art), director, Superbad, The Daytrippers, several episodes of Undeclared and Arrested Development
Jeffrey Mylett (1971), actor, Godspell
David Norona (1994), The Mentalist
Vince O'Brien (1949), Broadway, television, and film actor
Leslie Odom, Jr. (2003), actor, Hamilton, Red Tails
Rory O'Malley (2003), actor, The Book of Mormon, Hamilton
Oopali Operajita (1995), choreographer and classical Odissi and Bharatanatyam dancer
Stephanie Palmer (1997), Hollywood executive, author of Good in a Room
Van Dyke Parks, composer, arranger, producer, musician most notably with Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys
John Pasquin (1969), Emmy Award-winning director
Victoria Pedretti (2017), actress^[26]
George Peppard (1951), actor, best known for Breakfast at Tiffany's and as John "Hannibal" Smith on The A-Team
Fern Persons (1934), actress, Risky Business, Hoosiers, Field of Dreams
John C. Picardi (1996), playwright
Martin Platt (1971), producer, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Billy Porter (1991), Tony and Emmy Award-winning actor, Kinky Boots, Pose
Derek Stephen Prince (1991), voice actor, Bleach, Naruto, Love Hina, Cowboy Bebop, Digimon and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
Erin Quill, actress, writer, and singer
Zachary Quinto (1999), actor, played Sylar on Heroes, and Spock in Star Trek (2009 and later films)
Sally Jessy Raphaël (briefly attended), talk show host
Lester Rawlins (1950), A Man for All Seasons
Norman René (1974), theatre and film director; Obie Award winner
Darren Ritchie (1999), actor/singer
Kali Rocha (1993), actress, Sledge
George A. Romero (1960), film director, Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead
Ann Roth (1953), film and Broadway costume designer; won an Academy Award and two Emmy Awards
Polly Rowles (1936), film and TV actor, Springtime in the Rockies, Auntie Mame
Laura San Giacomo (1984), actress, Just Shoot Me!, Quigley Down Under, Sex, Lies, and Videotape, Pretty Woman
Lou Scheimer (1952), Flash Gordon
Mary Kate Schellhardt (BFA 2001), actress, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Free Willy 2, Apollo 13
Robert Schmertz (1921), architect and folk musician, CMU faculty and author of the CMU fight song
Pablo Schreiber (2000), actor, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Stephen Schwartz (1968), composer of shows including Wicked, Godspell, and Pippin (originally a Carnegie Mellon production, presented by the Scotch'n'Soda theatrical club on campus under the title Pippin Pippin)
Roxanne Seeman, songwriter and lyricist
Kyle Selig (2014), actor, The Book of Mormon, Mean Girls
Sushma Seth (1960), Bollywood actress, Junoon, Ram Teri Ganga Maili
Mel Shapiro (1961), An Actor Performs, Two Gentlemen of Verona
Leigh Silverman (1996), producer, Violet
Emily Skinner (1992), musical theater actress; nominated for a Tony Award alongside Side Show co-star Alice Ripley
Jamie Smith (1947), actor, The Faithful City, Killer's Kiss^[27]^[28]
Josef Sommer (1957), actor, Dirty Harry, Absence of Malice, Witness
Aaron Staton (2004), actor, Mad Men
Patricia Tallman (1979), actress and stunt woman, played Lyta Alexander on Babylon 5, Barbara in 1990 remake of Night of the Living Dead
John-Michael Tebelak (1971, MFA), playwright and director (Godspell; originally a Carnegie Mellon production)
Irene Tedrow (1929), actress ,Eleanor and Franklin, James at 16, Bonanza
Jim Tetlow (1977), lighting designer and theatre consultant; won an Emmy Award for lighting design
Thom Thomas (1963), playwright, Without Apologies
Sada Thompson (1949), actress, Family
Susan Tsu, costume designer
Michael Tucker (1966), actor, L.A. Law
Tamara Tunie (1981), actress, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
William J. G. Turner (1974), composer, director, dramatist, producer, and actor
Blair Underwood (1988), actor, L.A. Law, LAX, Gattaca, Sex and the City
Michelle Veintimilla (2014), actress, Not Cool
Paula Wagner (1969), film producer and executive
Loudon Wainwright III, musician; withdrew in 1967
Bruce Weitz (1966), actor, Hill Street Blues, Deep Impact
John Wells (1970), writer, producer, China Beach, ER, The West Wing, Third Watch; won an Emmy Award
Ming-Na Wen (1986), actress, ER, The Joy Luck Club; Annie Award winner as voice of "Mulan" in Mulan; voice of Aki Ross in Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
Daniel Wilson (2003, 2004, 2005), TV host, The Works, writer, How to Survive a Robot Uprising
Patrick Wilson (1995), actor; nominated for a Tony Award, an Emmy Award, and a Golden Globe Award
George Wood (1945), actor, Harold and Maude
Bud Yorkin (1948), producer, director, writer, actor (All in the Family, Maude, Good Times, Sanford and Son, One Day at a Time, Diff'rent Strokes)
Krista Marie Yu (2011), actress, Dr. Ken, Last Man Standing, Reboot

Science and technology

Kimberly W. Anderson (Ph.D.), chemist, Gill Eminent Professor, Chemical and Materials Engineering, associate dean for Administration and Academic Affairs in the College of Engineering at the University of Kentucky
Antonio Arizabal (M.S., Ph.D.), Filipino chemist and metallurgist; former Secretary of the Department of Science and Technology of the Philippines
Andrea Arpaci-Dusseau (B.S. 1991), author, professor, faculty member in the Computer Sciences Department at University of Wisconsin-Madison, ACM Fellow, winner of SIGOPS Mark Weiser Award.
Allen Barnett (1966), principal investigator of the DARPA-funded Consortium for Very High Efficiency Solar Cells
Andy Bechtolsheim (M.S. 1976), co-founder of Sun Microsystems; Mmanaging director of Cisco 1996–2002; chief architect of Sun Microsystems 2003–2005; an original investor in Google, and the first person to document the company name
Joshua Bloch (Ph.D. 1990), chief Java architect of Google, author of Jolt Award-winning book Effective Java
Nik Bonaddio (B.S. 2004, M.S. 2005), founder of numberFire
Nathaniel Borenstein (M.S. 1981, Ph.D. 1985), chief open standards strategist and Distinguished Engineer at IBM, co-creator of MIME for formatting multimedia email
Mark Canepa (B.S. 1976, M.S. 1977), executive vice president of Network Storage Products Group, then Data Management for Sun Microsystems
Jane C. Charlton (B.S. 1983), professor of astronomy and astrophysics, received her B.S. at age 18^[29]
Harshvardhan Chunawala (M.S. 2023), cybersecurity researcher, early contributor of Carnegie Mellon Mission Control and first lunar rover mission operator from the Information Networking Institute
Bob Colwell (Ph.D.), chief architect of Intel Pentium Pro
Joseph DeCarolis (Ph.D. 2004), energy systems researcher; former Administrator of the U.S. Energy Information Administration
Robert Dennard (Ph.D. 1958), inventor of dynamic random access memory (DRAM); IBM Fellow; proved the theories leading to Moore's Law
Oren Etzioni (Ph.D. 1991), computer scientist; founding CEO of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI2)
Scott Fahlman (professor), creator of the emoticon
Gerald Gardner (1922–2009), geophysicist and social activist whose statistical analysis led to the banning of classified advertising segregated by gender in a 1973 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court^[30]
Charles Geschke (Ph.D. 1973), co-founder of Adobe Systems
James J. Gillogly (Ph.D. 1978), cryptographer who was the first to publicly solve parts 1-3 of Kryptos
Virgil D. Gligor, pioneer in computer security and co-director of Carnegie Mellon's CYLAB
James Gosling (M.S. 1983, Ph.D. 1983), vice president and fellow of Sun Microsystems, creator of Java programming language
Severin Hacker (Ph.D. 2014), co-founder of Duolingo
William Walter Hay (B.S. 1931), professor of railway engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign remembered with the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association Hay Award^[31]
Maynard Holliday, robotics engineer; Assistant Secretary of Defense for Critical Technologies in the Office of Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, and former technology officer at The Pentagon
Feng-hsiung Hsu (Ph.D. 1990), co-creator of ChipTest (while at CMU), the predecessor of Deep Thought, which evolved into Deep Blue at IBM
Phil Karn (M.S. 1979), engineer; his name is on at least six RFCs; inventor of Karn's Algorithm, a method for calculating the round trip time for IP packet retransmission
Vinod Khosla (M.S. 1978), co-founder of Sun Microsystems, venture capitalist at Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers
James H. Kindelberger (1920), pioneer of aviation, chairman of North American Aviation (1948–1960)
Monica S. Lam (Ph.D. 1987), computer scientist, ACM Fellow, and founder of Omlet
Kai-Fu Lee (Ph.D. 1988, assistant professor), former president of Google China
Ira N. Levine (B.A. 1958), author, professor and faculty member in the Chemistry Department at Brooklyn College
Qi Lu (Ph.D. 1996), president of Online Services Division, Microsoft, former executive vice president at Yahoo!
Mao Yisheng (Ph.D. 1919), bridge engineering expert, first Ph.D. graduate of Carnegie Tech
Edgar Mitchell (B.S. 1952), astronaut, 6th man to walk on the Moon
James G. Mitchell (Ph.D. 1970), computer scientist, vice president and fellow of Sun Microsystems, developer of WATFOR compiler
Nikolai Mushegian (B.S. 2014), computer scientist and software engineer who contributed to software platforms supporting decentralized autonomous organizations and decentralized finance
Harvey C. Nathanson (B.S., M.S., Ph.D.), inventor of first MEMS device, former chief scientist at Northrop Grumman
Bruce J. Nelson (Ph.D. 1981), inventor of the Remote procedure call for computer communications
Andrew Ng (B.S. 1997), professor at Stanford University and co-founder of Coursera
John Ousterhout (Ph.D. 1980), inventor of the Tcl scripting language
David Parnas (M.S. 1964, Ph.D. 1965), early pioneer of software engineering
Randy Pausch (Ph.D. 1988, professor), founder of Alice (software), and the man behind "The Last Lecture"
Drew D. Perkins (B.S. 1986), author of Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP)
Judith Resnik (B.S. 1970), astronaut who died in the Challenger accident during the launch of the mission STS-51-L
Mark Russinovich (B.S., Ph.D. 1994), Windows expert and technical fellow of Microsoft
Mahadev Satyanarayanan (Ph.D. 1983), principal computer architect of Coda and Andrew File System
Joshua Schachter (B.S. 1996), founder of del.icio.us
Jonathan I. Schwartz (transferred to Wesleyan University), CEO of Sun Microsystems
Harry Shum (Ph.D. 1996), corporate vice president, Microsoft
Pradeep Sindhu (Ph.D. 1982), co-founder and CTO of Juniper Networks
Javier Soltero (B.S. 1997), former founder and CEO of Hyperic, former CTO of SaaS at VMware, founder and current CEO of Acompli
Ivan Sutherland (B.S. 1959), vice president and fellow of Sun Microsystems
Shanghua Teng, professor of Computer Science at Boston University and winner of Gödel Prize
Avie Tevanian (M.S. 1985, Ph.D. 1988), former Apple CTO
Filemon Uriarte Jr. (Ph.D. 1970), former Secretary of the Department of Science and Technology of the Philippines
Vincent Van Brunt (B.S. 1967), chemical engineer
Philip Wadler (Ph.D. 1984), computer scientist, creator of Orwell and ACM Fellow
Richard Wallace (Ph.D. 1989), chairman and co-founder of the A.L.I.C.E. Artificial Intelligence Foundation; author of Artificial Intelligence Markup Language; botmaster of the chatbot A.L.I.C.E.
Earl L. Warrick, inventor of Silly Putty and developer of silicone rubber.
Red Whittaker (M.S. 1975, Ph.D. 1979), professor at CMU; led CMU teams that won second and third place in the DARPA Grand Challenge in 2005 and first place in 2007
Dan Wilson (Ph.D. 2021), biologist and science communicator
Yishan Wong (B.S. 2001), chief executive officer of Reddit Inc.

Sports

Nada Arkaji, first woman to represent Qatar at the Olympic Games
Dwight "Dike" Beede, college football coach who created and introduced the penalty flag
Howard Harpster (1928), All-American quarterback, inducted into College Football Hall of Fame, led defeat of Knute Rockne's Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Brian Harvey, distance runner, 3-time Olympic trials qualifier
Rich Lackner (1979), current Carnegie Mellon head football coach
Hans Lobert, Major League Baseball player, manager
John McGraw (born Roy Elmer Hoar), Major League Baseball player, not to be confused with hall-of-famer John McGraw
Aron Ralston (1997), mountain climber, subject of the film 127 Hours
Herb Sendek (1985), men's basketball head coach, Santa Clara, Arizona State, and North Carolina State
Lloyd Yoder (1923–26), College Football Hall of Fame tackle, NBC executive, football official (1928–52)

NFL

Merl Condit, end, Brooklyn Dodgers, Pittsburgh Steelers (1940–1946)^[32]
Bull Karcis, fullback, Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Giants (1932–1943)^[32]
Hap Moran, end, Frankford Yellow Jackets, New York Giants (1926–1933)^[32]
Bill Rieth, center, Cleveland Rams (1941–1945)^[32]
Jimmy Robertson, fullback, halfback, Akron Pros (1924–1925)^[32]
Joe Rudolph, guard, Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers (1995, 1997)
Hugh Sprinkle, tackle, Akron Pros (1923–1925)^[32]
Ray Tesser, end, Pittsburgh Pirates (1933–1934)^[32]
Alejandro Villanueva (MBA 2019), offensive tackle, Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens (2014–2021) (attended for MBA only; did not play for Carnegie Mellon)