The Simon Initiative

Named for Nobel and Turing Award laureate and CMU Professor Herbert A. Simon, the Simon Initiative harnesses Carnegie Mellon's decades of pioneering work in learning engineering. Its mission is to measurably improve student learning outcomes by translating learning science into scalable, practical applications. Through interdisciplinary research and collaboration, the initiative works to transform education—both at CMU and around the world.

The Simon Initiative brings together hundreds of faculty and researchers across CMU's colleges, departments, and labs to improve learning outcomes through learning engineering.

This interdisciplinary ecosystem spans fields like educational data science, machine learning, human-computer interaction, virtual peer learning, educational games, and the cognitive and neural sciences.

Its projects include research labs, degree programs, large-scale learning platforms like OLI, and course overhauls in foundational subjects.