United States Gift Tender

An entrepreneurial idea to expand training for 21st-century careers hatched on a working ranch in Montana and in Carnegie Mellon Universitys advanced manufacturing laboratories has sparked a 10 million gift to support mechanical engineering at the institution.Trustee and alumnus David Coulter and his wife Susan Coulter have made the transformational commitment that will endow the headship for the Department of Mechanical Engineering as well as support the construction of a new Scaife Hall which will house the department. The endowment to support the department head will provide critical funds for emerging priorities in mechanical engineering and is the first endowed headship announced in the college. The department is ranked in the top 10 in the nation by U.S. News World Report which also places the College of Engineering at No. 6.David and Susan have been outstanding university citizens for decades CMU President Farnam Jahanian said. Their latest act of generosity that will benefit the Carnegie Mellon community promises to advance one of our leading programs one that is driving manufacturing innovations for our modern world.The inspiration for the gift began on the Coulters ranch outside of Bozeman Montana where David Coulter saw the need for workers with high-tech skills to operate and maintain modern machinery related to the local mining and agriculture economy. Following a conversation with Carnegie Mellon Provost Jim Garrett then dean of the College of Engineering he began working with the NextManufacturing Center part of the colleges advanced manufacturing initiative which includes additive manufacturing or 3D printing as it is commonly known.There the centers leadership including Sandra DeVincent Wolf Jack Beuth and Anthony Rollett helped Coulter evolve his initial vision of vocational training into an expansive idea that combines traditional skill development with new technology such as additive manufacturing. A facility where locals will be able to train for manufacturing careers at the leading edge of the new economy is now under construction in Montana.The positive collaboration between the Tepper School of Business alumnus and mechanical engineering faculty became the foundation for the Coulters generous gift.At Carnegie Mellon we often speak about how our strengths in deep disciplinary knowledge truly take flight when we collaborate across disciplines Coulter said. I feel like were doing that real-time with this project and I see our involvement as an alumni prototype for these cross-disciplinary projects. Were proud to support both the Tepper School of Business as well as the College of Engineering and am excited to see what the Mechanical Engineering Department will achieve.