Vice President Kamala Harris Delivers Economic Address at Carnegie Mellon

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president of the United States, delivered a speech setting forth her plan for economic policy before the Economic Club of Pittsburgh(opens in new window) Wednesday at Carnegie Mellon University’s Philip Chosky Theater. 

Carnegie Mellon has hosted candidates for every presidential campaign cycle since 2000. These political events enhance the university’s culture of civic engagement(opens in new window), and underscore the impact of the work done throughout the CMU community on the nation.

“There’s an old saying that the best way to predict the future is to invent it,” Harris said at the event, attended by more than 300 business leaders from the Pittsburgh region, and several students from CMU’s David A. Tepper School of Business(opens in new window). “That is the story of the steel city – the city that helped build the middle class, birth America’s labor movement, empower the rise of American manufacturing; and the city where Allen Newell and Herbert Simon launched the first AI research hub at Carnegie Mellon.”

Carnegie Mellon has helped lead the transformation of Pittsburgh from industrial steel town into a keystone for modern tech. The university has spurred regional development through efforts like its National Robotics Engineering Center, the advanced manufacturing and workforce development work at Mill 19 at Hazelwood Green and the under-construction Robotics Innovation Center.

Harris paid homage to the foundational researchers whose early work in artificial intelligence helped spawn entirely new fields like machine learning. 

The vice president’s address followed a visit to CMU last week from Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who sat with President Farnam Jahanian for his President’s Lecture Series. Pichai shared his own thoughts on the influence of Simon, Newell, Carnegie Mellon and the City of Pittsburgh.

Harris’ campaign stop came with just 41 days until the Nov. 5 election. 

This fall, Carnegie Mellon is providing community programing around topics related to democracy and the election through its Deeper Conversations Initiative. On Nov. 5, Carnegie Mellon will host its Democracy Day, and no classes will be held before 5 p.m.