Carnegie Mellon University and Emerald Cloud Lab (ECL) have entered into a partnership to build the world’s first cloud lab in an academic setting. The remote-controlled lab will provide a universal platform for artificial intelligence-driven experimentation and revolutionise how academic laboratory research and education are done, accelerating the pace of discovery as part of Carnegie Mellon’s $250 million investment in state-of-the-art science facilities.
The Carnegie Mellon University Cloud Lab will be based on the commercial cloud lab platform created by the San Francisco-based ECL. Founded by Carnegie Mellon alumni Brian Frezza and DJ Kleinbaum, ECL has created the only remotely operated research facility that can handle all aspects of daily lab work, from experiment design to data acquisition and analysis.
Also Read: Data Professionals To Watch
“Carnegie Mellon University is a world leader in artificial intelligence, machine learning, data science and the foundational sciences. There is no better place to be home to the world’s first university cloud lab,” said Rebecca W. Doerge, the Glen de Vries Dean of the Mellon College of Science at Carnegie Mellon. “Bringing this technology, which I’m proud to say was created by CMU’s alumni, to our researchers and students is part of our commitment to creating science for the future.”
The CMU Cloud Lab will be built on top of the ECL software architecture, the result of $100 million of technical development over 10 years. Additionally, ECL will collaborate with Carnegie Mellon on the facility’s design and construction, equipment installation, and laboratory management and operations. Together, ECL and the university have already begun to train faculty and students who wish to use the lab when it opens.
“We are truly honored that Carnegie Mellon is giving us the chance to demonstrate the impact that access to a cloud lab can make for its faculty, students and staff,” said Brian Frezza, co-founder and co-CEO of ECL. “We couldn’t think of a better way to give back to the university than by giving them a platform that redefines how a world-class institution conducts life sciences research.”
The CMU Cloud Lab will be built in a Carnegie Mellon-owned building on Penn Avenue, adjacent to Bakery Square in Pittsburgh. Construction on the $40 million project is expected to begin this fall and be completed in summer 2022.
