Established in 1990 through a significant endowment from the Bosch Group, the core mission of the Carnegie Bosch Institute (CBI) is to bring together corporate, foundation, and academic research partners to work side by side in developing new methods and solutions for challenging problems.
Who we are
A world-class academic and industry collaboration for more than 30 years, CBI is a unique alliance between Carnegie Mellon University and Bosch. Activities at CMU include hosting the prestigious Carnegie Bosch Fellowship, fostering breakthrough research by providing funding for faculty, staff, and students, and providing ongoing support for Carnegie Bosch Chaired Professorships.
What we do
- Host the CBI Fellowship, a prestigious postdoctoral program focused on AI, cybersecurity/privacy, robotics, and sustainability
- Disseminate knowledge by organizing scientific conferences, workshops, and panels in collaboration with CMU and other local and international organizations
- Promote early‑stage research and scouting by providing seed funding to CMU faculty and CMU‑affiliated organizations Support CMU faculty in pursuing government‑funded research proposals through cost‑share partnerships and matching‑fund commitments
- Support start-up programs, such as the Corporate Startup Lab at the Tepper School of Business in collaboration with Bosch Business Innovations
CBI history
Carnegie Bosch Institute has a long, rich history.
Leadership
Source: Osvaldo Casanova
These portraits of Andrew Carnegie and Robert Bosch were commissioned by CBI in 2024 to renowned Italian artist and graphic designer Osvaldo Casanova. Casanova’s portfolio includes collaborations with UEFA, Adidas Football, Zeit Magazine, and numerous other international brands.
General direction and activities of the institute are guided by the institute’s governing board. The governing board has members from both industry and university, including leadership-level representatives from both Carnegie Mellon and the Bosch Group.
The CBI president leads the institute and is responsible for the overall management, portfolio, and operations. The current CBI president is Alessandro Oltramari, who was appointed in 2024.
Alessandro Oltramari is president of the Carnegie Bosch Institute and a senior manager at Bosch Research Technology Center in Pittsburgh (USA). As an industry mentor at CBI for two years, Oltramari has dedicated himself to helping to shape the CBI fellowship program and continues to serve as a guide and mentor to the first cohort of CBI fellows.
Oltramari joined Bosch Research in 2016, after working as a research associate at Carnegie Mellon University, funded by public agencies like DARPA, NSF, ARL. At Bosch Research, he focuses on neuro-symbolic AI. His primary interest is to investigate how knowledge systems can be integrated with learning algorithms, and help humans and machines make sense of the physical and digital worlds. He holds a Ph.D. in cognitive science from the University of Trento (Italy). He had a ten-year tenure at the Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies of the Italian National Research Council (ISTC-CNR), where he maintains an associate researcher position. He spent two semesters at Princeton University in 2005 and 2006 as a visiting scholar. His research record lists about 100 publications. He received the Army Research Lab's Above and Beyond award, received multiple best paper awards and has been featured in major news media outlets such as CNET and The New Scientist.