Home >  Business

Friday, January 11, 2002

By Dan Fitzpatrick, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Carnegie Mellon University's Don Smith is in line to be named economic development director for both CMU and the University of Pittsburgh, reinforcing a new spirit of collaboration between CMU President Jared Cohon and Pitt Chancellor Mark Nordenberg.

An official announcement is expected next week.

Smith, currently the director of CMU's Center for Economic Development, would also serve as a personal liaison between Cohon and Nordenberg.

Together, the two university leaders are trying to pair CMU's know-how in computers and information technology with Pitt's medical expertise, extending far beyond any collaboration to date between the two schools. That partnership took a new turn in November, when Cohon and Nordenberg unveiled a $600 million plan designed to improve Pittsburgh's biotechnology industry.

As part of that plan, they also helped form a nonprofit called Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse Inc., which Cohon and Nordenberg now oversee as co-chairmen. The Life Sciences Greenhouse is being asked to raise money for a multi-pronged strategy that includes the construction of new labs, the hiring of star researchers, assistance for biotechnology entrepreneurs, the development of local management talent and the attraction of new companies to the region.

When asked in November about the new collaboration between the two universities, Nordenberg said, "We already have overcome significant obstacles just in getting to this point. You don't see many examples of the kind of university-to-university cooperation we have been forging between Pitt and CMU. I think it has been a pretty substantial and sometimes draining effort even to put together the plan."

Balancing the needs of CMU and Pitt will be a tricky assignment for the 37-year-old Smith. In his current job at CMU, he raises money from the state and foundations. He also has a close relationship with Cohon, serving as special assistant to the president for economic development.

Smith, who declined comment yesterday, began his economic development career with the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce. Smith has a bachelor's in economics from Harvard University and a Ph.D. from the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management.

He also worked for Rand Corp.'s Critical Technology Institute in Washington, D.C., before returning to Pittsburgh in June 1995 to run CMU's Center for Economic Development and teach at CMU. While there, he became a fixture in local economic development circles, and helped form the Pittsburgh Digital Greenhouse, a state-funded consortium of companies, universities and nonprofits working to make the region a chip-design hub.

The Digital Greenhouse, in fact, is another example of the new bond between Nordenberg and Cohon, who have known each other for only five years.

Both serve on the board, and Nordenberg is the Digital Greenhouse's chairman.