About

The Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University is a venue, a classroom, a laboratory, and a commons for atypical, trans-disciplinary, and inter-institutional research at the intersections of arts, science, technology, and culture.

Originally founded in 1985 as the Center for Art and Technology, the space was reimagined in 1989 by then College of Fine Arts Dean Lowry Burgess and School of Art Head Bryan Rogers as the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry. In 2012, Carnegie Mellon alumni Ed Frank and Sarah Ratchye’s support led to the renaming of the STUDIO and the establishment of the Frank-Ratchye Further Fund (FRFF), which now serves as a driving force behind the STUDIO’s mission, supporting dozens of creative projects each year.

Situated within the College of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University, a globally recognized top-tier research university, the STUDIO catalyzes, amplifies, and champions creative research across disciplines. It supports Carnegie Mellon students, staff, and faculty researchers in their pursuit of experimental and speculative creative inquiry. This work is carried out through the stewarding of creative research grants, collaborative initiatives, and public programming suchas workshops and lectures by invited scholars. Across all efforts, the STUDIO is committed to open-source skill sharing, risk-taking, and creative redistribution of resources. 

The STUDIO sees itself as an active part of the Pittsburgh community and recognizes that the successful realization of creative research at Carnegie Mellon depends on reciprocal, place-based relationships. It invests locally and internationally through non-extractive, mutually beneficial collaborations that support shared creative development and knowledge production.

Support For Faculty and Staff

Support For Students

How the STUDIO Supports Research College-Wide

The STUDIO provides administrative, logistical and technical support for faculty-led arts research initiatives, including assistance with fundraising, grant-writing, travel, payroll, purchasing, contracting, reporting, fiscal management and forecasting, event planning, and much more.

Faculty-led research projects, by their nature, can entail unusual requirements and periods of fitful intensity. By administering these projects, the STUDIO provides a key easement to the CFA Schools, whose business managers would otherwise be distracted from running the day-to-day business of their educational units.

Building on our hard-won knowledge of our university’s institutional policies and procedures, one of the most valuable services the STUDIO provides helping faculty, students, an staff navigate and achieve compliance by leading them to guidance from CMU’s Office of Sponsored Projects, Sponsored Project Accounting Office, Controller’s Office, Advancement Office, and Intellectual Property Office, as well as meeting the reporting requirements of outside foundations and federal agencies.

Since 2009, the STUDIO has administered projects from every School within the College of Fine Arts, and beyond. In addition to supporting research projects by CFA faculty, the STUDIO also undertakes arts-research initiatives of its own, arising from the efforts and interests of the interdisciplinary crew of students, guests and others who inhabit the STUDIO space.

The STUDIO operates its 1800-square-foot facility as a flexible and adaptable “Third Space”: a deterritorialized incubator, oasis, and collaborative workspace for students from around CMU who seek a diverse community of creative minds and relief from disciplinary compartmentalization. The STUDIO welcomes you to drop in during out open hours to get to know the Staff and researchers who gravitate to its supportive and collaborative environment.

Faculty & Staff Research Support

Frank-Ratchye Further Fund – General Project Support for Individual and Collaborative Works

Steiner Visitor Invitation Grant – Bringing Guests to your Classroom

XRTC Creative Research Grant – Extended Reality Research both Individual and Collaborative

External Grants – Apply to External Grants through the Office of Sponsored and Projects with the STUDIO as your Support Team

Student Research Support

Frank-Ratchye Further Fund – General Project Support for Individual and Collaborative Works

Steiner Visitor Invitation Grant – Bringing Guests to your Classroom

XRTC Creative Research Grant – Extended Reality Research both Individual and Collaborative

CS+X Creative Research Grant – Team Projects with SCS and non-SCS Students