Each year, the School of Design holds our Design Awards program during Design Week of the spring semester. This event celebrates the academic talents of our students and their contributions to the school. Several awards are presented during the event: School of Design awards, Donors awards, and Partnership awards (organizations that the school has associations with). All of our awards are funded by generous alumni, individual donors, and organizations to honor student achievements and passions. We are grateful to all of our donors for their support.

Sapna Tayal, a senior specializing in Product Design, was recently awarded the 2025 IDSA Merit Award. Each year, IDSA student chapters across the US nominate one undergraduate senior who exemplifies excellence within the industrial design field. Representing Carnegie Mellon, Sapna will compete at the IDSA district level for national recognition. Seniors Parrish André, Stanley Ip, Veronica Michaels, Sandy Youssef, and Elin Zhou were also recognized for their product design work.

In the Making is the Carnegie Mellon University School of Design Class of 2025’s senior show. It is a cumulation of four years of work across three disciplines in design from 38 designers represented through over 250 projects.

Sophomore Arden Rusu (BDes ’27) was recently commissioned to design the poster for the International Poetry Forum’s upcoming event “Poetry of the Underworld”: Srikanth Reddy.“ The event, featuring a reading and book signing with acclaimed poet, University of Chicago professor, and poetry editor for The Paris Review, Srikanth “Chicu” Reddy, will take place on April 15th, 2025 at 6:30pm at the Carnegie Library Lecture Hall.

Assistant Professor Kelsey Elder has been named the recipient of the 2024 Communication Design Educators Award in the Teaching category by Design Incubation—an honor that celebrates his innovative contributions to design education and the continued impact of his course Variable, a typographic journey that merges code, culture, and critical making.

School of Design alumnus Charles Johnson (BFA ’87) served as a juror for the prestigious iF Design Awards, bringing his extensive expertise to one of the world’s most renowned design competitions. With experience as both an award-winning entrant and a judge, Johnson offered a unique perspective on this year’s event, highlighting emerging trends, key insights, and the importance of thoughtful, real-world design solutions.

Professor Emeritus Mark Mentzer, a faculty member and staple of Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Design, has announced his retirement after an incredible 49-year career at CMU. An exemplary educator and prolific artist, Mark Mentzer was an integral part of the educations of generations of designers all while perfecting his own craft and practice.

ChaoVR, a virtual reality game designed by School of Design Master of Design student Christina Yang (MDes ’25), has been fully funded by the Kenner Room, part of the Department of Languages, Cultures & Applied Linguistics at CMU. ChaoVR introduces users to the Chaoshan dialect and culture through exploring tangible cultural heritage and activities with cultural significance and is on target to be on display by August 2025.

Four Master of Design (MDes) students –Shivani Kannan, Grace Zhu, Jo Jiang, and Freya Yang–from the School of Design have been awarded a Silver Muse Design Award for their work on the CM-You Board, an interactive installation at the David and Susan Coulter Welcome Center. The CM-YOU Board, developed in collaboration with the Provost’s Office, the School of Design, the Joseph Ballay Center for Design Fusion, CDFD, and Marketing and Communications, reimagines how prospective students experience CMU’s interdisciplinary culture through a hands-on, personalized display.

Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Design alumnus John Henley has been awarded the prestigious SJA Fellowship, a recognition that not only honors his creative work but also reaffirms the impact of design as a tool for deeper understanding and change.