Carnegie Mellon University has built the world’s first academic Cloud Lab based on the concept pioneered by two CMU alumni through their company, Emerald Cloud Lab (ECL). Researchers using the Cloud Lab order experiments over the internet and a combination of robotic instrumentation and human operators in the Cloud Lab execute experiments exactly as specified. Data is then returned to the researchers, typically within a day. A two-minute video on the ECL website gives an overview of how the Cloud Lab works and a virtual tour allows you to explore the ECL facility.

The CMU Cloud Lab is located in Pittsburgh, and it houses over 130 unique commercial chemical and life sciences instruments (see Scientific Instrumentation list). With access to the Cloud Lab, researchers have the ability to orchestrate complex workflows and run multiple experiments simultaneously, vastly improving research productivity. All samples and operations are barcoded and scanned, so everything is traceable and reproducible.

CMU is the right home for the academic Cloud Lab with world-leading expertise in areas such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, biological sciences, nucleic acid chemistry, materials science, and computational biology. The CMU community is already at the forefront of using the Cloud Lab for research and educational purposes, including use of the Cloud Lab in both undergraduate and graduate courses.

To learn more about the Cloud Lab and how to use it in your own research and teaching, please attend the information sessions. The CMU Cloud Lab team is developing a full Cloud Lab training program in partnership with ECL and the OLI team at CMU. This new inclusive, accessible, and educational training program will allow students, researchers and future Cloud Lab users from CMU and other institutions to learn how to perform scientific research in a Cloud Lab. By combining asynchronous and instructor-led interactive courses for different scientific fields, the CMU Cloud Lab training program is designed to offer a diversity of learning experiences and more flexibility toward students and researcher’s schedules.

If you have any questions, please contact Florent Letronne or Edward Dunlea.