Carnegie Mellon University

Also referred to as CMU, this institution is located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The name of Pittsburgh's American Football team is the Steelers and that should give a clue as to the industry that helped the university's founder, Scottish-born Andrew Carnegie, become arguably the second richest man in history. But it is grass not steel which is the dominant feature of the university landscape. A large grassy area known as 'the Cut' dominates the campus view, with a separate grassy area known as 'the Mall' running perpendicular to it.

CMU has forged a reputation as a leading research university since being founded in 1900. It has seven colleges and schools which study engineering, fine arts, humanities, science, business, computer science and public policy. The university was featured prominently in the recent film Smart People which starred Sarah Jessica Parker and Dennis Quaid: their Hollywood colleagues Holly Hunter and Ted Danson attended CMU.