Obama visited Carnegie Mellon

President Barack Obama made a stop in Pittsburgh Friday at Carnegie Mellon’s National Robotics… President Barack Obama made a stop in Pittsburgh Friday at Carnegie Mellon’s National Robotics Engineering Center to discuss the importance of manufacturing to the U.S. economy.

Obama toured several different venues at CMU to view state-of-the-art inventions such as a high-tech combat vehicle and newly created robots that will be used for manufacturing jobs.

He praised the school and the city for being innovators in manufacturing and helping to lead the way in new technology in a continual effort to revive the nation’s economy.

“Carnegie Mellon is a great example of what it means to move forward. At its founding, no one would have imagined that a trade school for the sons and daughters of steelworkers would one day become … one of the region’s largest employers and a global research university,” Obama said at the event.

“And yet innovations led by your professors and your students have created more than 300 companies and 9,000 jobs over the past 15 years — companies like Carnegie Robotics.”

His stop in Pittsburgh was part of a national effort called the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership, whose goal it is to help unify industry, universities and the federal government to aid the country’s interaction in the global market.

President Obama — whose plan is to put more than $500 million into the project — was joined by numerous members of the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership as well as Pittsburgh officials such as Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato and Sen. Bob Casey.

“It seems like every time I’m here I learn something,” Obama said. “So for those of you who are thinking about Carnegie Mellon — it’s a terrific place, and you guys are doing just great work.”