Forbes has cited Mehdi Samadi, a Ph.D. student in the Computer Science Department, as one of its "30 Under 30 Rising Stars of Enterprise Technology," and Julia Schwarz, a Ph.D. student in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute, as one of its "30 Under 30 in Science." 

The magazine recognized Samadi for co-founding Solvvy, which enables users to search the Web simply by describing their problems in plain English. Solvvy, co-founded by Language Technologies Institute Ph.D. student Justin Betteridge, has received support from Project Olympus and placed second in CMU’s 2014 McGinnis Venture Competition.

Schwarz was recognized for co-founding a startup called Qeexo with HCII Assistant Professor Chris Harrison and entrepreneur Sang Won Lee. The company's FingerSense technology allows touchscreens to sense which part of the finger — tip, knuckle or nail — is being used for input.

Several CMU alumni also were cited by Forbes in the “30 Under 30 in Energy” category. Abe Othman, who received his Ph.D. in computer science in 2012, made the list for co-founding Building Robotics, a software-based system to help make buildings more energy efficient. Two engineering alumni, Hahna Alexander and Matt Stanton, were recognized for founding SolePower, a company that makes electricity-generating insoles for shoes. Like Solvvy, SolePower received support and guidance from SCS’s Project Olympus.