Carnegie Mellon University and Lockheed Martin have entered into a new master research agreement that will guide future joint research projects and enable the organizations to respond quickly to new opportunities.

Lockheed Martin and its Sikorsky subsidiary have sponsored research and supported student groups at Carnegie Mellon since 1986, including a wide range of projects in the School of Computer Science and College of Engineering. Like a number of leading companies, Lockheed Martin recently has expressed interest in partnering with Carnegie Mellon on research into artificial intelligence, which President Trump declared a national priority in an executive order signed last week.

"Carnegie Mellon and Lockheed Martin have enjoyed a long, productive relationship, and this new master research agreement will help us expand and accelerate collaborations between our organizations on a range of important research topics," said Michael McQuade, CMU's vice president for research. "We are especially pleased that Lockheed Martin is joining our CMU AI ecosystem, advancing a technology that will be critical for our nation's welfare."

In one recently approved project, Lockheed is supporting work at CMU on how AI can enhance multiagent decision-making for missions such as humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. Researchers are focusing on how to improve coordination in such settings when not all of the players have the same information or may not be fully cooperative.

"Lockheed Martin and CMU have a long and successful history of working together to solve some of the world's most complex technical challenges," said Lockheed Martin Vice President for Technology Strategy and Innovation Robie I. Samanta Roy. "Lockheed Martin is making significant investments in AI, so expanding our research partnership with CMU was a natural next step that will help us to continue accelerating the pace of innovation and create next-generation and generation-after-next technologies."

In preparation for the new research agreement, Lockheed Martin executives have visited CMU's campus to discuss potential AI and other research opportunities.

"AI will have a pervasive impact on our lives, from improving the quality of healthcare to creating smarter cities with less congestion and pollution," said Tom Mitchell, interim dean of the School of Computer Science. "AI advances over the past decade have been significant, but the coming decade promises to be even more exciting, given the increased R&D effort by companies such as Lockheed Martin."