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Carnegie Mellon Launches a Ph.D. in Computational Cultural Studies

Published Updated 5 min read

This article was originally reported in December 2025.

Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) announced in December 2025 that it is expanding “computational humanities,” a field that combines traditional humanistic research with methods such as computer vision, machine learning, network analysis and data visualization. The centerpiece is a new Ph.D. in Computational Cultural Studies in the Department of English, which CMU describes as the first doctoral program of its kind. Its first cohort started in fall 2026 (CMU News, December 15, 2025).

What CMU announced

  • A new Ph.D. program. The Ph.D. in Computational Cultural Studies combines courses in literary and cultural analysis with computational methods such as mapping, network analysis and VR-based interpretation. It is open to humanities graduates interested in computational approaches and to STEM, arts or social science majors with a strong background in humanities research. Applications for the first cohort were due January 7, 2026.
  • Faculty hiring. CMU is hiring at least two tenure- or teaching-track faculty members in computational humanities, with expertise in areas such as AI, machine learning, data modeling, computational linguistics and cultural analytics.
  • A library partnership. University Libraries is formalizing its support for data modeling, text and network analysis, visualization and machine learning, and has set aside a studio-style space in Hunt Library for workshops, events and collaboration. It is also exploring publishing peer-reviewed versions of digital projects with CMU Press, such as Six Degrees of Francis Bacon, a reconstruction of early modern British social networks whose data and open-source code are freely available.
  • Seed grants. The Humanities Center funds computational projects through seed grants. Its 2025 cohort included Uju Anya’s AfroMetaverse Digital Platform, which combines a VR multilingual education game, a social networking community and a multilingual interaction data repository.

Richard Scheines, the Bess Family Dean of the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences, said that in this work humanists “will remain solidly in the driver’s seat,” with computational tools supporting rather than replacing their questions. Chris Warren, head of the Department of English, said CMU “is ideally positioned to lead the next generation of humanities research” (CMU News).

The work behind the program

The new degree builds on more than a decade of projects at CMU, as listed in the university’s announcement:

  • Humanities Analytics minor, launched by the Department of English in 2017, with courses such as Coding for Humanists, Data Stories, Machine Learning in Practice and Statistical Graphics and Visualization.
  • Print and Probability, led by Warren with 2018 funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), which used computer vision and statistics to study 17th-century typefaces and helped identify the printers of John Milton’s Areopagitica (1644). In December 2025 it received additional funding from Schmidt Sciences through its Humanities and AI Virtual Institute.
  • Shakespeare-VR, led by Stephen Wittek of the English department, in which users perform alongside virtual actors in a recreated Elizabethan playhouse (NEH-funded in 2018).
  • A 2023 digital map of a telegraph system created by historian Edmund Russell and students, and a CMU–University of Pittsburgh study of more than 1,000 Russian-language diaries from the early 20th century through the Soviet era.
  • Historian Edda Fields-Black, director of the Humanities Center, won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize in History for COMBEE, which used computational techniques with digitized pension files of U.S. Colored Troops.

Latest update: the program as of November 2026

The Ph.D. program is now running. CMU’s computational humanities site lists three Ph.D. students in its 2026 cohort, and the English department says the program admits no more than three students a year (CMU Computational Humanities: Ph.D. students; CMU English: Computational Cultural Studies). Key details for the next admissions cycle:

  • Curriculum: coursework in literary and cultural analysis plus at least two computation-focused courses (one in English and one in another department), and a computational humanities practicum in the summer after the first year.
  • Deadline: Wednesday, January 6, 2027, for all English Ph.D. programs. The application fee is $75 (waived only for current CMU students, alumni and staff), and the GRE is not required (CMU English: application requirements).
  • Materials: a statement of interest of about 1,000 words, one writing sample (no page limit, double spaced) and three recommendation letters, at least two from faculty or recent employers.
  • Funding: the program is fully funded. The package includes a stipend of about $31,000 a year for up to six years of twelve-month support, full tuition remission, coverage of basic student health insurance for the student, funded summers, $600 a year for conference travel and $700 for job searching in the final year. Students teach one course per semester from the second year; those admitted without a master’s degree take three years of coursework and receive an extra year of funding (CMU English: Computational Cultural Studies funding).

CMU has also added two related options. A Graduate Certificate in Computational Humanities is open to Ph.D. students across the university, and a 12-month M.S. in Computational Humanities, offered as a stand-alone degree and as a 4+1 pathway for CMU undergraduates, will enroll its first cohort in fall 2027, with applications due January 6, 2027 (CMU Computational Humanities: academic programs; M.S. in Computational Humanities).

Notes for international applicants

  • English proficiency: applicants who are not exempt must submit a TOEFL iBT, IELTS (at least 7.5 in each of the four sections), Duolingo English Test (130 overall, with subscore minimums) or Cambridge English score. For the TOEFL, the department lists 102 overall with at least 25 per section for tests taken before January 21, 2026, and a minimum of 5 overall and in each section on the revised score scale for later tests. Applicants with a U.S. bachelor’s or master’s degree in English or a closely related field and a GPA of at least 3.00 are exempt (CMU English).
  • Teaching: because funded students teach from the second year, students whose first language is not English must meet CMU’s International Teaching Assistant certification requirements before any teaching assignment.
  • Very small cohorts: with at most three admits a year, the Ph.D. is extremely competitive. A strong writing sample and a clear research plan that genuinely needs both humanities and computational methods matter more than general technical skills.
  • Careers: the program trains researchers for academic jobs in the humanities as well as roles that use text and data analysis. Ask the department about placement of graduates from its existing literary and cultural studies Ph.D. before deciding.

Carnegie Mellon ranks No. 14 among national universities in the 2027 U.S. News ranking. See our Carnegie Mellon University page for admissions, cost and enrollment data.

References

#Carnegie Mellon University#Graduate Programs#interdisciplinary research

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