Robert Bollinger Invests in the Future of Design Education
written by
Joe Lyons
For Robert Bollinger (CFA 1989), giving back to Carnegie Mellon University's School of Design is about more than supporting students. It's about investing in the kind of opportunity that changed his own life and remaining an active part of the community that helped shape it.
During his recent time as Innovator-in-Residence at the School of Design, Bollinger spent hours talking with students, sitting in on classes and observing studio critiques. Again and again, he heard students express an interest that felt familiar.
"Five or six students said, 'Oh, I want to be car designers' or 'I want my own car company,'" Bollinger recalled. "I was like, I have a lot to tell you about that."
Those conversations sparked an idea that has grown into a significant investment in the future of design education at Carnegie Mellon. Through a generous multi-year commitment, Bollinger is establishing two new initiatives within the School of Design: the Robert Bollinger Scholarship, an endowed merit scholarship for undergraduate product design students, and the Bollinger Mobility Studio Fund, which will support mobility and transportation-focused projects within the curriculum. Together, the two funds are designed to create opportunities for students interested in this area of design while recognizing exceptional achievement.
For Bollinger, the initiative is deeply personal.
"When I was in high school, I was going to apply to Pitt and Penn State and be an engineer to become a car engineer," he said. "But I liked drawing cars. At the last minute, I said, 'No, I want to be a designer.'"
Instead of pursuing engineering, he applied to Carnegie Mellon.
"They brought me in, and it changed my life," Bollinger said. "I have no idea what my life would have been if they hadn't accepted me."
After graduating in 1989, Bollinger built a career that combined his passion for design, engineering and transportation. He later founded Bollinger Motors, where he designed the world's first all-electric off-road truck. Today, he leads Bollinger Works, a transportation design and engineering studio based in Pittsburgh.
That sense of gratitude and possibility is something Jonathan Chapman, head of the School of Design, sees reflected throughout Bollinger's continued involvement with the school.
Robert came through our industrial design program, and he has always carried a wonderfully rebellious, disruptive instinct for how design might imagine and reimagine the world.
Head, School of Design
"But what strikes me most is his determination. I've come to believe there's no such thing as simply a big idea that either works or it doesn't; there's almost always a creative person behind it who refuses to let go until it works, and Robert is exactly that kind of person," Chapman said.
"I'm enormously grateful for his support, and just as excited to have him around the school much more, where our students, faculty and staff will feel the effect of his presence. His is a generous gift in every sense of the word: the financial commitment, of course, but also the gift of his experience, and we intend to embrace all of it."
For Bollinger, returning to campus as Innovator-in-Residence offered a new perspective on the school that helped launch his career. He found himself energized by the creativity of current students and inspired by the ways faculty continue to push design beyond traditional boundaries.
"When I first came here for Design Week and saw all the different studios, especially the freshman drawing class, it blew me away," he said. "I was just so excited to be here."
Those experiences reinforced something he already knew: students continue to arrive at Carnegie Mellon with ambitious ideas and a desire to tackle complex challenges through design.
The new mobility initiative is intended to help support that curiosity. While transportation design first drew Bollinger to Carnegie Mellon, he is careful not to define the field too narrowly. Rather than creating a traditional automotive design program, the initiative encourages students to think broadly about how design can shape the movement of people, products and resources, as well as how transportation itself can become a platform for solving larger societal challenges.
Bollinger hopes the funds will give faculty and students the freedom to explore possibilities in ways he could never anticipate.
"It's really for them to grow," he said. "I know they're going to see it in a way that I would never imagine."
The scholarship and studio fund were intentionally designed to work together. The studio creates opportunities for students to engage deeply with mobility and transportation, while the scholarship recognizes a student who pursues that work with exceptional dedication and creativity.
Bollinger also hopes the initiative will strengthen connections between current students and the growing network of Carnegie Mellon alumni working across transportation and mobility industries.
"If I was coming here and this was available, I'd be like, 'Oh my God, this is why I'm here,'" he said.
Nearly four decades after graduating, Bollinger sees his gift as part of an ongoing relationship with the School of Design. He hopes future students will find the same encouragement, inspiration and sense of possibility that Carnegie Mellon gave him and perhaps discover careers they cannot yet imagine.
Looking back, the opportunity to help shape that future feels fitting.
From 1989 when I graduated to now. I came here for car design. Isn't it funny or ironic or cool to throw something back in that area?