Pittsburgh native Laura Alford graduated with a bachelor's degree in accounting and a minor in finance from Duquesne University in 2014. She spent one semester of her undergraduate studies in Beijing. It was during this time that she discovered her love for diverse foods, cultures and people from all walks of life.

Laura is a member of the Corporate Partnerships Team in the School of Computer Science Dean's Office at Carnegie Mellon. Previously, she held positions in CMU's Finance Division and the Language Technologies Institute, a department in the School of Computer Science.

In her spare time, Laura enjoys traveling, reading nonfiction literature and learning about technology.