On October 27, 2018, a shooter invaded the Tree of Life synagogue building in Pittsburgh, PA, while three congregations (Dor Hadash, New Light, and Tree of Life) were gathered for Shabbat morning services. Eleven worshippers were killed and six congregants and first responders were injured.  It was the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in United States history. 
‍
The Pittsburgh community joined together across faiths to strongly condemn this vicious anti-semitic attack. The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh created a committee whose members discussed how the community might both memorialize the victims of October 27 and ensure that such hate-fueled violence would not occur in Pittsburgh or other communities in the future.  Through their service on this committee, Carnegie Mellon’s President Emeritus Jared Cohon and Pitt’s Chancellor Emeritus Mark Nordenberg conceived the idea of building a living memorial through a research center that could develop ways to effectively stop the acceleration of extremist hate and prevent future acts of anti-isemitic, racially-motivated, and other forms of identity-based violence. Cohon and Nordenberg worked with a group of faculty members at both their universities, who contributed to the establishment of the Collaboratory Against Hate in March 2021.

The Collaboratory Against Hate honors the victims of the October 27 attack through its research mission to support innovative research aimed at understanding and minimizing the destructive consequences of extremist hate, including anti-semitic acts as well as harmful and illegal acts towards communities of color and other minoritized groups.