Sasha Kotarski honored by Women’s Press Club of Pittsburgh
Sasha Kotarski, communications and media manager for Pitt's School of Computing and Information, was one of three inaugural winners of the Helen Fallon Young Communicator Award at the Women’s Press Club of Pittsburgh’s 71st Annual Dinner and Scholarship Awards on Nov. 12.
The award recognizes outstanding young women in journalism and communications. Kotarski (A&S ’18) will use the award funds to complete the American Marketing Association’s certificate in management skills.
“This certificate will build upon my current skillset and help me in the next phase of my career. In the last two years, I’ve taken on more project and team management roles in my current position, which has given me a sense of fulfilment and confidence. I want to ensure I’m staying current with best practices and becoming the best leader and collaborator I can be,” said Kotarski, who has also earned a Master of Arts in strategic communications and public relations from Sacred Heart University.
Photo: Kotarski (second from left) with the two other awardees and Helen Fallon (right)
Pitt places No. 32 on Time and Statistica’s Best Colleges for Future Leaders list
Time magazine and Statistica’s Best Colleges for Future Leaders list placed Pitt at No. 32, up seven spots from last year.
It’s perhaps no surprise Pitt would be identified as a place that nurtures future leaders, as the University counts Nobel Prize winners, hall-of-fame football players, prominent politicians and other leaders among its roughly 350,000 alumni.
The Time rankings were created by compiling a list of around 4,800 influential people in business, government and society and by using publicly accessible sources to identify the companies and colleges that played a role in their career.
The U.S.-based organizations with the most CV mentions relative to their size earned a place on the list, which features 125 universities and 175 companies that Time says played the biggest role in shaping these leaders.
Pitt ranked No. 12 among public universities, and the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business is noted as a relevant subsidiary.
Pitt’s circular economy program honored with National Innovations in Education Award
The National Sustainability Society has recognized Pitt’s Circular Economy Program with the Innovations in Sustainability Education Team Award, honoring co-developers and program leaders Melissa Bilec, Gena Kovalcik and Götz Veser in partnership with Covestro.
“We’re grateful to be recognized by the National Sustainability Society for our Circular Economy Program and inspired every day by Pitt’s talented students,” said Melissa Bilec, co-director for the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation and George M. and Eva M. Bevier Endowed Chair of the Swanson School of Engineering’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. “Designed for scalability and long-term impact, the program is a national model for universities looking to integrate circularity competencies, industry partnerships, and hands-on learning to prepare graduates for a circular economy.”
Launched in 2022 by the Mascaro Center, the Circular Economy Program tackles a key global challenge: More than 90% of the 100 billion tons of materials entering the economy each year become waste after one use. The program equips students to rethink how products are made and used so that materials stay in circulation rather than becoming waste.
The program offers two pathways: the Circular Economy Graduate Certificate, open to graduate students and professionals across disciplines, and the Covestro Circular Economy PhD Fellowship, which supports research into technologies, policies and markets that keep materials in use and out of landfills. Coursework spans engineering, business, law, environmental assessment, consumer behavior and supply-chain strategy, bridging traditional academic boundaries.
Students also complete a required capstone course and industry internship that puts classroom learning into practice. Current fellows are researching topics that reflect academic rigor and industry relevance, including molecular recycling of plastics, seaweed-based biodegradable materials and ethical supply chains.
15 Pitt researchers named to Clarivate’s annual Highly Cited list
Fifteen Pitt faculty members have been named to this year’s Highly Cited Researchers list, an annual compilation of researchers whose work has made a significant impact across a broad range of disciplines.
Published by the data and analytics company Clarivate, the list highlights the small number of researchers across the world who have authored papers that rank in the top 1% by citation in the Web of Science, a collection of journal citations managed by Clarivate that spans the past 11 years. The list is further refined using other quantitative metrics as well as qualitative analysis and expert judgment.
The list is a celebration of exceptional individual researchers, according to David Pendlebury, head of research analytics at Clarivate’s Institute for Scientific Information. “They exemplify excellence in their research as well as integrity in their publication and citation practices.”
The 2025 list included 6,868 people from more than 1,300 institutions in 60 countries and regions. U.S. researchers accounted for the higest percentage — 37.4% — of the global citations, with 2,669 people on this year’s list.
“These researchers continue to shape the future of science, technology and academia globally and deliver innovation that drives societal progress,” Pendlebury said.
The Pitt researchers who made the list are:
Derek C. Angus, School of Medicine
Cornelius J. Clancy, School of Medicine
Greg M. Delgoffe, School of Medicine
Yohei Doi, School of Medicine
John A. Kellum, School of Medicine
John M. Kirkwood, School of Medicine
Minh-Hong Nguyen, School of Medicine
Ryan K. Shields, School of Medicine
Dario A. A. Vignali, School of Medicine
Victor L. Villemagne, School of Medicine
Simon Watkins, School of Medicine
Sally E. Wenzel, School of Medicine
Valerian E. Kagan, School of Public Health
Yulia Y. Tyurina, School of Public Health
Guofeng Wang, Swanson School of Engineering
Correction: This article previously listed 16 researchers, including Ming-Te Wang, who is no longer affiliated with Pitt.
— Brandie Jefferson
Mathematics Professor Ivan Yotov receives Humboldt Research Award
Ivan Yotov, professor in Pitt's Department of Mathematics, has received the Humboldt Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany.
The Humboldt Research Award is conferred to internationally recognized researchers in recognition of their entire academic record to date.
The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation sponsors distinguished international scientists and scholars regardless of their academic discipline or nationality and maintains an international network of academic cooperation and trust.
HR’s Tonia Suber inducted into City League Sports Hall of Fame
Tonia Suber, Pitt’s assistant vice chancellor of employee and labor relations, was inducted into the Pittsburgh City League High School All Sports Hall of Fame on Dec. 6
The event, held at the Riverside Landing Event Center in Oakmont and sponsored by State Sen. Jay Costa, UPMC and Diversified Municipal Services, honors former high school athletes and raises awareness of Achieving Greatness, Inc., a nonprofit agency that sponsors summer programs and athletic clinics for local youth.
Suber is a Pittsburgh native and Pitt alumna (B.S., '90), where she was a member of the 1989 and 1990 Women’s Big East Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field Championship teams.
Suber was introduced to competitive running as a child participating in Youth Opportunity Unlimited summer camps offered near her North Side home. She was a three-time “Best in City” winner for the Jesse Owens Youth Olympics and participated in the national competitions held at UCLA. As a student at the former Oliver High School, she was MVP in track and basketball and received the Scholar’s Diploma and the Leadership Scholastic Medal.
Amy Schroth named director of development for Student Affairs
Amy Schroth is now Pitt’s inaugural director of development for student affairs, the University’s Division of Student Affairs and Office of Philanthropic and Alumni Engagement announced Nov. 6.
Schroth brings to the new role a deep commitment to fundraising for initiatives that enhance the student experience, as well as a proven record of strategic leadership and relationship-building across the University community.
As a valued member of PAE’s Strategic Initiatives team for the past three years, Amy has collaborated with interdisciplinary partners across campus and has combined data-driven strategy with compelling storytelling to align donor passions with institutional goals.
During her three years as assistant director of development of strategic initiatives, Schroth collaborated with interdisciplinary partners across campus — including the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the Office of Engagement and Community Affairs and the Division of Student Affairs — and has combined data-driven strategy with compelling storytelling to align donor passions with institutional goals. She served for five years as Pitt Business’ manager of constituent relations and in fundraising and previously held engagement roles at the Children’s Home of Pittsburgh and Lemieux Family Center and the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh.
“In her new capacity as director of development for student affairs, Amy will continue to build on this foundation — fostering collaboration, creativity and strategic impact to further strengthen philanthropic support for Pitt's students,” said Vice Provost of Student Affairs Carla Panzella in Monday’s announcement. “Amy will provide important leadership and coordinate alumni outreach with PAE as we continue to elevate our fundraising efforts through enhanced donor engagement and strategic campaign development to build sustainable support for our mission.”
Dietrich School's Grace Kenney wins New Investigator Grant from Kaufman Foundation
Grace Kenney, assistant professor in the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Chemistry, has received a New Investigator Grant from the Charles E. Kaufman Foundation. These grants are awarded to researchers at the beginning of their independent careers who are pursuing basic scientific research.
Research in the Kenney lab uses biochemical, computational and microbiological approaches to explore new areas of microbial chemistry. Microbes are talented chemists, using enzymes to carry out challenging chemical reactions and frequently surpassing their human counterparts in their ability to perform these reactions with high precision. The complex compounds they produce have also been an ongoing source of antibiotics and chemotherapeutic agents.
In even the best-understood microbes, however, many enzymes, pathways and compounds remain entirely unstudied. Kenney’s group is mapping these uncharted areas of microbial chemistry, with a particular focus on identifying families of enzymes that use metals to carry out complex chemical transformations and on exploring families of natural products that are poorly detected by current techniques.
Before joining the Dietrich School faculty, Kenney was a Merck Fellow of the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, pursuing postdoctoral research at Harvard University. Kenney’s doctoral research at Northwestern University was supported by an American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowship and was preceded by a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Justin Kitzes wins Bezos Earth Fund AI Grand Challenge grant
Justin Kitzes, associate professor in the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Biological Sciences, was part of a team selected as one of 15 global awardees in the Bezos Earth Fund’s AI for Climate and Nature Grand Challenge.
In partnership with the National Audubon Society and WildMon, Kitzes will use the $2 million award to deepen and extend the work of combining community-based conservation with artificial intelligence tools that identify birds by their songs. The project equips local partners with autonomous recording units — small devices that continuously record the natural soundscape, capturing bird songs and other wildlife calls. These recordings are analyzed using AI in a process known as passive acoustic monitoring, which helps track species’ presence and abundance trends over time.
By listening to nature in this way, Kitzes and his partners will gather vital information about how wildlife is responding to climate and habitat changes — helping communities better manage their lands and strengthen conservation across the Tropical Andes.
Launched in 2024, the Bezos Earth Fund’s AI for Climate and Nature Grand Challenge is a $100 million initiative designed to demonstrate how AI can drive measurable progress for people and nature. The initiative supports innovators developing responsible, science-based AI solutions that accelerate environmental action and connects them with resources and mentorship from leading technology partners, including AWS, Google, NVIDIA and Microsoft.
Read more about Kitzes’ work on the Dietrich School site.
Atilla Soran named president-elect of the Senologic International Society
Atilla Soran, clinical professor of surgery in Pitt's School of Medicine, was named president-elect of the Senologic International Society (SIS), a federation of more than 100 scientific organizations dedicated to advancing the study of breast health care worldwide. Soran currently serves as the organization’s general secretary.
A world-renowned breast surgeon, Soran is globally recognized as an expert in surgery for metastatic breast cancer, granulomatous mastitis and lymphedema. In addition to his work with SIS, he has an extensive history of participating in scientific research committees, including the American Society of Breast Disease, the American Society of Clinical Oncology Breast Cancer Symposium Program and the National Consortium of Breast Centers International Program.
Soran earned a medical degree from the University of Ankara in Turkey and completed residencies at St. Mary's Hospital in London and Ankara Numune Teaching and Research Hospital in Turkey. He was also a fellow at Pitt’s School of Medicine.
Hillman Library earns LEED Platinum certification
The U.S. Green Building Council honored Hillman Library with LEED Platinum certification, the highest possible rank for its globally recognized green building rating system. Hillman Library’s designation marks the 19th Pitt building to earn LEED certification since 2005.
Achieving this feat required collaboration among the University Library System (ULS), the Office of Planning, Design, and Construction, and Pitt Sustainability. Teams worked to ensure that sustainability goals were integrated into every stage, from planning and materials selection to construction and operations. The nine-year, multiphase renovation was an opportunity for the University to reinvent the space to meet the needs of the moment and future.
“Rejuvenating existing buildings fosters sustainability. The Hillman Library renovation upcycled a 1968 brutalist repository of books into a 2025 resource for engaging student study,” said Gina Bleck, vice chancellor for planning, design and construction. “It offers a glimpse into what’s possible at Pitt and how we envision enhancing the rich history of Oakland.”
Hillman’s final LEED score of 87 points is third-highest for a Pennsylvania project, matching three other projects. The renovation maxed out points for recycled and regional materials, construction waste management, innovation and energy optimization. It also features two green roof patios and a new rooftop solar array, which will provide 7.4% of the building’s annual electricity.
“Biophilic design underscores Hillman Library’s renovation, ensuring the building celebrates nature with plants, sunlight, views, natural materials and patterns, and even space utilization,” said Aurora Sharrard, assistant vice chancellor for sustainability.
ULS Director Kornelia Tancheva shared that this is, “yet another testament to the University’s commitment to our students and a sustainable future for all of us.”
Hillman’s LEED Platinum plaque and certification ceremony will be held later this year.
Pitt among 15 to join the Axiom Space University Alliance
Pitt is one of 15 academic and research institutions who have joined the inaugural cohort of the Axiom Space University Alliance, a new initiative that plans to advocate for scientific opportunities in microgravity research, technology, research and development, and commercial innovation in low-Earth orbit (LEO).
Launched by space flight and infrastructure company Axiom Space, the alliance will also help identify research gaps and opportunities that can shape national and international research priorities.
Afshin Beheshti, director of Pitt’s Center for Space Biomedicine and associate director of the McGowan Institute of Regenerative Medicine, said he is looking forward to working with other institutions aligned around common challenges and opportunities.
“This is an exciting opportunity for Pitt and other leaders in the area to bring space science and manufacturing to the next level,” Beheshti said. “I think we’re going to produce some really great science and projects.”
A pillar of Pitt Space, the Space Biomedicine program integrates space biology with advanced biomedical research. Its mission is to develop innovative technologies to safeguard human health and optimize performance in space, while also translating the knowledge gained from space research into solutions for terrestrial health care.
The program also promotes education and outreach in space biomedicine.
As a member of the alliance, Pitt Space and collaborators are focusing on advancing space science during a critical moment, as it transitions from government-led to commercially owned and operated space stations.
“From lifesaving medical innovations to advanced materials and technologies, microgravity research has driven decades of scientific breakthroughs,” said Axiom Space Chief Science Officer Lucie Low. “And now as we transition from government-led to commercially operated space infrastructure, it’s critical that we preserve and expand access to LEO for research that can benefit us all on Earth as well as continue to advance human exploration further.”
By
Brandie Jefferson
RJ Thompson wins Dr. Tom Baker Community Leader Award
RJ Thompson has been selected as the 2025 Dr. Tom Baker Community Leader Award by Get Involved, Inc. The award, named after a longtime Pittsburgh Public Schools teacher, recognizes passionate and positive community impact.
Thompson is a teaching associate professor in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences’ Department of English. He has served as an adjunct professor in the Pitt School of Business as well as manager of digital strategy in Pitt School of Health Sciences Strategic Communications and director of digital marketing for the Pitt School of Business. Thompson is also co-principal and creative strategist for +Public, a Pennsylvania-based social enterprise that focuses on cultivating community and economic development, among a number of non-profit and institute leadership roles.
Get Involved! Inc. provides leadership and development programs and events for students and young professionals. The organization will honor Thompson at an award ceremony on Nov. 5 at Velum Fermentation in Pittsburgh.
Pitt named one of the best schools for men in nursing
For the fourth year running, the American Association for Men in Nursing (AAMN) has recognized the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing as one of the nation’s top schools for recruiting, retaining and providing “a supportive educational environment” for male nursing students while simultaneously promoting the contributions of male nurses in the workforce.
Pitt is one of 16 schools nationwide designated as a Best School for Men in Nursing by AAMN in 2025. Fourth-year nursing student Quinn Eckert traveled to Orlando, Florida, to accept the award on Pitt’s behalf at the 50th Annual AAMN Conference Oct. 16. During the awards dinner, Eckert was also honored with the 2025 Outstanding Student Award, which recognizes the achievements of one undergraduate nursing student each year.
Eckert has helped establish Pitt as a top choice for male students looking to pursue nursing careers as president of Pitt’s Men in Nursing Club. Created in 2023, the student-led club is “committed to providing a supportive community for male nursing students and professionals to connect, share experiences and offer mentorship to one another.” Under Eckert’s leadership, the group has also made efforts to bring more male nursing students to Pitt.
“Receiving this award demonstrates the steps we have made as a club to recruit and promote male nursing students,” Eckert says.
The AAMN uses a variety of criteria to select the Best Schools for Men in Nursing, including a school’s efforts to increase gender diversity in the student and faculty bodies; publish materials and provide programs that highlight men’s contributions to nursing; and provide opportunities for male students to connect with male role models, such as faculty members or nurses in a clinical setting. The organization also considers a school’s number of male graduates, percentage of admitted male students and percentage of male faculty and staff members, among other data.
Currently, 13.1% of students at Pitt Nursing identify as males (12.9% of undergraduate students and 16.9% of graduate students), up from 12.5% in 2024.
— Emily Nunez
Frederick Honors College has three new experts in residence
Pitt's Frederick Honors College has announced three new experts in residence, the second cohort of a program aimed at connecting students to interdisciplinary experts for mentorship and collaboration. Last year brought a writer, an artist and a diplomat to campus — this year’s cohort adds new expertise in entrepreneurship and finance.
Charles Mansfield III, an expert in entrepreneurship and technology, is the startups strategist in residence. As the startup ecosystem manager at Innovate Pittsburgh, Mansfield builds fluency with data assets, maintains databases reflecting Pittsburgh’s startup ecosystem and supports strategic communication efforts. He has a bachelor’s degree in behavioral economics from Carnegie Mellon University and extensive experience in research, communication and entrepreneurship. He’s also a board member at CMU Tech and Entrepreneurship and has served as a Venture Scout at Legendary Ventures since April 2024.
Visual artist Chris McGinnis is the artist in residence. As the founding director of Rivers of Steel Arts, he leads a dedicated team of creatives working to re-imagine Pittsburgh’s urban-industrial legacy through the lens of visual art and placemaking. As an artist, McGinnis draws inspiration from America’s industrial story and notions of progress understood through the lens of technology, social economics and cultural identity. His artwork has been shown at more than a dozen solo exhibitions and more than fifty group exhibitions in recent years.
Morgan Lee, a wealth manager with Pittsburgh-based investment advisor Confluence Financial Partners, is the wealth manager in residence. In his role, Morgan works closely with individuals, families, business owners and retirement plans to help them define and achieve their financial goals. He brings broad experience in financial planning, investment management, tax strategy, estate planning and insurance planning, allowing him to deliver comprehensive guidance tailored to each client’s needs. Morgan earned his Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and strategic communications from Miami University in 2018.
National Jurist names Pitt Law a best value law school
PItt's School of Law has been named one of the nation’s Best Value Law Schools by National Jurist magazine, earning the No. 21 rank in the United States — its first-ever appearance on the prestigious list.
The National Jurist Best Value Law Schools rankings evaluate institutions that deliver strong outcomes for graduates while maintaining affordability and access. The publication highlighted Pitt Law’s exceptional employment and bar-passage results, affordability and commitment to experiential education.
National Jurist also highlighted Pitt Law’s focus on experiential education as key to its strong outcomes and reputation, as well as the school’s Office for Public Interest, which guides students pursuing work in civil rights, democracy protection and nonprofit law.
“It’s about return on investment — for students, their careers and the communities they will serve,” Dickinson said.
Read the full story on the School of Law website.
Douglas White will lead Pitt’s new Institute for Bioethics
Douglas B. White, vice chair and professor of critical care medicine in Pitt's School of Medicine, has been named as the inaugural director of Pitt’s newly formed Institute for Bioethics.
The institute, which has been in development since 2024, will serve all six schools of the health sciences and replace the former Center for Bioethics and Health Law. It will focus on advancing scholarship and education related to ethical dilemmas that arise in health sciences fields and equipping health professionals with the advanced communication skills needed to deliver humanistic patient care.
White has also been appointed as associate dean of bioethics and humanism in medicine in the School of Medicine. In this role, he will likewise help ensure Pitt’s medical education and graduate research training programs prepare students to emerge as physicians and scientists equipped with the highest order of ethical knowledge and humanistic communication skills.
White holds the Chair for Ethics in Critical Care Medicine and serves as founding director of Pitt Medicine’s Program on Ethics and Decision Making in Critical Illness — the first program nationwide dedicated to the study of ethical issues that arise in the care of critically ill patients. White received his medical degree and completed a residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine at University of California, San Francisco. While there, he also completed a master’s degree in epidemiology and biostatistics, a fellowship in bioethics, and served as an assistant professor of medicine before joining the University of Pittsburgh in 2009.
An expert on end-of-life decision making for patients with acute life-threatening illnesses, White’s research has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health and private foundations since 2005. He has published more than 200 peer-reviewed research articles and is an elected member of the Association of American Physicians, American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Hastings Center for Bioethics, which conducts interdisciplinary original research on ethical issues in health, science and technology. White has received numerous awards for his scholarship, including the Grenvik Family Award for Ethics from the Society of Critical Care Medicine.
In an Oct. 7 announcement, Anantha Shekhar, senior vice chancellor for the health sciences and John and Gertrude Petersen Dean of the School of Medicine, thanked Lisa S. Parker, the Dickie, McCamey and Chilcote Professor of Bioethics and professor of human genetics in the School of Public Health, for her work directing the Center for Bioethics and Health Law since 2016. Parker will bring her expertise to a new role as director of the institute’s Center for Research Ethics.
2 Pitt Law students take part in a national Jewish graduate student summit in DC
Pitt School of Law graduate students Cooper Feiner (A&S ’24) and Amallia Rascoe took part in an annual conference for national Jewish graduate student leaders in Washington, D.C.
The invitation-only Miller Family Partners Summit, hosted by the Jewish Grad Organization, brought together leaders of Jewish graduate student organizations in late August for leadership training, discussions and networking.
Rascoe and Feiner are the president and business manager, respectively, of Pitt Law’s Jewish Law Students Association. This was Feiner’s second year attending the conference, and both said they hope to grow upcoming programming for the association, including Shabbat dinners and a speaker series.
Dietrich School's Clark Chilson publishes book about being nonreligious in Japan
Clark Chilson, an associate professor in the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Religious Studies, published “On Being Nonreligious in Contemporary Japan” with Bloomsbury earlier this year.
An expert on religion and culture in East Asia, Chilson lived in Japan for 13 years before joining Pitt in 2006. He spent those years studying Buddhism and popular religion in the country.
In his new book, Chilson and co-author Ian Reader examine the reasons behind the large number of people in contemporary Japan who identify as nonreligious. The pair also explores broader declines in religion in Japan and depictions of religion in the country’s media and popular culture.
3 Pitt alumni earned 2025 C-Suite Awards
Three Pitt alumni have been honored among the region’s top executives in the Pittsburgh Business Times’ 2025 C-Suite Awards.
The annual honor celebrates executives in the Greater Pittsburgh region who have demonstrated exceptional leadership, business acumen and strategic vision while guiding their organizations through complex environments.
Pitt’s award recipients are:
- Jamie McMahon (EDUC ’22G), CEO of the CCAC Educational Foundation and former director of development for UPMC Mercy Hospital and Pitt’s Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
- Ken Gormley (A&S ’77), president of Duquesne University
- Chronis Manolis (PHARM ’80), senior vice president of pharmacy and chief pharmacy officer at UPMC Health Plan
The awardees were recognized during an Oct. 15 celebration at Acrisure Stadium.
— Donovan Harrell