Accolades

Caitlin Bruce, associate professor in Pitt’s Department of Communication in the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, was awarded $60,000 from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts in support of her Hemispheric Conversations: Urban Art Project (HCUAP). 

HCUAP uses urban art as a platform for larger discussions about just development, transnational aesthetic movements, youth activism and postindustrial identity. The project offers free youth street art workshops with local Pittsburgh artists, including Juliandra Jones, Marie Mejia, Maggie Lynn Negrete and Alison Zapata.  

The Andy Warhol Foundation manages an innovative and dynamic grants program, which, to date, has given nearly $300 million in cash grants to more than 1,000 arts organizations around the country and abroad and has donated 52,786 works of art to 322 institutions worldwide.

The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) announced that Pitt Professor Fang Peng, an internationally acclaimed power electronics researcher, is among the newest cohort elected to the academy. The NAE is recognizing Fang for “contributions to the development of high-powered electronic technologies for advanced power grid and energy conversion.”

Peng, RK Mellon Endowed Chair Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Director of the Energy GRID Institute at Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering, along with the 128 new members and 22 international members will be inducted at the NAE Annual Meeting Oct. 5-6 in Washington, D.C.

Peng joins Anna Balazs, Distinguished Professor of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, and Michele V. Manuel, U. S. Steel Dean of Engineering, as Pitt’s NAE members.

“Fang is a phenomenal researcher in modernization of electric power systems, which has tremendous national security importance for our nation,” Dean Manuel said. “His career contributions to electric power research and new collaboration with our diverse grid programs have helped to establish Pitt and the Swanson School as one of the nation’s leaders in this critical field.”

Peng is a well-respected author in electric power research and leader in power conversion technology, with more than 400 publications in IEEE Xplore and 73,000 citations and an h-index of 109. Prior to Pitt, he served as a Distinguished Professor of Engineering at Florida State University and was part of its Center for Advanced Power Systems. His research on multilevel inverters for static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) applications provided essential power electronics tools for improving power flow capability and dynamic stability of transmission and distribution networks. Many STATCOM installations are still widely used across the world and incorporate his patented innovations. 

Professor Alan George, R&H Mickle Endowed Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering, noted that Peng builds upon a 131-year legacy of electric power research at Pitt. “It is fitting that Peng receives this honor in the program founded in 1893 in part by George Westinghouse, one of the pioneers and original drivers for electric power. We are incredibly proud that his name will be part of the future history of our department and Pitt.”

Peng’s achievements span more than 30 years with his most recent being named to the National Academy of Inventors in 2022. His career in industry led him to his fruitful exploration into research. From 2000 to 2018, Peng served as a University Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University, the most prestigious ranking designated by the university’s Board of Trustees. He also led projects for the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and as the principal scientist with the Power Electronics and Electric Machinery Research Center.

Yuan Liu, assistant professor in the Department of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and Juan Taboas, associate professor in the Department of Oral Biology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine, with a secondary appointment in bioengineering, have been elected as Senior Members of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).

NAI Senior Members are active faculty, scientists, and administrators from NAI member institutions who have demonstrated remarkable innovation-producing technologies that have brought, or aspire to bring, real impact on the welfare of society. They also have growing success in patents, licensing and commercialization, while educating and mentoring the next generation of inventors.

“Drs. Liu and Taboas epitomize what is possible at Pitt when researchers who are pioneers in their fields of scientific discovery are determined to go the final mile for impact through innovation commercialization,” said Evan Facher, University of Pittsburgh vice chancellor for innovation and entrepreneurship and associate dean for commercialization at the School of Medicine.

Liu is currently the principal investigator or co-investigator on more than $10 million in research grants focused on developing s mall-molecule therapies for a range of diseases. Three patents have been issued on discoveries made by Liu with many others in progress.

The first of two companies she co-founded, Generian Pharmaceuticals Inc., spun out of the University of Pittsburgh in 2019. In 2022, Generian entered an agreement with a subsidiary of Astellas Pharma Inc. to discover and develop novel small molecules for undruggable therapeutic targets using Generian’s proprietary drug discovery platform for diseases that have limited treatment options.

Along with colleagues in the Pitt Aging Institute, Liu launched a second company in 2022, Coloma Therapeutics, to develop targeted protein degradation therapies. Two molecules have been advanced to pre-clinical development focused on prostate cancer and breast cancer.

She was named the 2024 recipient of the Pitt Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship’s Emerging Innovator Award, which recognizes an early-to-mid-career faculty member who has demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to achieving impact for their research through commercial translation.

Liu also mentors the next generation of innovators at Pitt and in Western Pennsylvania by coordinating the Aging Institute’s participation in the Hillman Academy, a summer training program for Pittsburgh-area high school students interested in STEM education.

Taboas is a multidisciplinary scientist and mentor with appointments in the Department of Bioengineering in the Swanson School of Engineering, the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine and the Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute.

He currently focuses on disease-mitigating and regenerative therapies for craniofacial and skeletal tissues such as bone, cartilage and tooth pulp. Four patents have been issued on his discoveries with several others in progress. His passion is creating regenerative medicine therapies for children and underserved communities, and his lab is developing stem-cell-infused hydrogels to stimulate regeneration of growth plates in children who have suffered trauma. His lab adapted the technology to serve the need for regenerating tooth pulp in children suffering facial trauma and carious lesions.

Working with the Office of Industry and Economic Partnerships, part of the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Taboas was introduced to VIC Technology Venture Development, an early-stage investment company that works with academia to commercialize promising technologies. VIC has optioned the pulp treatment technology.

Taboas is actively supporting commercialization, working closely with VIC to obtain $1.6 million in funding from the Small Business Innovative Research program. This funding will be used to conduct preclinical testing of the technology in support of an application for regulatory approval. He will serve as the Chief Scientific Officer of the new company that will spin out from VIC to carry the device to market.

Taboas is currently exploring a new commercialization opportunity for point-of-injury treatment of contaminated bone wounds.

Read more from the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

John Elliott, director of internal audit, is retiring in January after 32 years at Pitt and nearly 30 years in his current role.

“Among his many contributions, John Elliott helped to inspire a strong foundation for the Accountability and Trust pillar in the University’s new strategic plan, the Plan for Pitt 2028,” said Chancellor Joan Gabel. “On behalf of a proud University, I want to thank John for his steadfast leadership and service, which have made Pitt better in every way.”

Elliott will be succeeded by Jayne McGoey, who serves as assistant director of internal audit.

Elliott joined Pitt in 1992 after nine years at Deloitte at the urging of his former colleague Art Ramicone, who was the University’s then-director of internal audit. Ramicone retired from Pitt in 2018 as senior vice chancellor and chief financial officer.

“You won’t find anyone who knows Pitt better than John Elliott does,” said Ramicone. “The University has benefited from his institutional knowledge and expertise, along with his balanced, even-keeled approach to virtually any situation he encountered.”

Pitt has “kept receipts” of Elliott’s contributions to the University, which include serving as liaison to the Board of Trustees’ Audit Committee; chairing the 1997-98 NCAA certification self-study steering committee and Year 2000 Task Force; serving as the inaugural liaison to the board’s Risk and Compliance Committee; and increasing audit efforts in the area of information technology.

Well respected in his field, Elliott served as a board member and officer for the local chapter of The Institute of Internal Auditors from 1995 to 2013 and the local chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners from 1995 to 2019. He continues to participate in the Association of College and University Auditors as a member.

The graduate programs in Pitt’s Department of History and Philosophy of Science have earned top rankings in the latest Philosophical Gourmet Report.

The 2024 report is based on a survey of 239 philosophers across the English-speaking world, who assessed 89 graduate programs from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.

The department’s physics concentration earned a perfect score on the 5-point scale. In the general philosophy of science category, Pitt was rated a 4.5. The department’s programs in biology as well as cognitive, neural and behavioral sciences each earned a 4.0.

The University’s Department of History and Philosophy of Science offers graduate and undergraduate programs that explore science’s foundations, methods and implications by integrating perspectives from history, philosophy and the natural and social sciences.

— Donovan Harrell

Five winners have been named in Pitt's Sustainability in Healthcare Challenge.

Funded by the Office of Sustainability in the Health Sciences, the Office of Multidisciplinary Innovations in the Health Sciences, the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) and the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation, the competition is Pitt’s first funding opportunity to advance sustainability in health care.

Four winning faculty teams each received $40,000 to fund their projects:

• J. Peter Rubin, School of Medicine — “Reducing Operating Room Waste and Cost Through A New EMR Application that Promotes Surgeon Engagement, and Uses AI Monitoring for Instrument and Single Use Item Management”
• Markus Chmielus, Swanson School of Engineering — “Additively Manufactured Sustainable Filters for Healthcare Applications”
• Natasa Vidic, Swanson School — “Optimizing STAT Medevac Dispatch for Fuel Efficiency and Carbon Footprint Reduction”
• Isabella Angelelli, School of Medicine — “Development of a Resusable Pulse Oximeter Prototype Functional in Clinical Settings"

The $2,500 Student Award was given to William Schuck and his teammates Max Chiang, Marissa Varshine, Peter Vassil and Ellie Velasquez (pictured), for their project “Eco-Engineering the Future: Sustainable Prosthetics for Sustainable Healthcare.” Their team is a research group under the mentorship of Goeran Fiedler, assistant professor in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences.

— Nick France

PItt's David C. Frederick Honors College was recently ranked No. 11 on College Transitions’ 50 Best Honors Collegeslist. It’s the University's first time on the list, officially marking the Frederick Honors College as one of the country’s preeminent institutions.

This honor follows a period of extraordinary growth and innovation in the Frederick Honors College, anchored by a transformative 2022 gift from Washington, D.C., attorney David C. Frederick — Pitt’s first Rhodes Scholar — and his wife, Sophia Lynn.

The publication’s honors college rankings list was determined by a number of factors, including admissions selectivity, benefits for students and academic rigor. College Transitions noted that Frederick Honors College students have access to dedicated advisors, honors courses and undergraduate research opportunities.

The College Transitions list also highlighted the Frederick Honors College’s success in producing national scholarship winners. The Office of National Scholarships and Post Graduation Success is a unit of distinction that supports students in applying for prestigious and competitive scholarships, including the Rhodes, Marshall, Gilman and Voyager. Pitt has been named a top producer of several national scholarships, including the Fulbright and Boren.

“The honors college at Pitt is one of the oldest in the country. Now, we are officially one of the best,” said Frederick Honors College Dean Nicola Foote. “I could not be prouder of the work of our incredible faculty, staff, students and alumni that led to this recognition.”

The Frederick Honors College offers three distinct academic programs: the Honors Distinction, the Honors Degree and the coveted Bachelor of Philosophy, which is offered at only a few universities in the world. Each honors program enhances already established majors in other schools and facilitates interdisciplinary inquiry and experiential learning.

Pitt Honors also promotes student success through unique study abroad and study away programs; robust and expansive research, internship and community-engaged learning options; and Honors-specific LLCs and co-curricular learning programs.

— Allison Radziwon

Four faculty from the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering were honored last month with the ASME Rising Star in Mechanical Engineering Award, which recognizes early career researchers who have received prestigious national awards including the National Science Foundation's CAREER award.

The recipients include: 

• Amir Alavi, associate professor and B.P. America Faculty Fellow, Civil and Environmental Engineering. “Mechanical Metamaterial Electronics: Theory, Design and Applications.”

• Qihan Liu, assistant professor, Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science. “Robust, Reversible, and Stimuli-Responsive Thermodynamic Adhesion in Hydrogels.”

• Ioannis Zervantonakis, assistant professor and William Kepler Whiteford Faculty Fellow, Bioengineering. “Illuminating the Effects of Hypoxia on Macrophage-Epithelial Crosstalk in Engineered 3D Environments.”

• Xiayun Zhao, assistant professor, Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science. “Toward RIPEST Photopolymer Additive Manufacturing (PAM): A Cyber-Physical System of Novel Dual-wavelength Photoinhibition aided PAM.”

Since 2016, 27 of Swanson School faculty have received CAREER awards. The Rising Stars Awards were presented at the International Mechanical Engineering Celebration and Showcase, a reception that included a poster session where researchers presented their work. The celebration was part of the International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition.

“We are incredibly proud of our young faculty and their accomplishments in winning these significant awards at the beginning of their research careers,” noted David Vorp, senior associate dean for research and facilities. “External validation by historic associations like ASME testify to an academic's early trajectory and I congratulate them on this honor.”

WQED’s short digital documentary, “Pittsburgh and the Great Migration” — featuring Pitt history Professor Larry Glasco and Alonna Carter-Donaldson, a visiting lecturer in Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies — was awarded the Mid-Atlantic Regional Emmy award in the category “Historical/Cultural — Short Form” last month. The film focuses on an exhibit from earlier this year at the Frick Pittsburgh Car & Carriage Museum, called “Pittsburgh and the Great Migration: Black Mobility and the Automobile.” You can watch the documentary on the WQED website.