By SUSAN JONES
In a largely uneventful Board of Trustees meeting on Dec. 5, Chancellor Joan Gabel recounted some accomplishments from the past few months and Rory Cooper gave an overview of the research on transformative assistive technologies happening at Pitt.
Gabel said she’s made visits to the Bradford, Johnstown and Greensburg campuses this fall, and met with community members in Greater Hazelwood, where Pitt plans to locate its third Community Engagement Center.
On the global level, Gabel moderated a panel at the Global Federation of Competitiveness Council's 2024 Global Innovation Summit in Belfast, Ireland, last month, and announced that Pitt will host the 2025 Global Innovation Summit in Pittsburgh next fall. This summit, she said, brings together partners from industry, thought leaders, government leaders and scholars for panels, site visits and conversations.
“The theme for next year's Global Innovation Summit in Pittsburgh will revolve around AI tech and health science and healthcare,” Gabel said. “We will anchor in our strength in BioForge, and also highlight our leading global position in the use of AI and healthcare for diagnostics, clinical training, assistive technologies, accessibility and a few things we have in the pipeline that we'll be announcing between now and next fall.”
She said that the Gabel family, in particular, is looking forward to winter commencement, where her son will graduate. The second annual ceremony will take place at 3 p.m. Dec. 18 at the Petersen Events Center.
The chancellor also reported on a series of “moonshot mini retreats” that were held recently to “bring together a variety of members of our community to build community and partnership and advance the shared vision of each moon shot.” These moon shot ideas currently focus on life sciences and health sciences, anchored in initiatives like BioForge; and on sustainability, digital futures and assistive technologies.
She also offered several shoutouts to Pitt community members, most of which have already been announced. But she did mention that the Association of University Technology Managers 2023 licensing survey revealed that Pitt advanced four places in the startup rankings, moving from 24th to 20th.
“We are tied with Johns Hopkins University and the research foundation for the State University of New York — that is all of the universities in the state of New York, SUNY system,” Gabel said. “It is also three spots ahead of Carnegie Mellon University, and 10 ahead of Ohio State, which has previously outranked us.”
Rory Cooper’s report showed the broad range of research on assistive technologies at Pitt, including at the Human Engineering Research Labs that he heads. He also pointed to the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences’ Healthy Home Lab; a Sign Language for Science program; neuroengineering research and work being done at the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine and by José-Alain Sahel on vision restoration.
The meeting concluded with a resolution honoring Pitt’s long-time director of internal audit, John Elliott, who is retiring. He has held that role since 1995.
Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.
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