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April 16, 1998

PEOPLE OF THE TIMES

Lisa Bernardo, associate professor in the School of Nursing, recently received two national awards for her research in pediatric injury and trauma. Bernardo was elected as one of 100 distinguished practitioners in the National Academy of Practice in Nursing, an organization that advises Congress and educates the public about health care. She also received the Emergency Nurses Association 1997 Research Award. Bernardo's studies focus on the effects of regulating the body temperature of children immediately following traumatic injury and establishing how best to assess and address the emotional needs of a traumatized child.

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Anthony DiGioia, director of the Center for Orthopaedic Research at UPMC Shadyside, and Takeo Kanade, director of the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon, led a research team that received the national Hip Society's 1998 Otto Aufranc Award given for innovative or clinical research resulting in important advances in the management of hip disorders. The team was recognized for developing HipNav, the first computer-assisted, image-guided surgical navigation system designed to improve hip replacement surgery.

The HipNav system uses infrared sensors and a three-dimensional computerized imaging system to improve accuracy and reliability when implanting a replacement for the acetabulum, the socket of the hip's ball-and-socket joint.

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Traci Waites, former associate head coach of the University of Arizona's women's basketball team, has been named head women's basketball coach at Pitt by Director of Athletics Steve Pederson. Waites spent four seasons at Arizona. She was head coach at Santa Monica Community College, California, for the 1993-94 season, following three seasons as that program's assistant coach. Waites holds a bachelor's degree in speech communications from Long Beach State. An outstanding basketball player for two universities, Georgia and Long Beach State, she is the only player in NCAA tournament history to appear in Final Four games for two different teams.

Waites succeeds 13-year coach Kirk Bruce, who was named assistant athletic director for Olympic sports on March 18.

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Eugenia R. Missik, a native of El Comerio, Quin-Ecuador, has been named postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Research in Chronic Disorders, a minority fellowship funded by the National Institutes of Health. Missik's research indicates that women with cardiovascular disease enter cardiac rehabilitation programs in far fewer numbers than men with heart disease. In examining the possible variables affecting women's participation, it appears that doctors are less likely to refer women with coronary artery disease to rehabilitation programs. Missik will be assessing variables for women such as age, education level, finances, self-perception, distance and transportation to a rehabilitation program, and insurance coverage.

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Michele L. Mock, associate professor of English at Pitt-Johnstown, has been named instructor of the year by the UPJ chapter of Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society.

Mock holds a B.A. in secondary education/English from UPJ and a master's and doctorate from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She was a 1993-94 recipient of an IUP doctoral foundation fellowship. She is former managing editor of Legacy: A Journal of American Women Writers, and currently is completing a book on the 19th-century writer Rebecca Harding Davis, funded in part by the UPJ College Research Council grant.

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Seven leaders in business and industry were honored by the School of Engineering at the annual Pitt Engineering Alumni Awards Banquet.

Receiving the Engineering Distinguished Alumnus Award, the school's highest honor, were:

* John A. Swanson, chief technologist and founder, ANSYS, Inc., (mechanical engineering Ph.D. '66); * James J. McGrath, president — Pittsburgh Operations, Kvaerner Metals, (chemical and petroleum engineering B.S. '71);

* Alex G. Sciulli, vice president, Camp Dresser & McKee Inc., (civil and environmental Engineering B.S. '75; M.S. '81);

* Larry P. Yermack, executive vice president — Systems and Implementation, Sky Station International, (electrical engineering B.S. '60);

* Rex J. Lysinger, chairman and CEO (retired), Energen Corporation, (industrial engineering, B.S. '59);

* Stan A. David, corporate fellow and group leader, Materials Joining and Non-Destructive Testing Group, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, (materials science and engineering Ph.D. '72);

* Richard J. Slember, president — Power Generation (retired), Asea Brown Boveri, Inc. (mechanical engineering M.S. '58; Ph.D. '61).

Criteria for the Distinguished Alumnus Award includes outstanding service to the profession, community leadership and support for the mission of engineering higher education. The award is given to seven alumni annually from a total alumni population of more than 21,000 graduates and is the highest recognition bestowed by the School of Engineering.

The alumni awards banquet drew more than 250 guests from academia, business and industry and raised over $5,500 merit scholarships for engineering students.


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