University Times

Pitt’s Class of 2004, some 6,000 strong, were given a “take-home” lesson from a Nobel laureate and Pitt alumnus. “Do whatever really excites you in your life and do it as best you can, and if you have enough luck, it will work out,” said Paul C. Lauterbur at the April 25 commencement ceremonies.
Lauterbur delivered the commencement address, titled “The Road to Pittsburgh and Beyond,” to Sunday’s packed Petersen Events Center audience. He was the recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with Sir Peter Mansfield of the University of Nottingham (U.K.) for discoveries leading to the development of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
The commencement convocation was opened by Nicholas G. Bircher, chief University marshal and president of the University Senate, followed by a procession of degree candidates from the 16 degree-granting Pittsburgh campus schools and the traditional parade of faculty, deans and administrative officials in academic regalia.
Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg then welcomed the audience of more than 12,000 faculty, graduates, family and friends of the University in attendance and introduced the keynote speaker.
Nordenberg said that Lauterbur’s seminal discovery “has led to one of medicine’s most significant diagnostic tools, highly valued for its ability to diagnose illnesses painlessly and non-invasively.” More than 60 million MRI exams are now performed each year, the chancellor noted.
“We’re proud to say that this revolutionary discovery can be attributed in part to work that Dr. Lauterbur undertook here,” during his decade as a Mellon Institute employee and chemistry doctoral student at Pitt, Nordenberg said.
During Lauterbur’s “special moment of insight,” the chancellor said, “he realized that he could use nuclear magnetic resonance to produce images by mapping the location of hydrogen nuclei in the body. It’s the boldness of the idea that distinguishes it. Paul Lauterbur, by entertaining thoughts of the impossible, created a new, powerful and very beneficial reality.”
One of the pleasures of being Pitt’s chancellor, Nordenberg said, is having “the opportunity to bestow the highest honor on an individual who embodies all the things that the University stands for: intellectual curiosity, high achievement, humanitarian commitment and engagement in the joys of a fully realized life.”
Lauterbur was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree by Nordenberg, Provost James V. Maher and Pitt Board of Trustees Chair Ralph J. Cappy, who read the citation of honor, recognizing Lauterbur’s four decades of “a scientific journey that … literally changed the face of medicine.”
In his extemporaneous address, Lauterbur traced his interest in MRI from junior high school chemistry work through undergraduate days at the Institute of Technology in Cleveland, through a stint in the U.S. Army, through his graduate work at Pitt (chemistry Ph.D. 1962) and Mellon Institute, to academic appointments at the State University of New York and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, culminating in last year’s Nobel Prize. He currently serves as Center for Advanced Study Professor of Chemistry and Distinguished Professor of Medical Information Sciences at Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Lauterbur said, “I got to thinking about … using something I’d learned in a graduate course at Pitt.” He began asking himself whether one could “ever get a big enough signal from something as large as a human being?” and “Could anybody build magnets big enough to put people in? This was a very new sort of thing.”
Eventually, other scientists warmed to his ideas, he said, until a whole scientific field emerged. “It’s only because so many people picked up on these things and decided to work with them that I am here today. Because, of course, no one gets such improbable honors just for having an idea – it has to work, it has to have some effects in the world.” The lesson of his life, Lauterbur said, is that all experiences and education contribute to a developing career, “even though you never think so at the time. But if you keep after what you’re after and make appropriate choices from time to time, and they turn out to be things that other people will eventually, though not originally, agree to, and if you have a new idea, you do have to live through a period when you are called an idiot by the most qualified people you can imagine – like Nobel laureates. But you have to persevere” to find career success, he added.
Following Lauterbur’s remarks, about 6,000 degrees were conferred on the new graduates, including 432 doctorates. Provost Maher presided over individual recognition of doctorate recipients, who were named by their dean or associate dean and invited to the stage for “hooding,” the ceremonial recognition of academic achievement.
Following degree conferrals, Nordenberg thanked those who contributed to the success of the graduates, asking family members, faculty and staff members to stand and be recognized. He also acknowledged those 2004 graduates who are Pitt employees and read a congratulatory letter to the graduates from President George W. Bush.
Lisa M. George, newly minted University Honors College graduate who earned both Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees as a triple major in chemistry, political science and Italian, spoke on behalf of the students.
Keith E. Schaefer (A&S ’71), president of the Pitt Alumni Association, welcomed the graduates into the ranks of Pitt’s 225,000-plus alumni.
Stephen Andrew Esper, a 2003 Pitt Arts and Sciences alumnus and student in the School of Medicine’s class of 2007, led the congregation in the singing of the national anthem and the Alma Mater.
Musical accompaniment was provided by the University of Pittsburgh Chamber Orchestra, under the baton of Jack R. Anderson, director of bands.
Pitt also will award about 1,000 degrees to students at the regional campuses in Bradford, Greensburg, Johnstown and Titusville, which hold their own ceremonies.
-Peter Hart
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