Waverly Duck wins Scholarly Achievement Award for book ‘Tacit Racism’
Waverly Duck, an associate professor in the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, won the North Central Sociological Association's Scholarly Achievement Award for "Tacit Racism."
A three-member committee of association judges called it a “wonderful piece of research and scholarship.”
The book, co-authored with Anne Warfield Rawls, lays out the many ways in which racism is coded into the everyday social interactions of Americans.
“Tacit Racism,” published by University of Chicago Press, will be honored during an awards ceremony at the group's April 1-2 meeting in Indianapolis.
History professor Roberts a finalist for Los Angeles Times Book Prize
Alaina E. Roberts, assistant professor of history in the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, is a finalist for this year’s Los Angeles Times Book Prize in the history category.
In her book, “I’ve Been Here All the While: Black Freedom on Native Land,” Roberts tells the history of Indian territory during the Reconstruction era and the ways African-American and Native American history are tied together. Digging into archival research and family history, she connects debates about Black freedom and Native American citizenship to westward expansion onto native land.
This year’s winners will be announced at an award ceremony on April 22, marking the 42nd year of the prize recognizing literary achievement.
Three from Pitt presented at SXSW 2022
Three people from the University of Pittsburgh presented at SXSW 2022.
Dan Ding, associate professor in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, participated in, “The Technology Making Fitness More Accessible,” on March 11. Ding, who also has appointments in the Department of Bioengineering and the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, discussed new tech to make fitness more accessible to people of all abilities, including adaptive sports and wheelchairs designed for activities like hiking.
Assistant Professor Lori Delale-O’Connor and Medina Jackson, P.R.I.D.E. director of engagement in the Office of Child Development, both from the School of Education, shared experiences, curiosities and more around promoting innovation as Black and Latinx educators for Black and Latinx youth during their panel, “Shifting Power in Educational R&D,” on March 8. They discussed how to make the world of academic research and development more diverse and equitable.
Hear the presentation by Delale-O'Connor and Jackson.
The 10-day festival in Austin, Texas, brings together entertainers, technologists, education specialists and other innovators to discuss the future of their industries.
Winners of the Black Excellence Service Award announced
The virtual Black Excellence Bash held Feb. 25 marked the conclusion of the University of Pittsburgh’s 2022 K. Leroy Irvis Black History Month Program.
The event brought together Pitt people, community members and stakeholders to announce and honor the recipients of the Black Excellence Service Award. The winners include current and former Black students, faculty or staff who were nominated for making significant contributions to the community through their time, actions, talents and dedication, and as role models for compassion and service.
Winners were announced across five categories — students, staff, faculty, businesses and alumni:
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Jorden King (EDUC ’22)
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Taylor Robinson (A&S ’21)
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Channing Moreland, inaugural director of the SHRS Wellness Pavilion at the Homewood Community Engagement Center and senior director of strategic programs and services in School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences’ Office of Equity, Inclusion and Community Engagement
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Khamara Turner, senior access and early engagement coordinator in the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid
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Karen Gilmer, award-winning costume designer and lecturer in the Department of Theatre Arts in the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences
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Alecia Young, founder of YOGAMOTIF
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Khristen Scott, assistant professor of English in the Dietrich School
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Rev. Paul Abernathy (GSPH ’06)
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Tre Tipton (A&S ’19)
Jumoke Davis (CGS ’05), Pitt’s new director of video production, served as the host while introductions were made by Kimberly Williams, a research associate and instructor in the Department of Anthropology, and Clyde Wilson Pickett, vice chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion.
Danielle Obisie-Orlu (pictured above), a junior and the 2021-2022 Allegheny County Youth Poet Laureate, closed the ceremony with a performance of her original poem “The Becoming” — an ode to the contributions of Black Pitt community members at Pitt and the overall blue, gold and Black experience.
Education’s Kokka receives nearly $1 million NSF grant
The National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Program awarded Kari Kokka a $996,249 grant. Kokka is an assistant professor of mathematics education in Pitt’s School of Education and the primary investigator for the five-year grant-funded project titled "Partnering with Teachers and Students to Engage in Mathematical Inquiry about Relevant Social Issues."
"The project partners with the math department of one Pittsburgh public high school and helps teachers learn to use social justice mathematics with their students," said Kokka.
The award is part of an NSF-wide initiative that supports early career faculty with the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization. Activities pursued by early career faculty build a firm foundation to sustain a lifetime of leadership in integrating education and research.
Kokka has long worked to combine justice and education. Born and raised in California, her high school honors classes didn't reflect the school's population, which Kokka recalls as 88 percent students of color. This experience, combined with being a fourth-generation Japanese American whose family was unconstitutionally incarcerated in internment camps during World War II, informed her understanding of white supremacy and racism from a young age.
"That's why I became a teacher — to work towards justice," Kokka said.
SVC for Research Rutenbar receives Pioneering Achievement Award
Senior Vice Chancellor for Research Rob A. Rutenbar has been named the 2021 SIGDA Pioneering Achievement Award recipient by the Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Design Automation (ACM SIGDA) for his “extraordinary leadership in analog design automation and general EDA education.”
This award recognizes outstanding contributions within the scope of electronic design automation (EDA) and is based on the impact of the awardee’s work during their lifetime.
Rutenbar pioneered the first commercially viable software design tools for custom analog circuits. Previously regarded as a problem only solvable by human experts, his research showed how to build automated tools that reached human expert levels of design. His startup company Neolinear, Inc., successfully commercialized these ideas and was acquired by Cadence Design Systems, which became the nucleus of the large Cadence Pittsburgh R&D office.
At the start of the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) revolution, he also recognized the need to teach the core ideas of EDA to a global audience. His classes on the Coursera MOOC platform were the first for this important technology, enrolling more than 100,000 learners to date.
As Pitt’s senior vice chancellor for research, Rutenbar provides strategic vision, leadership and partnership expertise to help University researchers and scholars advance their world-class research, scholarship and innovation. He also holds Distinguished Professor appointments in the School of Computing and Information and Swanson School of Engineering.
Rutenbar will be presented the ACM SIGDA Pioneer Award at the group's annual meeting.
Nursing’s Gallagher honored for work on NIH COVID-19 Guidelines Panel
School of Nursing Professor John Gallagher recently received special recognition for his contributions to the National Institute of Health (NIH) COVID-19 Guidelines Panel.
The panel has worked on COVID-19 treatment guidelines for front-line workers. Gallagher, the only nurse in the country appointed to the panel, has been a member since 2020.
Gallagher received a letter of appreciation in December for his work on the NIH “Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Treatment Guidelines” from two of the nation’s top doctors — Francis Collins, former director of the NIH, and Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Gallagher’s work helped create treatment guidelines used across the country during the pandemic that supported clinicians who were caring for patients suffering from the illness.
“Your devotion to the process, participating in virtual meetings that typically occurred multiple times per week, and numerous hours spent in writing and editing content, are much appreciated,” Collins and Fauci wrote in the letter.
“We are proud that, with your help and contributions, the guidelines have been updated 38 times since their first release in April 2020, reflecting our rapidly changing understanding of COVID-19. This has enabled the guidelines to be a ‘gold standard’ for currency and accuracy. We are also proud that the guidelines have been so widely used, with over 27 million page views as of November 21, 2021. Almost half of the page views currently come from outside the United States.”
“I was very proud that our individual efforts were recognized by these letters,” Gallagher said. “This panel operates at the highest level of integrity, and the guidelines we produce are based on the best scientific evidence available.”
Engineering’s Niepa wins early career award from NSF
Tagbo Niepa, assistant professor of chemical and petroleum engineering at the Swanson School of Engineering, received a Faculty Early Career Development Award from the National Science Foundation.
The $663,372, five-year funding will enable his lab to further explore how bacteria cope with changes in surface tension and energy, and their adaptation to changing conditions to develop new materials. The research also seeks to understand how viruses and nanomaterials could be used to control bacterial development at fluid interfaces.
Biofilms are a ubiquitous, resilient form of microbial life. They can form where liquids and solids meet, like around a knee replacement; where air and liquid meet, like in the lungs; and where oil and water meet, like in an oil spill on the ocean.
Because of this extreme versatility, the mechanism of how they grow and adapt to different environments is not yet well understood. But a better grasp would not only help mitigate their deleterious health effects but also put them to work for us.
The award also will allow Niepa to engage under-represented minority, first-generation and financially challenged pre-college and college students through a range of mentored experiences, including a “Bugs as Materials” Camp, a college application workshop and an international summer experience for undergraduates.
Shannon Reed book nominated for Thurber Prize
Shannon Reed, a lecturer in Pitt’s creative writing program, has been named a semifinalist for the 21st Thurber Prize for American Humor for her book, “Why Did I Get a B? And Other Mysteries We’re Discussing in the Faculty Lounge.”
Past winners for the Thurber Prize include Trevor Noah, Jon Stewart, David Sedaris and Pittsburgh native Damon Young.
“I don’t know if I can truly encompass all of the many things [this nomination] means to me,” Reed told Pittsburgh Magazine. “I’ve known about the Thurber Prize for a long time, and so many of the humor writers I admire and have read for years have been nominated for, or won it. To be included in that list is overwhelming and, frankly, unbelievable.”
Reed’s book is a collection of personal essays and humor that “explores all the joys, challenges and absurdities of being a teacher.” It came out in June 2020 from Atria Books.
The prize winner will be announced at a live ceremony on April 22.
Anna Balazs named to National Academy of Engineering
Less than a year after being elected to the National Academy of Sciences, University of Pittsburgh Distinguished Professor Anna Balazs has been named as one of the newest members of the National Academy of Engineering.
The academy accepted Balazs’ membership “in recognition of distinguished contributions to engineering and for creative and imaginative work in predicting the behavior of soft materials that are composed of multiple cooperatively interacting components.”
She is the first faculty member in the Swanson School of Engineering to hold membership in both the Engineering and Science academies. Balazs and the 111 new members and 22 international members will be inducted at the academy’s a nnual meeting this fall in Washington, D.C.
Balazs’ research focuses on “biomimicry” and the theoretical and computational modeling of polymers. An internationally-acclaimed expert in the field, her many accolades also include the first woman to receive the prestigious Polymer Physics Prize from the American Physical Society in 2016. She is also the John A. Swanson Chair of Engineering in the Swanson School’s Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering,
Read more about Balazs on the Swanson School’s website.
Hoberman first person to receive top clinical research award twice
Alejandro Hoberman, executive vice chair of pediatrics, has received the 2022 Top 10 Clinical Research Achievement Award from the Clinical Research Forum, a nonprofit association of clinical research experts from the nation’s leading academic health centers.
Hoberman is the first person ever to receive this award on two separate occasions.
The award recognizes Hoberman and his research team for a study entitled “Tympanostomy Tubes or Medical Management for Recurrent Acute Otitis Media.” First published in May 2021 in the New England Journal of Medicine, the study found no long-term benefit to surgically placing ear tubes in a young child’s ears to reduce the rate of recurrent ear infections compared to use of episodic oral antibiotics.
In 2015, the Clinical Research Forum recognized Hoberman for his team’s findings in “Antimicrobial Prophylaxis for Children with Vesicoureteral Reflux,” a two-year multi-site study demonstrating how use of low-dose preventive antibiotic therapy in children diagnosed with vesicoureteral reflux following an initial episode of urinary tract infection significantly reduced the likelihood of recurrences of urinary tract infection, but did not reduce risk of renal scarring.
Among his roles at Pitt Pediatrics, Hoberman is the Jack L. Paradise Distinguished Service Professor of Pediatrics and Clinical and Translational Medicine, Vice Chair for Clinical Research, and director of the Division of General Academic Pediatrics. Hoberman also has administrative responsibilities as the president of UPMC Children’s Community Pediatrics.
Three professors named to National Academy of Inventors
The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) has selected three Pitt professors among 83 academic inventors for the 2022 class of NAI Senior Members. They are:
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Antonio D’Amore, research assistant professor, surgery and bioengineering and the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine
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Cecelia Yates, associate professor, health promotion & development, School of Nursing
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Maliha Zahid, assistant professor, developmental biology
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.
“I am thrilled that these Pitt innovators are being recognized for their extraordinary commitment to making an impact on the world through the commercialization of their discoveries,” said Evan Facher, vice chancellor for innovation and entrepreneurship and director of the Innovation Institute. “The common thread for this year’s cohort of Pitt NAI Senior Member inductees is that not only are they passionate about bringing their own ideas to life, but they are also equally dedicated to cultivating the next generation of innovators through their mentorship activities.”
D’Amore is a pioneer in developing tissue-engineered heart valves, vascular grafts and cardiac patches.
Yates has already participated in the creation of three startup companies aimed at stopping and even reversing the progression of fibrosis.
Zahid launched a startup, Vivasc Therapeutics Inc., in 2019 and serves as chief scientific officer. The company is initially focused on the treatment of atrial fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia.
Read more about their research on the Innovation Institute website.
Amber Johnson receives $50,000 Escalator Award
Amber Johnson, a Pitt assistant professor of medicine, is one of four recipients of the 2022 Escalator Awards. The $50,000 grant from Women as One will go to the University of Pittsburgh in recognition of Johnson as a talented woman in cardiology.
Johnson, a cardiologist who is certified in cardiovascular disease and internal medicine, plans to explore neighborhood-level determinants of health for patients with hypertension.
“Dr. Johnson is one of our most successful academic cardiologists,” said Mark T. Gladwin, professor and chair of Pitt’s Department of Medicine. “She is committed to advancing our understanding of how racial and economic disparities affect the delivery of cardiovascular care and the prevalence and severity of heart diseases.”
Johnson has published more than 30 manuscripts about health equity in cardiovascular disease and has received multiple awards, including the 40 Under 40 Leaders in Minority Health award from the National Minority Quality Forum and grants from the National Institutes of Health.
Patel elected to National Academy of Education
Leigh Patel, professor in the School of Education, is one of 17 new members elected to the National Academy of Education (NAEd), an honorific society of scholars and educators who make outstanding contributions to the education field.
“This is a significant honor that means a great deal to me,” Patel said. “There are a number of Black, Indigenous, migrant, and decolonial women in the academy doing quality research that impacts the possible futures of Black and Brown children. Their work has deeply influenced me, and it’s an honor to be in the same group.”
As a member of NAEd, Patel will serve on expert study panels that address pressing issues in education and be involved as a mentor for the organization’s professional development fellowship programs.
Patel, who joined Pitt Education in 2018, is a transdisciplinary scholar who studies the narratives that shape how people are treated in society. She is an internationally known scholar of education, ethnic studies, critical higher education studies, and literacy.
One of her current projects — in collaboration with PittEd Justice Collective facilitator Anneliese Martinez and predoctoral fellow Ogechi Irondi — is to create an oral history of parent and caregiver experiences when schools shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Terry Smith wins Teacher of Art History Award
The College Art Association, a professional body for art historians, artists and the museum community, has bestowed its Distinguished Teacher of Art History Award for 2022 on Pitt professor Terry Smith.
Smith is a professor of contemporary art history and theory in the Department of the History of Art and Architecture in the Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences. He also is a professor in the Division of Philosophy, Art and Critical Thought at the European Graduate School, which has campuses in Switzerland and Malta.
The citation from the association says: “Terry Smith has long written, curated and taught across borders, in the beginning coming from Australia to study and work in New York as both a scholar and an active member of Art & Language. He has been expanding his sights ever since. He has long advocated for the study of indigenous art. For the past 20 years, starting with projects such as Global Conceptualism: Points of Origin, 1950s–1980s at the Queens Museum, he was the trusted collaborator of Okwui Enwezor. He has always insisted that the past and the present be given their due consideration and global perspectives.”
Smith received his award at the association’s annual meeting last week.
Four innovation teams awarded Chancellor’s Gap Funds
Four Pitt innovation teams have been selected to receive a total of $263,000 in commercialization grants from the Chancellor’s Gap Fund to accelerate their path from the lab to the market.
The Chancellor’s Gap Fund was reauthorized in 2021 to provide critical bridge funding for research projects that have demonstrated strong commercialization potential but require key proof of concept experiments or other data or prototypes in order to attract interest from potential investors or industry partners. The fund provides grants ranging from $25,000 to $75,000, based on what is needed to advance the project through a significant milestone.
Expressions of interest for the next funding cycle will be accepted beginning in April.
Innovation teams receiving awards in the current cohort include:
PACE-RTP: Perception-Action Coupling Evaluation for Return to Play: A rapid and reliable method for measuring sport-related concussion. Principal investigator: Chris Connaboy, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. Co-investigators: Alice LaGoy, Neuromuscular Research Laboratory; Shawn Eagle, Department of Neurological Surgery.
Youbiotics: Personalized probiotics for weight management. Principal investigator: Steven Little, Swanson School of Engineering. Co-investigators: Matt Borrelli, Swanson School of Engineering; Abhinav Acharya, Arizona State University; Jonathan Krakoff, National Institutes of Health.
Reusable and self-sterilizing 3D HEPA metal filters: 3-D printed porous metal filter for use in air filtration applications in masks, room- or building-based air filtration. Principal investigator: Markus Chmielus, Swanson School of Engineering.
LiDIA: Listening, iDentification and Instant Amplification: Device for greatly broadening the identification of hearing loss that is currently untreated. Principal investigator: Catherine Palmer, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. Co-investigators: Jeffrey Vipperman, Swanson School of Engineering; Erik Rauterkus, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences.
Boo Kyung Jung receives grant from Academy of Korean Studies
Boo Kyung Jung, a faculty member in the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, has received a $21,000 grant from the Academy of Korean Studies in South Korea.
She will use the grant to examine how heritage Korean language users understand subject-predicate honorification. To find pedagogical suggestions, Jung will explore this through behavior experiments, including reaction time and eye-tracking, and input analysis.
Teaching Center names director for equitable and inclusive teaching
Pitt’s University Center for Teaching and Learning has named Sera Mathew as the director for equitable and inclusive teaching.
As director, Mathew will provide leadership in the evaluation of diversity, equity and inclusion teaching initiatives, and she will work with faculty to create an environment that allows students to explore and challenge ideas as part of the learning process.
Prior to joining Pitt, Sera was an assistant professor at Point Park University and director of the Honors Program.
Four faculty named to American Association for the Advancement of Science class
Four faculty members from the University of Pittsburgh have been named to the most recent class of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) fellows, one of the most distinct honors within the scientific community — and a historic one as well, dating to 1874.
They are among 564 fellows announced Jan. 26. The four faculty recognized are:
Kay Brummond, associate dean of faculty and a professor of chemistry in the Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences
Sarah Gaffen, professor in the Division of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology at School of Medicine
Steven R. Little, professor and department chair of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering in the Swanson School of Engineering as well as a faculty member in the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine and bioengineering, immunology, ophthalmology and pharmaceutical sciences departments
Jerry Vockley, professor of pediatrics and pediatric research at the School of Medicine and a professor of human genetics at the Graduate School of Public Health
The nominating and vetting process includes a cadre of scientists, engineers and innovators recognized for achievements across disciplines ranging across research, teaching, administration, industry, government and communications.
Read more about the work of these faculty member on Pittwire.
Woodward named to Society of Research Administrators International board
The Society of Research Administrators International (SRAI) elected Jennifer E. Woodward, vice chancellor for sponsored programs and research operations at Pitt, to serve on the board of directors. Woodward began her new position on Oct. 26, 2021, serving as one of six at-large board members with full voting rights and significant responsibility for the stewardship of the organization.
Woodward was selected by a majority of her peers from among a talented field of candidates from across the globe. SRAI members evaluated candidates’ career history, demonstration of exceptional professional growth and significant contributions made to the advancement of research administration in making their selections.
Woodward brings more than 20 years of progressive leadership experience in research administration to the organization. Her passion is evidenced through her commitment to evolving and innovating the field of research administration, while also supporting the professional development and success of research administrators worldwide.