People of the Times
Anne B. Newman, chair of the Graduate School of Public Health’s Department of Epidemiology and director of the school’s Center for Aging and Population Health, has been selected as the first Katherine M. Detre Endowed Chair of Population Health Science.
This chair was named after the late Katherine M. Detre, who was noted for her leadership of large-scale clinical studies of cardiovascular disease. Detre was a Distinguished Professor of Epidemiology and founded Pitt’s Epidemiology Data Center.
Internationally known as an expert in aging and public health, Newman has been a professor of epidemiology here since 2005. Through research and clinical practice, she has shown people how to remain productive, active and healthy as they age.
Newman is principal investigator of numerous epidemiologic studies and clinical trials exploring differing aspects of aging.
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The robotics industry’s highest honor, the Engelberger Robotics Award, was presented to Department of Rehabilitation Science and Technology faculty member Rory Cooper, along with Rodney Brooks and Vijay Kumar, June 2 in Munich. The ceremony was held in conjunction with the joint International Symposium on Robotics and the German Conference on Robotics.
The awards, named after the “father of robotics,” Joseph F. Engelberger, are presented annually by the Robotic Industries Association, the industry’s trade group. Each recipient received a special plaque, commemorative medallion and a $5,000 honorarium.
Cooper received the 2014 Engelberger Award for Application. As a person with a spinal cord injury and director of the Paralyzed Veterans of America Research Foundation, Cooper knows how much good can be accomplished through technological breakthroughs in robotics. His robots and achievements have been featured in places ranging from Popular Science to the front of a Cheerios box.
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At its June 1 commencement ceremony, Duquesne University School of Law awarded Pitt Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. Nordenberg delivered the keynote address at the school’s 100th commencement event.
Nordenberg is the former dean of Pitt’s School of Law.
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Mary Lou Klem, a faculty member in the Health Sciences Library System, along with eight co-authors, was awarded the Ida and George Eliot Prize at the May meeting of the Medical Library Association for the paper, “The Value of Library and Information Services in Patient Care: Results of a Multisite Study.”
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J. Jeffrey Inman, the Albert Wesley Frey Professor of Business Administration and the associate dean for research and faculty at the Katz Graduate School of Business, was honored by the Journal of Marketing with an outstanding article award.
His article, “The Effect of In-Store Travel Distance on Unplanned Spending: Applications to Mobile Promotion Strategies,” is the 2014 recipient of the Marketing Science Institute’s H. Paul Root Award.
The paper was co-authored with faculty from New York University, Drexel and the University of Texas-Austin.
The article was chosen for its significant contribution to the advancement of the practice of marketing. Members of the Journal of Marketing editorial review board voted on the award.
—Compiled by Alex Oltmanns
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