University Times

The hustle and bustle that marks the beginning of the academic year returned last week: The proliferation of laundry carts and upperclass student volunteers pointing the way to newcomers and their families during Arrival Survival.

But for many at Pitt, the hazy days of summer have been anything but lazy: Facilities were renovated; faculty and staff came and went; academic programs were established.

The University Times asked deans, unit heads and others: “What’s New at Pitt?” The summaries that follow are overviews of school news based on material submitted by the units. Information previously published in the University Times was not included here.

The listings were coordinated by Kimberly K. Barlow and Marty Levine.

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Arts and Sciences

 

The lecture hall has reopened and offices and labs are to be completed this month as part of renovations in Clapp Hall. The project consisted of new infrastructure, interior renovation and exterior upgrades to all 89,600 gross square feet of the eight-story building.

Clapp Hall, part of the Life Sciences Complex, opened in 1956. It houses a significant share of the Department of Biological Sciences’ research programs and the bulk of its instructional laboratories.

All mechanical, electrical, plumbing, telecommunication systems, floor finishes, ceilings and light fixtures were replaced and a fire suppression system was installed. Existing instructional and research laboratories, laboratory support spaces, classrooms, conference and seminar rooms and offices were reconfigured and upgraded with new casework, fume hoods, furnishings, energy-efficient lighting and water-saving fixtures.

The building’s elevator and restrooms were modernized to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA).

Outside, doors and windows were replaced. The exterior is being cleaned and repointed and improvements to the parapets are planned, to allow for a new roof. Work is expected to continue through next summer. The University hopes to receive LEED Gold certification for the renovation.

 

The 13th floor of Chevron Science Center has been converted into a ballroom laboratory in support of the chemistry department’s expanding bio-organic research initiatives. Facilities for synthetic organic chemistry and chemical molecular biology research were designed in cooperation with faculty members Alex Deiters and Kabirul Islam and built to accommodate their research groups.

The renovation includes the replacement of obsolete heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, temperature controls and light fixtures. New energy-efficient fume hoods, flexible modern casework and lighting fixtures have been incorporated into the project. The exhaust and plumbing systems also were upgraded to meet current design standards and codes. The renovation addressed ADA requirements.

Consistent with renovations on other floors in Chevron, the new design reclaimed unused circulation space as office work stations for graduate student researchers and postdoctoral collaborators. By incorporating the former central corridor into the ballroom laboratory design, the new lab space provides an extra 1,000 net square feet that will accommodate an increased number of graduate students and other research personnel.

The project includes a new environmental room, biological instrumentation room and a microscopy room that will be shared by other departmental research teams. The renovated elevator lobby will provide breakout space for the floor’s researchers.

 

Approximately 6,657 gross square feet of lab space on the first floor of Eberly Hall’s west wing was renovated to create a sensor testing laboratory for chemistry faculty member Alexander Star’s carbon nanomaterials research program.

The project converted and enlarged existing lab space and provided new laboratory controls, flexible laboratory furnishings, fixtures and equipment, including fume hoods, gas cabinets, biosafety cabinets, a microscope alcove and a variety of spectrometers.

 

The renovation included replacement of room finishes, lighting, ventilation and air conditioning.

Star’s research group also occupies a wet lab in the east wing of Eberly Hall. The current project doubled the laboratory space for this research group, allowing expanded research on synthesis, characterization and chemical modification of carbon-based nanotubes and other nanomaterials. The existing student office space was renovated to create a large conference room with modern media infrastructure.

 

A condensed matter research lab in Old Engineering Hall has been completed in time for Michael Hatridge’s arrival in the Department of Physics and Astronomy.

 

The lab space provides accommodations for four dilution refrigerators with an acoustically controlled pump room; a control room/group room; a prefabricated soft wall clean room, a fume hood and storage space.

Specialty laboratory lighting was installed throughout the Hatridge labs, including non-magnetic LED fixtures in the dilution refrigerator areas.

 

Bradford

 

Pitt-Bradford’s nursing simulation lab was renovated to provide additional space and to facilitate more realistic and complex simulations. The lab will allow faculty to observe students from outside the “patient” room and to speak for the “patient.” Students and faculty will have more room to maneuver around the computer-programmable mannequins serving as patients. Recording technology will allow faculty members to make notes about students’ performances, then review the recordings with the students, or broadcast them to a larger group of students outside the lab.

 

Dental Medicine

 

A new patient entrance for the Center for Patients With Special Needs has been built off Sutherland Drive.

 

Engineering

The 11th and 12th floors of Benedum Hall are the most recent projects completed in the building’s ongoing restoration. The 12th floor is the new home of the Swanson School of Engineering’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, including the RFID Center for Excellence and the GS1 Bar Code Testing Lab. The 11th floor includes laboratory space and faculty and graduate student offices. The only floor still under renovation is the 10th floor, which will house the Department of Industrial Engineering.

 

Facilities Management

 

Renovations of two auditoriums (one 570-seat and one 340-seat) are complete in Lawrence Hall, along with an updated lobby with fresh finishes and seating. In addition, there are three new classrooms on the second floor above the auditoriums, each with more than 50 seats, and upgraded technology.

 

 

The William Pitt Union porch area has a new foundation, floor slab, tile and railings and a restored canopy. A handicapped ramp provides access directly from the porch to the sidewalk and patio.

 

The Athletic Walk on the Cathedral of Learning lawn has been renovated to replace cracked stones and improve drainage. The lawn itself will be replaced next year with turf that will better withstand heavy traffic.

 

 

The circular stair between the Petersen Events Center’s event level and lawn is being replaced.

 

 

Salk Pavilion, the research tower and atrium for School of Dental Medicine and the School of Pharmacy, now is open. The new facility will have a formal ribbon cutting ceremony at 2 p.m. Sept. 15.

This expansion provides an additional 23,000 square feet of space for pharmacy and dental labs, offices, conference rooms and the RxPresso coffee bar. A commons room, which features the historic Virgil Cantini mural “Aerial Scape, Skyscape,” ties Salk Hall’s fourth floor into the new building.

 

 

The plaza deck and planters at the Barco Law Building have been replaced by an activity terrace featuring walkways, seating areas, gathering spaces, lawns and plantings. The terrace, one of the major green roofs on campus, can accommodate gatherings of up to 250 people.

 

Renovations to the entrance of Craig Hall include new doors, a handicapped ramp, exterior soffit lights and ceiling.

 

 

Security gates being installed at the north end of Sutherland Drive will close the roadway to vehicular traffic. Only authorized vehicles will be permitted to enter the turnaround area adjacent to the special-needs dental clinic entrance.

 

UPMC is demolishing the remaining section of the former Children’s Hospital, with the bulk of the demolition to be completed this fall. As part of that project, the bridge from Falk Clinic to UPMC is being modified and will be closed until the work is complete.

 

UPMC also is working on the Victoria garage deck replacement, which will continue through next summer.

 

 

Ongoing projects overseen by Facilities Management include:

 

— Masonry repointing and window lintel replacement at Ruskin Hall. Work is expected to take place over two summers.

 

— New offices in former lab space and mechanical, electrical and plumbing upgrades at Parran Hall. This project is scheduled for completion in summer 2017.

 

Housing, Food Services and Panther Central

 

The Department of Housing, Food Services and Panther Central recently gained complete maintenance control of both Forbes Craig and Centre Plaza, formerly managed by the Department of Property Management.

 

 

Improvements in Lothrop Hall include air conditioning in the fitness center and a complete renovation of the laundry room, featuring new washers and dryers, a 42-inch television, carpeting and shelving.

 

Construction of a Starbucks in the Fifth Avenue storefront on the ground floor of Amos Hall is underway and expected to be completed by spring.

 

Forbes Hall, home to the First Year Student Engineering Living Learning Community, has an improved front entrance and second-floor common areas with ceramic tile and flooring, as well as wall decor featuring engineering alumni.

 

Panther Central, established in Litchfield Towers in 2001, received its first facelift last spring. The new office layout is more conducive to assisting customers.

 

Information Sciences

 

The Bits’n Bytes cafe has opened in the Information Sciences building lobby, offering a place to grab soup, sandwiches, coffee and other items.

 

Institutional Advancement

In May, the Office of Institutional Advancement’s annual giving and communications teams relocated to office space in Webster Hall, suites 108, 114 and 145.

 

Johnstown

 

The Pitt-Johnstown Book Center operation was overhauled through a partnership with Follett to maximize services to students and reduce costs. The store layout was updated and new merchandise was added. The new Book Center opened in June with an expanded inventory of book rentals, a best-price promise on textbooks and a full-service e-commerce site, www.bkstr.com/johnstownbookstore/home.

 

 

The UPJ Student Union dining hall got new furniture and carpeting over the summer.  A retail dining venue, Freshens, was added to the Tuck Shop and Somerset Trust Company constructed a bank branch on the Student Union’s second floor.

 

Somerset Trust also began providing ATM services to campus this summer, with machines installed in the Student Union and Living-Learning Center.

 

 

A yearlong interior renovation of Highland Townhouses was completed this summer. The project included updating all finishes, appliances, furniture, lighting and windows. Townhouse renovations continue. Updates to units in Timberline begin this month.

 

Bathrooms in Hawthorn Lodge were updated with new fixtures, paint and shower surrounds.

 

 

Substantial interior renovations for biology and pre-medical sciences are complete. The $1.9 million project involved the renovation of 5,720 square feet of space in Krebs Hall, creating five new teaching and research laboratories.

 

Medicine

 

In August 2015, the Republic of Kazakhstan’s Nazarbayev University welcomed the first class of students to Nazarbayev University School of Medicine (NUSOM), with Massimo Pignatelli, a Pitt adjunct faculty member in pathology, as its founding dean.

 

Since 2013, Pitt faculty and staff have assisted NUSOM as it institutes a U.S.-style medical curriculum. Under the partnership, Pitt’s medical faculty have helped to design and develop teaching facilities, plan organizational and administrative details and develop courses, syllabi and clinical experiences with the participation of physician-educators from hospitals in Kazakhstan.

 

Public Health

 

The seventh floor of the Graduate School of Public Health’s Crabtree Hall has been remodeled to accommodate the new Office of Health Survey Research (OHSR) call center, which is housed in the Evaluation Institute of Public Health in the Department of Behavioral Community Health Sciences.

 

It has state-of-the-art survey systems, 15 interviewer stations, two supervisor stations and several administrative offices and employs approximately 30 staff, students and temporary employees, conducting telephone, web and mail surveys for local, state and federal health-related research projects seven days a week.

 

The OHSR is used to collect approximately 20,000 telephone interviews yearly on projects ranging from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to the Allegheny County Health Survey and the Healthy Allegheny Teen Survey.

 

Titusville

 

Sinks, faucets, mirrors and expanded bathroom counters have been installed in five student bathrooms in Spruce Hall residence hall.

 

University Honors College

 

Honors student housing has moved to Pennsylvania Hall. The move, which affects approximately 210 sophomore and junior students, will facilitate UHC programming with the approximately 400 freshmen honors students living in nearby Sutherland West residence hall.

 

University Library System

 

G49 Hillman, formerly home to the department, is reopening as the Digital Scholarship Commons.

 

The space includes staff offices for Digital Scholarship Services, consultation spaces, flexible workshop and lecture space, a Data Fitness Center computer lab with scheduled expert hours, a Digital Stewardship Lab, and event and exhibition space.

 

The Digital Scholarship Commons is open during regular library hours and includes 40 open-lounge seating spaces inside and 20 additional spaces just outside the room.

 

 

The microforms department has moved from G49 to G20 Hillman and Stark Media Services has moved from G20 to G22 Hillman.

 

 

A unisex bathroom will be installed on Hillman’s ground floor.

 

G7 Hillman has been converted to four reservable high-tech group study rooms and four existing group study rooms have been technology-enabled. Across the library, an additional 65 electrical outlets and six standalone mobile device-charging stations have been installed.

 

The business library is temporarily closed for renovations. Access to the collection and reserve material is available in Hillman Library.