University Times

Winners of the 2008 chancellor’s awards for distinguished teaching and distinguished research have been announced.

Distinguished teaching award winners are: Jeffrey L. Brodsky, Department of Biological Sciences, School of Arts and Sciences (A&S); Susan M. Dunmire, Department of Emergency Medicine, School of Medicine; William M. Klein, Department of Psychology (A&S); John M. McGrath, Department of Management and Marketing, Pitt-Johnstown, and Christina E. Newhill, School of Social Work.

Distinguished research award winners in the senior scholar category, which recognizes “an outstanding and continuing record of research and scholarly activity,” are: Stephen Badylak, Department of Surgery, McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine; G. Bard Ermentrout, Department of Mathematics (A&S); Michael Sacks, Department of Bioengineering, McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and Peter Wipf, Department of Chemistry (A&S).

Wen Xie, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, was honored as a junior scholar, that is, a scholar “whose exceptional early contributions have demonstrated great potential and have already produced a measure of international standing.”

Each faculty honoree will receive a $2,000 cash prize. In addition, each research award winner will receive a $3,000 grant to support his research, and the teaching honorees will receive a $3,000 grant, administered by the home department, to support his or her teaching.

Winners of the 2008 teaching and research awards — as well as other distinguished faculty, staff, alumni and students — will be recognized Feb. 29 during Pitt’s 32nd annual honors convocation.

(Winners of the chancellor’s awards for staff excellence also were announced. See related story this issue.)

According to Linda Schmitmeyer, director of News, there will be no chancellor’s distinguished public service awards for faculty given this year.

“The number of nominations/applications was [considered] too low this year,” Schmitmeyer told the University Times. “The nominations now on hand are being carried over for next year’s competition.”

Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg sent congratulatory letters to the winners, citing some of their accomplishments derived from information and letters of recommendation supporting the winners’ nominations.

“The very existence of this award underscores the high institutional priority that we assign to our teaching responsibilities, and your individual efforts stand as an inspiring example of excellence in the role of University teacher,” Nordenberg told the teaching award winners.

Jeffrey Brodsky, professor and Avinoff Chair of Biological Sciences, teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses.

“Your ability to relate real-life examples to topics in molecular biology has excited students and enabled them to master difficult underlying principles while also acquiring critical-thinking skills,” the chancellor wrote. “Mentoring and nurturing undergraduate students in your laboratory blends your teaching and research roles and results in an invaluable experience for them. Your commitment to teaching is further evidenced by the sharing of your teaching methods through CIDDE activities, your participation in several community outreach efforts and your development of a graduate teaching minor for your department.

Brodsky told the University Times, “I was deeply honored to win this teaching award. It is especially meaningful, because I firmly believe that the integration of teaching and research, and research and teaching, that are so encouraged at this University are what makes an academic a success.”

Brodsky, who has been at Pitt since 1994, won a Chancellor’s Distinguished Research Award in the junior scholar category in 1999.

“Even as an undergraduate researcher I came to realize that research at the bench can only get you so far, and that both writing and oral skills are required to be a good researcher, in order to present research,” Brodsky said. “These obviously are the same skills needed in teaching, as well. I really enjoy working with the students, not only in the classroom and lab but also mentoring them.”

Brodsky is particularly proud of his work over the past three years as director of graduate studies in the department.

“I overhauled aspects of the program, and I like to think that the students are better off as a result of that,” he said. “I also developed a teaching minor in the department and, as far as we know, it’s a unique program to Pitt. It’s tacked on the PhD as a way to reward our graduate students who focus on teaching. I also overhauled my course Metabolic Pathways and Regulation, which I’ve been teaching now for the past six years.”

Brodsky received his PhD at Harvard and completed his postdoctoral studies at UC-Berkeley.

Susan Dunmire, associate professor in emergency medicine and a physician at UPMC Presbyterian, was honored by the chancellor for 20 years as a physician-educator. “You have invested significant time and effort in providing students with opportunities to develop the decision-making skills so important in your medical area,” Nordenberg wrote. “Your creation of over 60 critical patient scenarios using highly engaging hands-on simulation enables students to practice skills in a safe setting. They value the atmosphere you create and know that your recognition of their success motivates and instills confidence in them. Your students greatly appreciate your efforts to prepare them for the reality of clinical practice.”

Nordenberg noted that the School of Medicine also has recognized Dunmire for her teaching excellence, naming her a member of its Master Educator Academy.

Dunmire earned her medical degree and completed her residency in emergency medicine at Pitt. She has been an attending physician in the UPMC Presbyterian Emergency Department since 1988. She also serves as the executive director of the medical school’s Medical Alumni Association.

“I was thrilled to receive the award,” Dunmire told the University Times. “It is quite an honor considering all the absolutely fantastic faculty at Pitt. To even be considered for the award is an honor.”

Dunmire said she was influenced by her father, who was a surgeon at West Penn Hospital and won numerous resident teaching awards. “I still remember going to the hospital with him every Saturday from the age of 5 and watching with awe as he taught his residents with a gentle and humorous approach. I started teaching as soon as I became an attending physician at Presby.”

While a student herself, Dunmire said, she witnessed many types of teaching philosophies. “My goal as a teacher is to stimulate the student to want to learn. I try to make each class creative. My students know that they will never be criticized if they try their best.”

Most of her courses involve teaching medical students to resuscitate critically ill patients, which can be terrifying for the student, Dunmire said. “We use patient simulation technology for these courses. Students must practice moment-to-moment decision-making and obviously, at the beginning, they are going to make mistakes. Each time a mistake is made, the simulated patient will deteriorate and may die. My students know that mistakes are acceptable as long as they learn from them. They must be able to learn from mistakes without harming patients.”

William Klein, associate professor of psychology, was recognized for his teaching excellence in a variety of settings including large introductory classes, upper-level undergraduate courses, graduate seminars and one-on-one mentoring.

“Your passion for both teaching and research impresses and inspires your students,” Nordenberg stated. “Creative methods like debates, mock trials and group problem-solving projects encourage student engagement with the learning process.”

These and other teaching-related activities have earned Klein the reputation as “a champion of undergraduate education,” the chancellor wrote. “Your graduate teaching also includes activities that help students develop critical professional skills so important to their future in academia.”

Klein, who came to Pitt in 2002, holds a PhD in social psychology from Princeton.

He dates the genesis of his interest in teaching to working at a summer camp as a teenager.

“I really enjoyed teaching, even in that context,” Klein said. “I also had a phenomenal teacher in social psychology in my undergraduate days at Northwestern. He really inspired me with his energy and the way he brought research to life. He also inspired students to become a critical part of the learning process. I think we as teachers are exposed to different methods over our careers and some things we like and some we don’t. But I really try to emulate that professor; he was very special.”

Although there is no “magic bullet” when it comes to effective teaching, Klein said, “I believe good teachers possess an implicit or explicit sense of how to handle three types of dynamics: the rapport they have with their students; the extent to which their instructional techniques are engaging, and the ‘chemistry’ of the learning environment, for example whether learning occurs collaboratively.”

He said his first goal as a teacher is to create a positive dynamic in each of those three areas. “I also strive to have students question their existing assumptions about the field of psychology and about the causes of human behavior, and apply their new knowledge both to scientific and personal pursuits,” Klein said. “Along the way, I aim to help students develop thinking skills in a context that values diversity, innovation and teamwork.”

John McGrath, associate professor of marketing, joined the Johnstown campus faculty in 1994. Nordenberg noted that McGrath has responsibility for most of the marketing courses offered at UPJ.

“Your synergistic teaching approach that integrates marketing theory, research and real-world application enriches your students’ learning experience and enables them to secure meaningful internships and careers,” Nordenberg wrote.

“The service-learning projects your students conduct in local non-profit agencies are rewarding for the students and benefit the community by providing invaluable assistance that these agencies could not afford otherwise.”

Nordenberg further recognized McGrath for advising a large number of students and the local student chapter of the American Marketing Association, volunteering his marketing expertise in the community and publishing and presenting research.

McGrath told the University Times, “I was obviously very pleased to win this award, especially since I believe it validates the service-learning approach I use in my courses, particularly in my Marketing Management course. When I came here in 1994, that approach was considered radical and it was questioned as to whether it was appropriate. I see it as a win-win-win situation: for the student; for the non-profit agencies, which benefit from the consultation, and for the University in its goal to be a good corporate citizen and be involved in the community.”

Each term McGrath assigns two groups of seven or eight students to prepare a marketing plan for a non-profit agency. “It’s hands-on, real-world experience and the data are not spoon-fed to them out of textbooks,” he said. The students present their marketing plans at the end of the term to the agency’s officials and other staff. “Sometimes the CEOs are blown away by the students’ presentation and sometimes they can be a really tough audience and criticize the students,” he said.

“Students have to learn to work as a team, because that’s what they’ll be doing in the real world,” McGrath said. “I don’t interfere much with that dynamic,” he said, adding that he even allows teams to fire a teammate for not holding up his or her end of the work.

“It’s a big win for students who then can use this project on their resumes when they go for job interviews, and it’s helped many students to get jobs,” McGrath said.

McGrath earned his bachelor’s degree from Notre Dame, majoring in both marketing and communications. He holds a master’s degree in marketing from Northwestern and earned his PhD at Penn State.

He received the UPJ Community Service Recognition Award in 1998 for his efforts in helping local government, economic development and non-profit groups.

Christina Newhill, associate professor of social work, was honored by the chancellor for her commitment to teaching graduate students and her teaching accomplishments over the past 17 years. Newhill teaches in both the MSW and PhD programs.

“Your previous clinical experience as a psychiatric social worker enriches your teaching through the use of case examples, videotapes of client interviews and creative assignments that challenge students to examine their own attitudes,” Nordenberg wrote.

Newhill has a reputation for presenting rigorous, well-organized, comprehensive courses, he added. “Students reference their notes from your classes long after they have graduated,” the chancellor noted. Newhill also has “helped the large number of adjunct faculty in [her] school become better teachers and has communicated [her] mental health expertise through [her] research publications and presentations.”

Newhill said, “I was thrilled to win the award. It is such an honor, and it shows that teaching is a priority at Pitt. I think it’s nice for the students, too, to know that faculty are recognized in this way.”

She said teaching is in her genes. “My mother was a public school teacher and my father was a faculty member in sociology,” Newhill said. “It also goes back to the mid-’70s when I was taking my master’s program at Syracuse. I felt the program had some gaps, particularly in the ethics of the social work profession. I collaborated with a faculty member there to develop a course, Social Work Values and Methods for the Development of Professionals, and after I graduated I taught the course at Syracuse.”

She added, “I worked as a clinical social worker for 10 years, and, in a nutshell, my approach to teaching is the same: I believe it is a partnership between teacher and students, just as it is between a social worker and a client, and the teacher needs to respect and have empathy for the students. I let them know I appreciate and respect their point of view. That sets an atmosphere in the classroom. Some students might be slower to respond to that, so I will adjust at times, but that’s my basic approach.”

Newhill’s primary interests are in community mental health services and the care and treatment of clients with severe and persistent mental illness, with a particular interest in the assessment of violent behavior. She holds a PhD from UC-Berkeley.

Stephen Badylak, professor of surgery, deputy director of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine and director of the Center for Pre-Clinical Tissue Engineering at the McGowan Institute, came to Pitt in 2003. He also holds a secondary appointment as professor of bioengineering in the Swanson School of Engineering.

“You are a pioneer in the fields of biomaterials and tissue engineering, whose medical advances have been used to treat more than 500,000 patients throughout the world,” Nordenberg wrote. “You were among the first to realize that the best biomaterials for tissue regeneration would be those rich in the scaffold matrix proteins found in vivo.”

Badylak also has invented materials that repair and replace damaged human tissues, Nordenberg noted. “Importantly, your clinical and medical accomplishments are backed up by solid research studies in highly interdisciplinary areas, such as cell biology, surgery, biochemistry, materials science, tissue engineering and biomechanics,” he said.

Badylak’s peers have described him as a model scientist and an internationally known researcher at the top of his field, Nordenberg added.

“Frankly, I was surprised and delighted to win this award,” Badylak said. “I’m not sure that I’m really deserving of this award, which I hold in very high esteem. Other than patients being treated, which is my primary interest as a researcher, I’m grateful to know that my peers appreciate my work; I have a genuine heartfelt gratitude for their support.”

Badylak holds more than 40 U.S. patents and 200 patents worldwide. He has authored more than 180 scientific publications and 12 book chapters.

Badylak has been the recipient of multiple awards, including the Sigma Xi Scientific Society 2002 Research Award, the Pittsburgh Business Times Hero in Health Care Innovation and Research for 2005, the 2005 Carnegie Science Center Award for Excellence, and the 2005 Clemson Award from the Society for Biomaterials.

Badylak’s eclectic academic background includes a doctorate in veterinary medicine, a master’s in clinical psychology and a PhD in anatomic pathology, all earned at Purdue University, and an MD, earned with highest honors at the Indiana University Medical School.

“There was one moment I remember that changed my career,” Badylak said. “I had been a veterinarian for two years and I was at a dinner with other veterinarians, who were all older than I. They were talking about what they thought they’d be doing in five years, and to a person they all said they’d be doing something else. I’d already known I’d be somewhat frustrated, but I decided on the spot that I was going back to graduate school and two months later I was working toward a PhD.”

G. Bard Ermentrout, University Professor of Computational Biology and professor in the Department of Mathematics, came to Pitt in 1982.

“There are few fields that your work on mathematical modeling has not touched, and in so doing, made a lasting impact,” the chancellor wrote. “You are highly sought after for your unique insights and contributions to the modeling of neural and biological systems, ranging from the brain, neurons and cognition to viruses and olfaction.”

Ermentrout’s work in leading scientific journals, such as the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, Nature and Science, is cited more than 135 times per year on average, Nordenberg noted.

In letters supporting Ermentrout’s nomination, colleagues described him as “a genius,” “among the very top researchers in the world” and “a prolific contributor to several disciplines, including pure and applied mathematics, neurosciences and mathematical biology.”

Ermentrout does research in the applications of nonlinear dynamics to biological problems. “My main focus is in the area of mathematical neuroscience where I try to understand the patterns of activity in networks of neurons,” he said. “I model recurrent activity, waves and oscillations in a variety of neural systems including olfaction, cortical slices and working memory. I am also interested in problems from physiology, immunology and cell biology —all of which I have modeled with students and postdocs.”

Ermentrout added, “I was happy to win this award. Why not? I knew I was nominated, but you never know if you’re going to win. I think I was nominated about 10 years ago and didn’t win.”

Ermentrout said his initial academic goal was to become a physician.

“As an undergrad I was a pre-med and math major,” he said. “I thought I needed to justify my math as part of pre-med and I found a book in the ’60s called ‘Towards a Theoretical Biology’ and I got very interested in math biology. I may not be the first generation looking at that, but I’m probably the second generation of researchers. I realized the only place studying that at the time was the University of Chicago, so I did my PhD there and gave up going to medical school.

“I did my PhD on mescaline hallucinations. That is something that’s coming back for study, because we know a lot more about how the mechanisms in the brain are affected,” he said.

Michael Sacks is William Kepler Whiteford Professor of bioengineering and director of the McGowan Institute’s Engineered Tissue Mechanics and Mechanobiology Laboratory. He earned his PhD in biomedical engineering at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.

Nordenberg wrote, “You are a leader in the field of the mechanical behavior of biological and bio-prosthetic tissues, who has both developed novel methods to analyze tissue structure and conducted pioneering work in the experimental and theoretical understanding of soft tissue mechanics.”

The chancellor noted further that Sacks’s use of small angle laser scattering to analyze the collagen substructure in heart valve and tissue-derived replacements provides a critically valuable window into the structural basis for valve mechanics.

“I am particularly impressed that Scientific American named you as one of its top 50 researchers for 2006 for your seminal work on the biomechanics of biological scaffolds for cardiac regeneration,” Nordenberg said. “Your peers describe you as ‘a leading investigator in the solid mechanics and functional fibrous architecture of heart valves and other collagenous tissues,’ whose ‘contributions to the understanding of prosthetic heart valve leaflet biomechanics and heart failure mechanisms have been exceedingly helpful.’ They conclude you are at the top of your field: ‘He is considered a world class leader in tissue mechanics, highly recognized, and constantly accelerating his research activity.’”

Sacks said, “I was extremely pleased to receive this award. It’s really a special and highly valued award at the University. I came to Pitt in 1998 largely because it is a very conducive environment for the kind of work I do.”

His research focuses on quantification and modeling of the structure-mechanical properties of native and engineered soft tissues, especially tissues of the cardiovascular and urological systems.

“In particular, my laboratory has focused on the mechanical behavior and function of the native aortic and mitral heart valves, including the development of the first constitutive (stress-strain) models for these tissues using a structural approach,” Sacks said. “My laboratory is also active in the biomechanics of engineered tissues, and in particular understanding the in vitro and in vivo remodeling processes from a functional biomechanical perspective.”

He said his lab has developed several novel methods to quantify tissue structure and multi-axial mechanical testing techniques.

“By integrating the resulting experimental data obtained from both techniques, we have developed structural constitutive models that directly integrate information on tissue composition and structure,” Sacks said. “These models avoid ambiguities in material characterization, offering insight into the function, structure and mechanics of tissue components.”

Peter Wipf is University Professor of Chemistry, professor of pharmaceutical sciences in the School of Pharmacy, co-director of the Drug Discovery Institute and director of the Center for Chemical Methodologies and Library Development.

“You are considered to be one of the top researchers in the field of organic synthesis — a true leader and visionary — who works at the interface of organic and biological chemistry,” Nordenberg wrote. “You developed a vast repertoire of new synthetic chemistry methodologies, which you have used to create numerous structurally diverse and biologically important organic compounds. Your work on the application of alkyl-zirconium derivatives to synthetic methodology is considered to be seminal and has been applied by scores of research groups around the world.”

Wipf’s colleagues, Nordenberg noted, stated that he has “shown the world that clever synthetic design, when coupled to a comprehensive cellular and in vivo evaluation, cannot only open our eyes to key disease pathways, but lead to useful therapeutics.” They said Wipf is “without doubt one of the world-class stars of contemporary organic chemistry.”

Nordenberg added, “Through your leadership of the Center of Chemical Methodologies and the chemical library development program, and with 300 peer-reviewed publications over the past 23 years, you have significantly raised the level of organic chemistry scholarship at the University.”

Wipf, who came to Pitt in 1990, won a Chancellor’s Distinguished Research Award in the junior scholar category in 1997.

“I was surprised” to win this year, he said.

Wipf’s dedication to chemistry research and teaching dates back to his days working toward a doctorate in Switzerland.

“While studying chemistry at the University of Zürich and later on as a postdoc at the University of Virginia, my own hands-on experience with the subject grew more exciting and stimulating by the year,” he said. “I found that organic chemistry provided me with the ideal mix of theory and practical applications, and I was fascinated by research on the synthesis and properties of strained ring systems as well as natural product chemistry.”

Wipf added that his research and teaching are inexorably linked. “Naturally, I do a lot of teaching in addition to research in my current position. I have a large research group with several colloquia every week, and I regularly teach classes to undergraduates and graduate students,” he said.

Wen Xie, associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the School of Pharmacy who holds a secondary appointment as associate professor of pharmacology at the School of Medicine, came to Pitt in 2002.

Xie earned his PhD at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, and his MD at Peking University Health Science Center (formerly Beijing Medical University) in Beijing, China.

In his laboratory, Xie studies orphan nuclear receptor-mediated genetic and pharmacological regulation of genes that encode drug metabolizing enzymes and transporters. Research in Xie’s lab indicates that these orphan nuclear receptors can be used as potential therapeutic targets for the treatment and prevention of human diseases such as cholestatic liver diseases, jaundice, breast cancer and colon cancer.

“Your rise to prominence in your discipline has been nothing short of spectacular,” Nordenberg wrote. “You possess an impressive record of grant support, which includes three currently funded NIH RO1 grants, and an excellent publication record, which includes 54 peer-reviewed articles.”

Xie’s papers have been published in such journals as Science, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Nature and Cell, the chancellor observed.

“Your reputation extends far beyond the University. In the field of drug metabolizing enzyme regulation, you are considered to be the leader in the development and characterization of knock-out and transgenic animals,” the chancellor stated.

He added that established senior investigators, in support of Xie’s nomination for the research award, referred to him as “a pioneer in the field of pharmacogenetics and toxicology,” “an important new young leader in toxicology and nuclear receptor fields” and “a scientific force to be reckoned with and a rising star in both the nuclear receptor and toxico-genomic fields.”

Xie told the University Times that he was extremely happy to win the award. “The support of my school is very important to me, and being nominated by Dean Pat Kroboth and department chair Barry Gold and (Senior Associate Dean) Randy Smith was critical, I believe, to my winning this award. I was also very flattered by the nice things that Chancellor Nordenberg said about me,” Xie said.

“I first earned a medical degree prior to my PhD,” he said. “After my PhD, my research has been directed toward medical advances. My medical background puts a nice touch on my research, which is highly directed toward treatment and prevention of disease, such as breast cancer.”

—Peter Hart