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Academic Accolades

March 18, 2022

Tagbo Niepa receives Faculty Early Career Development Award from the National Science Foundation

Tagbo Niepa, assistant professor of chemical and petroleum engineering at the University of Pittsburgh 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.

March 18, 2022

Pitt Education’s Kari Kokka receives grant from the National Science Foundation

The National Science Foundation (NSF) 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."

March 16, 2022

Researchers will mimic daycare settings to study flu transmission

Seema Lakdawala, associate professor of microbiology and molecular genetics, is leading a subproject on an $8.8 million grant called MITIGATE FLU. 

Daffodils in front of Cathedral of Learning

March 16, 2022

Kokka receives National Science Foundation grant

The NSF Faculty Early Career Development Program awarded School of Education's Kari Kokka a $996,249 grant for a five-year project.

Bridge connecting Pitt buildings over Forbes Avenue

February 11, 2022

Three Selected as Senior Members of the National Academy of Inventors

The NAI has selected three University of Pittsburgh professors among 83 academic inventors for the 2022 class of NAI Senior Members.   

Anna Balazs

February 9, 2022

National Academy of Engineering Names Anna C. Balazs as New Member

The Academy accepted Balazs’ membership “in recognition of distinguished contributions to engineering" and more. 

Amber Johnson

February 9, 2022

Amber Johnson earns 2022 Escalator Award for Research

Johnson, a Pitt assistant professor of medicine, is one of four recipients of a $50,000 grant from Women as One. 

Daffodils in front of Cathedral of Learning

January 26, 2022

4 Pitt faculty members were named 2021 AAAS fellows

They join W.E.B. DuBois, Thomas Edison and Margaret Mead in having received one of science's highest honors.

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December 15, 2021

Three Earn Charles E. Kaufman Foundation Grants

Pitt researchers have been awarded a portion of a $2.1 million grant for Pennsylvania universities.

Cathedral of Learning

December 14, 2021

Researchers receive grant to explore wireless technology

A six-year, $4.6 million grant from the Department of Health and Human Services, through the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and the Administration for Community Living will help to create a Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center. 

top of Cathedral of Learning with moon showing beside it

December 14, 2021

Morgenstern receives Fulbright Specialist Program award

Pitt professor of political science Scott Morgenstern earned a Fulbright Specialist Program award, as announced by the U.S. Department of State and Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.

Catherine Cavanaugh

December 14, 2021

Nationally lauded scholar Cavanaugh is "One to Watch"

Catherine Cavanaugh is one of 161 students in the 57th class of Presidential Scholars—and one of two Presidential Scholars currently attending Pitt—and was also chosen as a National Honor Society finalist out of 10,000 applicants.

Keisha Blain

December 13, 2021

Blain’s Work Named among ‘Best History Books’

Smithsonian Magazine named history Associate Professor Keisha N. Blain’s new book as one of the 10 best history books published in 2021.

Richard Su Fang

December 13, 2021

Presidential Scholar Richard Su Fang is "One to Watch"

The University Honors College student is a member of the 57th class of scholars, joining a group of 161 students of the nation’s most distinguished graduating high school seniors. 

Bridge connecting Pitt buildings over Forbes Avenue

December 7, 2021

SSOE Professors Named NAI Fellows

William “Buddy” Clark and Steven R. Little have been selected as members of the 2021 Fellow class of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), the highest professional distinction accorded to academic inventors.

Rory Cooper

December 1, 2021

Rory Cooper receives the John P. McGovern Science and Society Award

Rory Cooper, assistant vice chancellor for research for health sciences and STEM collaboration, received the John P. McGovern Science and Society Award from the Sigma Xi Research Society. Recipients of this award represent individuals who have supported research, the communication of science and the impact of science on society.

Robert Cunningham

November 19, 2021

Robert K. Cunningham appointed interim executive director of the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition

The CNBC is a collaboration between Pitt and Carnegie Mellon University that advances research into the cognitive and neural mechanisms that give rise to behavior.

Todd Reeser

November 17, 2021

Todd Reeser will be a fellow at the University of Strasbourg Institute for Advanced Study

Reeser will spend next spring in residence at the university to work on a book project exploring trans representation and conceptions of French citizenship.

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November 11, 2021

Iris Marion Young Awards for Political Engagement winners announced

The winners of the award, which recognizes those who promote justice, were honored at a Nov. 11 event.

Tracey Conti

November 10, 2021

Tracey Conti elected as new chair of Department of Family Medicine

Conti will foster collaborative relationships across and beyond Pitt and UPMC, focusing on developing a community-based strategy for primary care in the region.

Jill Sarada

November 5, 2021

Jill Sarada named director of the Falk Laboratory School

Sarada will be responsible for leading with strategic vision, fostering academic excellence, strengthening Falk’s overall community and ensuring Falk’s financial future.

Cathedral of Learning behind trees against blue sky

October 26, 2021

Two Pitt physicists win American Physics Society awards

Physics Professor Vittorio Paolone was part of a team that was awarded the W.K.H. Panofsky Prize, which recognizes achievements in particle physics, while Assistant Professor Andrew Mugler’s team was given the Irwin Oppenheim Award, which recognizes a paper published in the journal Physical Review E.

Jessica Jarvis

October 21, 2021

Jessica Jarvis awarded funding for work to assess racial equity in children’s rehabilitation therapy

Jessica Jarvis, assistant professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in the School of Medicine, was awarded Gabriella E. Molnar-Swafford Pediatric PM&R Research Grant by the Foundation for Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

Valerie Kinloch

October 20, 2021

Valerie Kinloch will chair the National Council of Teachers of English's annual convention this November

Valerie Kinloch, Pitt Education’s Renée and Richard Goldman Dean and professor, is chairing the convention and is president-elect of NCTE.

Ruth Mostern

October 19, 2021

Ruth Mostern publishes new book

Ruth Mostern, associate professor in the Department of History and director of Pitt’s World History Center, has published her new book titled “The Yellow River: A Natural and Unnatural History.”

Cathedral of learning behind green trees

October 15, 2021

Pitt researchers receive National Institutes of Health grants to support 'trailblazing' ideas in biomedical

These grants accelerate scientific discovery by supporting creative, trailblazing ideas in clinical and basic biomedical science that may struggle under the conventional funding mechanism but could have a transformative effect in addressing important challenges in medicine.

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October 15, 2021

Mathematician Piotr Hajłasz wins Poland’s Sierpiński Medal

Piotr Hajłasz, a professor and graduate director of the Department of Mathematics, is the 2021 recipient of Poland's Sierpiński Medal.

Danielle Obisie-Orlu

October 7, 2021

Danielle Obisie-Orlu champions love, empathy as county youth poet laureate

Allegheny County’s new youth poet laureate said she works to incorporate empathy, understanding and passion into her work and life.

Kevin Kearns

October 6, 2021

Kevin Kearns receives teaching excellence award

Kevin Kearns has received the Leslie A. Whittington Excellence in Teaching Award from the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs and Administration (NASPAA).

Keisha Blain

September 24, 2021

Historian Keisha N. Blain named New America Fellow

Keisha N. Blain, an award-winning historian and writer, and associate professor of history in the Dietrich School, added one more prestigious award to her resume.