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Academic Accolades

Patrick Dunn and Alireza Mohammadzadeh in a research lab

September 26, 2024

2 Pitt graduate students are finalists in the Collegiate Inventors Competition

Patrick Dunn and Alireza Mohammadzadeh, both graduate researchers in the Swanson School of Engineering, have been named finalists in the Collegiate Inventors Competition for their invention, AgriNUE. 

Jay Tan

September 23, 2024

Tan received a Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award

School of Medicine Assistant Professor Jay Tan received an R35 Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences for a project to research how our cells repair components called lysosomes.   

Daniel Pan

September 23, 2024

A Pitt medical student won the West Virginia Governor’s Service Award

Daniel Pan, a fourth-year medical student, received the 2024 West Virginia’s Governor’s Service Award. Pan was one of six recipients of this prestigious award and the only recipient in the adult category.

Andrey Parkhitko

September 20, 2024

Parkhitko will use a new National Institute on Aging grant to study the methionine cycle

Assistant Professor Andrey Parkhitko earned a new grant from the National Institute on Aging to investigate whether the methionine cycle — a process crucial to many cellular functions — plays a role in controlling multiple hallmarks of aging.

Cathedral of Learning

September 20, 2024

7 Pitt faculty won Black Excellence in the Academy awards

Seven faculty members will be recognized at the Heinz History Center on Nov. 7.

Cuilan Liu

September 19, 2024

Liu published a new book on religion and law in China

Cuilan Liu, assistant professor of religious studies in Pitt’s Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, has published “Buddhism in Court: Religion, Law, and Jurisdiction in China” (Oxford University Press).

Cathedral of Learning

September 18, 2024

Pitt student won a poster award from the Mathematical Association of America

Pitt mathematics student Lark Song was recognized for his research poster at the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) MathFest in Indianapolis.

Marc Coutanche

September 16, 2024

Coutanche elected as board secretary of the Federation of Associations in Brain and Behavior Sciences

Marc Coutanche, associate professor of psychology in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences and research scientist in the Learning Research and Development Center, has been elected as board secretary to the Federation of Associations in Behavior and Brain Sciences.

Samuel Woolley

September 12, 2024

Woolley won a book award from the Association of Internet Researchers

Samuel Woolley, Endowed Chair of Disinformation Studies in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, won the Association of Internet Researchers’ (AoIR) Nancy Baym Book Annual Award.

September 10, 2024

Parkhitko will use a new National Institute on Aging grant to study the methionine cycle

Assistant Professor Andrey Parkhitko earned a new grant from the National Institute on Aging to investigate whether the methionine cycle — a process crucial to many cellular functions — plays a role in controlling multiple hallmarks of aging.

Anna Li

September 10, 2024

A Pitt student startup won the prestigious Hult Prize

Korion Health, a startup led by Pitt students, won $1 million in the competition, which challenges for-profit student entrepreneurs from around the world to create and launch businesses aimed at tackling the most pressing challenges they see in their communities. 

Jill Stemple

September 9, 2024

GSPIA student was named as an acting state bureau director

Jill Stemple, a graduate student in Pitt’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, has been named an acting bureau director within Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services.

Mark Paterson

September 6, 2024

Paterson works with UK team on 'More-than-human senses and sensations project

Mark Paterson, professor of sociology and distinguished visiting professor at the University of Bristol, worked on an interdisciplinary project and delivered a public lecture that explored the histories of scholarships considering senses beyond the human. 

Mohammed Bamyeh

September 5, 2024

Bamyeh earned an Einstein Fellowship

Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences professor Mohammed Bamyeh was recently awarded the Einstein Fellowship.

Michael Munin

August 23, 2024

Munin earned an American Association of Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnostic Medicine research award

The American Association of Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnostic Medicine (AANEM) will honor Pitt School of Medicine Professor Michael Munin with its 2024 Distinguished Researcher Award.

Public Health Building

August 22, 2024

2 Pitt graduate students were named public health ambassadors

Jaia Gallegos and Prathiksha Sivakumar were selected for the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health’s (ASPPH) 2024-25 This Is Public Health Ambassador Cohort.

3 Pitt honors students presented at a Justice and Equity Honors Network gathering

August 20, 2024

3 Pitt honors students presented at a Justice and Equity Honors Network gathering

Cole Belling, Meghana Dodda and Gabriella Garvin presented their global Racial Equity Awareness Database (R.E.A.D.) and engaged in dialogue on combatting systemic racism and advancing racial equity.

Jessica Ghilani

August 6, 2024

Ghilani presented to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

Jessica Ghilani, Pitt Cyber affiliate scholar and associate professor of communication at Pitt-Greensburg, presented “Science Communication, Misinformation and Trust.”

Jennifer Hirsch

July 22, 2024

Hirsch won the International Association for Relationship Research Teaching Award

Jennifer Hirsch, a teaching assistant professor in the department of psychology, has been awarded the International Association for Relationship Research (IARR) Teaching Award.

Anna Li

July 18, 2024

Pitt student startup is a semifinalist for the Hult Prize

Korion Health, a startup led by Pitt students and founded by Anna Li, an MD/PhD student, has been named one of 16 semifinalists for the 15th Hult Prize, one of the world’s most prestigious social entrepreneurship competitions.

Alanna Howe

July 17, 2024

Pitt honors student selected for the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals

Alanna Howe, a sophomore in Pitt’s David C. Frederick Honors College, has been selected for the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals.

Panther statue

June 13, 2024

Waldeck awarded 2024 Edward W. Morley Medal

David Waldeck, professor of chemistry and director of the Gertrude E. and John M. Petersen Institute of Nanoscience and Engineering, was awarded the 2024 Edward W. Morley Medal by the Cleveland, Ohio, section of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

Connor Diaz

June 7, 2024

Pitt junior named a 2024 Newman Civic fellow

Connor Diaz, a junior double majoring in history and law, criminal justice and society, was selected for the 2024-25 Newman Civic Fellowship, a yearlong program designed to help fellows enact positive change on their college campuses and in their communities. 

Cathedral of Learning

June 6, 2024

44 Pitt undergraduates received 2024 Brackenridge Fellowships

Recipients earn funding to conduct independent research, scholarship or creative work under the guidance of a Pitt faculty mentor.

Pitt flag on campus

June 4, 2024

16 students will research electrical grid sustainability through SHURE-Grid

16 students will perform research focused on improving electrical grid sustainability, developing verified vignettes and creating new knowledge building on cyber-informed engineering through SHURE-Grid.

June 3, 2024

Pitt biologists are part of a $12.5M NSF grant to study a widespread genetic phenomenon

Distinguished Professor Tia-Lynn Ashman and Assistant Professor Martin Turcotte, both of the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, will use a tiny pond plant duckweed to tackle questions about the phenomenon ranging from the scale of genes to whole communities of organisms.

June 3, 2024

14 students and alumni named Fulbright scholars

Fourteen University of Pittsburgh students and alumni have been named award recipients by the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, the U.S. government’s flagship international academic exchange program.

Cathedral of Learning

May 13, 2024

4 Pitt Business people honored by Pittsburgh’s AMA chapter

Four University of Pittsburgh students and alumni were recognized as “Up and Coming Marketers to Watch” by the Pittsburgh chapter of the American Marketing Association.

Cathedral of Learning

May 10, 2024

Pitt has three new National Endowment for the Humanities awardees

Adam Cilli, an assistant professor of history at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, Mrinalini Rajagopalan, associate professor and chair of the Department of History of Art and Architecture, and Annette Vee, an associate professor of English, have received new grants for their research from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Chandralekha Singh

May 10, 2024

Singh received an AAPT award for physics education

Chandralekha Singh, a distinguished professor of physics in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, has been named the John David Jackson Excellence in Graduate Physics Education Award winner for 2024, the American Association of Physics Teachers announced.