In 2009, Jeanne Marie Laskas (A&S ’85G), director of the Writing Program in the Dietrich School’s Department of English, wrote “Game Brain,” a GQ article about brain injuries in the NFL and the efforts of forensic pathologist Bennet Omalu to raise public awareness about this issue. Laskas’ exposé served as the inspiration for a new feature film, Concussion, starring Will Smith as Omalu, which will open December 25, 2015. Laskas’ full-length, nonfiction account of Omalu’s story, also titled, Concussion, was released last month.

Ghosts of Amistad: In the Footsteps of the Rebels, a film by Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History Marcus Rediker, has been awarded the 2015 Richard E. O’Connor prize by the American Historical Association (AHA) for the best historical documentary of the year. Rediker will accept the award in January 2016 during the AHA's annual meeting, during which there will be a special screening of the film.

Iyanna Boatwright-Buffaloe, a Dietrich School sophomore majoring in computer science and minoring in music, is the recipient of the 2015 Pitt-BNY Mellon Jazz Scholarship. Boatwright-Buffaloe, 18, from Darby, PA, won the $5,000 scholarship based on a recording of jazz standards she submitted to a judging panel composed of members of the Pitt Jazz Studies Program faculty.

Professor Kay Brummond, chair of the Dietrich School’s Department of Chemistry, was recently awarded the 2015 Pittsburgh Award by the American Chemical Society’s Pittsburgh Section. The award was established in 1932 to recognize outstanding leadership in chemical affairs in the local and larger professional community. It is given to professionals who have been instrumental in increasing chemical knowledge, promoting the chemical industry, or benefiting humanity.