In collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), Pitt has opened the Pittsburgh Federal Statistical Research Data Center (FSRDC), located in the Cathedral of Learning. The FSRDC is a flagship federal program overseen by the U.S. Census Bureau and consists of 37 centers nationwide. Through the center, researchers can use valuable restricted-access census and survey data from multiple federal agencies.

Faculty codirectors are Randy Walsh, Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, and Brian Kovak, CMU’s Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy. Rob Cunningham, vice chancellor for research infrastructure, serves as executive director, and Emily Greenman, Pennsylvania State University FSRDC, serves as interim facility director. This opening marks a significant investment in sustaining high-impact research locally and beyond.

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Pitt Co-Hosts National Science Foundation Workshop

Last month, Pitt Research leaders co-hosted a National Science Foundation-sponsored workshop with colleagues from Arizona State University. The workshop convened experts from academia, industry and government alongside colleagues in philanthropy and the investment community—with a particular focus on identifying the persistent barriers that can impede early-stage research from reaching its full potential.

Pitt Chancellor Joan Gabel attended the workshop along with the Pitt leadership team, including Rob Rutenbar, senior vice chancellor for research; Evan Facher, vice chancellor for innovation and entrepreneurship; and Mike Holland, vice chancellor for science policy and research strategies.

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Two New Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Jill E. Millstone, Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts, and Ora A. Weisz, School of Medicine, have been elected 2025 fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest general scientific society. This fellowship is one of the most distinct honors in the scientific community, recognizing those who advance both science and service at the highest levels.

Millstone was recognized for her contributions to inorganic and materials chemistry, particularly developing chemical methods to better understand the formation and properties of mixed metal nanomaterials.

Weisz was honored for her contributions to cell biology, particularly research on endocytosis and its role in kidney function and disease.

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Pitt-Google Partnership to Enhance Cosmic Data Processing

Pitt researchers Michael Wood-Vasey and graduate student Christopher Hernandez, Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, have collaborated with Google to develop the Pitt-Google Alert Broker, a cloud-based alert distribution service designed to provide near real-time processing of data from large-scale astronomical surveys. Within seconds, the broker ingests, processes and distributes alert data from the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), generated by activity in the solar system and Milky Way Galaxy and explosions throughout the universe. The broker will allow the world to discover the changing universe by combining cloud-based analysis opportunities with value-added data products.

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Entrepreneurs Recognized at Startup Signing Day

The Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship recently held its second annual Startup Signing Day at the Petersen Events Center. The event celebrated researchers who have started companies based on their innovative work at Pitt. Representatives from five of the fifteen startups founded in the last fiscal year signed commitment letters to commercialize their innovations. Entrepreneurs recognized, along with their teams, were School of Medicine researchers Jay Chhablani, Nathan Liang, Rebecca Price and Ajay Wasan and third-year medical student Ben Leslie. Their startups provide a range of groundbreaking services in aneurysm care, ophthalmology, neurosurgery, mental health and chronic pain.

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Study Confirms AI-Powered App Enables Quicker Care for Stroke Patients

Mohamed (Mo) Doheim and Raul G. Nogueira, School of Medicine and UPMC Stroke Institute, led a study testing an AI-powered phone app designed to enhance care for stroke patients transferring to a more advanced facility. The app instantly shares brain scans across hospitals and sends a transfer alert to the stroke team at the receiving hospital. Published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, the study examined data from more than 4,500 stroke patients across UPMC’s network of four stroke centers receiving transfers from 60 community hospitals. Findings indicate that use of the app decreased wait time to transfer, and its alerts enabled quicker treatment upon arrival. By helping to identify critical patients, the app also prevented unnecessary transfers.

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Adventure Bioscience Signs Milestone Agreement

Pitt-Johnstown’s faculty-founded Adventure Bioscience has signed an option agreement on the intellectual property to advance production of its tick repellant to the commercial market. Jill Henning, Matt Tracey and Manisha Nigam founded the company and created a hemoglobin-based formulation to block carbon dioxide detection, essentially making humans “invisible” to ticks. Testing has shown results comparable to traditional DEET-based repellents, without the same environmental and health concerns.

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Research, Ethics and Society Initiative Awards Inaugural Grants

The Research, Ethics and Society Initiative (RESI) of Pitt Research has awarded its inaugural Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (ELSI) grants in two categories. Research supplement grants enable researchers to investigate ELSI related to an underlying research project. Curriculum grants support the examination of ELSI of topics addressed in existing courses or curricula. Five grants were awarded to researchers in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, School of Medicine, School of Public Health and School of Nursing. The RESI anticipates offering a second round of ELSI grants in the next academic year.

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Can You Spot a Spotted Salamander?

In the Eastern United States, spotted salamanders emerge from underground for just one or two rainy nights each spring in search of vernal mating pools. Once they breed, they return underground and are not seen again until the next spring. Corinne Richards-Zawacki, Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, is an expert on amphibians and notes that these salamanders often return to the breeding ponds where they were born. During these nighttime migrations, she and other researchers head out to help these creatures cross any barriers they may encounter on their journey to the ephemeral ponds where they breed.

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Researchers Create Flexible Electromagnetic Interference Shielding

Researchers in the Swanson School of Engineering, including Mostafa Bedewy, Mirza Sahaluddin and Paul Leu, have developed an electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding material that is lightweight, flexible and transparent. The resulting 3D graphene material efficiently shields against radiation from EMI, and its single-laser system allows for a versatile and scalable direct-write process for use in aerospace, display, wearable and other emerging applications.

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Investigators Engineer Bacteria to Speed Healing of Corneal Wounds

A team of researchers led by Anthony St. Leger, School of Medicine, have genetically modified the microbe Corynebacterium mastitidis, a harmless, naturally occurring eye bacterium, to secrete an anti-inflammatory protein directly onto the eye’s surface. In mice, a single course kept the microbes active for 12 weeks and reduced healing time of corneal wounds by 50%, demonstrating its therapeutic potential.

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Honorific Awards Training Course

The Honorific Awards Training Course is a workshop for Pitt faculty designed to provide an in-depth overview of the tactics and strategies to help win honorific awards. Winning these awards takes a concerted and strategic effort, and this course teaches proven tactics that lead to successful nomination and application processes. The course’s step-by-step guides help faculty members understand how to position themselves and their work to be award ready.

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