In preparing to leave office as the University of Pittsburgh's 18th Chancellor, Patrick Gallagher sat down with Rob A. Rutenbar, senior vice chancellor for research, to reflect on how they've helped to enhance research opportunities at Pitt. Accomplishments include creating an ecosystem for team-based collaborations with the Pitt Momentum Funds and Big Proposal Bootcamp programs. Pitt Momentum Funds were designed to enhance and streamline internal funding opportunities while continuing to support high-quality research, scholarship, and creative endeavors.

Gallagher and Rutenbar also share how large-scale research projects have expanded Pitt’s footprint in the places the "magic happens" with truly novel innovations. Even without a vibrant business district on the Pittsburgh campus in Oakland, Rutenbar applauded enhanced ties with industry and the local communities to bring big business to the Pittsburgh talent pool and continue to be a significant economic engine for Pennsylvania.

Bringing large-scale research to the region benefits local communities and economies, notes a study led by Gallagher with the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities’ (APLU) Commission on Economic and Community Engagement. Nicknamed The CECE Study, the team established a need for reinvestment in research and development and for those funds to remain balanced across industry, government and education.

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Pitt Invests $11.6M in Western Pennsylvania Quantum Information Core

For the past decade, Pitt has created space for faculty and collaborators in quantum computing to work together to advance science discoveries in the region. Now, with support from the University’s Strategic Advancement Fund, The Western Pennsylvania Quantum Information Core will be able to provide its faculty, researchers, students, and ultimately outside stakeholders, with access to the latest, made-to-spec equipment, customized to the needs of this fast-moving, high-tech field. Equipment for these projects require exacting specifications that can maintain precise, and sometimes extreme, conditions.

Read More >> via Pittwire

Safeguard Your Research Visitors This Summer

As your research team plans for the next academic year, review the five-step process for hosting visitors for research purposes at Pitt. The purpose of the visit – whether that is use of Pitt’s laboratory, Pitt’s clinical space or UPMC clinical space as well as their length of stay – will determine which approval processes are followed. Email the Visitor Liaison or review the FAQs.

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Space Collaborative Conference Considers Technology Translation and Innovation

Earlier this month, Pitt faculty and students participated in the Keystone Space Collaborative Conference, held in Pittsburgh, which has long been a home for important space missions, technology development and manufacturing, and space innovation.

Highlights included a creative panel discussion on technology translation, which asked government, academia and local industry partners what each would bring to a “Keystone Soup,” to establish a space ecosystem in our region. NASA, Touchstone Research Law, and three universities all offered necessary ingredients.

Doctoral students at Pitt-led Center for Space, High-Performance, and Resilient Computing (SHREC) shared updates on various space research projects and missions underway. SHREC is a national consortium comprised of more than 30 industry, government and university groups working together on space research in computer and electrical engineering.

For the "recipe" and other highlights from the conference, read more >>

MyFunding Upgrade to Take Place in July

PERIS^TM MyFunding is being upgraded and will be down and unavailable from Friday, July 21 through Sunday, July 30. All proposals with sponsor deadlines during this time will need to route their work to the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) by Tuesday, July 18.

For more details on OSP processes during the downtime, read more >>

Anton 2 Proposals Due to PSC June 29

The Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (PSC) has a request for proposals for time on the Anton 2, a supercomputer designed to run molecular dynamics simulations 100 times faster than traditional supercomputers, with a deadline of Thursday, June 29, 2023. Review this webinar presentation for tips on how to write an Anton 2 proposal before you make your submission.

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2023 Small Business of the Year: Stories Like Me

At the annual Celebration of Innovation, the Small Business of the Year award recognizes businesses that are growing successfully and can attribute part of that success to the guidance and assistance provided by the Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence. Stories Like Me, the 2023 winner, is a colorful book nook located in the Greenfield neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Book are selected to represent the diversity of the community with titles featuring characters with disabilities, thinking differences and underrepresented groups to help them feel seen and valued.

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Pitt Joins MOSAIC Consortia, ‘Largest of Its Kind’

Pitt is the first U.S. institution to collaborate internationally with leading healthcare institutions in the European Union in utilizing Nature’s 2020 Method of the Year, spatially resolved molecular profiling, in precision medicine for cancer research. The near single-cell resolution view of tumor structures reveal interactions between tumor and non-tumor cells revealing differences between chemotherapy and targeted immune and normal cell therapy.

“Pitt is excited to be a part of the MOSAIC consortia, which will leverage our UPMC Hillman Cancer Center spatial-omic expertise in understanding cancer cells in their environment. We are enthusiastic to work with other universities and industry partners to uncover actionable insights to detect, treat and prevent cancer,” said Robert Ferris, associate vice chancellor for cancer research and director of UPMC Hillman Cancer Center.

Read More >> via Inside Precision Medicine

Honoring Hard Work in English Professor's Keynote

Michael Meyer, professor of English in the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, was awarded an honorary doctorate from Franklin Cummings Tech and gave a keynote that referenced his book, Benjamin Franklin’s Last Bet on May 20 in Boston. Meyer shared with the school’s 260+ graduates the story behind the founding of their school, made possible in part by Franklin's investment in the tradespeople of Boston (and separately Philadelphia) through a codicil in his will to first provide funding to tradepeople establishing a new business for 100 years following his death, and then founding Franklin Cummings Tech in 1908.

Read More >> via Franklin Cummings Tech

Find Pitt Engaged in the Community

Run queries on research projects in community organizations and businesses to find collaborations for community-engaged research and partnerships. This resource was also featured in the 2021-22 Research Annual Report.

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iThenticate Plagiarism Detection Software

Upload research documents and proposal submissions to iThenticate, a plagiarism detection software. Plagiarism checks include a comparison against 110 million content items from academic publications, as well as federal government agencies like the National Science Foundation.

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