Four Professors Win Provost’s Award for Mentoring Excellence

Four University of Pittsburgh faculty members have received the 2015 Provost’s Award for Excellence in Mentoring, which recognizes professors who have nurtured their doctoral students’ professional and personal development, providing a strong foundation for the students’ careers. The honor carries a $2,500 cash prize, and the awards were presented during an April 7 reception in the Posvar Hall.

The award recipients follow.

Panos K. Chrysanthis is the founder and director of Pitt’s Advanced Data Management Technologies Laboratory and a professor of computer science, Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. A Pitt faculty member since 1991, he holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Swanson School of Engineering. Among his research interests are database systems, mobile and pervasive data management, and distributed computing. His work has been published in more than 100 papers presented in top journals, conferences, and workshops.

Donald V. Moser is a professor of business administration, Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business, and the Dean’s Excellence Faculty Fellow in Accounting. His research examines the influence of economic and behavioral factors on decision making in a variety of business settings. He has served as the editor or associate editor of prominent accounting journals and continues to serve on a number of editorial boards. Moser, who joined the faculty in 1986, has won numerous excellence in teaching awards in the Katz School’s undergraduate, graduate, and international programs.

Catherine Palmer is an associate professor of communication science and disorders in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. She joined Pitt’s faculty in 1990 and has a secondary appointment in the Department of Otolaryngology, Pitt School of Medicine. She also directs the Division of Audiology and Hearing Aids, UPMC. Palmer’s research focuses on quantifying deprivation, learning, and adaptation in the adult hearing-impaired auditory system, both pre- and post-treatment. She also studies how to best match technology to individual patient needs.

Peter Wipf is a Distinguished University Professor of Chemistry in Pitt’s Dietrich School. He is the director of Pitt’s Combinatorial Chemistry Center and a founding member of the University’s Center for Medical Countermeasures Against Radiation and the Pitt Center for Chemical Diversity. Wipf has secondary appointments in the School of Pharmacy and the Swanson School of Engineering. His research focuses on the total synthesis of natural products, organometallic and heterocyclic chemistry, and medicinal chemistry.

“Catherine, Don, Panos, and Peter have made outstanding contributions to their academic disciplines, and to the lives of the graduate students they have worked with over the years,” said Pitt Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor Patricia E. Beeson. “This award honors the various ways in which they have helped shape their students as scholars and as people, and the roles they have played in ensuring that the next generation of scholars carries on their legacy of advancing in the pursuit of knowledge.”