Happenings

Concerts

IUP Recital, organ recital by Indiana University of Pennsylvania students, 3 p.m. March 30, Heinz Memorial Chapel, www.heinzchapel.pitt.edu

Pitt Spring Student Jazz Festival, Westminster College and Pitt Jazz Bands play classics of the big-band repertoire, new arrangements, and more, 7 p.m. March 30, Bellefield Hall Auditorium, Pitt Department of Music, www.music.pitt.edu

Exhibitions

University Art Gallery, Nicholas Lochoff Collection, free guided tours offered in English and Mandarin-Chinese, through April 11, Frick Fine Arts Building, Pitt Department of History of Art and Architecture, www.haa.pitt.edu

Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, Spring Flower Show, showcasing musical genres through whimsical sculptures made of up-cycled instruments alongside thousands of seasonal flowers, through April 20, 1 Schenley Park, Oakland, www.phipps.conservatory.org

Filmmakers Galleries, Palimpsests: Ghost Signs of Pittsburgh, photographic exploration of the remnants of local 20th century outdoor advertisements, through May 16, 477 Melwood Avenue, Oakland, www.pittsburghpalimpsests.com

Hillman Library, Oakland: A Look Back Over the 20th Century, glimpse into the changes that would lead to Oakland’s development as a medical, cultural, and educational hub, through summer 2014, http://digital.library.pitt.edu/pittsburgh/exhibits/oakland-a-look-back/

Carnegie Museum of Natural History, RACE: Are We So Different? personal stories integrated with expert discussions of the role of science within racial history, through Oct. 27,  4400 Forbes Ave, Oakland, American Anthropological Association,  www.carnegiemnh.org

Lectures/Seminars/Readings

“The Art of the Soluble: Cyclodextrin’s Unanticipated Journey from Excipient to Therapeutic for the Rare Brain Disease, Niemann-Pick Type C,” Steven Walkley, professor of neuroscience, pathology, and neurology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 4 p.m. March 24, 169 Crawford Hall, Pitt Department of Biological Sciences, www.biology.pitt.edu

“Vibrational Stark Spectroscopy Connects Electrostatics to Catalytic Rates at Enzyme Active Sites,” Steven Boxer, Camille and Henry Dreyfus Professor of Chemistry, Stanford University, 2:30 p.m. March 26, 150 Chevron Hall, Pitt Department of Chemistry’s 5th Coetzee Memorial Lecture, www.chem.pitt.edu 

“Arms and the University,” Donald Downs, Alexander Meiklejohn Professor of Political Science, Law, and Journalism, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Ilia Murtazashvili, Pitt assistant professor of public and international affairs, 4 p.m. March 24, William Pitt Union Lower Lounge, Pitt College of General Studies, www.cgs.pitt.edu

“The View from Ukraine: A Digital Video Conference with U.S. Embassy in Kyiv,” videoconference with key staff members from the Political, Economic, Defense, and Public Affairs Divisions of the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, 9 a.m. March 27, Pitt European Union Center of Excellence and European Studies Center, Center for Russian and East European Studies, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, www.ucis.pitt.edu/euce

“Significance of New Approaches: How Umpolung Translated Triazoles into Cyanocarbenes,” Mitchell Croatt, assistant professor of organic chemistry, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2:30 p.m. March 27, 150 Chevron Hall, Pitt Department of Chemistry, www.chem.pitt.edu

“Climatic and Anthropogenic Feedbacks to Atmospheric Methane Emissions,” Amy Townsend-Small, assistant professor of geology and geography, University of Cincinnati, 4 p.m. March 27, 11 Thaw Hall, Pitt Department of Geology and Planetary Science, www.geology.pitt.edu

“Making a Difference in Climate Change Discourse: The UN and/or Popular Movements,” Robert C. Orr, assistant secretary-general, Strategic Planning at the United Nations, and Ambassador Ahmad Kamal, professional diplomat in Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs for 40 years, 4 p.m. March 27, O’Hara Student Center, Pitt Global Studies Center, The Politics of Global Climate Change: Debates in the United Nations and Civil Society lecture series, University Honors College, www.ucis.pitt.edu/global

“New Molecules and Materials for Studying Carbohydrate Recognition,” Amit Basu, associate professor of chemistry, Brown University, 4 p.m. March 27, 150 Chevron Hall, Pitt Department of Chemistry, www.chem.pitt.edu

“Recent Work in Masculinity Studies,” Gabby Yearwood, Pitt visiting lecturer of anthropology, and Scott Kiesling, Pitt professor of linguistics, 4 p.m. March 27, 2201 Posvar Hall, Gender and the Global Spring 2014 Events, Pitt Women’s Studies Program, www.wstudies.pitt.edu

“Epistemic Foundations for the Failure of Nash Equilibrium,” Paul J. Healy, associate professor of economics, Ohio State University, noon March 28, Pitt Department of Economics’ Experimental and Behavioral Economics Seminar, download materials at www.econ.pitt.edu

“Occupational Choice, Human Capital, and Financing Constraints,” Rui Castro, associate professor of macroeconomics, Université de Montréal, 3:30 p.m. March 28, 4716 Posvar Hall, Pitt Department of Economics, www.econ.pitt.edu

“The Amazing Bud Powell: His Tests and Triumphs,” Guthrie Ramsey, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Term Professor of Music and Africana Studies, University of Pennsylvania, 4 p.m. March 28, 132 Music Building, Pitt Department of Music, www.music.pitt.edu 

Theater/Opera/Dance

In the Heights, exploring what it takes to make a living, what it costs to have a dream, and what it means to be home in the Heights, March 27 through April 6, Charity Randall Theatre, Pitt Department of Theatre Arts, www.play.pitt.edu

Miscellaneous

“Challenging Authority: A Symposium in Honor of Derrick Bell,” celebrating the late Derrick Bell, esteemed Pitt School of Law alumnus, professor, and founder of critical race theory, March 27-28, Pitt School of Law, www.law.pitt.edu

School of Education Alumni Awards, honoring exemplary staff and alumni, 5:30 p.m. March 30, Pittsburgh Athletic Association, Pitt School of Education, RSVP to Susan K. Sherlock at 412-648-1738 or sks@pitt.edu 

Book launch for Kathleen George, Pitt professor of theatre arts, and her book, The Johnstown Girls, free reading at 7:30 p.m. April 2, Twentieth Century Club, 4201 Bigelow Blvd., Oakland, special dinner at 6 p.m., $35 and reservations required, 412-828-4877

PhD Dissertation Defenses

Jeremy Woodruff, Dietrich School’s Department of Music, “A Musical Analysis of the People’s Microphone: Voices and Echoes in Protest and Sound Art and Occupation for String Quartet,” 12:30 p.m. March 25, 302 Music Building.

Tushar Singh, Graduate School of Public Health’s Department of Epidemiology, “Cardiovascular Disease and Mobility Disability in Rural Older Indians: The Mobility and Independent Living in Elders Study (MILES),” 8:30 a.m. March 26, 622 Crabtree Hall. 

Thomas Pashby, Dietrich School’s Department of History and Philosophy of Science, “Time and the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics,” 9:00 a.m. March 28, G28 Cathedral of Learning.

Aaron Brooks, Dietrich School’s Department of Music, “A Radical Idiom: Style and Meaning in the Guitar Music of Derek Bailey and Richard Barrett,” 1 p.m. March 28, 302 Music Building.