News of Note

Music Professor Mathew Rosenblum Named a 2013 Guggenheim Fellow

Pitt Professor of Music Mathew Rosenblum has been named a 2013 Guggenheim Fellow—one of 175 scholars, artists, and scientists selected in recognition of prior achievements and exceptional promise. Rosenblum’s proposed project is a concerto for clarinetist David Krakauer, a major figure in classical music and Eastern European Jewish klezmer music. Krakauer will perform the new piece, titled Lament/Witches’ Sabbath, with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, under the direction of Gil Rose. The concerto will be loosely based on the last movement [Songe d’une nuit du sabbat (Dream of the Witches’ Sabbath)] of Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique.  “It’s meant as a new piece that appropriates, transforms, and interprets elements from the original,” said Rosenblum. “The idea is to mesh my microtonal musical language with David’s improvisational sensibility using aspects of Berlioz’s musical material and the evocative theme of ‘witches’ Sabbath’ as a reference point.” 

Doctoral Student Sossena Wood Named National Chair of the National Society of Black Engineers

Bioengineering doctoral student and Pitt alumnus Sossena Wood (ENGR ’11) has been elected chair of the National Society of Black Engineers. Wood is the sixth woman to serve as national chairperson since the society’s founding in 1975. The society’s 29,000 members, including high schoolers, college students, and professionals, aim to increase the numbers of African Americans enrolling in engineering programs, provide support to retain them at the college level, and grow their ranks in the profession. Wood is conducting her PhD research in Pitt’s Radio Frequency Research Facility, where she is developing technology for the advancement of Seven Tesla MRI Machines.

Biology Professor Graham Hatfull Wins Undergraduate Teaching Award 

Graham Hatfull, Eberly Family Professor of Biology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor, is the recipient of the 2013 Carski Foundation Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award. This recognition, given by the American Society for Microbiology, recognizes an exemplary educator in the field of microbiology.

Hatfull has been a member of  Pitt’s faculty since 1988, and he served as chair of the Department of Biological Sciences from 2003 to 2011. During his eight-year tenure as chair, he helped spearhead a department-wide effort to dramatically increase undergraduate participation in course-based and laboratory research. He encourages many undergraduate students to assist his team in conducting research in his laboratory, where he studies molecular genetics of mycobacteria and bacteriophages related to a number of medical conditions.

Pitt’s Gerald D. Holder Elected Vice Chair of the Engineering Deans Council Executive Board

Gerald D. Holder, U.S. Steel Dean of Engineering in the Swanson School of Engineering, has been elected to serve a two-year term as vice chair of the American Society for Engineering Education’s Engineering Deans Council Executive Board. His term will begin June 26 at the conclusion of the society’s annual conference in Atlanta and will conclude at the end of the 2015 conference in Seattle.

The American Society for Engineering Education, founded in 1893, develops policies and programs that enhance professional opportunities for engineering faculty members and promotes activities that support increased student enrollments in engineering disciplines.