Pitt Swanson School of Engineering

As a fellow in the MIT Postdoctoral Fellowship Program for Engineering Excellence, Shaniel Bowen explores a topic that has seen little research — women's sexual anatomy and health.

For Chelsea Marsh and Bill Barone, togetherness is more than being married. They savor their bike rides with their children, Nick, 4, and Henry, 2, on the Three Rivers Heritage Trail as well as their extended family get-togethers at Vincent’s of Greentree for pizza night. But the bulk of their weekdays — a large part of their lives — is devoted to working together as scientists at Bayer, the German multinational biotech and pharmaceutical company. The Fox Chapel couple are among 1,400 Pittsburgh area Bayer employees and they work serving Bayer’s radiology division in Indiana Township. They earned his-and-hers Ph.D.’s in bioengineering from the University of Pittsburgh in 2015 and 2014 respectively.

Solar energy has become increasingly popular in American households within the last decade. Solar adoption is soaring, with 4.7 million systems operating as of 2023. Thanks to federal and state incentives, the cost of solar panel systems is becoming more accessible to homeowners. In this article, we outline solar energy facts and statistics to spotlight the present and future powered by the most abundant energy source on Earth.

A collaborative working group of neuroscience researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and University of Pittsburgh examine what happens in the brain when it’s presented with learning a new task, but also asked to recall a familiar one.

Ever since his postdoc, Amin Rahimian has been interested in the implications of algorithmic economies and the data behind how society operates on a larger scale. Now, as an assistant professor of industrial engineering at the University of Pittsburgh who recently won a Pitt Cyber Accelerator Grant, the 36-year-old Four Mile Run resident translated that interest into a unique class. Thanks to a collaboration between the University of Pittsburgh and the Western Pennsylvania Regional Data Center, his students got to create human-centered algorithms to solve real problems in our region.

Pitt Engineering alumnus Bill Burch is running to raise awareness of groundwater contamination

Kent Harries, an engineering professor and bridge expert at the University of Pittsburgh, said that while the Fern Hollow collapse and the NTSB’s findings could spur reform in how local governments handle bridge maintenance, a lack of resources is still likely to constrain those efforts — leading to deferred maintenance, and ever-increasing issues and costs. “If I never visited a doctor until I turned 50, I probably wouldn’t be in that good a shape, regardless of the health care I am able to get after age 50,” Harries said. “Fern Hollow is a particularly poignant illustration of what happens when you defer maintenance.”

Robert Parker, a home beer brewer of 25 years and engineering professor at Pitt, decided he wanted to “do something different” and bring his “passion to work.” Alongside his colleagues Rob Toplak and Dan Cole, Parker did just that by introducing the course Science, Technology, and Culture of Craft Brewing to the engineering department at Pitt.

Kent Harries, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, said the report was “extremely thorough,” but he wished the board had stressed a broader view on better procedures for all bridge inspections and maintenance. “This is not unique to this bridge,” he said. “I’m a little bit disappointed we’re not looking more at the bigger picture.”

Kent Harries, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, said more thorough inspection reports are only valuable if agencies have the resources to follow their recommendations. “Certainly, more detail is better detail, but what good is it if the resources aren’t there to do the work?” he said. “This is the issue. [The U.S.] left things go for a long time. You have to prioritize bridges to take care of the worst ones first.”

“This is a good example of what happens when a number of things seem to conspire to go wrong,” said Kent Harries, professor of structural engineering and mechanics at the University of Pittsburgh, who has followed the bridge investigation and reviewed the NTSB documents. “It points out that bridges are a human endeavor that are built by humans, maintained by humans, imperiled by humans, and all the problems that go with that.”

The school is partnering with the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University on a project funded by a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation. Together, they’re going to take the expertise that exists around energy in the West Virginia-southwestern Pennsylvania region and help catalyze a larger energy revolution.

A civil engineer from the University of Pittsburgh, specializing in bridges and infrastructure, is leveraging his knowledge to create innovative materials aimed at improving the treatment, repair, and recovery of spinal injuries. Amir Alavi’s project has garnered a $557,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to test the first “metamaterial” orthopedic implants.

She's been the leader in Pitt's sustainability efforts, which include the university's carbon neutrality goal by 2037 and a climate action plan and the Pitt Sustainability Challenge, among other initiatives.

Robert Cunningham, Pitt’s vice chancellor for research infrastructure, Alan George, R&H Mickle endowed chair and professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Michael Ramsey, professor of geology and environmental science, and William Wagner, distinguished professor of surgery and professor of chemical engineering and bioengineering, are leading the initiative for the university.

Pitt recently made a move to forge those collaborations by joining the Keystone Space Collaborative with a sponsorship of $20,000. The nonprofit organization supports the growing space industries in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, bringing together representatives from academia, industry, investing and government to meet challenges together.

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt), in collaboration with NETL, will develop buoy-based optical fiber sensors to study how the oceans remove carbon from the air and generate findings that could advance the development of marine-based technologies to reduce atmospheric levels of greenhouse gas.

“Our partnership with GFRP will accelerate our efforts, allowing us to implement pilot programs with leading food producers and move towards scaled manufacturing of all-natural dissolvable food packaging,” said DisSolves founder and Pitt ChemE alumnus Jared Raszewski.

Nathan Youngblood, principal investigator and assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Pitt's Swanson School of Engineering, received a $552,166 Faculty Early Career Development Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and a $449,240 award from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) through its Young Investigator Program (YIP) to continue his pioneering work in phase-change materials and optical computing.

The exponential need for high computing power significantly outstrips the capabilities of present electronic systems; nevertheless, engineers from the University of Pittsburgh are shedding light on potential solutions.

Kurt Beschorner of the University of Pittsburgh is making great strides — literally and figuratively — to prevent slips and falls for food service workers.

When Carla Ng read the study, she said the results were close to what she expected. Ng, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, specializing in per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — commonly known as PFAS and “forever chemicals” — said this confirms a lot of what’s already known about storing things in plastic.

According to the latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics analysis, STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — professions are expected to grow 10.8% between 2022 and 2032, compared to just 2.3% for all other occupations. In addition, the median annual STEM wage is $97,980, compared to $44,670 for all non-STEM occupations.

Ben Leslie works in a Pitt heart research lab while maintaining a full academic load. In his time off? He serves as a captain for the university’s varsity hockey team.