Highlights
Student Profile: Melissa Sprachman
In 2004, Vice Provost for Graduate Studies, Elizabeth U. Baranger, retired from the University of Pittsburgh after an illustrious career that began in 1955 when she came to Pitt as an instructor for two years, then resumed in 1973 when she was returned to the University as a professor of physics. Prior to accepting the appointment in the Provost's Office in 1989, Baranger served for 16 years as dean of graduate studies for the arts and sciences. Though known as an effective and energetic administrator, it was her work aimed at improving the status of women at the University that inspired the creation of the Elizabeth U. Baranger Predoctoral Fellowship, awarded each year to an incoming female graduate student in engineering or the sciences to increase the diversity in these traditionally male dominated fields.
Melissa Sprachman, a graduate student in the Department of Chemistry, received a Baranger Fellowship for the 2006-2007 academic year. After completing her bachelor's degree in chemistry at the College of William and Mary, Sprachman applied to a number of graduate programs in organic chemistry, but it was at Pitt that she found the fit she was looking for.
"Pitt's department was excited about doing chemistry," explains Sprachman, who has spent the past few months observing the work currently in process among the department's many research groups. "There is an emphasis on preparing reports and discussing your work, and I felt I would not only learn chemistry but also how to present my research."
Sprachman began doing research in her sophomore year. "At the time, I wasn't completely sure that I wanted to stay in chemistry, and I thought the best way to know was to jump right in and find out." Her work in the field of organic synthesis led to three conference presentations before she completed her undergraduate studies, including a trip to the national meeting of the American Chemical Society.
The Baranger Fellowship requires recipients to focus on their doctoral study full time, so Sprachman is able to concentrate on her research and classes for now, with the intention of incorporating teaching duties back into the mix at the conclusion of the fellowship's funding cycle.
