Alexis Helsel has wanted to study cancer since middle school, but she was doubtful she would ever manage it. As it turned out, she didn’t even need to wait until graduate school.
New materials and catalysts have the potential to transform everything from food production and medicine to batteries and stainless steel. Computer simulations help scientists narrow down promising candidates before testing them in a lab, but those simulations can be unreliable, especially for molecules that contain multiple metals.
About two-thirds of Puerto Rico’s population had already lost power during Hurricane Irma when Hurricane Maria landed in September of 2017, shutting down power across the rest of the island.
Seeing the devastation caused by the storm and the conditions resulting from loss of electricity, Fernando Tormos-Aponte, an assistant professor of sociology in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, knew he had to act.
The American Astronomical Society (AAS) has recognized a research team co-led by Rachel Bezanson, associate professor in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Physics and Astronomy, for no less than revealing the contents of the distant universe.
A new University of Pittsburgh-led research project aims to automate the scientific process, using a team of AI agents to harness a promising new type of quantum computing that could enable discoveries in chemistry and materials science. Led by School of Computing and Information Professor Youtao Zhang, the project is supported by the U.S.
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is scheduled to launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center shortly before 7:30 a.m. Aug. 30. Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh have spent decades working on Roman (pictured above) along with other recent missions, including the Vera C. Rubin Legacy Survey of Space and Time and the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument.
During the 16th and 17th centuries, an estimated 4,000 people, a majority of those being women, were accused of committing witchcraft in Scotland—an accusation punishable by death. Hannah Johnson and Elise Ryan, both professors in the Department of English at the Dietrich School, explored this darker history through “Magic & Witchcraft in Scotland,” a four-week summer study-abroad intensive in Edinburgh.
Among elements most associated with Pittsburgh — Steelers, Pirates, Penguins, a bevy of unique bridges, several universities, French fries on sandwiches — the scenically striking confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers to form the mighty Ohio might be the city’s key physical trademark.
As crucial as the three rivers are to the evolution and continued vitality to the city, however, when it comes their viability as far as fishing and human immersion, aka “swimmability,” well, it’s complicated.
