A summary of notable stories in the news media involving Pitt people, programs, research, or events.

• As noted in the Nov. 15 Pitt Chronicle, Pitt senior Adam Striegel, a liberal studies major in the University’s College of General Studies from White Oak, Pa., discovered the fossil of a 300-million-year-old salamander-like amphibian with ferocious crocodile-like teeth while on a class field trip last spring with Charles Jones, a lecturer and undergraduate advisor in Pitt’s Department of Geology and Planetary Science. Striegel’s discovery, recently confirmed by the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, was reported Nov. 8 in the Beaver County Times, Nov. 9 in an internationally syndicated Associated Press (AP) story, and Nov. 10 in a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review article. The AP story was picked up by ABCNews.com, the Baltimore Sun, CBS-New York, CNN.com, Canada.com, the Duluth News Tribune (Minn.), the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Texas), ABC’s Good Morning America, The Guardian (London), the Hartford Courant (Conn.), the Jackson Clarion-Ledger (Miss.), the Kansas City Star (Mo.), the Los Angeles Times, the Miami Herald, OmahaChannel.com, the Orlando Sentinel, NBC Network News, Newsday (Long Island, N.Y.), The Seattle Times, the Times Picayune (New Orleans, La.), USA Today, and the Washington Post, among many others.

According to scientists, the grapefruit-size fossil Striegel found represents both a new species and a new genus. While living, the creature is believed to have been three to four feet in length. The species will likely be named after Striegel, who is enjoying his newfound fame. “This is all so weird to me,” Striegel was quoted as saying in the Tribune-Review article. “I can’t believe it’s all happening. It’s like my 15 minutes of fame.”

• According to an Associated Press story that appeared in the Nov. 13 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Pitt’s School of Engineering confirmed the accuracy of Decatur Genesis radar guns used by Pennsylvania State Police in monitoring drivers’ speeds. The Pitt study contradicts claims that the “guns were producing erroneous readings that could have led to unwarranted speeding tickets,” as stated in the AP report.

Earlier this year, an anonymous complaint was filed with the Pennsylvania Office of Inspector General, claiming that the gun registered high-speed readings for stationary objects. False readings can occur with the guns, but, according to the study, the “false readings wouldn’t prevent a trained trooper from accurately measuring motorists’ speeds.” Pitt engineers hypothesized that “spurious” readings may result from interference caused by computer electronics in some police cruisers.

• The Nov. 8 Pitt Chronicle reported on a number of Pitt people who were recognized Oct. 20 in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s (P-G) Top 48—Making a Difference in Education. Further inquiry has revealed that an additional number of Pitt people were among the Top 48: Ronald Cowell (CAS ’70, B.A.), a Commonwealth Trustee from November 1992 to March 1997, who received the second-highest number of votes (22) in the P-G poll; Linda Croushore (EDU ’70, M.Ed.; EDU ’73, Ed.D.) and Susan Brownlee (EDU ’73 M.Ed.) who, with nine votes each, tied with others for fifth place in the poll; J. Kaye Cupples (CAS ’72, B.A.; FAS ’73, M.A.; EDU ’76, M.Ed.; EDU ’88, Ph.D.); Charles Gorman (EDU ’67, Ed.D.); William Fisher (CAS ’48, B.A.) Nancy Bunt (EDU ’74, M.Ed.; EDU ’97, Ed.D.); Kenneth Mitchell (CAS ’69, B.A.; EDU ’80, M.Ed.); Robert Paserba (EDU ’69, M.Ed.; EDU ’72, Ed.D.); Roberta Schomburg (EDU ’89, Ph.D.); and Fred Smeigh (EDU ’84, Ph.D.).

Beyond publishing the Top 48, the P-G also listed 62 others, who each received two votes. Further inquiry revealed additional names in this group (arranged alphabetically by last name): JoAnne Boyle, a Commonwealth Trustee from December 1977 to November 1984; Louise Brennen (EDU ’50; EDU ’53, M.Ed.); Stanley Denton (FAS ’78, M.S.; FAS ’85, Ph.D.); Terry Foriska (EDU ’81, M.Ed.; EDU ’91, Ed.D.); Fannetta Gordon (CAS ’41, B.A.; EDU ’60, M.Ed.); Regina Holley (EDU ’80, M.Ed.; EDU ’88, Ph.D.); Blair Kucinski (EDU ’97, Ed.D.); Karen Levitt (EDU ’92, M.Ed.; EDU ’96, Ed.D.); Don Marinelli (FAS ’87, Ph.D.); Barbara Minzenberg (EDU ’76, M.Ed.); Richard Nicklos (EDU ’67, B.S.; EDU ’70, M.Ed.); Mary Lynn Raith (EDU ’73, M.Ed.); Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell, an ex-officio, nonvoting trustee since 2003; Betty Sue Schaughency (EDU ’67, M.Ed.; EDU ’77, Ph.D.); Sarah Tambucci (EDU ’73, M.Ed.; EDU ’87, Ph.D.); and Sylvia Wilson (EDU ’76, M.Ed.), who said that she is proud to have been one of the original students in Pitt’s Upward Bound program between 1966 and 1968 and credits the program with providing a positive influence on her life and her decision to attend college.