THERE SHE IS (HIM, TOO) Freshman Jamar Thrasher and sophomore Faith-Rebekkah I. Ilochi were crowned Mr. and Mrs. Black University of Pittsburgh in the annual pageant held recently by Pitt's Black Action Society.

• Merrill J. Egorin, professor of medicine and pharmacology in Pitt’s School of Medicine, will receive the Joseph H. Burchenal Clinical Research Award from the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) for his work in developing and refining the clinical use of a broad spectrum of cancer chemotherapy agents. The award will be presented at AACR’s 97th Annual Meeting on April 5.

The award, established in 1996 and named after Burchenal, a pioneer of cancer chemotherapy and past president of the AACR, is bestowed annually to recognize outstanding achievements in clinical cancer research. Egorin, codirector of the molecular therapeutics and drug discovery program at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI), strives to find new ways to develop and use drugs to treat and manage cancer.

Egorin’s findings have led to new paradigms for the use of chemotherapy agents based on their specific pharmacologic features and toxicity profiles. His ability to capture the essential features of chemotherapy agents has resulted in the discovery of practical dosing recommendations for several drugs that would otherwise have been too difficult to use in the clinic. He currently is principal investigator on a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-funded contract evaluating the pharmacokinetics, metabolism, and pharmacodynamics of antitumor agents being considered for clinical trials. He also is the coprincipal investigator of another NCI-funded cooperative agreement for conducting Phase I studies at UPCI.

• Michael R. Lovell, associate dean for research and associate professor of mechanical and industrial engineering in Pitt’s School of Engineering, was honored with the Olympus Emerging Educational Leader Award by Olympus America, Inc., and the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) at a March 23 ceremony during the 10th Annual Meeting of the NCIIA.
Offered for the first time in 2006, the award recognizes an individual who has inspired innovative thinking in students and who, the judges believe, has the potential to make even greater future contributions to the field. Lovell received the award, which includes a $1,000 prize, for fostering innovation among student entrepreneurship teams during his five years at Pitt.

As founder and past director of the University’s John A. Swanson Center for Product Innovation, Lovell secured NCIIA funding to develop a novel curriculum in product development for undergraduate business and engineering students. The curriculum resulted in more than 70 NCIIA-supported E-Teams (“E” for “excellence” and “entrepreneurship”), which in turn formed seven companies and attracted additional NCIIA grants. Lovell also developed an E-Team Prototyping Service Center that led to the formation of RAPID, a network of 21 academic institutions committed to fostering innovation and entrepreneurship among E-Teams.

HECK OF AN ENGINEER Eric J. Beckman was honored as the 2005 Engineer of the Year by the Engineers’ Society of Western Pennsylvania (ESWP) at its annual awards banquet Feb. 22. Beckman, who is the Bayer Professor of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering at Pitt and codirector of the University’s Mascaro Sustainability Initiative, was selected by the ESWP awards committee for his “outstanding leadership, innovative guidance, and service to the engineering profession and society.” Beckman received a Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation in 1992 and the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2002 for his work in developing nonfluorous, highly carbon dioxide-soluble materials.

• Greg Heller-LaBelle, a Pitt senior with four majors—English writing, psychology, religious studies, and art history—was named 2006 Omicron Delta Kappa (ODK) Senior of the Year during the University’s annual Honors Convocation Feb. 24.

ODK, founded in 1914 at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va., is an honorary society that recognizes students who maintain a high standard of leadership in collegiate activities. The award is given to students who possess and exhibit outstanding leadership qualities in service to the University.

• Justin Chalker, a Pitt Honors College senior majoring in chemistry and in the history and philosophy of science, was named the 2006 Emma W. Locke Award winner during Pitt’s annual Honors Convocation Feb. 24. Chalker also is a 2006 Rhodes Scholar and a 2005 Goldwater Scholar.

Established in 1946 by Charles A. Locke in memory of his mother, the Emma Locke W. Award is presented annually to a graduating senior in recognition of high scholarship, character, and devotion to the ideals of the University. The student must have at least a 3.85 GPA and plan to continue his or her education after graduation.

• Idorenyin Jamar, a fellow in Pitt’s Learning Research and Development Center’s (LRDC) Institute for Learning, received the Gateway to Equity Award from the Pittsburgh branch of The American Association of University Women (AAUW) at a Feb. 27 reception held in her honor and in recognition of National Women’s Day, on March 8.

Winifred Carr, president of AAUW’s Pittsburgh branch, said Jamar embodies the qualities that AAUW embraces, including fostering diversity, international understanding and outreach, academic programs in Africa and other developing countries, women’s educational opportunities worldwide, generations acting together, and all religious creeds living in peace and harmony.

Jamar recently completed a two-year assignment at George Westinghouse High School in Pittsburgh as the coordinator of the Science and Mathematics Academy, teaching mathematics to ninth and 12th graders. She is a member of LRDC’s Disciplinary Literacy Mathematics Team and also serves as site manager for the Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center, a joint project involving Pitt and Carnegie Mellon University.

Previously, Jamar was an assistant professor of mathematics education at Pitt and an associate professor of mathematics education at Bayero University in Kano, Nigeria. Also, as a postdoctoral fellow in LRDC, Jamar was responsible for evaluating the Math Cube project, an innovative elementary mathematics curriculum.

• “Two Aces: The Successful Development Team—the Library Dean and Library Development Officer” was the title of a presentation given at last week’s Academic Library Advancement and Development Network conference by Pitt’s Rush G. Miller, Hillman University Librarian and director of the University Library System (ULS), and Julie Seavy, ULS director of development. The conference, held in Las Vegas, covered the basic tenants of library fundraising.

• Five Pitt alumni were honored at the 21st Black Extravaganza and Trailblazer Awards ceremony hosted March 25 by Pittsburgh’s Renaissance Publications. Winners of 2006 Black Trailblazer Awards included Oliver Wendell Byrd (KGSB ’74), senior vice president of Mellon Financial Corp. and director of knowledge management, Dreyfus Corp.; Angela F. Ford (SOC WK ’91), associate director of the Pitt Graduate School of Public Health’s Center for Minority Health; Peggy B. Harris (GSPIA ’78),CEO of Three Rivers Youth; and Sharon T. McDaniel (GSPIA ’91), founder and CEO of A Second Chance, Inc. In addition, UPMC Health System’s Beverly Haines (NURS ’79) received a KDKA-TV Lift-Up Award during the ceremony.

• Elaine Trefler, assistant professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Science and Technology in Pitt’s School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, has received the National Registry of Rehabilitation Technology Suppliers’ Lifetime Achievement Award for 2005.

• Writing on the Edge, a journal about writing and the teaching of writing, has named Writing on the Margins: Essays on Composition and Teaching (Palgrave Macmillan, hardcover, 2005; Bedford/St. Martins, softcover, 2005) by David Bartholomae, chair of the Pitt School of Arts and Sciences’ English department, as one of the four 2005 Writing on the Edge Best Books on Writing and Teaching Writing.

• Pitt Professor of English Emeritus Ed Ochester, editor of the University of Pittsburgh Press’ Pitt Poetry Series for more than 25 years, has been awarded the 2006 George Garrett Award for Outstanding Community Service in Literature by the Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP).

The prize, which includes a $1,000 honorarium, bears the name of writer George Garrett, who made exceptional contributions to his fellow authors as a teacher, mentor, and friend. The award is a tribute to Ochester’s “exceptional donations of care, time, labor, and money to support writers and their literary accomplishments,” according to AWP.

In addition to serving as editor of the Pitt Poetry Series, Ochester directed the Pitt English department’s Writing Program for all but three years from 1978 to 1998. He was twice elected president of AWP, and is the only individual to have served two non-consecutive terms. Ochester has authored more than 14 poetry collections

• Todd James Pierce has been named the 26th winner of the Drue Heinz Literature Prize, one of the nation’s most prestigious awards for a book of short stories. His manuscript, Newsworld, was chosen by author Joan Didion from nearly 300 entries. It will be published by the University of Pittsburgh Press this fall.