Awards & More

Marlene Cohen, an assistant professor in Pitt’s Department of Neuroscience and a faculty and executive committee member of the Pitt-Carnegie Mellon Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, is the 2012 grand prize winner in the annual international competition for The Eppendorf and Science Prize for Neurobiology. She has been recognized for her outstanding research contributions to the field of the neural basis of internal mental states. Cohen’s award-winning essay, “When Attention Wanders”—published in the Oct. 5, 2012, issue of Science magazine—reveals that when the mind wanders, so too do our perceptual abilities. The Eppendorf and Science Prize in Neurobiology—which carries a $25,000 cash award—recognizes outstanding international neurobiological research based on current methods and advances in the field of molecular and cell biology by a young early-career scientist. Cohen was recognized Oct. 14 at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in New Orleans. 

The University’s Pittsburgh campus and its Katz Graduate School of Business and College of Business Administration—as well as Pitt’s regional campuses in Bradford, Greensburg, and Johnstown—have been named 2013 Military Friendly Schools by G.I. Jobs magazine. In the magazine’s survey of more than 12,000 colleges, universities, and trade schools, Pitt ranked in the top 15 percent in its “policies, efforts, and results” used to recruit and retain military and student veterans. Additional information on the survey is available at www.militaryfriendlyschools.com.

The University of Pittsburgh Dining Services, in conjunction with Pitt’s Facilities Management Division, was awarded a Waste Watcher Award during July’s 2012 Professional Recyclers of Pennsylvania conference in Lancaster, Pa. This was Pitt’s fourth year of participation in the national recycling competition and the first year the University conducted a Waste Week education series to kick off the competition. 

Justine Kasznica, director of the Innovation Practice Institute (IPI) in the University of Pittsburgh Law School, was named one of Pittsburgh Magazine’s “40 Under 40” for 2012. The magazine said the “honorees are a diverse group of creative and dedicated Pittsburghers, bound together by their love for the city as it is today, as well as an optimism about its future.” The IPI seeks to train students in new legal opportunities created by high-tech industries. 

William E. Stanchina, professor and chair in the Swanson School of Engineering’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, has been appointed a member of the International Science and Technology Advisory Board for Myfab in Stockholm, Sweden. Myfab is an open Swedish research infrastructure that focuses on the research and development of materials science, nanotechnology, and information and communications technology. Stanchina will work with two other advisory board members in guiding the improvement of Myfab’s strategic plan.