This recent Dietrich School alum’s gothic short film premiered on February 28
This story was originally published on Pittwire and written by Donovan Harrell
Innovation
As ‘The Points Guy,’ this Pitt alumnus helps travelers leverage loyalty
Of course, Brian Kelly was aboard a flight, waiting for liftoff, when he heard the news. The week it hit shelves in March 2025, his first book-length travel guide became an instant New York Times bestseller, soaring to No. 5 on the Advice, How-To & Miscellaneous book list.
Beth Shaaban Studies the Social and Biological Forces Shaping Brain Health
As a child, Beth Shaaban watched her mother, a nurse, open one of the first memory units in a long-term care facility in Sun City, Arizona. The compassionate care she witnessed there later catalyzed her own career in Alzheimer’s disease and dementia research.
“Sometimes I would go with her to work as a kid and meet the folks who were there, and it felt very natural to me,” Shaaban said. “I’ve always had an affinity for helping people that way.”
This newly discovered, 11.5-billion-year-old galaxy shares a striking feature with our own
Research led by Daniel Ivanov, a physics and astronomy graduate student in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences at Pitt, uncovered a contender for one of the earliest observed spiral galaxies containing a stellar bar, a sometimes-striking visual feature that can play an important role in a galaxy’s evolution.
This finding helps astronomers get a better handle on when such bars could have first emerged in the universe. Analysis of light from the galaxy, called COSMOS-74706, places it on the cosmic timeline at about 11.5 billion years ago.
This Dietrich School professor added fresh context to artwork at the heart of the new Pittsburgh International Airport
Since the opening of Pittsburgh International Airport’s new landside terminal late last year, travelers have been welcomed by a familiar artwork reintroduced in a dramatically new way — along with an interpretation crafted by a University of Pittsburgh scholar.
Suspended in the center of the terminal’s grand atrium, Alexander Calder’s “Pittsburgh” mobile now occupies the most visible position in its 70-year history.
This fearless senior is the definition of ‘cool under pressure’
As a Pitt athlete, Ellie Breech had been required to take CPR classes after Pitt alum Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest in 2023 while playing an NFL game. So, when her father’s heart suddenly stopped later that year on Christmas Day, Breech was ready to save his life.
Since then, she’s made it her mission to ensure others are ready, too.
Research and Innovation Live with Nature at Pitt's Pymatuning Laboratory of Ecology
Pitt’s Pymatuning Laboratory of Ecology is only one hundred miles north of the University’s bustling Oakland campus, but for some it seems like a different world. Surrounded by quiet forest on the shore of a fishing lake that straddles the Pennsylvania-Ohio state line, Pitt students and researchers have enjoyed field and laboratory experiences here for generations. Known informally as PLE, the facility has space for large-scale research and ecosystems studies where students and researchers can get their hands on plants and animals in their natural environments.
Dietrich School professor awarded honors at 2026 Yeast Genetics Meeting
Karen Ardnt, a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, has been awarded the Lee Hartwell Lecture for the 2026 Yeast Genetics Meeting. This honor is awarded to researchers whose work has had a significant impact in other fields of research. Ardnt’s research has focused on chromatin remodeling and transcription regulation. She has been published over 40 times for her outstanding work in the field.
It was never a Phage ! Alumni of the SEA-Phage program are continuing their research as a part of their careers
Alumni of Graham Hatfull’s SEA-Phages Lab are still playing in the dirt even years after graduating. The SEA-Phages program, which stands for Science Education Alliance-Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science program, is taught over the course of two semesters and was created by Hatfull under the Howard Hughes Medical Institute program.