INSIDE Center for Simulation and Modeling...... 3 Pitt holiday concerts...... 7 PittNewspaper of the University of PittsburghChronicle Volume XI • Number 34 • November 29, 2010 Ezra T. Newman Receives 2011 Einstein Prize Pitt Launches New Society For Contributions to Understanding, Reshaping For Planned-Giving Donors Einstein’s Theory of Of $1 Million or More By Susan Zavage Grivnow

The University of launched “So much of what we do at the Univer- its newly established Brackenridge Circle— sity of Pittsburgh is made possible by the comprising individuals whose planned generosity of our alumni and friends who gifts, pledges, and other contributions to the make charitable contributions to Pitt,” Zach- University total $1 million or more—with a arias said. “Private support from people like Nov. 3 awards ceremony for the inaugural you, at all levels, is making a difference and class of Brackenridge Circle donors in the is helping to continue Pitt’s legacy of excel- Hall of Sculpture at lence in education and the Carnegie Museum research.” of Art. The Brackenridge Circle was Pitt Vice Chan- Planned gifts are cellor for Institutional made by individuals named for Pitt founder Hugh Advancement Albert who have included J. Novak Jr. said to the University in their Henry Brackenridge, who the inductees, “Your estate plans through generosity inspires bequest pledges, by envisioned a great seat of all who live, work, naming the University learning west of the and study here, past, as a beneficiary in a present, and future.” life insurance policy, Alleghenies and secured D u r i n g t h e or by establishing , each inductee charitable trusts and Commonwealth financial was honored sepa- gift annuities. Seven- rately and presented teen members of the support for the establishment with a gift symbolic Brackenridge Circle of the University’s were in attendance for of the Pittsburgh Academy, gratitude. the inaugural celebra- the progenitor of today’s In his closing tion. Once realized, the remarks, Clyde B. gifts of the more than . Jones III, Pitt vice

R. SCHULTE-LADBECK 65 living donors who chancellor for health Ezra T. Newman qualify for inclusion in sciences develop- the Brackenridge Circle will total more than ment, said, “I am moved knowing that By Morgan Kelly $88 million for the University. you believe in what we are doing and are The Brackenridge Circle was named investing in the future of the University of During his 60 years in general relativ- work at the forefront of general relativity, for Pitt founder Hugh Henry Brackenridge, Pittsburgh and in the futures of everyone ity, the field of physics established by Albert the American Physical Society has awarded who envisioned a great seat of learning west it serves. On behalf of the University of Einstein, University of Pittsburgh professor him the 2011 Einstein Prize for his part in of the Alleghenies and secured Common- Pittsburgh, you have our deepest respect emeritus of physics and astronomy Ezra T. devising the renowned Newman-Penrose wealth financial support for the establish- and gratitude—and our pledge to be good Newman not only worked alongside some formalism—an extension of Einstein’s ment of the Pittsburgh Academy, the pro- stewards of your gifts.” of Einstein’s closest colleagues to revital- theory of general relativity—as well as genitor of today’s University of Pittsburgh. For more information on planned ize the theory of general relativity, he also for composing a variety of solutions to Welcoming remarks for the evening giving at Pitt, or to make a gift, visit www. helped to reshape it by working out one of Einstein’s equations, particularly the Kerr- were given by Pitt trustee Sam Zacha- giveto.pitt.edu or call 1-800-817-8943. the most influential reformulations of the Newman . The prize also com- rias (A&S ‘64), chair of the Institutional Following is a list of the inductees who revered scientist’s original theory, among mends Newman’s ongoing work to explain Advancement Committee of the Universi- were honored at the event. other lasting solutions to and insights con- the significance of far-flung light energy. ty’s Board of Trustees, which oversees Pitt’s • Carole A. Baierl and the late William cerning the Einstein equations. $2 billion Building Our Future Together To recognize Newman’s lifetime of Continued on page 2 fundraising campaign. Continued on page 2 Pitt Alumnus Terrance Hayes Wins National Book Award for Poetry By Patricia Lomando White

University of Pittsburgh alumnus that the strength of the MFA program is involved in a social and very rigorous Terrance Hayes has been named a 2010 being recognized again through this well- community of poets and instructors while National Book Award winner for Lighthead deserved acknowledgement of Terrance at Pitt. He was instrumental in bringing (Penguin, 2010), his fourth collection of Hayes’ work.” students together with other poets in the poetry. A professor of English at Carnegie city. He also served as Derricotte’s graduate A description of the book on the Mellon University, Hayes earned a BA from assistant and the first staff person for Cave National Book Foundation Web site reads, Coker College in Hartsville, S.C., and an Canem, a nationwide fellowship founded in “In his fourth collection, Terrance Hayes MFA in writing from Pitt in 1987. 1996 by Derricotte and poet Cornelius Eady investigates how we construct experi- “It’s so wonderful for him, the Univer- that cultivates the artistic and professional ence. With one foot firmly grounded in sity, and the city. It’s a national recognition growth of African American poets. the everyday and the other hovering in the that says a lot about Pitt’s MFA program,” Hayes’ other books of poetry are Wind air, his poems braid dream and reality into said poet Toi Derricotte, Pitt award-winning in a Box (Penguin, 2006), which was named a poetry that is both dark and buoyant. ... professor of English who served on Hayes’ one of the best 100 books of 2006 by Pub- This innovative collection presents the light- MFA committee. “He has always been lishers Weekly; Hip Logic (Penguin, 2002), headedness of a mind trying to pull against a person determined to be a really great winner of the 2001 National Poetry Series and time. Fueled by an imagination writer, and our MFA program is a place Open Competition and a finalist for the Los that enlightens, delights, and ignites, Light- Terrance Hayes where you can learn to do that. We have a Angeles Times Book Award; and Muscular head leaves us illuminated and scorched.” diverse group of professors, which enables Music (Tia Chucha, 1999), winner of the Patricia E. Beeson, Pitt provost and are known for a long tradition of innova- writers like Terrance to try different kinds Kate Tufts Discovery Award. senior vice chancellor, said “The Uni- tive leadership in their respective areas, of work. He is a poet who takes risks.” versity’s graduate programs in English including creative writing. I am delighted According to Derricotte, Hayes was Continued on page 2 2 • Pitt Chronicle • November 29, 2010 Pitt Alumnus Terrance Hayes Wins BrieflyNoted National Book Award for Poetry Continued from page 1

at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 5 p.m. Sundays. Among Hayes’ many honors are the and has been featured on the PBS NewsHour. There will be one school matinee at 10 a.m. Dec. 10. Pushcart Prize, a Whiting Writers Award, At Carnegie Mellon, Hayes developed Tickets are $20 general admission and $10 for senior three Best American Poetry selections, and Out Poetry, a readings-in-poetry course that citizens, students, and children. They can be purchased fellowships from the National Endowment explores the intersections of poetry and the for the Arts and the Guggenheim Founda- public sphere. He has conducted workshops at the door or reserved by calling 412-648-2276. tion. His work has appeared in American in prisons and high schools and at colleges —By Sharon S. Blake Poetry Review, Poetry, and The New Yorker and universities throughout the country. Holiday Open House to Be Held Dec. 5 Newman Receives Einstein Prize The University of Pittsburgh’s 27 Nationality Rooms committees will host their annual open house Continued from page 1 from noon to 4 p.m. Dec. 5. The rooms, located on the ’s first and third floors, will Newman joins a select roster of physi- dation grant application for a project to find be decorated in holiday splendor, displaying holiday cists who have received the biennial $10,000 “Heaven.” Newman got the grant anyway.] customs from around the world. The rooms remain prize since its 2003 inception, includ- Newman’s outpouring of research and Pitt’s Shona Sharif African decorated until Jan. 14, and both taped and guided ing noted Einstein collaborators John many collaborations characterize the spirit Dance and Drum Ensemble tours are available. On Saturdays—Dec. 4, 11, and A. Wheeler of Princeton University and of the golden age of general relativity that Presents Nativity: (SU) physicist Peter fell approximately between 1955 and 1975, 18—taped tours will be available from 9 a.m. to 2:30 Bergmann, Newman’s mentor when he he said. A Christmas Gift p.m. On Sundays—Dec. 12 and 19—taped tours will pursued his PhD degree at SU, which he Contemporary audiences may struggle be available from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. earned in 1956. to imagine a time when Einstein’s theo- The Shona Sharif African Dance and Drum Guided tours will be offered Dec. 27-31 In 1962, six years after Newman joined ries were not highly regarded. Yet, when Ensemble, part of the University of Pittsburgh beginning at 10:30 a.m., and the last tour will be Pitt’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, Newman entered Syracuse in 1951 as a Department of Africana Studies, will present its dispatched at 2:30 p.m. Tours commence every half he and University of Oxford professor Roger graduate student in Bergmann’s lab, general musical production of Nativity: A Christmas Gift hour. Taped tours are unavailable during these times. Penrose developed the Newman-Penrose relativity was out of fashion, having been on weekends from Dec. 4 through Dec. 19 in the Tickets can be purchased at the Gift Shop on the formalism, one of the most-cited sets of superseded since the mid-1920s by quantum Seventh-Floor Auditorium of Alumni Hall. first floor of the Cathedral of Learning; reservations are equations in relativity. In short, the formal- theory. There were rumblings, however, Inspired by Langston Hughes’ Black Nativity, not accepted. Admission is $3 for those 19 and older, ism is an alternative method for describing partly attributable to Einstein’s dismissal the show explores the Christmas season through Einstein’s equations that replaces Einstein’s of major quantum principles, that quantum and $1 for youths ages 8-18. Children under 8 are free. own version, Newman explained. theory had serious shortcomings. Berg- traditional West African dance and 20th-century For more information, visit www.pitt. The significance of the Newman-Pen- mann—who collaborated with Einstein on gospel music. edu/~natrooms or call 412-624-6000. rose formalism is that it allows for special his unified field theory work—and his group Nativity: A Christmas Gift will be performed —By Jessica Myers conditions to be imposed before one even began to revisit general relativity along with attempts to solve an equation—conditions research groups at Princeton, in the United for which Einstein’s original theory does Kingdom, and in Eastern Europe. not allow. Instead of using the four stan- “When I joined Bergmann’s group, dard space-time coordinates, the Newman- general relativity was in the doldrums. No Penrose equations use four different vectors one worked on it, and Einstein, though hon- to describe the geometric constructions of ored as a great thinker, was considered to be the theory that arise from massive objects passé, a fogey,” Newman said. New Society for Planned- in motion. “But groups in a handful of institutions “We knew we had something good,” around the world began accepting Einstein’s Newman recalled. “We performed the as relevant to the phys- Giving Donors Launched Goldberg-Sachs theorem, which originally ics of the day. There was an open exchange required a great deal of effort, at the drop of of ideas among the different groups that a hat. We knew it was a powerful technique stimulated a rapid revitalization of relativ- then. I’ve used it virtually every day since ity,” Newman continued. “Soon, a deeper the original paper, and when I lecture now understanding of the Einstein equations to a technical audience, I assume that most was developed and predictions of the exis- people are familiar with it.” tence and properties of gravitational waves Three years later, in 1965, Newman were made. The theory of relativity became inadvertently took part in constructing mainstream. another important solution, the Kerr-New- “Those were wonderful years of friend- man black hole. ship and collaboration.” As a hotshot young physicist, Newman stated in the Journal of Mathematical Phys- ics that a class of solutions to Einstein’s equations did not exist. In all of Newman’s mathematics, however, there was one lowly PittChronicle plus-sign that should have been a minus. Newspaper of the University of Pittsburgh Roy Kerr, then a professor of physics at the University of Texas at Austin, discovered the error and found that the class of solutions did PUBLISHER Robert Hill in fact exist. But it turned out that the now- ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER John Harvith correct equation easily allowed Newman to EXECUTIVE EDITOR Linda K. Schmitmeyer The Nov. 3 launch of the Brackenridge Circle at the Carnegie Museum of Art solve the Einstein-Maxwell equations for EDITOR Jane-Ellen Robinet describing rotating, electrically charged ART DIRECTOR Gary A. Cravener Continued from page 1 black holes and their surrounding region. STAFF WRITERS Sharon S. Blake The Kerr-Newman stands as one of four John Fedele R. Baierl (EDUC ’51) • Carol Tsu Ho (SIS ’68) and Monto solutions to Einstein’s equations describing Morgan Kelly • Rita M. Bean (EDUC ’67, ’74), Ho, Emeritus Professor and Chair in the black holes. Amanda Leff Pitt Professor Emeritus of Education, Department of Infectious Diseases and In his more recent work, Newman Anthony M. Moore and R. Tony Eichelberger, Pitt Professor Microbiology in the Pitt Graduate School investigates null foliation, or the patterns Patricia Lomando White Emeritus of Education of Public Health light rays form as they fill space-time. In CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Jeffrey Fraser • E. Maxine Bruhns, Director of • Lucine O’Brien Marous (CAS ’84) 1980, Newman first identified a property Susan Zavage Grivnow Pitt’s Nationality Rooms, and the late and John Charles Marous Jr. (ENGR ’49, known as H-space that occurs at the outer Jessica Myers Fred C. Bruhns (GSPIA ’69), Professor ’53), Pitt Trustee reaches of light’s range when light rays HAPPENINGS EDITOR Baindu Saidu Emeritus of Comparative Public Admin- • Marlin H. Mickle (ENGR ’61, ’64, no longer have physical contact—like the istration in Pitt’s Graduate School of ’67), Nicholas A. DeCecco Professor and fingertips of a splayed hand. Newman is The Pitt Chronicle is published throughout the year by Public and International Affairs Executive Director of the RFID Center currently working on possible applications University News and Magazines, University of Pittsburgh, • James J. Duratz and the late Helene of Excellence in Pitt’s Swanson School of of H-space theory for explaining observable 400 Craig Hall, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, Barco Duratz Engineering phenomena. [Also known as Heaven theory Phone: 412-624-1033, Fax: 412-624-4895, • Hilda Pang Fu (SIS ’76) and Fred- • Virginia S. Nicklas (KGSB ’51) after a good-natured play on the “H” coined E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.chronicle.pitt.edu die H. K. Fu (MED ’77), Distinguished • Jeanette Studley and Wesley C. Pick- fittingly at a lecture Newman gave in Israel. The University of Pittsburgh is an affirmative action, equal Service Professor and David Silver Pro- ard (ENGR ’61) The work gained notoriety after antipork- opportunity institution that does not discriminate upon any fessor and Chair in the Department of • Fred F. Weingruber (ENGR ’49) spending crusader Sen. William Proxmire basis prohibited by law. Orthopaedic Surgery in the Pitt School • Debi and Harold W. Wheeler (D-Wisconsin) took the name seriously and of Medicine • Anonymous donor decried Newman’s National Science Foun- November 29, 2010 • University of Pittsburgh • 3

Spotlight on Research

Transformational Research Through Modeling and Simulation By Jeffrey Fraser

Pitt researchers tackle some of the most complex issues of our times in the University’s new Center for Simulation and Modeling. Infectious disease. Global warming. The world economy. These are vastly dif- ferent subjects, yet all have some things in common. All are complex systems influ- enced by multiple external stimuli. All have intense importance for humanity, deciding who lives, where they live, and how they live. And our understanding of all three can be advanced through computer simulation. Researchers at the University of Pitts- burgh are building powerful models to simulate complex phenomena. Armed with these new models and aided by the help of more and increasingly powerful microprocessors, they are asking essential questions that would have been unthink- able to ask computationally as recently as 10 years ago. Pandemics, climate change, banking meltdowns—all can be described by algorithms, and all can be simulated with powerful computers. Growing cohorts of researchers from a broad array of disciplines have used com- puter modeling to tackle some of the big- gest challenges in their fields. Yet, despite the phenomenal increase in the power of computers, traditional simulation tools have been limited because they do not adequately address multiscale processes occurring /CIDDE across large space and time scales.

A Giant Step Forward in Simulation MIKE DRAZDZINSKI and Modeling This limitation is being addressed Pitt’s Center for Simulation and Modeling (SAM) is codirected by Kenneth D. Jordan (left), Distinguished Professor of Computational Chemistry, and J. Karl Johnson, W.K. Whiteford Profes- on a large scale at the University of Pitts- sor and Interim Chair in the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering. The center, a multidisciplinary research organization established in Fall 2008, helps Pitt researchers tackle burgh through the Center for Simulation large-scale questions through the use of enormously fast and complex computers. Jordan and Johnson are standing in , where a number of the center’s computer banks are located. and Modeling (SAM), a multidisciplinary research center established in Fall 2008, with expertise in various facets of computer share their experiences and expertise with up with SAM as part of an interdisciplinary that works with Pitt researchers to develop modeling and simulation. The consultants one another. The thematic focus areas of research group led by Caterina Rosano in new multiscale approaches for simulation work closely with research groups, assist- SAM are energy and sustainability, nanosci- the Department of Epidemiology in Pitt’s and modeling. The center also helps foster ing in improving the performance of their ence and materials engineering, medicine Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH). collaborations across computer codes and in and biology, public health, and economics The project aims to provide practical compu- disciplines in model- making the transition and other social sciences. tational tools for analyzing the correlation of ing and simulation. Researchers at the University to parallel computing mobility characteristics in older adults with “Multiscale mod- platforms. Leaving the Serial World brain pathophysiological processes. Marai eling has the potential of Pittsburgh are building SAM engages in Computers traditionally have operated and her students are developing advanced to revolutionize the a wide range of other serially, processing one line of code, then visualization strategies and tools for analysis way science is con- powerful models to simu- activities on campus, another, and another. But microchip speed of MRI data and their correlation to mobility ducted; to foster trans- e.g., developing and is topping out, and chip designers are now measurements. formational research; late complex phenomena. teaching new graduate- putting more CPUs, or cores, on a single “We take numbers and measurements and to stimulate the Armed with these new level courses on scien- chip—meaning that even desktop computers and try to generate insight,” says Marai. “We advancement of new tific computing, orga- have parallel computing capabilities. The run a tight loop between data, visualization, technologies that can models and aided by the help nizing workshops on benefits to this kind of programming are and analysis.” Marai believes that the center have an unprecedented emergent computing obvious: A simulation that takes a year to has enabled computational research at Pitt to impact on materials, of more and increasingly technologies and on complete on one processor would take less take a big step forward. “It fosters collabora- energy, medicine, and software applications than a day if one could get it to run efficiently tion between experts from different fields. many other fields,” powerful microprocessors, of interest to researchers on 512 processors. It’s not just adding computing power, it’s says George Klinzing, in multiple disciplines, “Leaving the serial world behind is no combining methodologies across disciplines Pitt’s vice provost for they are asking essential and running a multidis- small task,” says Johnson, who adds that to look at these really important questions— research. questions that would have ciplinary seminar series he grew up in a serial world. “The problem how galaxies are formed, how the human SAM is codi- on high-performance with the shift toward parallel programming body works. Expert collaboration across rected by Kenneth D. been unthinkable to ask computing. An excit- is that very few people know how to do it, disciplines can solve really big problems.” Jordan, Distinguished ing new development is and there’s a huge demand for people who Professor of Computa- computationally as recently a partnership with the really understand it.” Toward Energy and Sustainability tional Chemistry, and University’s Computing When the University asked its faculty Other important questions include those J. Karl Johnson, W.K. as 10 years ago. Pandem- Services and Systems what they needed in a computational center, being asked about energy, sustainability, and Whiteford Professor Development (CSSD) Klinzing says, their answer was, “We need the environment. and Interim Chair in ics, climate change, banking group in making avail- high-level consultants; we don’t just need Jordan uses models to analyze the the Department of meltdowns—all can be able a new computer hardware.” In response to that need, SAM structure of methane hydrate, a compound Chemical and Petro- cluster with the latest- was created to provide in-house, PhD-level formed from water and methane under high leum Engineering. The described by algorithms, and generation Intel and computational consultants who advise fac- pressures at low temperatures. It is most center has available AMD CPUs as well as ulty and their students. abundant in deep ocean water and under a computer cluster all can be simulated with NVIDIA GPUs (Graph- The center allows researchers from the permafrost near the Arctic. The methane with 2,000 cores con- ical Processing Units, across the University to be able to tap more embedded in these deposits contains more nected by a high-speed powerful computers. which are specialized easily into experts like Liz Marai, assistant potential energy than all known oil and Infiniband network, coprocessors that enable professor of computer science. Marai’s spe- natural gas reserves on the planet. It also which greatly speeds extremely fast floating cialty is data modeling and visualization, represents a major potential contributor to up demanding calculations that require point computations). the conversion of mountains of numbers into global climate change. Methane is a potent simultaneous use of multiple CPUs (Central The center serves as a focal point where visual representations that can then be used greenhouse gas, 20 times more potent than Processing Units). A unique feature of the almost 50 faculty members (plus more than for interpretation. center is its team of PhD-level consultants 100 graduate students) from diverse fields For example, Marai has recently teamed Continued on page 4 4 • Pitt Chronicle • November 29, 2010

Transformational Research Through Modeling and Simulation

combinations of chemicals would react to that way before I started to use computer find a safe, efficient alternative. Her work modeling and simulation.” involves multiscale modeling that predicts The computer model Burke and his col- how the system as a whole will perform. laborators designed to simulate an outbreak The urgency to develop of avian flu in South- a safer, more energy-effi- east Asia—using trans- cient refrigerant is great; air mission statistics from conditioning accounts for “Pitt can be an inter- past epidemics, census one-sixth of U.S. household national leader in this data, and other social electricity use. Schaefer’s patterns—has helped work is leading to new exciting new field. We’re the U.S. Department of understandings in the basic Health and Human Ser- science of fluid dynamics, definitely on the front vices, U.S. Department she says. “The theoretical of Homeland Security, insights have been really edge. My intuition is and Centers for Disease /CIDDE fascinating. We’re learning Control and Prevention a lot on how complex fluids that soon, virtually develop policies on travel behave at a small level. This every aspect of public restrictions, vaccinations,

MIKE DRAZDZINSKI could have far-reaching and school closures in the impacts for researchers in health research and event of an outbreak. The Computational chemistry professor Kenneth Jordan uses models to analyze the structure of methane hydrate, a compound that other fields.” Bill & Melinda Gates is most abundant in deep ocean water and under the permafrost near the Arctic. The methane embedded in those deposits policy development will Foundation, which funds contains more potential energy than all known oil and natural gas reserves on the planet. But methane is also a major Tracking Global Health projects to help eradi- potential contributor to global climate change. Jordan works with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Computer modeling be supported by model- cate infectious disease, Laboratory to simulate the structure and dynamics of methane hydrate. Like many Pitt researchers, Jordan collaborates with tools have become increas- committed $10 million to experimentalists at numerous institutions, including Yale and Purdue universities. ingly important to under- ing and simulation, and Burke’s group to build a standing and addressing Pitt is extremely well model for the use of vac- Continued from page 3 global health problems. By cines to contain epidemic using informatics and com- diseases. carbon dioxide (CO2), and, as the polar challenge: how to make solar power more positioned to lead the region warms, the melting permafrost may accessible. Geoffrey Hutchison, assistant putational modeling and “Computer modeling release the vast supply of methane beneath it. professor of chemistry, uses computation to simulation, researchers and field.“ allows us to test in silicon Either way, understanding methane study a class of conductive plastics called policymakers can under- —Donald Burke our ideas on populations,” hydrate’s mysterious properties is crucial. polythiophenes. These materials can be stand more about current says Burke, and not just Jordan is working with the U.S. Department used as photovoltaics and could become a public health challenges for epidemics of infec- of Energy’s National Energy Technology cheaper alternative to silicon-based solar and determine the best tious diseases. Smoking, Laboratory to simulate the structure and cells. Just as intriguing to Hutchison is that strategies to prevent disease and improve obesity, and drug use are all examples dynamics of methane hydrate. In hydrates, polythiophenes can be processed like inks. human health. of public health problems where social water molecules form polyhedral cages “You could paint this on the roof of every Modeling also can show how disease behaviors spread from person to person in around methane molecules. Simulations car and every building and have solar cells spreads through whole populations, as a fashion similar to contagious microbes allow Jordan’s team to explore questions in all these places,” Hutchison says. demonstrated by the work of Donald Burke, and where modeling can help people about methane hydrate that would be nearly Hutchison is experimenting with these GSPH dean, UPMC-Jonas Salk Chair of think through and evaluate public policies impossible otherwise. “On the computer, we plastics on the computer, simulating conduc- Global Health, and associate vice chancellor designed to limit or reverse the spread of can study the network of cages without the tive properties of different molecules. “We for global health at Pitt. Burke is a pioneer the behaviors, according to Burke. Pitt can methane molecules—something that cannot can look at what happens if we change, say, a in using computer modeling to understand be an international leader in this exciting be done experimentally,” he says. carbon atom into a nitrogen—you can do that the behavior of pandemic disease. new field, he says: “We’re definitely on the Jordan’s group also is studying a on a computer, and to do that experimentally For decades, Burke tracked infectious front edge. My intuition is that soon, virtu- diseases like HIV/AIDS and dengue fever ally every aspect of public health research hydrate that is formed from water and CO2 would take months.” molecules, which may be useful in seques- Hutchison and his collaborators put throughout the developing world. In the and policy development will be supported 1990s, he began to think of pandemics as by modeling and simulation, and Pitt is tering CO2, the world’s most abundant together a group of 100 potential molecules greenhouse gas. and, through simulations, gleaned five or six computable processes. “I now think of virus extremely well positioned to lead the field.” Like many researchers at the University, that could be good candidates for solar cells. transmission as an algorithmic process, with In 2009, the University was designated Jordan collaborates with experimentalists “A lot of these molecules look like things underlying subprocesses and patterns,” a MIDAS (Models of Infectious Disease at numerous institutions, including Yale we could make, but we want to understand Burke says. “I never would have thought Agent Study) National Center of Excellence, and Purdue universities, to combine his whether to put in the effort to make them,” research with state-of-the-art experimental he says. approaches. Laura Schaefer, a professor of mechani- Carbon dioxide also is an area of inquiry cal engineering and materials science, for Johnson, who is using computational Bicentennial Board of Visitors Faculty modeling to understand Fellow, and deputy direc-

how CO2 interacts with tor of the Mascaro Center many other materials. The thematic focus for Sustainable Innova- Johnson and his col- tion at Pitt, uses com- laborators are hoping areas of the Center for puter modeling to develop that the materials they green alternatives to chlo- help to design will one Simulation and rofluorocarbons (CFCs) day be used to capture Modeling are energy and related polymers. CO2 and slow global CFCs have long been climate change. used as refrigerants in “For the next 20 to and sustainability, air conditioning because 50 years, we’re going to nanoscience and materials their chemical profile be relying heavily on allows them to draw away fossil fuels for energy,” engineering, medicine heat from the air around Johnson says. “How can them efficiently and we use that resource and biology, public health, safely. But CFCs deplete 5 without releasing CO2 the Earth’s ozone layer, into the atmosphere?” and economics and other which blocks harmful Johnson’s group is mod- solar radiation, and these eling a class of nano- social sciences. chemicals will be phased porous material com- out completely this year. pounds with “pores” Hydrochlorofluoro-

1/1000th the width of a human hair in diam- carbons (HCFCs), the chemicals used to /CIDDE eter to understand how they interact with replace CFCs, are more environmentally

CO2. He hopes their modeling will lead to friendly but still have a negative impact on

the design of a material that can capture CO2 the ozone layer. Regulators also will begin JOE KAPELEWSKI from power-plant emissions. The captured phasing out the most common HCFCs this Computer modeling can show how disease spreads through whole populations. Donald Burke (right), dean of Pitt’s Graduate CO2 could then be stored through carbon year. sequestration. Schaefer, who also has used computer School of Public Health and the UPMC-Jonas Salk Chair of Global Health, is a pioneer in using computer modeling to understand Modeling is helping one Pitt researcher modeling to study the use of acoustics for the behavior of pandemic disease. Burke and Bruce Lee, an assistant professor in GSPH and a core member of the recently to tackle another aspect of the energy refrigeration, is simulating how different founded Public Health Dynamics Laboratory, examine a map showing the spread of influenza throughout the U.S. November 29, 2010 • University of Pittsburgh • 5

Spotlight on Research

his colleagues from having to build time- Designer Materials and consuming physical experiments. Nanotechnology The McCarthy group simulated a “chute Just as Givi’s models depict how flow” experiment, in which a substance engines will work before they are built, is poured down a surface with a series of computer modeling allows researchers to zigzags built into it. To construct a physical test the properties of new materials and experiment, the team would have had to novel chemical compounds prior to their build a chute as high as 12-story Benedum being built. Hall, which houses the Swanson School of “If you can understand what’s happen- Engineering. “We can make a lot of mea- ing at the level of atoms, you can build things surements you can’t do when you’re working from the bottom up and create designer mate- experimentally,” McCarthy says. rials,” says Johnson. His lab is using models Computer modeling is allowing Anna to probe the physical properties of carbon Balazs, Distinguished Professor of Chemical nanotubes—long, strawlike molecules with Engineering and Robert Von der Luft Profes- very narrow diameters that scientists think sor, to explore the creation of nanomachines may be useful for separating different gases that behave in much the same way human or liquids. For example, a carbon nanotube cells do. membrane that selectively separates water Balazs uses simulations to study how from sodium chloride could be used as an microcapsules—synthetic bubbles roughly As part of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation-funded Vaccine Modeling Initiative, researchers in Pitt’s Graduate School of easy, low-energy way to desalinate seawater. the size of a human blood cell—moving Public Health are developing computer models of disease spread and vaccine distribution. The above graphic shows the spread Johnson and his group model how spe- across a surface could form an artificial of measles throughout Niger, with colors changing from blue to green to red, representing increasing numbers of measles cases. cific mixtures of molecules interact with “skin” on a damaged material. She also has these structures, showing, for instance, simulated communication between these how quickly these materials flow through synthetic bubbles using a route similar to leading a collaborative network of scientists lence—he’s embraced it by developing the nanotubes. Unless the flow rate is fast, that used in processes occurring in cell sig- in the development and use of computa- unique methods of modeling the phenomena the membrane will not be useful in practical naling. These materials one day could form tional models that will prepare the nation to of turbulent combustion and high-speed terms for separating fluids. The model cre- the basis for chemical sensors that “heal” respond to outbreaks of infectious diseases. combustion inside engines. He’s gained ated by Johnson and his collaborators found defective surfaces. Recently, SAM consultants have teamed up attention for a novel way to combine two that gases would pass much more quickly “This artificial skin is essentially a with Bruce Lee, an assistant professor in modeling methods—one employing exact through the nanotubes than expected. coating that could indicate where a sur- GSPH and a core member of the recently calculations and another using probability— Laboratory results published in a 2006 face has been damaged,” Balazs says. She founded Public Health Dynamics Labora- to provide an accurate way for engineers to Science article by a separate research team believes that her simulations will help tory. SAM is developing highly parallel experiment with engines even before they supported some of the predictions Johnson’s experimentalists to follow the “recipe” for computational modeling tools for studying are built. team made: The measured flow of gases and the nanomachines her team has created using patient and MRSA (a type of bacterial infec- Rolls-Royce and NASA engineers liquids was about 1,000 times faster through computational modeling. tion found commonly in hospitals) flow in already use Givi’s model to predict tempera- the nanotubes than through conventional human institutions such as hospitals and ture differential, fuel usage, and emissions porous membranes. Unlocking the Body’s Mysteries long-term care facilities. for different engine and fuel combinations. Jordan is using modeling to study one Modeling is becoming an invaluable Givi’s models plot billions of fluid particles of the most abundant materials on Earth: tool for many Pitt researchers in medicine Embracing Turbulence across hundreds of thousands of time inter- water. “Although water is probably the most and biology. From studying proteins at Anyone who’s puzzled by an inaccu- vals. It’s a lot of work, but it saves countless studied substance on Earth, we still don’t the atomic level to focusing on the body’s rate weather forecast can appreciate why amounts of time and energy for engineers understand all of its properties, many of immune system, models let these University turbulence is one of the great problems of trying to create more efficient, cleaner- which are unique,” Jordan says. researchers quickly test theories—enabling modern science. “ advised burning engines. Jordan’s group simulates the behavior innovations that could help save many lives all his associates not to get involved with “When you design an engine, you’d like of small clusters of water containing up down the road. the problem of turbulence; it’s a very to be able to know how it will work before to 100 molecules. These studies are shed- Lillian Chong, Pitt assistant professor chaotic phenomenon,” says Peyman Givi, you build it,” Givi says. “Computer simula- ding new light on a wide of chemistry, uses William Kepler Whiteford Professor in the tion allows people to do that.” Givi is work- range of processes, among computer simula- Department of Mechanical Engineering ing in collaboration with SAM consultants to them chemical reactions in Modeling is becoming an tions to study pro- and Materials Science and director of the develop a powerful computational software the atmosphere and elec- teins, the body’s Laboratory for Computational Transport with advanced parallelization techniques to trochemistry. One of the invaluable tool for many wo r k h o r s e s , i n Phenomena at Pitt. enable simulations of ever-larger systems most important problems order to understand Givi hasn’t stayed away from turbu- with unprecedented fidelity. on which Jordan’s group Pitt researchers in medicine better the roles they is working is whether play in the biologi- charged particles, such and biology. From studying cal pathways of the as electrons and protons, cell. Chong studies prefer to be on the surface proteins at the atomic level natively unfolded or in the interior of water to focusing on the body’s proteins—so named clusters. This fundamental for their seem- science question turns immune system, models let ingly disordered out to have far-reaching structure—which consequences, including these University research- include a protein those of environmental called tumor sup- importance in atmospheric ers quickly test theories— pressor p53, thought chemistry. to play a role in One researcher is enabling innovations that cancer. Proteins using computers to model could help save many lives initiate important “sticky stuff”—wet or chemical functions very fine granular mate- down the road. in the body by “fold- rial. Joseph McCarthy, ing” into target mol- a professor and William ecules. Kepler Whiteford Faculty Chong’s group Fellow in the Department of Chemical and simulates the kinetics of these protein Petroleum Engineering, studies the science interactions on tiny time intervals of fem- of mixing sticky material. This is an impor- toseconds (one quadrillionth of a second). tant process in fields like pharmaceuticals, “There’s no way you could get that level where a thimbleful of active chemicals must of time detail without a computer,” Chong /CIDDE be mixed evenly into a roomful of flour-like says. These simulations run through Fold- substance. McCarthy and his collaborators ing@home, a unique collaboration based at build intricate models to see how best to mix Stanford University in which scientists use

JOE KAPELEWSKI these materials based on their size, density, distributed computing to take advantage of Peyman Givi has received attention for his novel way of combining two modeling methods to provide an accurate way for and ability to be attracted to or repelled idle computers around the world. They can by water. They calculate the behavior and run protein-folding simulations on a network engineers to experiment with engines even before they are built. Rolls-Royce and NASA engineers already use Givi’s model to mechanics of billions of particles interact- of more than 600,000 idle personal comput- predict temperature differential, fuel usage, and emissions for different engine and fuel combinations. “When you design an ing over hundreds of thousands of time ers and Sony PlayStation 3s. engine, you’d like to be able to know how it will work before you build it,” says Givi, the William Kepler Whiteford Professor in segments. This takes months to run across The Center for Simulation and Mod- the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and director of the Laboratory for Computational Transport several high-powered processors. The time Phenomena at Pitt. “Computer simulation allows people to do that.” put into these models saves McCarthy and Continued on page 6 6 • Pitt Chronicle • November 29, 2010 Transformational Research Through Modeling and Simulation Spotlight on Research /CIDDE JOE KAPELEWSKI Lillian Chong, Pitt assistant professor of chemistry, uses computer simulations to study proteins, the body’s workhorses, in order to understand better the roles they play in the biological pathways of the cell. Chong’s group simulates the kinetics of these protein interactions on tiny time intervals of femtoseconds (one quadrillionth of a second). “There’s no way you could get that level of time detail without a computer,” Chong says.

Continued from page 5 eling is helping researchers to share their promising drugs for further development. expertise and experience with others at Pitt. By doing “virtual screening,” Bahar

“It makes a lot of sense to have a center that says, she and her collaborators can not /CIDDE supports that kind of only increase the likeli- faculty collaboration hood of identifying more

so we can leverage that The Center for Simulation potent inhibitors but also JOE KAPELEWSKI kind of expertise from speed up the process of so many people in this and Modeling is helping drug discovery. Other Through computational models, Ivet Bahar and her colleagues in Pitt’s School of Medicine simulate the interactions of proteins community,” she says. members of the compu- with potential inhibitors, small compounds that can limit the undesirable activities of some proteins. In collaboration with the Rob Coalson, Pitt researchers to share their tational biology depart- Drug Discovery Institute, Bahar’s lab members screen libraries of hundreds of thousands of chemical compounds for their potential professor of chemistry expertise and experience ment also use computa- to interact with target proteins in the search to identify promising drugs for further development. Such “virtual screening” can and physics, and his tional tools to study the speed up the process of drug discovery, says Bahar, the John K. Vries Chair and professor of computational biology at Pitt. team model ion chan- with others at Pitt. “It role of microRNA, tiny nels, one of the body’s strands of genetic mate- least understood but makes a lot of sense to rial, in regulating the algorithms that generate these patterns.” sumers to unforeseeable changes in their most important protein immune response with environment not built explicitly into the structures. These nano- have a center that supports respect to cancer and in Forecasting the Uncertain model, like the recent foreclosure crisis or scopic channels enable understanding the com- Predicting how the world economy instabilities in the banking sector? the passage of charged that kind of faculty collabo- plex biophysics of cell will react to a laundry list of economic But as our understanding of the atoms like hydrogen, signaling. contingencies—wars, resource shortages, relationship between tax policy, invest- potassium, and chlo- ration so we can leverage G. Bard Ermentrout, or banking meltdowns, ment, and consump- rine through the body that kind of expertise from University Professor of to name just a few—is tion increases, DeJong and are essential for Computational Biology no task for the faint of Researchers at Pitt will and other economists everything from the so many people in this and Pitt professor of heart. “The devil is in the increasingly will use creation and propaga- mathematics, uses com- details,” explains David continue to refine their structural models to read tion of nerve signals and community.” putational modeling to N. DeJong, a professor the economic tea leaves. muscle contraction to simulate complex medi- and former chair of the understanding of the “What I’d like to do the production of such —Lillian Chong cal phenomena. Ermen- Department of Econom- is to be able to answer chemicals as insulin. trout, who’s used model- ics who was recently complicated systems questions like ‘Should “Malfunction of ion channels is impli- ing to study everything from the trailmaking named Vice Provost the Federal Reserve cated as the root cause of many serious properties of ants to the pigmentation design for Academic Planning they’re modeling. They Board be more worried diseases and neuropsychiatric disorders, of mollusk shells, frequently collaborates and Resources Manage- will collaborate heavily about interest rates or including cystic fibrosis, certain types of with colleagues in the fields of medicine, ment. DeJong is trying inflation?’ or ‘What are epilepsy, and migraine headaches,” Coalson neuroscience, and biology to study how to harness the power of with experimentalists the effects of a tax holi- says. certain patterns occur. computational methods day going to be?’ I’ll fire According to Coalson, it is difficult Ermentrout and his collaborators use to create economic fore- to test their theories up the model and give to test ion channels in their natural envi- models to understand the immune response casting models designed you an answer,” DeJong ronment within a living organism, but it’s during sepsis, a potentially fatal condition in part to chart reactions against real-world data says. important that they be better understood, as in which the body’s response to infection to such contingencies. about half of the drugs on the market today inflicts “collateral damage” on internal DeJong uses com- and explore new ways Traditional Methods, target ion channels and their protein cousins. organs like the lungs. They are trying to puter simulations to to make computational New Tools Coalson’s group has developed simulations model how the immune system response in reconcile two branches Researchers at Pitt that calculate the rate of ion flow through sepsis reaches a tipping point after which the of the field that don’t modeling even faster. will continue to refine channels in cell membranes for various body’s own immune defenses start causing always communicate their understanding of transmembrane voltages and electrolyte more harm than good. “At what point does with one another: theory the complicated systems concentrations in order to gain insight into the immune feedback become overwhelming and statistics. Statistics they’re modeling. They the relationship between channel structure and start to avalanche and cause problems?” are invaluable in unearthing the details of will collaborate heavily with experimen- and function. Ermentrout asks. economic trends, but, DeJong explains, talists to test their theories against real- Through computational models, Ivet Ermentrout also has used modeling “They don’t really answer the question, world data and explore new ways to make Bahar, John K. Vries Chair and professor of to study phosphenes, the geometric visual ‘How come?’ ” computational modeling even faster. In computational biology, and her colleagues patterns that occur when one looks at strobe DeJong has already begun this task, these ways, computational modeling is not in Pitt’s School of Medicine simulate the lights, hallucinates, or enters a pre-epileptic mapping theoretical models of economic so far removed from the most rudimentary interactions of proteins with potential state. He thinks that the patterns represent behavior onto statistical models. He under- rules of scientific inquiry that have been inhibitors, small compounds that can limit neural activity transposed directly onto stands that because models are simplifica- around for centuries: observe, experiment, the undesirable activities of some proteins. the brain during those instances when the tions of reality, there are some things that and analyze. In collaboration with the Drug Discovery brain’s visual apparatus is knocked off its models will have difficulty accounting for: As Givi says, “In almost anything we Institute, Bahar’s lab members screen librar- usual setting. “No matter how rich our understanding of do in science, we use what we know and ies of hundreds of thousands of chemical “There are some problems in science the aggregate economy is, we’re never going model what we don’t. The issue is how do compounds for their potential to interact that really lend themselves to modeling,” to get everything.” For instance, how does a you combine these two worlds to come up with target proteins in the search to identify says Ermentrout. “We’re trying to find the researcher account for the reaction of con- with a unified methodology? That’s where we are putting our efforts.” November 29, 2010 • University of Pittsburgh • 7

Carnegie Museum of Art, Ordi- Center for Latin American Studies, nary Madness, through Jan. 9; André Department of Hispanic Languages and Kértesz: On Reading, photography Literatures, www.amigocinelatinoameri- exhibition, through Feb. 13, 4400 [email protected]. Forbes Ave., , 412-622-3131, Happenings www.cmoa.org. Pitt Nationality Rooms’ Holiday Open House, Cathedral of Learning Senator John Heinz History Center, Commons Room, 27 Nationality Rooms Vatican Splendors: A Journey Through are decorated in holiday splendor, noon-4 Faith and Art, through Jan. 9, 1212 p.m. Dec. 5, Pitt Nationality Rooms Smallman St., Strip District, 412-454- Committee, 412-624-6000. 6000, www.heinzhistorycenter.org. Mattress Factory, Queloids: Race Opera/Theater/ and Racism in Cuban Contemporary Art, through Feb. 27, 500 Sampsonia Dance Way, North Side, Pitt’s Center for Latin American Studies, 412-322-2231, www. The Last Days of Judas Iscariot mattress.org. by Stephen Adly Guirgis, Pitt Reper- tory Theatre’s student lab theatrical August Wilson Center for African performance, Dec. 1-5, Studio Theatre, American Culture, In My Father’s Cathedral of Learning, Pitt Repertory

House, mixed-media exhibition about Theatre, Department of Theatre Arts, HENRI CARTIER BRESSON 412-624-0933, www.play.pitt.edu. how African Americans collect and Marilyn Monroe: Life as a Legend, preserve their culture, through June The Morini Strad by Willy Holtzman, Andy Warhol Museum, 2011, 980 Liberty Ave., Downtown, through January 2 Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, 412-456-6666, inspired by true story that rocked the www.pgharts.org. classical music world, through Dec. 12, City Theater, 1300 Bingham St., South Side, 412-431-2489, www.citytheatre- Networking Program, noon Lectures/Seminars/ company.org. Dec. 1, “Cross-Layer Resilience on Criti- cal Points in Manets,” 502 Information Readings Talley’s Folly, Pulitzer Prize-winning Sciences Building. romantic comedy by Lanford Wilson, “Waiting for Landauer,” John D. through Dec. 12, O’Reilly Theater, 621 Hyekyoung Shin, School of Health and Norton, director, Pitt Center for Phi- Penn Ave., Downtown, Pittsburgh Public Rehabilitation Sciences, 9 a.m. Dec. 2, losophy of Science, 12:05 p.m. Nov. 30, Theater, 412-316-1600, www.ppt.org, “Musculoskeletal Symptoms and Laptop 817R Cathedral of Learning, Lunchtime PITT ARTS Cheap Seats, 412-624-4498, Computer Use Among College Students,” Talk Series, Pitt Center for Philosophy www.pittarts.pitt.edu. 4065 . of Science, 412-624-1052, pittcntr@pitt. edu. Paulina H. Liang, School of Medicine’s Pitt PhD Cellular and Molecular Pathology Gradu- “What Becomes of Tristan and ate Program, 10 a.m. Dec. 2, “Modula- Yseult in the Renaissance?” Jane Dissertation tion of Bone Marrow-Derived Endothe- Taylor, professor, Durham University, lial Progenitor Cells By Vascular UK, 4:30 p.m. Nov. 30, 252 Cathedral Defenses Endothelial Growth Inhibitor (VEGI),” of Learning, Pitt Medieval and Renais- Nimick Conference Room, Hillman sance Studies Program, Department Marquis Hawkins, Graduate Cancer Center. of French and Italian Languages and School of Public Health’s Depart- Literatures, Department of the History ment of Epidemiology, 9:30 a.m. Nov. Alfred E. Simpson Jr., School of Edu- of Art and Architecture, and Women’s 29, “The Relationship Between Physical cation’s Department of Health and Physi- Studies Program, 412-624-3246, www. Activity and Kidney Function/CKD,” cal Activity, noon Dec. 2, “Psychological medren.pitt.edu. A523 Crabtree Hall. and Anthropometric Characteristics of Amateur Motorcycle Road Racers and Leslie Crutchfield, author and philan- Debra N. Thompson, School of Nurs- Their Influence on Racing Performance,” thropist, free lecture on philanthropic ing, 10 a.m. Nov. 29, “A Multi-Level Conference Room, Baierl Recreation strategies and her upcoming book, Do Study of Nurse Leaders, Safety Climate, Center. and Care Outcomes,” 219 Victoria Build- Festival of World Music, More Than Give (Jossey-Bass), 3:30-5:30 p.m. Dec. 1, Ballroom B, University ing. Jiangxia Liu, School of Medicine’s Cel- with Carpathian, Gamelan, and African Music and Dance ensembles, lular and Molecular Pathology Graduate December 4 Club, Pitt Graduate School of Public and International Affairs’ Philanthropy Leida Tolentino, School of Arts and Program, 10 a.m. Dec. 3, “The Applica- Forum, [email protected]. Sciences’ Department of Psychology, tion of Metabolic Network Analysis in 11:30 a.m. Nov. 29, “Second Language Understanding and Targeting Concerts “The Sino-American Dispute Over Swedish Morphosyntactic Instruction Metabolism for Drug Discovery,” 1105A the Renminbi Exchange Rate,” Pei and Cross-Language Similarity: An ERP Scaife Hall. Pacifica Quartet, performing & Chaucer Café, ground floor, Hillman Liu, visiting scholar in Pitt Department Investigation,” Glaser Auditorium, first Beethoven, Shostakovich, and Schubert, Library, free, Pitt Library System and of Economics, noon Dec. 2, 4130 Posvar floor, Learning Research and Develop- Philip Ganchev, School of Arts and Sci- 7:30 p.m. Nov. 29, Carnegie Music Hall, Calliope: The Pittsburgh Folk Music Hall, Asia Over Lunch Lecture Series, ment Center. ences’ Intelligent Systems Program, 2:30 4400 Forbes Ave., Oakland, Carnegie Society, www.calliopehouse.org/legends. Pitt’s Asian Studies Center, 412-648- p.m. Dec. 3, “Transfer Rule Learning for Music Hall Chamber Series, Pittsburgh htm. 7370 or [email protected]. Pamela E. Toto, School of Health and Biomarker Discovery and Verification,” Chamber Music Society, 412-624-4129, Rehabilitation Sciences, 9 a.m. Nov. 30, First-Floor Conference Room, Parkvale www.pittsburghchambermusic.org. Pitt Men’s Glee Club Holiday “Do Human Beings Have a “Impact of a Multi-Component Exercise Building. Concert, 8 p.m. Dec. 3, First Baptist Nature?” Richard Samuels, visiting and Physical Activity Program for Highmark Presents Chris Botti, Church of Pittsburgh, 159 N. Bellefield fellow, Pitt Center for Philosophy of Sci- Sedentary, Community-Dwelling, Older Mónica Alejandra Canedo Sánchez Grammy-nominated trumpeter, 7:30 p.m. Ave., Oakland, free to Pitt students with ence, 12:05 p.m. Dec. 3, 817R Cathedral Adults,” 4065 Forbes Tower. de Lozada, School of Arts and Sciences’ Nov. 30, Heinz Hall, 600 Penn Ave., ID, tickets must be reserved in advance, of Learning, Lunchtime Talk Series, Pitt Department of Hispanic Languages Downtown, Heinz Hall Special Presenta- Pitt Department of Music, 412-624-4125, Center for Philosophy of Science, 412- Shellie Rose, School of Arts and Sci- and Literatures, 3 p.m. Dec. 3, “El acto tion, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, www.music.pitt.edu. 624-1052, [email protected]. ences’ Department of Geology and Plan- amoroso de la escritura en la ficción de 412-392-4900, www.pittsburghsym- etary Science, 10 a.m. Dec. 1, “Thermal Clarice Lispector,” 1528 Cathedral of phony.org. Verdi Requiem, with conductor Man- “Teaching World History Since Infrared Remote Sensing of Active Learning. fred Honeck and The Mendelssohn Choir 1500,” one-day workshop taught by Basaltic Volcanoes: A Thermal and Spec- Grisha Goryachev, classical and of Pittsburgh, Dec. 3-5, Heinz Hall, Thomas Anderson, Pitt’s World History tral Deconvolution Approach,” 214 Space Jared D. Moretti, School of Arts and flamenco guitarist, noon Dec. 1, Nordy’s 600 Penn Ave., Downtown, Pittsburgh Center postdoctoral fellow, 9 a.m. Research Coordination Center. Sciences’ Department of Chemistry, Place, Lower Level, , Symphony Orchestra, BNY Mellon -3 p.m. Dec. 4, $50 fee, Pitt World His- 4 p.m. Dec. 3, “Fluorous Mixture free, Pitt ARTS’ Artful Wednesdays, Grand Classics, 412-392-4900, www. tory Center, 5604 Posvar Hall, www. Tae-Hoon Kim, School of Informa- Synthesis of Sch725674 and Its Fifteen 412-624-4498, www.pittarts.pitt.edu. pittsburghsymphony.org. worldhistory.pitt.edu. tion Sciences’ Telecommunications and Stereoisomers,” 307 Eberly Hall. Heinz Chapel Choir Holiday Concert, Festival of World Music, featuring “The Lake Has No Saint,” Stacey 5:15 p.m. Dec. 2 free concert for Pitt Pitt’s University Gamelan Ensemble, Waite, teaching fellow, Pitt Women’s affiliates; tickets sold out for all other African Music and Dance Ensemble, Studies Program, book release reception performances, Heinz Chapel, Pitt Carpathian Ensemble, and Japanese and reading, 7:30 p.m. Dec. 4, WYEP- Pitt Music Department Offers Department of Music, 412-624-4125, music ensemble, 2-6 p.m. Dec. 4, Wil- FM Community Broadcast Center, www.music.pitt.edu. liam Pitt Union Ballroom, free, Pitt 67 Bedford Square, South Side, Pitt Several Holiday Concerts Department of Music, 412-624-4125, Women’s Studies Program, wstudies@ Eve Goodman and John Caldwell, www.music.pitt.edu. pitt.edu. Pitt’s Department of Music will present several holiday concerts during folk music performers, noon Dec. 3, Cup Renaissance City Choirs Holiday “Career and Family Conumdrum,” the next two weeks. Additional information is available by calling 412-624- Concert, Pittsburgh’s gay and lesbian Claudia Goldin, Henry Lee Professor of 4125 or visiting www.music.pitt.edu/events. choirs performing traditional carols Economics, Harvard University, and featuring the Edgewood Symphony 3:30-5 p.m. Dec. 6, Ballroom B. Univer- Orchestra, 8 p.m. Dec. 11, Carnegie sity Club, Pitt Department of Economics’ Dec. 3 Music Hall, Oakland, tickets available by 2010 McKay Lecture, 412-682-0140. Men’s Glee Club Holiday Concert, 8 p.m., First Baptist calling 412-362-9484, or online @ www. Church of Pittsburgh, 159 N. Bellefield Ave., Oakland rccpittsburgh.org. Miscellaneous Dec. 4 Exhibitions Fresa y Chocolate, (1994, Tomás Gutiérrez Alea), 6:30 p.m. Nov. 30, Festival of World Music, 2-6 p.m., Ballroom, William Pitt Frick Art and Historical Center, For Frick Fine Arts Auditorium, Cuban Union (WPU) My Best Beloved Sister Mia: An Album Eyes/Cubanize: Fifty Years of Cuban Carpathian Ensemble Dance Party, 6 p.m., WPU of Photographs by Julia Margaret Cinema Since the Cuban Revolution film Cameron, works by one of the Victorian series, Pitt’s Center for Latin American Era’s best-known master photographers, Studies, Department of Hispanic Lan- Dec. 8 through Jan. 2, 7227 Reynolds St., guages and Literatures, www.amigo- Point Breeze, 412-371-0600, www. [email protected]. Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, free concert of Mahler’s frickart.org. Symphony No. 4, 8 p.m., Auditorium Roble de Olor, (2002, Rigoberto Highmark Presents Chris Botti, Andy Warhol Museum, Marilyn López), 6:30 p.m. Dec. 2, Frick Fine Heinz Hall, Monroe: Life as a Legend, through Arts Auditorium, Cuban Eyes/Cuban- Note: Heinz Chapel Choir Holiday Concert tickets are sold out. November 30 Jan. 2, 117 Sandusky St., North Side, ize: Fifty Years of Cuban Cinema Since 412-237-8300, www.warhol.org. the Cuban Revolution film series, Pitt’s

Pitt Chronicle University News and Magazines University of Pittsburgh 400 Craig Hall 200 South Craig Street Pittsburgh, PA 15260

8 • Pitt Chronicle • November 29, 2010

What Factors Contribute to the Success or Failure of Software Firms? Pitt, McGill University, and Georgia Institute of Technology researchers find that it takes more than a good idea to succeed

examined software-company data collected between 1995 and 2007 from 870 firms. The collaborators looked at three aspects of Because of low entry and exit internal business capabilities—marketing, operating, and research and development. barriers and low marginal- They also examined two types of com- production cost, new-product petitive actions: those that were innovation- related (product and marketing actions) and development takes place rapidly those that were resource-related (capacity and scale expansion, operations, service, in the software industry, says mergers, and acquisition). They found that a higher operating capability has the great- Pitt’s Jennifer Shang. However, est influence on a software firm’s chance of survival. Firms with a greater emphasis on the industry’s bankruptcy rate of innovation-related competitive actions have 15.9 percent is much higher than a greater likelihood of survival, and this like- lihood increases when the firms also have the rates in other industries. higher marketing and operating abilities. The researchers divided the software industry into three subsections: sector one, survival. Also, competitive strategies and which included desktop suites and other dynamic actions will have more impact if business-enabling software; sector two, they are supported by strong capabilities. In which included video games and graphics short, to improve performance and competi- software; and sector three, which included tiveness, software companies should focus operating systems and security programs. on synergies between firm capabilities and Depending on their sectors, software busi- strategic actions.” nesses need a slightly different approach to investments, says Shang. Firms producing By Amanda Leff Ritchie games, for example, must emphasize mar- keting, whereas companies making products Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, news the Software Industry From 1995 to 2007,” with a long life cycle (such as operating PUBLICATION NOTICE The next edition of about 20-somethings becoming billionaires has been published in the journal Informa- systems) must focus on operating abilities Pitt Chronicle will be published Dec. 6. from the sale of their software companies tion Systems Research. and research and development. Traditional Items for publication in the newspaper’s Happenings calendar (see page 7) should flooded the media, giving the impression Because of low entry and exit barri- software companies, those producing desk- be received at least two weeks prior to that a good idea was all it took to succeed ers and low marginal-production top applications, should follow a the event date. Happenings items should in the software industry. Jennifer Shang, a cost, new-product development strategy somewhere between these include the following information: title professor of business management in Pitt’s takes place rapidly in the software two approaches. of the event, name and title of speaker(s), Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Busi- industry, says Shang. However, “Our research underscores date, time, location, sponsor(s), and a phone ness, along with colleagues Shanling Li of the industry’s bankruptcy rate of the importance of operating capa- number and Web site for additional infor- McGill University and Sandra Slaughter of 15.9 percent is much higher than bility in the software industry,” mation. Items may be e-mailed to chron@ the Georgia Institute of Technology, inves- the rates in other industries. For says Shang. “Managers of knowl- pitt.edu, faxed to 412-624-4895, or sent by tigated what caused software companies to example, the bankruptcy rate in edge-based firms often emphasize campus mail to 422 Craig Hall. For more information, call 412-624-1033 or e-mail succeed or fail. Their research study, titled the pharmaceutical industry is 4.7 big ideas (innovation). Our study [email protected]. “Why Do Software Firms Fail? Capabilities, percent. shows that operational efficiency Competitive Actions, and Firm Survival in Shang and her colleagues Jennifer Shang is even more important for firm