News

February 5, 2019

Inclusion and the 'Leaky Pipeline' at Pitt

Dr. Chandralekha Singh, founder of dB-SERC, along with Dr. Sarah Hainer and Dr. Alison Slinsky Legg from the biology department and Dr. Alaine Allen from engineering were featured in a recent PittWire article about bias in STEM. The article discusses intersectionality, inclusive practices, and the importance of recognition for students from underrepresented groups.

February 1, 2019

2019 dB-SERC Award Recipients

The 11 recipients of the 2019 dB-SERC Course Transformation Awards have been recognized in an article in the University Times, as have two of the recipients of the 2019 dB-SERC Mentor/Mentee Awards. We also congratulate Jordan Swisher, Dr. Ericka Huston, and Dr. Peter Bell, our most-recent recipeints of the Mentor/Mentee Award.

January 20, 2019

Congratulations Leadership Award Recipients!

The recipients of the 2018-2019 dB-SERC Leadership Award have been announced.

January 5, 2019

Growth Mindset for New Faculty

At the 2019 orientation for new faculty, Provost Ann Cudd stressed the importance of adopting the growth mindset theory of intelligence when working with students. "We are here to create talent and develop a growth mindset," she said. This will sound familiar to dB-SERC community members, who have seen how important instructor mindset is for promoting the learning of all our students. For more, read the article in the University Times online.

April 18, 2018

CONGRATULATIONS 

CONGRATULATIONS to the recipients of dB-SERC course transformation awards for the 2018-2019 academic year. Ten faculty members and one postdoctoral student received awards to transform courses in biological sciences, physics, psychology, statistics, chemistry, and mathematics.

Read about the awards
April 10, 2018

Accolades

Dr. Ben Rottman, psychology and LRDC research scientist, was awarded an NSF CAREER award. Dr. Rottman is a member of the dB-SERC faculty learning community and was awarded a dB-SERC course transformation award focused on helping students learn about causality in his research methods course.
April 9, 2018

Publications

Drs. Ericka Huston, George Bandik, Jackie Powell, and others recently published a paper in the Journal of Chemical Education focused on the development of their chemistry safety course, for which they received a dB-SERC course transformation award.  You can read the article here.  Congratulations to the authors!
February 1, 2018

Pittsburgh Post Gazette News

Dr. Russell Clark, physics and astronomy department and dB-SERC course transformation award winner, is featured in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette for his project with physics majors involving the Eclipse 2017. 

January 31, 2018

REMINDER: Applications for dB-SERC course transformation awards are due January 31!

Click here for more info about course transformation awards Click here for more detailed info about applying for the award Email the associate director of dB-SERC Emily Marshman at dbserc@pitt.edu if you would like to discuss your ideas for a course transformation
January 27, 2018

Accolades

Congratulations to Dr. Chandralekha Singh, director of dB-SERC, for being named an American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow. Read about it here. Congratulations to Dr. Daniel Lambrecht, faculty member in the chemistry department and dB-SERC course transformation awardee, for winning the winner of the American Chemical Society OpenEye Outstanding Junior Faculty Award in Computational Chemistry.
January 26, 2018

POSTER SESSION AT PITT'S ANNUAL ASSESSMENT CONFERENCE

The University of Pittsburgh’s annual assessment conference will be held on Friday, January 26, 2018 at the University Club. The conference will include a poster session at the end of the day. We invite dB-SERC course transformation award winners to submit a proposal for the poster session that focuses on your course transformation and its outcomes. This is a wonderful opportunity for faculty to showcase their own work and learn from each other! Submissions for the poster session are due by December 8.
January 7, 2018

dB-SERC Featured in University Times

Our founder, Dr. Chandralekha Singh, has been featured in a great article in the University Times this week. The piece outlines the challenges we face as educators, and how dB-SERC and our community -- including two-time Course Transformation Award recipient Dr. Kyle Whittinghill -- are working to improve both student learning and equity in our courses. Read the article online.

January 5, 2018

2019 CAS Future Leaders

We are delighted to hear that dB-SERC community member Dr. Paulette Vincent-Ruz was recognized as a 2019 Future Leader by CAS, a division of the American Chemical Society. Dr. Vincent-Ruz recently completed her PhD, and has been instrumental in supporting and assessing projects in many departments. Read more about Dr. Vincent-Ruz's well-deserved award.

January 4, 2018

2019 Chemistry Lab Safety Award

The Departments of Chemistry and Environmental Health & Safety, and especially dB-SERC community member Dr. Ericka Huston, have been recognized for their pioneering work in lab safety. They have been selected to receive the SafetyStratus College and University Health and Safety Award for developing the most comprehensive laboratory safety program in higher education, awarded by the Division of Chemical Health & Safety of the American Chemical Society. Be sure to find out more during Dr. Huston's dB-SERC lunch talks over the coming year!

January 3, 2018

2017-2018 dB-SERC Leadership Awards

13 dB-SERC members have been recognized for their leadership, contributions, and active engagement with our learning community. For more details, check out the article in the University Times.