Research Centers

Center for Bioengineering

The Center for Bioengineering was founded in 1987 to foster the application of the University's growing portfolio of research expertise in the areas of biotechnology and bioengineering. Its mission includes the encouragement of the development of cross-disciplinary research teams by providing laboratory space and interdisciplinary educational programs.

The center's primary research focus areas are enzymology, bioprocessing, biosensors, biomaterials, heart-assist pumps, blood oxygenators, artificial kidneys, gene vectors, and gene therapy. The center is headquartered at the Pittsburgh Technology Center, a 50-acre industrial and educational site located one mile from the main University of Pittsburgh campus.

Center for Molecular and Materials Simulation

The University of Pittsburgh Departments of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry have jointly installed a $900,000 cluster of 25 IBM RS/6000 computers that serve as the cornerstone of a new Center for Molecular and Materials Simulation. Researchers at the laboratory use the RS/6000 cluster to tackle a wide range of scientific problems.

Computer simulations on nanotubes—carbon tubes that are 10,000 times thinner than a human hair—are of particular interest to researchers at IBM. Real-world applications for nanotubes range from pushing the physical limits on the miniaturization of transistors on computer chips to creating safer materials to store energy sources that will power cars of the future.

The Center for Molecular and Materials Simulation (CMMS), a joint venture with the Departments of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, bridges for the first time the research efforts of students and faculty in science and engineering in their theoretical studies of the properties of complex molecules and materials. With research projects already underway, students and faculty now have access to powerful yet affordable parallel processing computer platforms. Additional information is available at the CMMS Web site.

Manufacturing Assistance Center (MAC)

The MAC is a working factory opened in November of 1994 at the University of Pittsburgh Applied Research Center (U-PARC) as an initiative of the Swanson School of Engineering's Department of Industrial Engineering. It comprises a synergistic network of laboratories encompassing machine tooling, computer-aided design and manufacturing, metrology, materials tracking, and human issues.

The MAC's mission is twofold:

Provide research and educational support to the University of Pittsburgh.
Provide Southwestern Pennsylvania small and mid-sized manufacturers with the tools necessary to compete in the global marketplace.

With the resources available in the MAC labs, area manufacturers can receive demonstrations on new equipment and manufacturing processes, perform pilot manufacturing, and conduct limited production.

In addition to these services, the MAC also provides training on computer numerical control (CNC) machining, computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), and computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM), plus a variety of other concepts (e.g., materials requirements planning, total quality management, team development, etc.) utilized in today's highly successful manufacturing organizations.

David I. Cleland, professor of industrial engineering, is the codirector of the MAC, along with Bopaya Bidanda.

Visit the MAC Web site

John A. Mascaro Learning Center

The John A. Mascaro Learning Center in Civil and Environmental Engineering was dedicated on September 14, 2000. The Learning Center seats 60 undergraduate and/or graduate students, with every two seats sharing a desktop computer.

The room is equipped with two retractable projection screens, which can be independently controlled. The same image or different images can be projected on both screens simultaneously. Videotape and DVD projections are possible, all controlled through a console on the podium. Also available is a document reader, which can project 3-D objects and transparency films on both screens.

The computers are networked so that the instructor can access and control all of the computers in the room from the podium. The speaker on the podium is able to access any of the 30 computers on the desks, capture a student's program on the speaker's monitor, and project the image on the monitor on the retractable screens for the whole class to see. This capability permits an instructor to share and analyze each student's work and discuss aspects of the assignment or project with the rest of the class. All computers can access the Internet independently.

John A. Swanson Center for Micro and Nano Systems

The Swanson Center for Micro and Nano Systems is a collaboration between University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering faculty and staff, and industry partners. The Center offers opportunities for industry partners to work with the faculty in developing intellectual property. This center represents the school's focus on applied research in the areas of micro and nano systems.

The Center allows researchers to collaborate on various projects and publish their findings. The Center supports these efforts and helps researchers to make progress in their work. Industry members have the benefit of working side-by-side with the researchers on these technologies.

Visit the Swanson Center for Micro and Nano Systems site

Frank Mosier Chemical Engineering Learning Center

The department's state-of-the-art Frank Mosier Learning Center has been designed to facilitate active learning through a unique classroom design. The computer and audio-visual systems in the Learning Center permit computer-based “hands-on activities in class under the direct oversight of the professor. This instructional format promotes improved learning and retention of recently acquired skills and knowledge. Full use of this new integrated instructional methodology is made possible by the integrated computer, audio-visual, and facility design.

The Frank Mosier Learning Center is located on the 12th floor of Benedum Hall. The development of the Learning Center was made possible through the generous support of Frank Mosier and supplemental support from the University Classroom Renovation Project. The computer system was designed and implemented by the University's Computing Services and Systems Development.

Musculoskeletal Research Center (MSRC)

The MSRC offers diverse multidisciplinary research and educational opportunities. Graduate and undergraduate students conduct research toward their degrees in the bioengineering program or any of the traditional engineering disciplines. The MSRC encourages collaboration between clinical and basic scientists in the study of the musculoskeletal system.

Education is the primary goal of the MSRC. Students work with bioengineers, orthopaedic surgeons, biochemists, molecular biologists, and gene therapists, exploring innovative orthopaedic applications of basic science principles and technologies. There are 27 faculty members working in the MSRC. Savio L-Y. Woo, PhD, DSc, Whiteford Professor and vice chair for research, Department of Bioengineering, Professor of Mechanical engineering and Rehabilitation Science & Technology, is director of the MSRC.

Visit the MSRC Web site

National Science Foundation Center for e-Design and Realization

The center's mission is to serve as a national center of excellence in IT-enabled design and realization of mechanically engineered products and systems by envisioning that information is the lifeblood of an enterprise and collaboration is the hallmark that seamlessly integrates design, development, testing, manufacturing, and servicing of products around the world.

The Center for e-Design and Realization focuses on its activities through three intertwined areas to deliver value to its members. First, the Fundamental Basic Research focuses on creating new collaborative design methods and technologies to address industry-relevant needs in IT-enabled product development and realization including enabling information infrastructure; conceptual design tools & design process models; life cycle, collaborative, multidisciplinary design; and virtual prototyping and simulation.

The Research Test-Bed (Pegasus) is being developed for benchmarking various design technologies for interoperability. This platform will ensure the integration of interdisciplinary research activities to validate developed tools, methods, and technologies and establish a common framework for multiple applications. The test-bed fosters collaborative research projects between industrial and academic engineers and scientists. The Education and Technology Transfer programs disseminate research results to industry and academic communities.

This NSF Industry/University Cooperative Research Center has members from government and industry including Wright Patterson Air Force Research Laboratory, GE Aircraft Engine, Ford Motor Company, Alcoa, IBM, Pratt & Whitney, BAE Systems, Raytheon, Respironics, ANSYS, Parametric Technology, Engineous Software, and Lockheed Martin. The University of Central Florida, a partner university, brings the following members to the center: Motorola, DRS Technologies, Whirlpool, Kodak, Boeing, NASA, the United States Navy, and the United States Army RDECOM.

The research at the Center for e-Design is largely conducted in virtual space; therefore, the center is home to numerous high-powered workstations with access to outside supercomputing facilities. Currently, the academic partners are the University of Pittsburgh (lead University) and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Professor Bart Nnaji in the University's Department of Industrial Engineering is the director of the NSF Center for e-Design.

Visit the Center for e-Design Web site

University of Pittsburgh Applied Research Center (U-PARC)

U-PARC, located 12 miles from the main campus, is a multimillion-dollar, 55-building facility housing scientific equipment and services available to the University community. Over 100 corporations, including a number of emerging high-technology companies, have offices at U-PARC.

In addition, several of the Swanson School of Engineering's research groups maintain laboratories at this site. U-PARC's pilot plant services range from petroleum, petrochemical, and chemical-based technologies to environmental, synthetic fuels, biotechnology, and other emerging technologies.