Student News
Joe Olson, graduate student in the Department of Rehabilitation Science and Technology, was honored at the 4th Annual Celebration of Innovation on Oct. 6. Olson worked with a small team of researchers who developed a wheelchair convoy system that allows multiple people in chairs to safely move at one time. The technology, which won an Innovator Award, was licensed to a company in October 2007. The Celebration of Innovation was hosted by the University’s Office of the Provost and the Office of Technology Management. Joining Olson (second from right) are (left to right) Dr. Arthur Levine, senior vice chancellor for Health Sciences, James V. Maher, provost and senior vice chancellor, and Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg.
Kimberly Meigh and April Scott, doctoral students in the Department of Communication Science and Disorders, were awarded the 2008 New Century Scholars Doctoral Scholarships from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation. They were among 20 doctoral candidates to receive the award because of their commitment to attaining the research doctoral degree and working in a higher education academic community in the field of CSD in the United States.
Rhona Galera, CScD student in the Department of Communication Science and Disorders, received the 2008 Graduate Student Scholarship from the American Speech-Language- Hearing Foundation. The award, one of seven awarded annually, recognizes graduate or doctoral students who demonstrate outstanding academic achievement.
Lisa Guttertag Lederer, a graduate student in the Department of Communication Science and Disorders, received the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Special Interest Division 2 Student Research Travel Fellowship. She was recognized for outstanding student research in neurophysiology and neurogenic speech and language disorders.
Lindsay Diethorn, AuD student in the Department of Communication Science and Disorders, received the Pennsylvania Academy of Audiology Student Scholarship for 2008. This state competition awards students for outstanding achievement in audiology.
Veronica Umeasiegbu, a master’s candidate in the Department of Rehabilitation Science and Technology’s Rehabilitation Counseling program, spent 10 weeks as an intern with the World Health Organization. During her internship, Veronica found a sponsor and spearheaded a successful fundraising effort among her intern class to send a set of essential clinical texts to a community health center in her home country of Nigeria through WHO’s Blue Trunk
Library program. She also won an essay contest for UN interns on implementation of the Millenium Development Goals and presented a project proposal at a panel discussion during the Dialogue on Global Governance.
Alexandra Jefferds, graduate student in the Department of Rehabilitation Science and Technology, recently self-published her first science-fiction novel. “Earlier Heaven” addresses many real-world themes and serves as a vehicle for Jefferds to expand upon one of her life’s passions – helping people with disabilities (the heroine is a young girl with a disability).
Steve Gaul, a student in the Athletic Training program, became the second Pitt athletic training student in the last three years to participate in a victorious Super Bowl celebration following the Pittsburgh Steelers dramatic 27 – 23 win over the Arizona Cardinals on Feb. 3. Steve spent the entire 2008 season with the Steelers completing one of his clinical education experiences as part of the athletic training staff. He also took part in the Steelers victory parade following the team’s return to Pittsburgh.
Bailee Miller, a student in the Athletic Training program, was selected as one of three athletic training students from Pennsylvania to participate in the first iLead Conference in Washington, DC. The program, sponsored by the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, promotes student leadership development and offers opportunities to attend workshops and meetings as well as spending a day on Capitol Hill meeting with legislators to discuss and promote the profession of athletic training.
Michelle Petraglia, master’s student in the Department of Communication Science and Disorders, was selected by the CSD faculty to receive a student honors award from the Southwest Pennsylvania Speech and Hearing Association (SWPSHA). The award was presented at the SWPSHA Honors meeting in March.
Rhona Galera, a doctoral student in the clinical science in speech language pathology program, participated in a medical mission in Quito, Ecuador, at the Nueva Tierra Hospital through Faces of Tomorrow. Galera worked as a team with pediatricians, dentists, surgeons, social workers, and translators to aide children with cleft lip and cleft palate deformities and their families.
Melissa Stauffer, MOT student, was awarded the Greek Room Committee Scholarship from the University of Pittsburgh Nationality Rooms. It will support her participation in the Experiential Learning International’s Program in Greece.
Wikar Kadhim, MOT student, was awarded the Fred C. Bruhns Memorial Award from the University of Pittsburgh Nationality Rooms. It will support his participation in the Experiential Learning International’s Program in Jordan. Michelle Anderson and Stephanie Young, MOT students, and Drs.
Ketki Raina, assistant professor and Denise Chisholm, associate professor, presented Promoting Occupational Therapy Through International Experiential Learning at the 31st Annual Pennsylvania Occupational Therapy Association Conference. Young and Raina also presented The Cultural Impact on Disability in Tanzanian Children.
Michelle Anderson, Benjamin Gross, and Wikar Kadhim, MOT students, were selected as 2008 – 2009 Jewish Healthcare Foundation Jonas Salk Fellows.
Betsy Boyce, Alisha Cousins, Cortney DiVito, Caitlin Feeney, Ellen Malinoski, Shelley McCauley, Renee McDade, Amanda Miller, Angela
Pasquarelli, Sarah Petrus, Lori Sopko, Anne Marie Sweeney, Carla Tcruz, and Jeanna Thomas, MOT students, were inducted into the Beta Tau Chapter of Pi Theta Epsilon, the national honor society for occupational therapy students.
Natalie D’Angelo, Benjamin Gross, Shelley McCauley, Amanda Miller, and Sarah Petrus, MOT students, and Yu Yun Huang, MS student, represented the Department of Occupational Therapy at the National Disability Day event and provided assistance to students with disabilities.
Betsy Boyce, Benjamin Gross, and Caitlin Feeney, MOT students, presented Occupational Therapy as a Career to 9th – 12th grade students at the School to Career Day sponsored by the Oakland Planning and Development Corps. Boyce and Gross also presented a hands-on workshop, Occupational Therapy as a Career to 10th – 12th grade students at Career Connections Charter High School of Pittsburgh.
Andi Saptono, doctoral candidate in the Department of Health Information Management, presented an instructional course on Telerehabilitation: A Viable Method Wheelchair Prescription at the 25th International Seating Symposium in Orlando, Fla., in March. Saptono will also present User Roles, Needs, and Information Management Features in Telerehabilitation at the American Telemedicine Association 14th Annual International Meeting and Exposition in Las Vegas in April.