On April 3, Pitt honored the recipients of the Chancellor’s Distinguished Research Award in a ceremony at Alumni Hall.

Pitt recognized three faculty members for outstanding research and scholarly activity at the national and international level with the senior scholar award. 

The senior scholar awardees were Piotr Hajlasz, Michael Madison and Rebecca Thurston. Each had immense contributions to research in their respective fields of mathematics, knowledge commons and women’s health.

Madison said the award brought a sense of “tangible, significant” pride in his work and university, showing the impact he had made. 

“This is a very specific moment where the University, through its evaluation, application and peer review process, says ‘you’re doing great work,’” Madison said. “With most researchers, if you’re doing your work right, then the research outlives your own career.”

Faculty were further considered in three broad categories — arts and humanities, STEM, medicine and health sciences. Recipients receive a cash prize of $2,000 and a grant of $3,000 to support their teaching and research.

Senior scholar awardees must have achieved notable recognition in their field of study with letters of support from national and international leaders in their field. Faculty were nominated by the chair of their department, and an awards committee reviewed the nominations and chose the awardees.

Madison, a professor of law, has done extensive research and writing to identify essential factors in improving knowledge commons systems, which is how institutions and organizations manage sharing knowledge, information and data. 

“Ideally, the result of the research is to improve the quality of knowledge sharing systems going forward in things like large scale AI models and public health systems,” he said. 

Madison said he hopes to continue publishing books about knowledge commons and expanding the scope of the Workshop on Governing Knowledge Commons, a project that organizes and publishes research on knowledge commons. He said he aims to continue mentoring and advising students and junior faculty, not just at Pitt but throughout the world.

Hajlasz, a professor of mathematics, studies Sobolev spaces, now termed Hajłasz-Sobolev spaces, which have become fundamental in metric and analytic geometry. His work helped establish definitions for Sobolev spaces and has since played a significant role in developing the theory of metric spaces and the modeling of partial differential equations.

Hajlasz said he valued the impact he had on others through his research. “I’ve worked with graduate students, postdoctoral and collaborators. So, inspiring other people in their research has always been an important part of my work,” he said. 

“Mathematics provides a universal language that has very wide applications,” Hajlasz said. “I am pleased that my field of research, which is also shared by many other mathematicians, has been recognized and appreciated.”

Hajlasz expressed his love for mathematics and aims to continue his research in a variety of mathematical subjects for as long as he can. 

“Being a mathematician is not just a job, it’s a passion, and I don’t have many other passions,” he said. “I really don’t want to retire until the moment that I can no longer continue my research.”

Thurston, a professor of psychiatry, psychology and epidemiology and the dean for women’s health research, worked to understand women’s health changes during menopause transitions. Her research focuses on various adverse effects of menopause such as hot flashes, sleep problems, mood and mental health changes and brain-health changes. 

“I’m very happy that we’re recognizing the importance of this life transition that previously existed in the shadows,” Thurston said. “The fact that we’re honoring women’s health research is something I think is important and significant.”

Thurston recently received a new grant to study brain fog, an effect women tend to experience in the early stages of menopause. She hopes to continue three additional studies examining other diverse aspects of menopause, emphasizing the importance of viewing women’s health through biological, psychological and social perspectives.

“This transition is not all about hormones,” she said. “So many women report issues with their mood and anxiety during the menopause transition, and we really have just scraped the surface in terms of understanding what’s really going on.”