Posted on September 25, 2011

University of Pittsburgh to Receive $3.5 Million From Wallace H. Coulter Foundation

The University of Pittsburgh has announced a five-year, $3.54 million grant from the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation to support translational bioengineering efforts at its Swanson School of Engineering.

The grant, which is being supplemented by $1.5 million in matching funds from the Pitt School of Medicine, the Swanson School, and the University's Office of Technology Management, will fund research that employs engineering techniques designed to improve health care and accelerate the introduction of new technologies in patient care.

The grant from the foundation was made as part of the second phase of a program development effort. In 2005, the foundation awarded a total of $40 million in support of translational partnerships at nine universities; those grants led to an additional $300 million in investments intended to further the development and market applications of various projects initiated by those partnerships. Pitt is one of five universities to receive the second portion of the bioengineering research award.

"We are thrilled to have been chosen to receive this award and participate in the Coulter Foundation program," said U.S. Steel Dean of Engineering Gerald D. Holder. "Not only will it be of tremendous benefit to the individual researchers who receive funding, but it affirms both the growing prominence and future potential of Pitt's bioengineering program."