Once upon a time, in a middle-school classroom in Pittsburgh, students were studying art and engineering. Every day, in school, in activities, and at home, they learned new things, including watching movies and playing games, but could these skills be something they would pursue with higher education in the entertainment technology industry? Until one day, Dawn, an animatronic owl that could turn its head, move its beak, and flap its wings, visited the classroom.

Based out of Bridgeside Point II in Hot Metal Campus, EvolvingSTEM is a science outreach program that brings evolution and microbiology research directly into classrooms across the Pittsburgh region. Run through Professor Vaughn Cooper’s lab in the Department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics at the University of Pittsburgh, the program equips students from grades 6 through 12 with the tools and framework to conduct real experiments on bacterial evolution.

It pays off to stay focused. On April 7, 2026, the Hot Metal Book Club met to discuss Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers by Geoffrey A. Moore.

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ENGAGE focuses on the social side of stroke recovery, helping people rebuild confidence and reconnect with their communities. This group intervention, which was co-designed by community members who are stroke survivors, was tested by a multi-university team of researchers led by Dr. Elizabeth Skidmore at the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Occupational Therapy.

How can virtual reality and haptic gloves work together to create profound emotional experiences? That is the simple but ambitious question that project Tacit aims to explore.

The most novel story you can tell is the one you choose to enter. To push the boundaries of mixed-reality storytelling and interactive gaming, the ImmerX team at Carnegie Mellon University’s (CMU) Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) created five immersive worlds to explore in Travel-in-X.

Spirited discussion, strong opinions, plenty of coffee. On Tuesday, February 24, 2026, the Hot Metal Book Club attendees discussed The Billion Dollar Molecule: The Quest for the Perfect Drug by Barry Werth and the tensions behind innovation, including work-life balance, clashing egos, and the push-and-pull between business expectations and scientific reality.

Emerging from Carnegie Mellon University’s ETC, Kicks Lab is an experimental, educational video game meant to encourage middle school students’ curiosity in topics that blend science, arts, and engineering through shoe design.

A student team at ETC has been building something ambitious called Trinity. It’s a multiplayer co-op game that unites three players on three different platforms: VR, mobile, and PC. Designed for in-person play, Trinity has brought people together and surprisingly gathered a wider audience than anticipated.

There are games that can be played anywhere, anytime, but what about games created for a specific physical place and time? The Intergalactic Buttoneers modernized the iconic ETC Space Bridge, explored a series of location-based experience prototypes, and designed an immersive experience to bring the Space Bridge to life during the 2025 ETC Fall Festival.

Athena and Poseidon are trading witty banter as a curious visitor looks on. It’s not a scene from Mount Olympus, but a high-tech lab at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). There, a team of graduate students at CMU’s Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) has used artificial intelligence (AI) to bring these mythological characters to life.

Current treatments for geographic atrophy in age-related macular degeneration (AMD) can slow the progression of vision loss but they do not restore vision. To address this issue, a team of researchers is developing the photovoltaic retina implant microarray (PRIMA) system, an implant system that uses infrared light to restore lost sight.

Hot Metal Campus wrapped up the semester last week with a holiday gathering that brought together students, faculty, and a handful of industry partners for an evening of informal connection.

This fall, Hot Metal Campus has become a gathering place for professional growth, practical skills, and real-world guidance through a new workshop series.

Do I belong here? What do I wish I knew when I started this job, degree, or program? A team of University of Pittsburgh researchers used the power of reflecting on these ever-present questions to develop a three-session, evidence-based ecological belonging program, Supporting Hardiness and Inclusion for New Endeavors (SHINE), for entry-level occupational therapy doctorate students.

Your location shouldn’t affect your ability to participate in a physical therapy program. To address the burden of long travel distances to physical therapy for older adults with knee osteoarthritis living in rural areas, University of Pittsburgh researchers conducted a pilot feasibility study of a novel hybrid in-person and telerehabilitation program that was found to be safe and feasible.

Hot Metal Campus researchers, including Mary L. Marazita, PhD, and Seth Weinberg, PhD, from UPitt’s Center for Craniofacial and Dental Genetics, as well as the Schools of Medicine and Public Health, are investigating the interaction between maternal smoking and vitamin use, and how these factors influence genes to cause orofacial clefts in Filipinos.

Researchers, including Hot Metal Campus's Jay Xiaojun Tan from UPitt’s Aging Institute, are revealing how tiny lipid molecules called phosphoinositides (PIPs) act as the cell’s internal “messengers,” precisely directing responses to stress and external signals.

As we get older and our needs and goals change, so must our home environment ensure ongoing comfort, safety, and dignity in the places where our most precious memories are held. To help older adults continue to live in their home and safely meet their goals, University of Pittsburgh researchers in the Department of Occupational Therapy recently presented highlights from an ongoing CAPABLE study.

Ovarian Cancer is often found too late, but the multi-disciplinary team spanning clinical experts at the University of Pittsburgh (UPitt) and their collaborators have recently discovered new early detection and prevention strategies for ovarian cancer.