Scholar Research and Accolades

Dr. Michelle Karabin Harter, an ARCS Pittsburgh Scholar from 2020–2021 through 20222023, completed her PhD in the Department of Bioengineering, School of Engineering, at the University of Pittsburgh in 2024. We’re thrilled to share that Michelle is staying in Pittsburgh as a postdoctoral fellow in the ophthalmology department at StreetLab, part of the UPMC Mercy Vision Institute. She is conducting her postdoctoral research under the supervision of the worldrenowned Dr. José-Alain Sahel, distinguished professor and chair of ophthalmology, the Eye & Ear Foundation Endowed Chair at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and director of the UPMC Vision Institute. StreetLab’s mission is to study how visually impaired individuals perform dailylife tasks, with the goal of evaluating innovative solutions and assessing the therapeutic benefits of interventions.

Michelle’s rapid progress through her doctorate should come as no surprise. She was a nationally ranked athlete in track and field—specifically pole vaulting, which sparked her deep interest in biomechanics and the science of balance. Her doctoral research focused on vestibular hypofunction—or vestibular loss—a condition in which individuals lose their ability to stand or walk steadily, increasing the risk of falling and injury. under Professor Mark Redfern in the Human Movement and Balance Laboratory, which focuses on the biomechanics of movement. Michelle created a computer simulation of walking with and without vestibular hypofunction, allowing her to recommend new rehabilitation and therapy strategies for affected individuals.

The ARCS Effect Michelle credits ARCS as a pivotal influence in her career. She became an ARCS Scholar in 2020 while deciding between graduate schools and PhD programs. Michelle Karabin (Photo courtesy of Michelle Harter) “Vestibular loss can result from ear infections, vertigo, migraines, or simply the aging process,” Michelle explains. “Our ears have hair cells that help us hear. Similarly, hair cells in our vestibular system degrade with age.” She notes that about 30% of Americans over the age of 40 experience some form of vestibular dysfunction. Recognized early on as a standout in bioengineering, Michelle received an NIH F31 award to support her research in computational modeling of human movement, specifically investigating how balance is maintained during movement. She conducted her PhD research “When I learned I was a recipient, I took it as a sign to stay in Pennsylvania, attend the University of Pittsburgh, and follow my passion into biomechanics,” she shares. “I’m grateful for the opportunities—financial and otherwise—that ARCS continues to give me.” Her ARCS award helped lay the foundation for her current postdoctoral fellowship at StreetLab, where her balance research now extends to exploring how vision loss impacts balance and mobility. Her work aims to quantify daily life function in people with vision impairment and identify successful strategies that support independent mobility and quality of life. Reflecting on the impact ARCS has had on her journey, Michelle shared this message for our broader community: “Thank you for the work you do to reward young adults looking to pursue advanced degrees. It really does make a huge impact.” Dr. Michelle Karabin Harter’s story exemplifies the mission and long-term impact of ARCS Pittsburgh. Her research in biomechanics and balance is already making a difference—and promises even greater influence in the years to come. We are so proud of Michelle and honored to have played a role in her journey. To all ARCS Scholar Alumni: we want to hear from you! Let us know where you are now and how your ARCS award helped shape your career.

Melissa writes, “I can’t believe it’s been six whole years since I became an ARCS scholar!” Melissa was the recipient of the Dr. Arnold O. Beckman Award for the first three years of her doctoral degree at the world-renowned Chemical Engineering program at Carnegie Mellon University from 2009-2012. She has recently completed her PhD and will be an AAAS Fellow this coming September while working at the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Center for Environmental Research in the Air, Climate, and Energy Research Program.  She says, “I’m very excited!”

During her time at Carnegie Mellon as an ARCS scholar, Melissa published three papers “to investigate how climate change may impact the air quality in the Eastern United States.”  Her first paper, Predicted Changes in Summertime Organic Aerosol Concentration Due to Increased Temperature, which can be found at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1352231011008521, “shows that the climate change response of natural or biogenic emissions may be more important than temperature changes alone.”  A second paper, Effects of a Changing Climate on Summertime Fine Particulate Matter Levels in the Eastern U.S., shows “the very complex results of changing every meteorological factor at once.” It can be found at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2014JD022889/full. Melissa also shared a third paper, Evaluation of the Ability of the EC Tracer Method to Estimate Secondary Organic Carbon, which she says, “I was able to use my air quality model to evaluate how accurate an emissions measurements technique was that experimentalists use in the field, and provide some suggestions to increase its accuracy.” Her overall thesis is available online at http://gradworks.umi.com/36/90/3690564.html.

Currently, Melissa is continuing her work with the local chapter of Engineers Without Borders. She spoke about her work building a potable water pumping system for a rural community in the Andes Mountains of Ecuador at prior ARCS events. She is pleased to report that it “was completed in January 2012 and has been functioning well since then.” She recently traveled back to the same community to help install two latrines and a handwashing station. She says, “We were pretty successful.” A time lapse video of the progress is available at https://youtu.be/mxSex0V2U4E.  Melissa is organizing the fundraiser Whiskey for Water for Engineers Without Borders which will be held on July 22 at Wigle Whiskey Barrelhouse on the Northside. More information can be found at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/whiskey-for-water-a-fundraiser-for-engineers-without-borders-pittsburgh-tickets-17428083868.

Following a post-doctoral position at the Climate Decision Making Center at CMU, Elisabeth was selected as a Science and Technology Policy Fellow through the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Washington, DC, where she worked on the quantification of benefits and avoided risks of different climate scenarios in the Climate Change Division at the Environmental Protection Agency.

In the fall of 2011, Elisabeth accepted an assistant professor position in the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, College Park. She will be focusing on energy and environmental policy.  Before her doctoral studies, she worked at the International Peace Research Institute in Oslo, Norway (PRIO). This work resulted in two widely cited publications on the links between diamonds and civil conflict. She also holds a Masters and Bachelors in Chemical and Environmental Engineering from the University of Toronto.

To read more about Elisabeth's research, click here.