ABOUT PITTSBURGH

Pittsburgh is home to approximately 335,000 people (the population of the 10-county region is approximately 2.6 million), three major rivers (the Allegheny and Monongahela converge here to form the Ohio), an estimated 720 bridges, nine colleges and universities, a number of Fortune 500 companies, and the remnants of Fort Duquesne, which was built in the 1750s and later renamed Fort Pitt.  

Oakland, the neighborhood where the University of Pittsburgh is located, is unquestionably the intellectual center of the community. In the heart of Pitt’s campus is the 42-story Cathedral of Learning, the nation’s tallest education building and home to more than two dozen Nationality Rooms styled to reflect the culture of the faraway places to which many Pittsburghers can trace their roots.

Pittsburgh has a variety of museums, three of which—the Carnegie Museum of Art, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, and Carnegie Science Center—bear the name of 19th-century industrialist Andrew Carnegie, who made his fortune in steel here. The city also has the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center; the Mattress Factory, one of America’s leading museums for site-specific installation art; and the Andy Warhol Museum, one of the most comprehensive single-artist museums in the world. (The Carnegie Museum of Art and Carnegie Museum of Natural History adjoin the Pitt campus.)

Other amenities the city offers include Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens (also within short walking distance of campus); the National Aviary; Kennywood, one of the country’s grand old amusement parks; the Duquesne and Monongahela Inclines; and the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium.

Although the Pittsburgh Pirates are on the road during the symposium, PNC Park, widely regarded as one of the nation’s finest ballparks, is open for tours daily.

For more information about living, eating, playing, and shopping in the city, go to the University of Pittsburgh-maintained site Cool Pittsburgh.