educated_at ernest j. sternglass
The ___MASK2___ ( commonly referred to as Pitt ) is a state - related research university located in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania . In 1787 after the American Revolutionary War , it was founded on the edge of the American frontier as the Pittsburgh Academy . It developed and was renamed as Western ___MASK1___ by a change to its charter in 1819 . After surviving two devastating fires and various relocations within the area , the school moved to its current location in the Oakland neighborhood of the city ; it was renamed as the ___MASK2___ in 1908 . For most of its history , Pitt was a private institution , until 1966 when it became part of the Commonwealth System of Higher Education . The ___MASK1___ ( commonly known as Penn or UPenn ) is a private , Ivy League university located in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , United States . Incorporated as " The Trustees of the ___MASK1___ ", Penn is one of 14 founding members of the Association of American Universities and one of the nine original colonial colleges . The Commonwealth System of Higher Education is a statutory designation by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that confers " state - related " status on four universities located within the state . The designation establishes the schools as an " instrumentality of the commonwealth " and provides each university with annual , non - preferred financial appropriations in exchange offering tuition discounts to students that are residents of Pennsylvania and a minority state - representation on each school ' s board of trustees . Legally , however , the universities remain separate and private entities , operating under their own charters , governed by independent boards of trustees , and with its assets under their own ownership and control thereby retaining much of the freedom and individuality of private institutions , both administratively and academically . It is the only public - private hybrid system of higher education in the United States that is so construed , although ___MASK59___ , the University of Delaware , and Rutgers University represent alternative types of public - private university hybrids . Pennsylvania ( Pennsylvania German : " Pennsylvaani "), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , is a state located in the northeastern and Mid - Atlantic regions of the United States . The Appalachian Mountains run through its middle . The commonwealth borders Delaware to the southeast , Maryland to the south , West Virginia to the southwest , Ohio to the west , Lake Erie and the Canadian province of Ontario to the northwest , ___MASK11___ to the north , and New Jersey to the east . Ernest Joachim Sternglass ( September 24 , 1923 -- February 12 , 2015 ) was a professor emeritus at the ___MASK2___ and director of the Radiation and Public Health Project . He is an American physicist and author , best known for his controversial research on the health risks of low - level radiation from atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons and from nuclear power plants .