On Thursday, Carnegie Mellon University invited Pitt to have his brain imaged and be examined by Marlene Behrmann, a neuroscientist, professor of psychology and a member of the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition within the university's Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

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But the University and College Union (UCU) said the launch of the new college - and state funding cuts for arts, humanities and social sciences - would result in the subjects becoming the preserve of a "select few".

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He has a joint appointment in the College of Medicine and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and serves as Director of the Mechanisms of Emotion, Social Relationships and Health in the Norton School of Family and Consumer Sciences.

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