The University of Pittsburgh is a state-related research university, founded as the Pittsburgh Academy in 1787. The University of Pittsburgh, originally named the Pittsburgh Academy, begins life in a log cabin on the American frontier. In petitioning Pennsylvania’s state assembly to charter an academy of learning in Pittsburgh, founding principal Hugh Henry Brackenridge writes, “We all know that the strength of a state greatly consists in the superior mental powers of the inhabitants.” .Pitt is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), which comprises 62 preeminent doctorate-granting research institutions in North America.