2021
Three Faculty Elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Bicchieri, Hanchard, and Tishkoff honored as exceptional scholars and innovators.
2021 College of Arts & Sciences Graduation Speakers
The speakers for this year’s College of Arts & Sciences virtual graduation celebration are Mary Frances Berry, Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought and a professor of history and Africana studies, and Justin Greenman, C'21, a double major in history and political science.
Seven College Seniors Are Class of 2021 President’s Engagement and Innovation Prize Winners
The prizes enable students to take on post-graduation projects that make a positive, lasting difference in the world.
MindCORE Receives National Science Foundation Support
The award supports a summer research program for visiting students.
Jessica Anna Receives NSF Grant to Study Solar Energy Conversion
The chemist will investigate some of the earliest and most important steps involved in converting sunlight to energy.
Julie Nelson Davis Named a 2021 Guggenheim Fellow
The professor of history of art is considered a foremost authority on Japanese prints and illustrated books.
Sam Apple Receives Kelly Writers House Award
The Beltran Family Award is given annually for excellent teaching and mentoring.
Shelley Berger Named Fellow of the American Association for Cancer Research Academy
World-renowned genetics researcher Shelley L. Berger has been named a member of the 2021 class of fellows of the American Association for Cancer Research Academy.
Penn Arts & Sciences and University Teaching Awards
It gives us great pleasure to announce the recipients of the 2021 awards for distinguished teaching in the School of Arts and Sciences.
Students Honored as 2021 Dean's Scholars
Penn Arts & Sciences has named 20 students from the College of Arts & Sciences, the College of Liberal & Professional Studies, and the Graduate Division as 2021 Dean’s Scholars.
College Senior chosen as Gaither Junior Fellow
Samuel Orloff, C’21, was chosen for the one-year fellowship.
Research Partnership with Ashoka University
The research is led by Valerie Ross, Director of the Marks Family Center for Excellence.
Three Recognized With 2021 University Teaching Awards
Melissa E. Sanchez, Chenoa Flippen, and Randall Kamien have been honored by Penn for their teaching.
Statement from Steven J. Fluharty, Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences
The School of Arts and Sciences will undertake a cluster search to fill multiple standing faculty positions in Asian American studies.
Brenda Casper Elected a Fellow of the Ecological Society of America
The Society’s fellowship program recognizes the many ways in which its members contribute to ecological research and discovery, communication, education and pedagogy, and management and policy.
Senior Sciaska Ulysse Honored With Women of Color at Penn Award
The Undergraduate Student Award recognizes work that has promoted education, cultural diversity and positive change.
Junior Hakiem Ellison Receives Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Award
Hakiem Ellison, C’22, received a 2021 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Involvement Recognition Award for his community service in West Philadelphia.
College Student and Alum Receive Churchill Scholarships
Adam Konkol, C’21, G’21, and Abigail Timmel, C’20, G’20, were selected for the prestigious fellowship.
Martha J. Farah Recognized by the Society of Experimental Psychologists
She was awarded the 2021 Howard Crosby Warren Medal.
Allyson Mackey Receives NSF Award to Study Early Science Learning
Allyson Mackey, Assistant Professor of Psychology, has received a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER award for her work combining approaches in neuroscience, psychology, and education to predict and improve science learning in early elementary school students.
Message from Dean Steven Fluharty
Like all of you, I am pained and angered by the news of the horrific violence in Atlanta that targeted and took the lives of several women of Asian descent.
Five Arts & Sciences Students and Alumni Selected as 2021 Thouron Scholars
Each scholarship winner receives tuition for up to two years, as well as travel and living stipends, to earn a graduate degree in the U.K.
Abdus-Saboor, Zhen Are Sloan Research Fellows
The fellowship recognizes extraordinary U.S. and Canadian researchers whose creativity, innovation, and research accomplishments make them stand out as the next generation of scientific leaders.
David Brainard Receives Edgar D. Tiller Award From Optical Society
David H. Brainard, Associate Dean for the Natural Sciences and RRL Professor of Psychology, has been selected as the 2021 recipient of the Edgar D. Tiller Award from The Optical Society (OSA).
Liang Wu Named Outstanding Young Researcher
Liang Wu, Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy, has received the 2020 Outstanding Young Researcher Award from the International Organization of Chinese Physicists and Astronomers.
New Center for Soft and Living Matter Is Launched
Deans Steven J. Fluharty of the School of Arts and Sciences and Vijay Kumar of the School of Engineering and Applied Science announce the opening of a new Center for Soft and Living Matter that will be a joint endeavor between the two schools.
Arjun Yodh Named 2021 Michael S. Feld Biophotonics Award Recipient
He was selected for his "pioneering research on optical sensing in scattering media, especially diffuse optical and correlation spectroscopy and tomography, and for advancing the field of biophotonics through mentorship."
Copeland Named BFC Presidential Associate Professor
Huey Copeland has joined Penn as BFC Presidential Associate Professor of History of Art.
$5 Million Mellon Grant for Work on Dispossessions in the Americas
Tulia Falleti of Political Science leads the interdisciplinary project.
Physicist and Physician Receive NIH Grant to Develop Portable COVID-19 Detector
A team co-led by Charlie Johnson has been awarded a two-year, $2 million grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences.
Penn Population Scientists Win NAM Catalyst Grant Award
A team led by Iliana Kohler, Assistant Research Professor and Associate Director of the Population Studies Center, has won a National Academy of Medicine (NAM) Healthy Longevity Global Grand Challenge Catalyst Award supporting aging and health-related research in Malawi, Africa.
Liang Wu Awarded Grant Under Defense University Research Instrumentation Program
The grant will allow the acquisition of a scanning magneto-optical microscope for topological materials for Wu's lab.
Herman Beavers Named Julie Beren Platt and Marc E. Platt President’s Distinguished Professor of English and Africana Studies
Herman Beavers, Professor of English and Africana Studies, has been appointed Julie Beren Platt and Marc E. Platt President’s Distinguished Professor of English and Africana Studies. Beavers is a distinguished poet and a widely published scholar of 20th-century American and African American literature, especially the novels of Toni Morrison, the traditions of jazz and jazz writing, and the work of 20th-century Southern writers.
Marisa C. Kozlowski Appointed Editor-in-Chief of Organic Letters
The professor of chemistry is known for her groundbreaking research in the design of asymmetric catalysts and the development of new methods for oxidative carbon-carbon, carbon-oxygen, and carbon-nitrogen bond-forming reactions in asymmetric synthesis.
Nicole Rust Recognized by National Academy of Sciences
The associate professor of psychology will receive a 2021 Troland Research Award.
Roger Allen Wins Lifetime Achievement Award
The Professor Emeritus of Arabic and Comparative Literature received the Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding.
Anthea Butler Project Receives a $1 Million Grant From the Henry Luce Foundation
Butler co-directs the project with scholars from Princeton University and Washington University in St. Louis.
2020
Melissa Sanchez Receives MLA Recognition
Her book received an honorable mention for the Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for Comparative Literary Studies.
Two From Penn Arts & Sciences Named 2020 Schwarzman Scholars
Yixi (Cecilia) Wang, C’20, W’20, and Annie Sun, C’19, have received the Schwarzman Scholarship, which funds a one-year master’s degree in global affairs at Tsinghua University in Beijing.
Simone White Named Stephen M. Gorn Family Assistant Professor
Simone White has been named the Stephen M. Gorn Family Assistant Professor of English.
Two Faculty Receive Creative Capital Awards
Simone White, Assistant Professor of English, and Marc Anthony Richardson, Lecturer in Creative Writing, have each been chosen for a 2021 Creative Capital Award.
Marie Gottschalk Named Edmund J. Kahn Distinguished Professor
The Professor of Political Science is a widely acclaimed scholar of American politics
Fels Event Explored Conducting Elections in Challenging Times
An expert panel discussed the unprecedented challenges faced by election officials around the country due to both the global pandemic and misinformation cast on the legitimacy and security of mail-in ballots.
College Alum and Student Awarded 2021 Marshall Scholarships
Annah Chollet, C'21, and Yareqzy (Yary) Munoz , C'20, will pursue graduate education in the U.K.
Grammy Nomination for Album Featuring Music by James Primosch
James Primosch, Dr. Robert Weiss Professor of Music, composed the music for Catharge, recorded by The Crossing and nominated for Best Choral Performance.
Fernández-Villaverde and Krueger Elected Fellows of Econometric Society
Jesús Fernández-Villaverde, Professor and Graduate Chair of Economics, and Dirk Krueger, Walter H. and Leonore C. Annenberg Professor in the Social Sciences and Professor of Economics, have been elected fellows of the Econometric Society.
Renata Holod Receives the MESA Mentoring Award
Renata Holod, professor emerita of history of art and curator of the Near East section of the Penn Museum, is the recipient of the 2020 Mentoring Award from the Middle East Studies Association (MESA). The MESA Mentoring Award was established in 1995 and first given at MESA’s 1996 annual meeting. The award recognizes exceptional contributions retired faculty have made to the education and training of others.