2013
Penn Team Wins National Public Policy Challenge
Fels Institute of Government’s second annual National Invitational Public Policy Challenge, held at the National Constitution Center, was won by the home team. Penn’s own Challenge winner, re:Mind, took the prize for its proposal of an appointment reminder system for mental health patients, with the ultimate goal of curbing the number of costly and preventable re-hospitalizations.
Florian Pop Appointed the Samuel D. Schack Professor of Algebra
Florian Pop has been appointed the Samuel D. Schack Professor of Algebra in the Department of Mathematics in the School of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Pop is the recipient of numerous academic honors including several National Science Foundation research grants and a research grant from the John Templeton Foundation. He was named the Marie Curie Scholar of the European Union in 2007. Dr.
Ph.D. Candidate Jessica Ho Examines Mortality Under 50
Although it is the richest nation in the world and the sole remaining superpower, life expectancy at birth in the United States is among the lowest of all high-income countries.
Psychology's Joseph Kable Re-examines Longstanding Self-Control Test
For decades, a psychological experiment known as the marshmallow test has captured the public’s imagination as a marker of self-control and a predicator of future success. In the test, a researcher presents a child with a marshmallow and leaves him or her alone for a few minutes. If the child can resist eating the marshmallow until the researcher returns, he or she can have two marshmallows instead of one.
Chemistry Professor Eric Schelter Receives Cottrell Scholar Award
Assistant Professor of Chemistry Eric Schelter has received a 2013 Cottrell Scholar Award from the Research Corporation for Scientific Advancement (RCSA). He is one of only 13 Scholars named in the U.S. this year.
Congratulations to Our Dean’s Scholars
The School of Arts and Sciences has named 20 students from the College of Arts & Sciences, the College of Liberal and Professional Studies, and the Graduate Division as 2013 Dean’s Scholars. This honor is presented annually to SAS students who exhibit exceptional academic performance and intellectual promise. The 2013 Dean’s Scholars were formally recognized as part of the Levin Family Dean’s Forum.COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
Robin Hochstrasser, Donner Professor of Physical Science, Passes Away
Robin M. Hochstrasser, a pioneer and one of the world’s foremost scientists in the application of lasers in chemical and biomedical research, died February 27, 2013. He had been a professor and distinguished researcher in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania for the past 50 years.
Two Assistant Professors Appointed to SAS Chairs
Projit Mukharji of the Department of History and Sociology of Science has been named the Martin Meyerson Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies in the School of Arts and Sciences. Mukharji’s research focuses on postcolonial technoscience, colonial medicine, indigenous medical traditions, and subaltern science; he has a special interest in the intersection of Western medicine and indigenous healing traditions in South Asia.
Fels Report Offers Solutions for Economy
Fels Institute of Government has published a new report offering suggestions for economic growth. “Solving the Skills Crisis: Promising Practices for Talent Pipeline Development” is based on on-site visits with more than a dozen American employers and interviews with more than 60 economic, governmental and business leaders.
Penn Cosmologists Nominated by NASA for 2020 Euclid Mission
Gary Bernstein, Reese W. Flower Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics, and Bhuvnesh Jain, Edmund J. and Louise W.
Professor Charles Bosk Wins American Sociological Association’s 2013 Reeder Award
Professor of Sociology Charles L. Bosk has won the 2013 Leo G. Reeder Award from the American Sociological Association. He will receive the award in August at the ASA annual meetings in New York.
Kevin M. F. Platt is Named Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Term Professor in the Humanities
Kevin M. F. Platt of the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures has been appointed the Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Term Professor in the Humanities in the School of Arts and Sciences. Platt’s research examines representations of Russian history and historiography, history and memory in Russia, Russian lyric poetry, and global post-Soviet Russian culture.
Rita Copeland is Appointed the Sheli Z. and Burton X. Rosenberg Professor
Rita Copeland of the Department of Classical Studies has been named the Sheli Z. and Burton X. Rosenberg Professor in the School of Arts and Sciences.
Professor Allen Wins Prize for Arabic Literary Translation
Roger M.A. Allen has been awarded the 2012 Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation, for his translation of A Muslim Suicide by Bensalem Himmich.
Two Browne Distinguished Professors Appointed in SAS
Stephanie McCurry and Sharon Thompson-Schill have been appointed Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professors in the School of Arts and Sciences.Stephanie McCurry has been named the Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of History. She is a specialist in 19th-century American history and focuses on the American South and the Civil War era, as well as the history of women and gender.
Two SAS Scientists Appointed to Endowed Chairs
Vijay Balasubramanian and Nancy Bonini have received appointments to endowed professorships in the School of Arts and Sciences.
Penn Professor's Free Online Calculus Course Will Earn Students Credits
Calculus: Single Variable, an online Coursera course taught by Andrea Mitchell University Professor Robert Ghrist, has been recognized by the American Council on Education (ACE). Similar to advanced placement credit, this potentially would allow hundreds of institutions to award credits to students completing the course.
Prof. Tukufu Zuberi Wins Best Documentary and Best Director at the San Diego Black Film Festival
Tukufu Zuberi, Lasry Family Professor of Race Relations, Professor and Chair of Sociology, and Professor of Africana Studies, has been awarded two top honors at the recent San Diego Black Film Festival, including Best Documentary and Best Director, for his feature-length film titled African Independence.
Penn Receives $25 Million Gift to Create Perelman Center for Political Science and Economics
PHILADELPHIA—The University of Pennsylvania has received a $25 million gift from alumnus Ronald O. Perelman to create the Ronald O. Perelman Center for Political Science and Economics, which will provide a new home for Penn’s Departments of Political Science and Economics in the School of Arts and Sciences.
Prof. Mary Frances Berry: A Voice for the Powerless
In addition to her role as an educator, Mary Frances Berry, the Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought and Professor of History at Penn, has over the past decades been instrumental in shaping civil rights. Appointed to the U.S.
SAS Students, Alumni Receive Thouron Awards to Study in the U.K.
Two SAS students and two alumni have received Thouron Awards to pursue graduate studies in the United Kingdom. The recipients are:
Susan Lindee is Appointed the Janice and Julian Bers Professor of History and Sociology of Science
M. Susan Lindee has been appointed the Janice and Julian Bers Professor of History and Sociology of Science in the School of Arts and Sciences.
Sociology Professor Examines China's Social Media Revolution
China's internet censorship is notorious, earning its state-run web security technology the nickname The Great Firewall of China. What better environment to study the effects of social media?
English Professor Discusses Django Unchained And More
Assistant Professor of English Salamishah Tillet sat down with Penn Current to talk about the derivation of her name, her thoughts on Django Unchained, and her quest to end violence against women and girls.Her book Sites of Slavery: Citizenship and Racial Democracy in the Post-Civil Rights Imagination examines why and how contemporary African American artists, writers, and intellectuals remember antebellum slavery within post-Civil Rights America.
Anthropologist Finds Owl Monkey Reproduction Favors Monogamy
Eduardo Fernandez-Duque, an associate professor in Penn’s Department of Anthropology, and Maren Huck, a former postdoctoral fellow in his laboratory and now a professor at the University of Derby in the United Kingdom, have found evidence that owl monkeys who opt for multiple partners produce fewer offspring.
College Freshman and Rwandan Genocide Survivor Remy Manzi Discusses A Fresh Start at Penn
First-year student Remy Manzi recounts his memories of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, his journey Stateside and his time studying at Penn.“What really made a huge impact in my life was the fact that [Penn] believed in me,” says Manzi. “It was very hard, it was competitive to give an opportunity to a person like me, coming from a place like Rwanda, a local school, not even an international school.”
Director of Latin American and Latino Studies Honored
Emilio Parrado, professor of sociology and director of the Latin American and Latino Studies Program at the University of Pennsylvania, has been named one of the Delaware Valley’s Most Influential Latinos.
Penn Physicists Explain the Science Behind 'Coffee Rings'
In a study published in the physics journal Physical Review Letters, Arjun Yodh, director of the Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter, and his team built upon their previous research on the “coffee-ring effect,” a commonplace occurrence when drops of liquid with suspended particles dry, leaving a ring-shaped stain at the drop’s edges.
Steven Fluharty Is Appointed SAS Dean
President Amy Gutmann and Provost Vincent Price have announced Steven Fluharty will succeed Rebecca Bushnell as Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, effective July 1. “Steve Fluharty is an award-winning researcher and teacher and a talented leader and administrator with a strong commitment to integrating knowledge across disciplines,” President Gutmann said.
Sociology Professor Examines Psychiatric Disorders After Incarceration
Associate Professor of Sociology Jason Schnittker co-authored a study that shows many of the most common psychiatric disorders found in former inmates emerge in childhood or adolescence and predate incarceration. However, spending time incarcerated does seem to lead to certain mood-related psychiatric disorders, such as depression. Such effects of incarceration have implications for an inmate's life after prison.
Magazine: The Sky is the Limit
Determination is nothing new to Desiree Dubon, C’00, W’00, WG’05, a real estate asset manager who triple-majored in international studies, French and finance in the Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business. Over the last eight years, she’s scaled high-altitude peaks on five continents, becoming the first American woman to summit Nepal’s Manaslu, the eighth-highest mountain in the world, in 2009.
Professor Has the Midas Touch
Brian Rose, James B. Pritchard Professor of Archaeology and Professor of Classical Studies, co-directs the University's Gordion Project, an archaeological site that has been the source of countless discoveries contributing to an ever-growing understanding of the capital of the ancient kingdom of Phrygia.
Physics Professors Build "Recipe Book" for New Materials
Physicists are now able to create new materials with properties that do not exist in nature. These findings enable researchers to build a "recipe book" that shows how to build these materials using topology.
New Research Turns Geological Paradigm Upside Down
Many natural processes work to pull molecules like carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. One example is chemical weathering, which occurs when rock turns into soil. It has been long thought that mountains, because of their steep slopes and high rates of erosion, were large contributors to this "carbon draw down" effect.
Magazine: Brothers of Invention
What do cell phone antennas, recording studios, and jet planes have in common? They’re just a few of the areas in which innovative brothers Ashutosh, C’93, and Vinit Phatak, C’92, have made a mark on their native India.
Magazine: A Labor of Love
Medical journalist Randi Hutter Epstein, C’84, is fascinated with what she calls the “gray zone” of medicine—that place where answers aren’t black and white and doctors and patients must make decisions based on the best available information mixed with hunches and gut feelings. Obstetrics, she believes, is one such field and the subject of her recent book, Get Me Out: A History of Childbirth from the Garden of Eden to the Sperm Bank.
Magazine: Close Encounters
On a December expedition to Uganda, nature photographers John J. King II, C’74, and his wife Pam spent two days tracking wild mountain gorillas through a rainforest. On the third day, the Kings woke to find the gorillas had in turn tracked them and were strolling through their camp.
2012
Fels Examines How a State Cabinet Secretary Can Succeed
A recent report from a division of the Fels Institute of Government identifies seven core competencies that enable state cabinet secretaries to manage their agencies and advance their governors’ agendas.
Four SAS Faculty Named Fellows of AAAS
Four faculty members in the School of Arts and Sciences have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for their distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.
SAS Professor Leads Creation of Jewish Museum in Russia
A new museum exploring the culture and complexity of Jewish life opened last month in Moscow. Lending his expertise and chairing the international academic advisory committee was Benjamin Nathans, the Ronald S. Lauder Endowed Term Associate Professor of History.
Professor Named VP of American Political Science Association
Professor of Political Science Nancy Hirschmann was recently elected Vice President for 2012-2013 by the American Political Science Association. She is one of three new vice presidents who serve one-year terms on the Association’s council.
Chauvenet Prize for Penn Mathematics, Second Year in a Row
Robert Ghrist, the Andrea Mitchell University Professor of Mathematics and Electrical and Systems Engineering, has been named as the recipient of the 2013 Chauvenet Prize of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA). The prize is awarded for outstanding exposition of a mathematical topic in an article.
A New Way to Connect with SAS - Introducing Our Mobile Site
There's a brand new way to access SAS! You can now view the latest research, events and news on your favorite mobile device. Our easy-to-use format will make keeping up with SAS easier than ever before. The best part? No app is required--simply visit the SAS homepage on your mobile device.SAS FrontiersVisit our premier electronic magazine, featuring the research of SAS students and faculty.The 60-Second Lectures
Magazine: Visions of Grandeur
By Blake ColeWhile the election is behind us, the campaign rhetoric lives on in public discourse. The two visions of America presented by the campaigns—one that combines individualism, faith in free markets, and a limited role of government versus an America built on commitment to social community, a strong role for government, and strong social safety nets—are the latest manifestations of a philosophical divide that has a long history in American politics and culture.
Magazine: From Theory to the Real World
By Mark WolvertonTheoretical physicists tend to have a hard time at cocktail parties. Other scientists can discuss their cancer research, or their quest for life on other planets, or even the new floor wax compound they formulated—concrete, real-world matters that even the non-scientist can understand.
Magazine: Library of the Mind
By Mark WolvertonQuick—what were you doing last Tuesday night at around, say, 7:30? Where did you park your car this morning? When’s your mother’s birthday, and did you send her a card? Did you remember to pick up bread and milk on your way home last night?
History Department Lecture Series Moves to Central Library
The "Thinking with the Past" lecture series has found a new home at the Parkway Central Library. Sponsored by the history department, "Thinking with the Past" features Penn historians discussing their recent books. The series, which debuted last spring, will hold its 2012-2013 lectures at the Parkway Central Library at 1901 Vine Street.