2013
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.
SAS Researchers Study Erosion at El Yunque Rock
El Yunque rock stands at 3,412 feet and receives an average of three rain showers a day and more than 14 feet of rain annually. Because of Puerto Rico's warm tropical climate, the rock should be covered with vegetation and eroding rapidly.
Magazine: The Song Heard 'Round the World
By Susan AhlbornCarol Muller wants to teach you—wherever you are, and however she can. Anchored in the Music Building, where she conducts her perennially popular “World Music and Culture” and other classes, the professor has stretched beyond Penn’s campus by sending students to research the use of music in West Philadelphia, through a summer class that is half online and half on the ground in South Africa, and with internet-based courses for undergraduate and LPS students.
Fourteen Math Department Faculty Honored by AMS
Fourteen standing faculty members from the Department of Mathematics have been named Fellows of the American Mathematical Society for 2013, the program's initial year. The Fellows of the AMS designation recognizes members who have made outstanding contributions to the creation, exposition, advancement, communication and utilization of mathematics.
SAS Appoints Vice Dean for Finance and Administration
Dean Rebecca W. Bushnell has appointed Kathleen Bramwell as Vice Dean for Finance and Administration in the School of Arts and Sciences, effective December 10, 2012. Bramwell will be responsible for the financial and administrative infrastructure that supports the School's research and education programs, with oversight of finance, budget, human resources, facilities, computing and research administration.
Joseph Subotnik Awarded Packard Fellowship
Joseph Subotnik, assistant professor of chemistry in the School of Arts and Sciences, has been awarded a 2012 Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering. The Fellowship provides $875,000 over five years.Subotnik was one of 16 researchers chosen from 98 nominees representing 50 universities.
David Christianson Named Repligen Award Winner
David Christianson, Roy and Diana Vagelos Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, has been named as the recipient of the 2013 Repligen Award.The Repligen Award for Chemistry of Biological Processes was established in 1985 and consists of a silver medal and honorarium.
SAS Students Spend Summer with Monkeys
Under the direction of Associate Professor of Anthropology Eduardo Fernandez-Duque, nine Penn students spent their summer in Formosa, Argentina studying owl monkeys in their natural habitats.
Michael Horowitz Wins Furniss Book Award
Associate Professor of Political Science Michael C. Horowitz has won the Furniss Book Award from the Mershon Center for International Security Studies for his book The Diffusion of Military Power: Causes and Consequences for International Politics. This award is given each year to an author whose first book makes an exceptional contribution to the study of national and international security.
William Labov Named 2013 Franklin Institute Laureate
John H. and Margaret B. Fassitt Professor William Labov has been selected as a 2013 recipient of a Benjamin Franklin Medal award by The Franklin Institute. The linguistics professor is one of eight Laureates chosen from the fields of science, engineering and technology.
Nancy Bonini and Shelley Berger are Elected to the Institute of Medicine
Nancy Bonini is the Florence R.C. Murray Professor of Biology in the Department of Biology. Bonini’s research uses fruit flies to define genes and identify suppressor mutations that can prevent or delay brain degeneration. She is expanding into neural inquiry and aging models in fruit flies by analyzing the nervous system with age in hopes of providing further insights into neural decline.
Mark Trodden is Named Institute of Physics Fellow
Mark Trodden, Fay R. and Eugene L. Langberg Professor of Physics, has been elected as a Fellow of the Institute of Physics. Fellow is the senior grade of membership, reserved for those in all sectors who have made a significant contribution to their profession, either directly through their work or by supporting the development or promotion of physics.
Provost Announces Penn Social Science and Policy Forum
PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania has launched the Penn Social Science and Policy Forum.
Center for the Advanced Study of India at Penn to Celebrate 20th Anniversary With Symposium
PHILADELPHIA -– The Center for the Advanced Study of India at the
University of Pennsylvania will hold a 20th Anniversary Symposium on
“India: Two Decades of Transformation.”The Sept. 27 event will be in the Michael A. Fitts Auditorium of the Penn Law School’s Golkin Hall from 2 to 6:45 p.m.
The School of Arts and Sciences Welcomes New Faculty
The School of Arts and Sciences has appointed 24 new members to its standing faculty for the 2012-2013 academic year. The School is pleased to welcome:
John MacDonald Wins the David N. Kershaw Award
John MacDonald has received the David N. Kershaw Award from the Association of Public Policy and Management (APPAM). The Kershaw Award was established to honor individuals under the age of 40 who have made significant contributions to the field of public policy analysis and management.Dean Rebecca Bushnell says, "John MacDonald's research is addressing some of our nation's most pressing social issues.
The Penn Program on Democracy, Citizenship and Constitutionalism Presents: Constitution Making
In Philadelphia in 1787, Americans pioneered the creation of written constitutions to empower, guide and limit national governments. Today most modern regimes have such constitutions. But some do not, and many depart sharply from the American model.
James English named John Welsh Centennial Professor of English
James English has been appointed the John Welsh Centennial Professor of English in the School of Arts and Sciences. Professor English specializes in modern and contemporary British fiction and is the director of the Penn Humanities Forum, a center aimed at engaging and promoting an ongoing cultural conversation among artists, academics and the general public.
Penn Humanities Forum Goes Digital
Penn Humanities Forum (PHF) has
gone digital. Launching this September, The Digital
Humanities Forum (DHF) will work to educate both scholarly and lay audiences on
the ways in which computer technologies are reshaping the study and teaching of the humanities disciplines, a trend
that is allowing for unprecedented communication between experts in myriad
fields on a global scale.