2013
Justin McDaniel Awarded 2013 George McT. Kahin Book Prize on Southeast Asia
Justin McDaniel, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, was awarded the 2013 George McT. Kahin Book Prize on Southeast Asia by the Association for Asian Studies for his book, The Lovelorn Ghost and the Magical Monk: Practicing Buddhism in Modern Thailand.
Penn Chemistry Breaks New Ground with HTE Lab Expansion
From what is affectionately referred to as “the pit”—the basement level of the Roy and Diana Vagelos Laboratories—top Penn chemistry professors and administrators, alongside their Merck and Co., Inc. collaborators, recently announced the expansion of their state of the art High Throughput Experimentation (HTE) laboratory.
College Announces 2013 Graduation Speakers
P. Roy Vagelos will speak at this year’s graduation ceremony for the University of Pennsylvania College of Arts and Sciences. As a physician, businessman, and philanthropist, Vagelos has made a global impact on health and science. The event, scheduled for Sunday, May 12 at 6:30 p.m. at Franklin Field, will also feature Stephanie Lamb, C’13, as the student speaker.
Charles Yang's New Study Reveals That Young Children Understand Grammar but Chimps Don’t
A new study conducted by Charles Yang, Associate Professor of Linguistics in the School of Arts and Sciences and of Computer and Information Science in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, has shown that children as young as two understand basic grammar rules when they first learn to speak and are not simply imitating adults. The study was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
SAS Dean Rebecca Bushnell to Be President of Shakespeare Association
Rebecca Bushnell, Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, Thomas S. Gates, Jr. Professor, and Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania, has been elected the vice-president of the Shakespeare Association of America (SAA). She will become president of the association next year.
Petersson to Receive 2013 Journal of Physical Organic Chemistry Award for Early Excellence
Assistant Professor of Chemistry E. James Petersson has won the 2013 Journal of Physical Organic Chemistry Award for Early Excellence in the Field of Physical Organic Chemistry. The award is given to an individual working in the field of physical organic chemistry who is less than six years into his or her first appointment.
Biology Team Discovers that Sugar Propels Plants to Adulthood
Based on experiments with the plant Arabidopsis thaliana, a team of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania Department of Biology has provided fresh insights into the role of sugar in “vegetative phase change,” the transition from the juvenile form of a plant to the adult plant.
Peter Holquist Awarded Cullman Center Fellowship
Associate Professor of History Peter Holquist has been named a 2013 fellow of New York Public Library's Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers.
Philippe Bourgois Awarded Collaborative Research Fellowship from American Council of Learned Societies
Philippe Bourgois, the Richard Perry University Professor of Anthropology and Family and Community Medicine, has received a 2013 Collaborative Research Fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS).
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.