Michael Platt Appointed Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor

Michael Platt has been named the University of Pennsylvania’s 16th Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor, effective July 1. 

The announcement was made today by Penn President Amy Gutmann and Provost Vincent Price.

Platt is a world-renowned neuroscientist whose research focuses on how the brain makes decisions. He will be the James S. Riepe University Professor, with appointments in the Department of Neuroscience in the Perelman School of Medicine, the Department of Psychology in the School of Arts & Sciences and the Department of Marketing in the Wharton School.

“Michael’s research,” Gutmann said, “creatively examines some of the most complex, fascinating and fundamental questions regarding individual decision-making and behavior, including why different people make different decisions and how individuals adapt their decision-making under uncertainty and in social situations. He has brought together innovative scholars and researchers from a multitude of relevant disciplines, and his presence at Penn will productively bridge our Perelman School of Medicine, School of Arts & Sciences and Wharton School in pathbreaking areas of neuroscience. Best known for his studies of decision-making, social cognition and attention, Michael exemplifies Penn’s commitment to integrating knowledge in order to address both timely and timeless questions of great societal impact.”

To view the full release, click here.

Arts & Sciences News

1 / 2
University of Pennsylvania, Neubauer Family Foundation, and Philadelphia Police Department Partner to Support Police Leadership Education

The first-of-its-kind graduate degree in the U.S. for police leaders launches this fall at the School of Arts & Sciences.

View Article >
Marisa C. Kozlowski Named Next Associate Dean for the Natural Sciences

Kozlowski, who joined the Penn faculty in 1997, succeeds Mark Trodden, who transitions to the Dean of Penn Arts & Sciences on June 1.

View Article >
One Fourth Year, One Alum Receive 2025 Hertz Fellowship

Eric Tao, C’25, Gr’25 (left), and Suraj Chandran, C’23, were awarded the honor, part of a group of 19 fellows selected this year. Each one receives five years of funding toward a doctoral program.

View Article >
Benjamin Nathans Wins 2025 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction

Nathans, Alan Charles Kors Endowed Term Professor of History, won for his book “To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement.”

View Article >
Mark Devlin Elected to National Academy of Sciences

He joins three others from Penn to receive the honor this year, all recognized for “distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.”

View Article >
Michael Jones-Correa and Sophia Rosenfeld Elected to American Academy of Arts & Sciences

They join three others from the University of Pennsylvania, selected as part of the Academy’s mission to convene leaders from “every field of human endeavor to examine new ideas, address issues of importance to the nation and the world, and work together.”

View Article >