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Honors and Other Things

 

Dr. Meggers: Dreyfus Award

Dr. Eric Meggers, assistant professor of chemistry, has been awarded a Camille and Henry Dreyfus New Faculty Award. The Camille and Henry Dreyfus New Faculty Awards Program is designed to provide external research support of new faculty no later than the beginning of their first full-time academic appointments.

Dr. Tegmark: Cottrell Scholar

Dr. Max Tegmark, assistant professor of physics, has been named a 2002 Cottrell Scholar, awarded by the Research Corporation.  The honor recognizes faculty who excel in both teaching and research and carries with it an award of $75,000 to further the research and teaching of the scholar.

Dr. Tegmark's winning research proposal, Beyond Cosmological Parameters, hopes to help determine accurate ways of studying the types of matter in the universe and other cosmological problems. His application additionally included a teaching proposal geared towards improving the teaching of science to non-majors at Penn, developing an outreach program to Philadelphia high schools, and a web outreach program with the intention of "conveying cutting-edge results in the proposed research areas to a broad audience, with the aim to convey not merely the discoveries themselves, but also the scientific method and its intrinsic value."

Dr. Joshi: Lifetime Achievement

Dr. Aravind Joshi, Henry Salvatori Professor of Computer and Cognitive Science at SEAS, has been named the third recipient of the David E. Rumelhart Prize for contemporary contributions to the formal analysis of human cognition. Dr. Joshi was chosen for his seminal contributions to the formal and computational analysis of language. The Rumelhart Prize is funded and coordinated by the Glushko-Samuelson Foundation and the Cognitive Science Society. "Joshi's work has been the key to the development of effective computational methods for analyzing the structure of sentences," said James McClelland of Carnegie Mellon University. "Among Joshi's core ideas is his Tree Adjoining Grammar Formalism, which has provided the formal machinery necessary for capturing key insights from earlier work on transformational grammar in a computationally tractable framework."

Dr. Joshi has also received the first lifetime achievement award given by the Association for Computational Linguistics, which recently had its 40th anniversary meeting at Penn.

Dr. Joullie: Senior Scholar Award

Dr. Madeleine Joullie, professor of chemistry, has received the 2002 Arthur C. Cope Senior Scholar Award from the American Chemical Society. "Joullie is particularly distinguished for her pioneering, ongoing research with the didemnins," wrote a colleague who nominated her for the award. Didemnins are compounds isolated from tunicates, marine animals such as sea squirts, and which show anticancer properties. Several examples of her work in the field, "beautifully executed with surgical precision," have been described in textbooks, he added.

 

Dr. Farber: European Academy

Dr. David J. Farber, the Alfred Fitler Moore Professor of Telecommunication Systems, has been elected a member of the European Academy of Sciences in the section of Computer Science with the citation "for an outstanding and lasting contribution to computer science and computer science education." The Academy's mandate is to promote peace and technological developments, to facilitate collaboration between scientists and to emphasize their essential roles in fostering social and economic development.

Two Elected Fellows to American Academy of Microbiology

Dr. Paul H. Edelstein, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, and Dr. Susan R. Ross, professor of microbiology, have been elected fellows of the American Academy of microbiology. Dr. Edelstein was noted for "a distinguished career in clinical microbiology and major contributions to the diagnosis, treatment, and evaluation of therapies for Legionnaires' disease." Dr. Ross was noted for " important research in retroviral pathogenesis and innovation in the use of transgenic mice to study viruses."

Dr. Lambertsen: Lifetime Award

Dr. Christian J. Lambertsen, professor emeritus of environmental medicine and the Founding Director of the Institute for Environmental Medicine, was honored this summer at this year's Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine Society National Meeting with a two-day symposium dedicated to his lifetime achievements. Dr. Lambertsen who is considered the "Father of U.S. Combat Swimming," joined the faculty in 1946 and has contributed to every aspect of military and commercial diving.

 

 

Dr. Kaufman: Director, Wistar Institute

Dr. Russel E. Kaufman has been named director and CEO of The Wistar Institute. Dr. Kaufman was vice dean for education and academic affairs for the Duke University School of Medicine and associate vice chancellor for academic affairs for the Duke University Health System. Additionally, he was a professor of medicine and biochemistry at Duke, with research interests focused on the genetics of blood diseases and cancer.

At Wistar, Dr. Kaufman says he plans to give priority to research programs in emerging areas of science that hold great promise for delivering new treatments for major diseases.

Mr. Ramos: Giving Forward Award

Mr. Pedro Ramos, vice president and chief of staff, and former president of the Philadelphia Board of Education, received the Giving Forward Award at this year's Celebration of Scholars.

During his school board presidency, student academic achievement improved, 14 new charter schools opened, and the Board increased its involvement in safety and security issues, adopted a student uniform policy, and approved a new teacher's contract. The Giving Forward Award is presented to individuals, companies, and organizations that have shown a commitment to the education of Philadelphia's youth by helping public school students realize their dreams of a college education.

Moms Honored

The Pennsylvania Partnership for Children honored 31 women in May as "The Hardest Working Mothers of Southeastern Pennsylvania." Among them were Felicia Green, of the Office of Government, Community and Public Affairs; Michelle Jester, and Jodi Sarkisian, both of the President's Office.

UPHS: On "Most Wired" in US List

Hospitals & Health Networks, the journal of the American Hospital Association, has named the Penn Health System one of the nation's "most wired." The survey by the magazine shows that large gaps exist between the services offered by institutions like Penn and those less wired organizations.

"This year's survey shows that "Most Wired" organizations continue to commit employees and money to their tech investments," says Alden Solovy, Hospitals &Health Networks executive editor. "This is reflected in the large gaps in penetration of key technologies, as well as in communication among patients, doctors, and nurses."

Lippincott Library: Excellence Award

Lippincott Library has received the Center of Excellence Award from the Business & Finance Division of the Special Libraries Association. The judges noted that the library excelled in the area of service to its clients. This first annual Center of Excellence Award serves to recognize quality as a priority for the successful management and delivery of information.

Inn at Penn: Customer Service Award

This April, the Inn at Penn became one of only two properties in the 325-member Hilton Hotels Corp. to earn the Hilton Million Dollar Team Pride Award for superior customer service. Only six months earlier, AAA awarded the property its Four-Diamond official appointment for its high level of service and hospitality. Each full-time employee, many of whom come from the West Philadelphia area, were given $500 as part of the award.

  
 

Almanac, Vol. 49, No. 4, September 17, 2002

ISSUE HIGHLIGHTS:

Tuesday,
September 17, 2002
Volume 49 Number 4
www.upenn.edu/almanac/

The School of Veterinary Medicine invites the Penn community to celebrate 50 Years of Excellence with an Open House on September 21.
U.S. News & World Report ranks Penn #4 in it's annual Best national Universities survey.
The Penn Humanities Forum dedicates the 2002-2003 lectures, seminars, and exhibitions to the topic of The Book.
New Bioterrorism Legislation affects laboratories and clinical facilities.
Speaking Out about the conservation postcards.
Honors for faculty and staff
The 14th annual Career Conference for graduate students starts on September 17.
The 10th annual Penn Family Day is scheduled for October 5.
Research Roundup: Nurse Shortage; Alternate Tobacco Use; Immune Cells Fight Cancer; Head Start.
The Annual Crime Report from the Division of Public Safety.