Honors & Other Things
April 29, 2008, Volume 54, No. 31	Print Issue

Dr. Chang: Jr. Investigator of the Year

Dr. Virginia Chang, assistant professor of medicine and sociology, has been named the SGIM Outstanding Junior Investigator of the Year by the Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM). Her research interests are in medical sociology, social stratification, social epidemiology, and health services.

Ms. Clark: Models of Excellence Supervisor Award
Christina M. Costanzo Clark, assistant dean of Academic Affairs-Student Services in the School of Nursing, won the Human Resources’ 2008 Model Supervisor Award, for which she was nominated in March (Almanac March 18, 2008).

Mr. Eisenhower: Honorary Degree

David Eisenhower, director of the Institute for Public Service at the Annenberg Public Policy Center and senior research fellow in the Annenberg School  for Communication, has been selected as the Commencement speaker at Misericordia University in Dallas, Pennsylvania, where he will be presented with an honorary degree, doctor of humane letters.

Dr. Hennessy: Goldberg Young Investigator Award
Dr. Sean Hennessy, assistant professor of epidemiology and pharmacology in the School of Medicine, has been selected by the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (ASCPT) to receive the 2008 Leon I. Goldberg Young Investigators Award. The award recognizes and encourages young scientists who are active in clinical pharmacology.

IBM Engineering Innovation Award
Matthias Hollwich, studio instructor in the department of architecture in the School of Design, along with his masters in architecture students TJ O’Keefe, Robert May, Ben Muller, Hwaseop Lee, and Jonathan Kowalkoski, and his partner Marc Kushner at HollwichKushner Architecture, were awarded the IBM Engineering Innovation Award for their entry, “MEtreePOLIS” in the History Channel’s “Future City” competition.

Dr. Mitchell: Murray Prize
Dr. Olivia S. Mitchell, International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans Professor, was awarded the 2008 Roger F. Murray Prize from The Institute for Quantitative Research in Finance for her paper, “Demographics and Finances of Baby Boomers.” Dr. Mitchell is also a professor of insurance and risk management and business and public policy; executive director, Pension Research Council; and director, Boettner Center for Pensions and Retirement Research.

Dr. Pack: Henry David Lecture
Dr. Howard Pack, professor, business and public policy, and management at the Wharton School, was chosen to deliver the Henry David lecture awarded by the Henry and Bryna David Endowment. Dr. Pack was chosen for his innovative research in the behavioral and social sciences as a leading expert and researcher. He wrote an article which he presented in February at the National Academy of Sciences and published in Issues in Science and Technology.

Lacrosse Ivy Champs
The Penn Women’s Lacrosse team are back-to-back Ivy League champions last week with wins over No. 2 Princeton and Brown, bringing their record up to 6-0 among the Ivies.

Chef Stoltzfus: Iron Chef of PA
Chef David Stoltzfus, executive chef at the University Club at Penn, recently participated in and won the Iron Chef of Pennsylvania Competition for the second year in a row. The competition took place in Harrisburg. His winning menu included herbed goat cheese and sweet corn soup, sweet curried lamb salad sandwich, and pan seared halibut with oyster mushroom and leek ragout.

TCPW Summer Research Recipients
The Alice Paul Center and the Women’s Studies Program announced the following recipients of the Trustees’ Council of Penn Women Summer Research Stipends for 2008:

Jennifer Amyx, Political Science, SAS–The Political Economy of Sovereign Wealth Funds

Tulia G. Falleti, Political Science, SAS–Decentralization and Subnational Politics in Latin America

Barbara Mann Wall, School of Nursing–Clash and Compromise: Women, Gender, and Reproductive Services in Catholic hospitals, 1960-2000

The three $5,000 summer research stipends, funded by the Trustees’ Council of Penn Women, are awarded to female faculty, or faculty members whose research is centrally concerned with the role of women in society, science, or arts and letters. These awards are given to assist in the promotion of standing faculty to the permanent rank of Associate Professor.

Penn Alexander School Student Awards

Chasen Zhisheng Shao, fifth grader–first in the 2007 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania School Bus Safety Poster Contest.

Julian Mitchell Clark, second grader–selected as a beginning cadet member of the 2008 Philadelphia Boys Choir and Chorale.

The following students received awards at the School District’s Computer Science Fair:

Noor Jemy, Fahmida Sarmin, and Hannah Schill–first place, Desktop Publishing project, Literary Magazine.

Farzana Rahman–first place, Web Site Design project, Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Shakira Bowman–second place, Graphic Design project, Children’s Book about Sadie Alexander.

Asaad Ali, Alexei Lalevic, and Victoria Pham–second place, Multimedia Podcast project Podcast about School News and Events.

Imani Johnson–second place, Digital Movie project Informational Movie on Egypt.

Dr. Vallat: Penn Vet World Award
Dr. Bernard Vallat, director general of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), is the first recipient of the Penn Vet World Award from the School of Veterinary Medicine. The award, which was established last year (Almanac May 8, 2007), is given to a veterinarian who has dramatically changed the practice and image of the profession and substantially influenced the lives and careers of others. The award is accompanied by $100,000 in unrestricted funding to the recipient. Under Dr. Vallat’s leadership, OIE has stressed the importance of sharing scientific information, as well as promoting veterinary services and a continued commitment to food safety and animal welfare.

Penn Vet Student Inspiration Award
Rachel Toaff-Rosenstein and Warren Waybright, both third-year students at the School of Veterinary Medicine, have been selected as the first winners of the Penn Vet Student Inspiration Award. They will each receive $100,000 in unrestricted funding in recognition of their plans to significantly advance the frontiers of veterinary medicine. Ms. Toaff-Rosenstein plans to use her award to pursue post-graduate studies in animal welfare. Mr. Waybright will use his award to develop a veterinary outreach program to Bolivia and other South American countries.

Ms. Fogel: Behrman Scholarship
Rebecca “Rivka” Fogel, C ’11, has been awarded the Behrman Scholarship on behalf of the Behrman Family Scholarship Fund for a Young Writer. The purpose of the fund is to provide financial support to an undergraduate student who is a member of the Kelly Writers House community and/or involved in Writers House projects and programs. Ms. Fogel has taken poetry and fiction writing workshops and written numerous poems in high school and here at Penn. The fund was created through the generosity of Grant Behrman, WG ’77, on behalf of his family.

Ms. Lee: Exemplary Scholar
College of Arts and Sciences senior Jin Lee has been awarded the Exemplary Scholar Award by the National Society of Collegiate Scholars (NSCS). A double major in biology and biological basis of behavior, Ms. Lee has presented at two international conferences and has published in peer-reviewed journals. The award recognizes one outstanding undergraduate among the NSCS membership for his or her academic and exemplary achievements.

Ms. Martin: Caterfino Scholarship
Kristen Martin, C ’11, has been awarded a scholarship courtesy of the Douglas W. Caterfino Endowed Scholarship Fund for a Young Writer. The scholarship provides financial support for an undergraduate student who is involved in Creative Writing workshops and seminars and is a member of Penn’s extended writing community. The fund was created by Elissa Shaw Caterfino, C ’83, in loving memory of Douglas W. Caterfino, W ’83.

Ms. Puglionesi: Heled Travel & Research Grant
Alicia Puglionesi, C ’09, was recently awarded the first Terry B. Heled Travel & Research Grant at the Kelly Writers House. A junior majoring in English and cognitive science with a minor in fine arts, Ms. Puglionesi plans to travel to Europe and elsewhere to research and conduct interviews about the “Ghost Army” of D-Day in 1944—the cadre of young artists, writers and actors who created a massive fake battalion to deceive the enemy about the invasion landing site. The Terry B. Heled Travel & Research Grant was created in honor of Terry B. Heled by her daughter, Mali Heled Kinberg, C ’95.

Mr. Yudof: Penn-made President
Mark Yudof, C ’65, L ’68, has been named the new president of the 10-campus University of California system. For a list of other Penn-made presidents, see www.upenn.edu/almanac/v47/n22/presidents.html.

McCabe Fund Awards 2008: Call for Applications
The McCabe Fund Advisory Committee is calling for applications from junior faculty in the School of Medicine and the School of Veterinary Medicine for the Thomas B. and Jeannette E. Laws McCabe Fund Fellow and Pilot awards for 2008. 

Junior faculty in these schools who are interested in applying for an award this year, should contact the chair of their department or Dana J. Napier, staff coordinator, School of Medicine Administration, at (215) 573-3221. The deadline for submission is Friday, May 30, 2008.  The McCabe Fund Advisory Committee will announce the winners at its annual June meeting.

The McCabe awards were established in 1969 by a generous gift from Mr. Thomas B. McCabe to the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine to support junior faculty who initiate fresh and innovative biomedical and surgical research projects and who have received no or limited external research funding while in their first through third years at the School of Medicine or the School of Veterinary Medicine at Penn. 

McCabe Award Winners

Last year Dr. Aaron Gitler, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, and Dr. Wei Tong, Department of Pediatrics, each received a Fellow Award of $50,000.

Winners of the Pilot Award of $29,270 each were:

Dr. Peter Abt, Department of Surgery;

Dr. Roger Bank, Department of Emergency Medicine;

Dr. Karin Borgmann-Winter, Department of Psychiatry;

Dr. Samantha Butts, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology;

Dr. Marni Falk, Department of Pediatrics;

Dr. Alexander Fiks, Department of Pediatrics;

Dr. Paul Forfia, Department of Medicine;

Dr. Fraz Ismat, Department of Pediatrics;

Dr. Sharyn Katz, Department of Radiology;

Dr. Lilie Lin, Department of Radiation Oncology;

Dr. Darren Linkin, Department of Medicine;

Dr. Zhao-Jun Liu, Department of Surgery;

Dr. Falk Lohoff, Department of Psychiatry;

Dr. Aimee Payne, Department of Dermatology;

Dr. Jesse Pines, Department of Emergency Medicine;

Dr. Teresa Reyes, Department of Pharmacology;

Dr. Samir Shah,  Department of Pediatrics;

Dr. Carrie Sims, Department of Surgery;

Dr. Liza Wu, Department of Surgery; and

Dr. Gui-shuang Ying, Department of Ophthalmology.

ULI Hines Urban Design Competition
A team of students from the School of Design have won the 2008 Urban Land Institute’s Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition. The students: Shachi Pandey (city planning), Wang Wei (architecture), Tiffany Marson (landscape architecture), Yunjia Wang (landscape architecture), and David Anderson (Wharton), with their faculty advisor David Gouverneur drafted the plan, “Belleview Place,” to redevelop a site within the Cedars neighborhood of Dallas, TX, which has been selected as the winning scheme in the sixth annual competition. Chairman of the jury, James J. Curtis, III, of the Bristol Group, Inc., was “impressed that sustainability was an essential ingredient in all the design proposals.”

PennVention 2008 Winners
The fourth annual PennVention competition for student inventors took place earlier this month at Penn’s Weiss Tech House. The competition teaches students how to turn a good idea into a commercial product through three distinct rounds. Participants can access the feedback and guidance of more than 40 industry experts as they learn about issues like patenting, product design and manufacturing. This year’s winners are: 

Grand Prize ($5,000): Proteza SmartSock, a prosthetic sock that alleviates discomfort and prevents the skin breakdown commonly referred to as “pressure sores” in amputees; developed by Chrysta Irolla, EAS ’08; also received the Paramount Rapid Prototype Award, $1,000 in Selective Laser Sintering Rapid Prototyping.

2nd Place ($2,500): Traffic Safety Glove, a hand-worn traffic-safety tool designed to increase the visibility of traffic-control personnel in dark settings and to improve the communication of traffic commands to drivers; developed by Kevin Galloway, mechanical engineering doctoral candidate; also received the Lowenstein Sandler PC Legal Mentor Award, five hours of legal counsel from the law firm of Lowenstein Sandler PC.

3rd Place ($1,000): Solar Photon, a small-scale solar concentrator that employs high-intensity photovoltaic cells to efficiently harvest solar energy for individual consumers, farmers and land owners as the next step towards distributed energy generation; developed by Jason Halpern, W ’10; also received the Bresslergroup Best Product Concept Award, $2,500 in professional services and the Meltwater Social Innovation Award, $2,500 prize for the innovation with the greatest social impact.

QVC Consumer Innovation Award: Snack Caddy, an innovative solution to the challenge of serving food outside designed by Kevin Galloway, mechanical engineering doctoral candidate; $2,500 prize and consultation with a QVC buyer.

Tierney Communications Strategy, Positioning & Branding Prize: Crave Mobile, a SMS/WAP-based mobile social network leveraging the Facebook platform to create a tool for people to stay engaged and in communication with others on the go designed by Josh Wais, W ’11; one-day session worth $7,500 with senior executives to determine branding, positioning and communication strategies.