Five Penn Professors: AAAS Fellows

Five faculty members at the University of Pennsylvania have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.  Two are from Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine, two are from its School of Arts & Sciences and one has appointments in both schools.

Dr. Shelley Berger, Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor and Daniel S. Och University Professor in the department of cell and developmental biology and department of genetics at the Perelman School of Medicine, as well as in the School of Arts & Sciences’ department of biology, was elected for seminal contributions to the elucidation of the role of chromatin structure and the biochemistry of histones in eukaryotic gene regulation. Her research is critical to the burgeoning field of epigenetics.

Dr. Feng Gai, professor in the department of chemistry in the School of Arts & Sciences, was elected for seminal contributions to the field of protein folding, particularly for pioneering new spectroscopic methods to probe protein conformational dynamics in real time. His research on the subject was published in the journal Angewandte Chemie last year.

Dr. Marisa Kozlowski, professor in the department of chemistry in the School of Arts & Sciences, was elected for insightful contributions to catalysis, particularly for the application of a broad range of computational tools to catalyst development and for biomimetic oxidative coupling catalysis. She also is the recipient of the 2012 American Chemical Society Philadelphia Section Award.

Dr. Andrea Liu, Hepburn Professor in the department of physics in the School of Arts & Sciences, was elected for distinguished contributions in theoretical physics, particularly for demonstrating that slow relaxation in many different systems can be viewed within a common framework called “jamming.” She has also recently collaborated with researchers from Penn’s School of Veterinary Medicine in studying the behavior of T-cells.

Dr. Reed Pyeritz, professor of medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine and director of Penn’s Center for the Integration of Genetic Healthcare Technologies, was elected for exemplary leadership as a distinguished investigator, educator, professional society contributor and administrator in the field of human-genetics research and its translation to care.

This year, 701 members have been awarded this honor by AAAS because of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications. New Fellows will be honored on February 16 at the AAAS Fellows Forum during the 2013 AAAS Annual Meeting in Boston.

Netter Center 20th Anniversary Honorees

President Amy Gutmann presented the following awards during the Netter Center’s 20th Anniversary Conference celebration on November 12:

The Distinguished Civic Partner Award to Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell

The Benjamin Franklin Award to Joseph Bordogna, Alfred Fitler Moore Professor of Engineering and Dean Emeritus of the School of Engineering & Applied Science

The Lifetime Achievement Award to Thomas Ehrlich, former Penn provost and Penn Trustee

The Transformative Leadership Award to Barbara Netter and the late Edward Netter

The National Civic Engagement Award to Susan Stroud, founder and executive director, Innovations in Civic Participation

The Lee Benson Activist Scholar Award to Henry Louis Taylor, Jr., University of Buffalo

The Distinguished Service Award to members of the Netter Center Community Advisory Board:

Jettie Newkirk (Chair) 

Frances Aulston 

Bishop Claude Barnes 

James Brown 

Frederick Carey 

Katie Cofey 

Sharif El-Mekki 

Terry Guerra 

John Leatherberry 

Rev. Joe Nock 

Richard Redding 

Rev. Carlton Rodgers 

K. Rose Samuel-Evans 

Alia Walker 

Frances Walker-Ponnie 

Elsie Wise 

Kenneth Woodson 

 

Lucian Award: Dr. FitzGerald

Dr. Garret FitzGerald, director of Penn’s Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics and chair of the department of pharmacology at the Perelman School of Medicine, has been named the 2012 recipient of the Louis and Arthur Lucian Award, given by McGill University, Montreal, Canada. He is cited for his ground-breaking work on cardiovascular disease. The award consists of a $60,000 (CAD) prize and a one-to-two week professional visit to McGill to give a formal Lucian Lecture, to have interchanges with members of the McGill community, and possibly to undertake a research collaboration with McGill investigators in the field of circulatory diseases. Dr. FitzGerald is also a professor of medicine and pharmacology and the McNeil Professor in Translational Medicine and Therapeutics at Penn.

Three Honors for President Gutmann

Penn President Amy Gutmann, accepted the 2012 Design Champion Award from DesignPhiladelphia, for Penn Park which they called an “urban sanctuary” in Philadelphia. The award recognizes the lasting impact that one individual or a collaborating group can have in the Philadelphia area through support of the creative community. 

Philadelphia Hospitality Inc., a non-profit organization that promotes the region as a world-class business and leisure destination for corporate, cultural and professional groups, will present its Vision for Philadelphia Award to Dr. Gutmann on December 17 at the Hyatt at the Bellevue.

Philadelphia Hospitality created the Vision award in 1994 to honor an extraordinary individual or individuals whose leadership and accomplishments propel Philadelphia forward to a more vibrant future. As this year’s honoree, “Dr. Gutmann exemplifies this vision through her exceptional achievements in engaging with the local community, markedly broadening access to higher education and vigorously advancing Philadelphia’s reputation as a premier center of academic medicine.”

Dr. Gutmann was included in Glassdoor’s top 10 list of Most Popular College Presidents. The ratings are based on institutions with at least 20 approved company reviews and at least 20 president/chancellor approval ratings between September 10, 2011 and September 9, 2012. Along with Harvard’s  and Yale’s leaders, Dr. Gutmann is one of three presidents of Ivy League universities included in the list.

Lifetime Achievement: Dr. Prince

Dr. Gerald Prince, professor of romance languages, chair of the French department and undergraduate chair of the French department, will receive the next Wayne C. Booth Lifetime Achievement Award. This award is bestowed to those scholars who have made substantial and sustained contributions to the field of narrative studies. Dr. Prince will receive this prestigious award at the Manchester, UK Conference in June 2013.  

SGNA Scholar: Ms. Redulla

Ms. Rhoda Redulla, a nursing professional development specialist at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, has been selected as a scholar by the Society of Gastroenterology Nurses and Associates (SGNA), Inc. The purpose of the SGNA Scholars Program is to educate selected GI/endoscopy nurses to help build a storehouse of evidence-based knowledge relevant to the GI/endoscopy setting.

Ms. Redulla and the seven others who make up the inaugural 2012 class of scholars are nurse scientists and researchers with a long-term commitment to gastroenterology nursing. SGNA is a professional organization comprised of over 8,000 gastroenterology/endoscopy nurses and associates.

NIH Director's Awards: Dr. Sonnenberg

Dr. Gregory F. Sonnenberg, a research associate at Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine, was given an NIH Director’s Early Independence Award. These grants encourage scientists who have demonstrated outstanding scientific creativity, intellectual maturity and leadership skills with the opportunity to conduct independent biomedical or behavioral research by essentially skipping the traditional postdoctoral training period.

“The award will allow me to establish and lead an independent research laboratory within the department of medicine’s division of gastroenterology interrogating what maintains healthy host-commensal relationships and what goes wrong in chronic human diseases,” said Dr. Sonnenberg.

Bartholomew Award: Dr. Sweeney

Dr. Alison Sweeney, assistant professor in the department of physics and astronomy in the School of Arts & Sciences, has been selected as this year’s winner of the George A. Bartholomew Award. This award is given each year by the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology to young investigators for work in physiology, or functional and integrative biology. She will give the keynote address at the meeting of the Society in January 2013.

Ivy Champs: Penn Football

The University of Pennsylvania football team clinched its third outright Ivy League championship in four seasons with the game-winning touchdown in the final minute of play to top Cornell, 35-28, last month at Schoellkopf Field at Cornell.

Of Penn’s 16 Ivy League championships, the Quakers have won 13 of them outright—a league record. Head Coach Al Bagnoli has never shared a title and extended his own Ivy record with his ninth outright league championship.

In the 119th meeting between the two programs, Penn (6-4, 6-1 Ivy) also won the Trustees’ Cup for the fifth time in six years. The Cup is awarded to the winner of the nation’s fifth-oldest rivalry.

See www.pennathletics.com for the postgame press conference and a photo gallery.

Americas East Prize: Penn iGEM

The Penn iGEM 2012 Team is the winner of the Americas East Regional Jamboree Prize for their new method of bacterial treatment. Over 40 teams competed at Duquesne University in October.

The International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) Foundation fosters scientific research and education through organizing and operating the iGEM Competition, the premier student synthetic biology competition.

The Penn iGEM 2012 Team consists of bioengineering students Ashwin Amurthur (’15), Michael Magaraci (’13), Peter Qiao (’14), Avin Veerakumar (’13); and advisors Dr. Casim A. Sarkar, assistant professor of bioengineering in SEAS, Dr. Mark Goulian, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Endowed Term Professor of Biology in SAS and Dr. Jordan Miller, a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Christopher Chen’s BE lab in SEAS.