National Academy of Sciences: Dr. Kane and Dr. Poethig

Charles Kane and Scott Poethig of the University of Pennsylvania have been elected members of the National Academy of Sciences, considered one of the highest honors that can be accorded a United States scientist or engineer.

Cited for “their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research,” Drs. Kane and Poethig are part of the 2014 Academy class of 84 members and 21 foreign associates from 15 countries.

Dr. Kane is the Class of 1965 Endowed Term Professor of Physics in the School of Arts & Sciences’ department of physics and astronomy. His research deals with the behavior of electrons in different kinds of structures, including a class of materials known as topological insulators, the theory behind which he proposed. Dr. Kane was named a Simons Investigator in 2012 in recognition of this work.     

Dr. Poethig is the Patricia M. Williams Term Professor of Biology in SAS. His work explores the juvenile-to-adult transition in plants, particularly focusing on the genes involved in regulating the timing of this process.

Minerva Academy: Dr. Filreis

Al Filreis, an English professor at the University of Pennsylvania, has been inducted as one of 14 founding members into the Minerva Academy, an honorary institution dedicated to promoting and rewarding extraordinary advancements and innovation in higher education around the world.

Dr. Filreis, who is also the director of Penn’s Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing and faculty director at Kelly Writers House, was nominated for his contributions to and innovative thinking in teaching.

TCPW Advising Award: Dr. Meaney

David Meaney, Solomon R. Pollack Professor and chair of the department of bioengineering in the School of Engineering & Applied Science, has been awarded the Trustees Council of Penn Women Award (TCPW) for Undergraduate Advising.  This award was established in 2012 to mark TCPW’s  25th anniversary. It recognizes undergraduate faculty advisors who have distinguished themselves in providing assistance and advice to their students and who have made a significant impact on the academic experience of these students.

Outstanding Service: Mr. Singerman

Jerry Singerman, senior editor at the University of Pennsylvania Press, was awarded the Robert L. Kindrick–CARA Award for Outstanding Service to Medieval Studies by the Medieval Academy of America. The award recognizes Medieval Academy members who have provided leadership in developing, organizing, promoting and sponsoring medieval studies through the extensive administrative work that is so crucial to the health of medieval studies but that often goes unrecognized by the profession at large.

The citation stated, "Our committee was struck by both the number and variety of commendatory letters written on Jerry's behalf, each praising a different set of skills he possesses. For the authors among the group, it is his encouraging openness, his encyclopedic memory of past conversations about scholarly projects, his support and expert commentary."

Two Prestigious Penn Museum Medals

Two prestigious Penn Museum medals—the Lucy Wharton Drexel Medal and the Marian Angell Godfrey Boyer Medal—were awarded to two members of the University of Pennsylvania’s 50th Reunion Class of 1964 at a special Museum dinner last month.

The Lucy Wharton Drexel Medal was presented to Jeremy A. Sabloff. The Marian Angell Godfrey Boyer Medal was awarded to John R. “Rick” Rockwell.

Established in 1889, the Lucy Wharton Drexel Medal is given “for achievement in excavation or publication of archaeological work during the five years preceding the date of the award.” Dr. Sabloff’s award recognizes his work in Maya archaeology on some of the key scientific themes that have animated and advanced the field of Maya studies since the 1960s.

President of the Santa Fe Institute since 2009, Dr. Sabloff was the Williams Director of the Penn Museum from 1994–2004 and interim director from 2006–2007, and Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. His other former faculty appointments include Harvard University, the University of Utah, the University of New Mexico and the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Sabloff is a past president of the Society for American Archaeology, a past chair of Section H (Anthropology) of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and past Editor of American Antiquity. He served as chair of the Smithsonian Science Commission and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the Visiting Committee for the Peabody Museum, Harvard University, the National Advisory Board of the National Museum of Natural History and the Board of Trustees of the SRI Foundation. Over the past 40 years, he has undertaken archaeological field research in both Mexico and Guatemala.

The Marian Angell Godfrey Boyer Medal was established in 1987 “to honor distinguished service by a Museum supporter to the institution.”

John R. “Rick” Rockwell, W’64, WG’66, remembers accompanying his grandfather to the Penn Museum and to Penn sporting events during his childhood. Those early visits sowed the seeds for his later involvement as an Overseer of both the Museum and Penn Athletics; he also chairs the Basketball Board for Penn Athletics, where he has endowed the men’s basketball head coach position.

Mr. Rockwell has served on the Museum’s Board of Overseers since 2008 and is a member of the Finance and Marketing and Acquisitions Committees. He has generously underwritten in full the conservation of the two famed stone reliefs in the China Rotunda commissioned by the Emperor Taizong of his battle horses Saluzi and Curly, and the highly popular exhibition In the Artifact Lab, and he is lead underwriter of the exhibition Native American Voices: The People—Here and Now. He is also lead annual supporter of excavation work at Abydos, Egypt, by Josef Wegner, associate curator, Egyptian Section and a longtime member of the Platinum Circle of the Loren Eiseley Society.

Mr. Rockwell retired from T. Rowe Price Group in 2007. He served in various senior management capacities, most recently as national sales director, T. Rowe Price Retirement Plan Services. In addition to his duties at Penn, he serves on several other not-for-profit boards, including the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore.