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Honors & Other Things |
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August 25, 2015, Volume 62, No. 02 |
Mark Allen: 2016 Daniel E. Noble Award for Emerging Technologies
Mark Allen, the Alfred Fitler Moore Professor in the department of electrical and systems engineering and scientific director of the Krishna P. Singh Center for Nanotechnology, received the IEEE Daniel E. Noble Award for Emerging Technologies in June “for contributions to research and development, clinical translation and commercialization of biomedical microsystems.”
Dr. Allen is a pioneer in the field of micro-electromechanical systems, or MEMS, and nanofabrication technology. His research allows the creation of structures, sensors and actuators that exploit the unique potential of the small scale. He received his PhD in microelectronics from MIT and his BSE (chemical engineering and electrical engineering) and BA (chemistry) from Penn.
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2015 American Academy of Arts and Sciences Members
Jean Bennett and Paul A. Offit of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have been elected as new members to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation’s most prestigious honorary societies and a leading center for independent policy research. They will be inducted at a ceremony on October 10.
Dr. Bennett is the F.M. Kirby Professor of Molecular Ophthalmology at the Perelman School of Medicine.
Dr. Offit is the Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology and a professor of pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine. He is also a professor in the division of infectious diseases and the director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
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Ralph Brinster: Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Calgary
Ralph Brinster received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in May from the University of Calgary. Dr. Brinster, one of the world’s most accomplished veterinary scientists, received the honors at the Cumming School of Medicine and the faculties of law, veterinary medicine and graduate studies. The Richard King Mellon Professor of Reproductive Physiology at Penn’s School of Veterinary Medicine, he performs cutting-edge research and is developing novel techniques for the culture and genetic modification of germline stem cells to restore fertility in male children undergoing cancer treatment. Dr. Brinster earned his VMD and PhD at Penn.
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CAPS: International Accreditation
Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) at Penn has been formally accredited by the International Association of Counseling Services, Inc. (IACS), an Alexandria, Virginia-based organization of US, Canadian and Australian counseling agencies. CAPS was evaluated by IACS against high standards of counseling practice and was found to offer competent and reliable professional services to its students. Approval by IACS is also dependent upon evidence of continuing professional development as well as demonstration of excellence of counseling performance. While there are dozens of accredited college counseling centers nationwide, Penn is only the second Ivy institution (following Princeton) to have the designation; among the larger list of Ivy Plus peers, only Stanford, Johns Hopkins and Georgetown are accredited.
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David Christianson: 2015-2016 Radcliffe Institute Fellow
In July, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University selected David W. Christianson as the Elizabeth S. and Richard M. Cashin Fellow for the 2015-2016 academic year. Dr. Christianson, the Roy and Diana Vagelos Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology in Penn Arts and Sciences, is among only three percent of applicants accepted to the program.
At the Radcliffe Institute, Dr. Christianson will work to develop “blueprints” to understand and guide the protein engineering of terpenoid cyclases. As a visiting professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Harvard in the spring semester, he will also develop and teach a course on organic chemistry of life processes, which he will bring to Penn when he returns.
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Steven Douglas: 2015 ISNV Paradigm Builder Lectureship
Steven D. Douglas, professor of pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and chief of the section of immunology at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, received the 2015 International Society for NeuroVirology (ISNV) Paradigm Builder Lectureship award in June.
Dr. Douglas is recognized for his seminal and continuous contributions to the field of leukocyte biology, with emphasis on monocyte/macrophage biology in HIV infection. His research has intersected the disciplines of psychiatry, immunology, neurology and AIDS, utilizing the antiemetic drug Aprepitant (an NK1R/SP antagonist) as a potential therapeutic agent for HIV infection.
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Nader Engheta: SPIE Gold Medal
Nader Engheta, the H. Nedwill Ramsey Professor of Electrical and Systems Engineering at Penn, received the Gold Medal from SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics. He was recognized for his transformative and groundbreaking contributions to optical engineering of metamaterials and nanoscale plasmonics, metamaterial-based optical nano circuits and biologically-inspired optical imaging. The Gold Medal is the highest honor bestowed by SPIE.
For more information on Dr. Engheta, see the July 14, 2015 issue of Almanac.
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Richard Henriques: Senior Fellow, Center for High Impact Philanthropy
Richard “Dick” Henriques was appointed a senior fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for High Impact Philanthropy, with a joint appointment at the Wharton Social Impact Initiative. He is the former chief financial officer of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and a two-time Penn alumnus, having earned his BA from the College in 1978 and his MBA from the Wharton School in 1981.
Mr. Henriques will work alongside the Center’s team to develop practical guidance on vehicles for achieving philanthropic goals, with an initial focus on how foundations and other funders can use program-related investments, or PRI, to do the most good.
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Michael Knoll: ESADE Award
In July, Penn Law professor Michael S. Knoll was presented with the award for academic excellence at the 8th Aptíssimi Awards organized by the ESADE Alumni Law Club. The Aptíssimi Awards honor individuals from Spain and abroad whose work has contributed to the world of business law.
Professor Knoll is the Theodore K. Warner Professor of Law and Professor of Real Estate, co-director of the Center for Tax Law and Policy and deputy dean of the Law School. He was honored for his work on the application of finance principles to questions of international tax policy, particularly the connection between taxation and competitiveness. He also researches the implications of domestic tax policy and its connection to business.
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Emily Kramer-Golinkoff: Champion of Change
Emily Kramer-Golinkoff was one of nine “Champions of Change” honored at the White House in July for making a difference in health treatment. Ms. Kramer-Golinkoff, a 30-year-old with advanced stage cystic fibrosis, cofounded Emily’s Entourage to raise funds and awareness for new treatments and a cure for the rare form of her disease. Since its founding in 2011, Emily’s Entourage has raised more than $1.5 million and led worldwide efforts to fast track research on rare “nonsense” cystic fibrosis mutations.
Ms. Kramer-Golinkoff is manager of strategic initiatives and operations at the Penn Medicine Social Media and Health Innovation Lab. She completed her master’s degree in bioethics and certification in clinical ethics mediation at Penn in 2013. In 2007, she graduated cum laude from Penn’s Annenberg School for Communication, where she received the Honorable Walter H. Annenberg Award.
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Penn: AACC and EPA Awards
In May, the African American Chamber of Commerce (AACC) of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware honored the University of Pennsylvania with its 2015 Corporate Advocate of the Year Award in recognition of the University’s commitment to diversity and inclusion with minorities, women and local businesses through its Economic Inclusion Program. Penn’s economic inclusion strategy includes annual goals for engaging local, minority and women-owned businesses and workforce participation in the areas of purchasing, human resources and construction and an array of programs and partnerships aimed at building capacity and community engagement.
Penn also finished in first place in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s nationwide 2015 College and University Green Power Challenge. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began its Green Power Challenge for higher education institutions in 2006. Penn has been the winner every year for the Ivy League, and since 2009, the overall winner in the College and University category.
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Penn-made President: Jim Johnsen
Jim Johnsen, the current senior vice president of human resources and process transformation at Alaska Communications, was named the 14th president of the University of Alaska in July. He will assume the presidency on September 1, 2015.
Dr. Johnsen previously served as senior vice president of administration at Doyon, Limited and as vice president of administration and chief of staff at the University of Alaska. He is a member of the Alaska State Chamber of Commerce board of directors, a trustee of the University of Alaska Foundation and a commissioner of the Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education. He earned his doctorate in higher education management from the University of Pennsylvania in 2006.
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Paul Robinson and Six Law Students: U.S. Military Honors
Six students in a spring 2015 course, “Using Law to Interdict Foreign Terrorist Fighters,” taught by Paul H. Robinson, the Colin S. Diver Professor of Law, received an official commendation recognizing their “outstanding support to Special Operations Command Pacific” (SOPAC). The students, Nicole Bredariol, Jennifer Cilingin, Adria Cranman, Bethan Jones, Tory Morris and Sierra Shear, were each awarded a special military coin from the SOCPAC Commander. For his work in organizing the project, Professor Robinson has been nominated for the military’s prestigious Eugene G. Fubini Award, which is given to the private sector advisor who has made the most significant contribution to the Department of Defense and its mission each year.
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John Trojanowski: AANP Award
John Q. Trojanowski, a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine and the director of Penn’s Institute on Aging, received the American Association of Neuropathologists’ (AANP) Award for Meritorious Contributions to Neuropathology.
Dr. Trojanowski is recognized for his long career as a leader and pioneer in the research and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. The AANP described his work as a “steady contribution to the study of neurodegenerative disease that spans many diseases, disciplines, genes and domains.”
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Kevin Volpp: ACTS and NIH Awards
Kevin Volpp, a professor of medicine and health care management in the Perelman School of Medicine and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, received the 2015 Association for Clinical and Translational Science (ACTS) Distinguished Investigator Award for Career Achievement and Contribution to Clinical and Translational Science in May.
In June, he received the 2015 Matilda White Riley Award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research.
Dr. Volpp, whose research focuses on the impact of financial and organizational incentives on health outcomes, is the founding director of the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics (CHIBE) and vice chair of health policy in the department of medical ethics and health policy at Penn. He holds a medical degree from the Perelman School of Medicine and a doctorate in applied economics and managerial science from the Wharton School.
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Liliane Weissberg: 2015-2016 USC Shoah Foundation Teaching Fellow
Liliane Weissberg, a professor of German comparative literature in the School of Arts and Sciences of the University of Pennsylvania, has been awarded the University of Southern California (USC) Shoah Foundation 2015-2016 Rutman Teaching Fellowship. Established by Penn alumna Lori Rutman Fife in memory of her parents, Henry and Sherry Rutman, the award is offered annually by the Spielberg Foundation to a Penn faculty member to teach about the Holocaust.
As a Fellow, Dr. Weissberg will meet with USC Shoah Foundation staff to learn how to integrate its Visual History Archive testimonies into her research and teaching. In the spring semester of 2016, she will teach a course for undergraduate students of all majors called “Witnessing, Remembering and Writing the Holocaust.” The course will draw on her interest in memory, writing and the role of the witness and will incorporate literary sources as well as the Visual History Archive.
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Jeremy Wilusz: 2015 Rita Allen Foundation Scholar
Jeremy E. Wilusz, an assistant professor of biochemistry & biophysics in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, was awarded a $500,000 grant from the Rita Allen Foundation in July. He will receive $100,000 per year for five years as a 2015 Rita Allen Foundation Scholar.
Dr. Wilusz studies circular RNAs, a recently discovered version of ribonucleic acid. He and his team seek to describe and understand how circular RNAs are generated and regulated and how they function. They also investigate whether circular RNAs are mis-regulated in various diseases, such as cancer, and if they can be therapeutically targeted against the diseases in which they may play a role.
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WXPN and Bruce Warren: FMQB Awards
WXPN, the member-supported radio station at the University of Pennsylvania, and its associate general manager, Bruce Warren, won national “Station of the Year” and “Program Director of the Year,” respectively, at the annual FMQB Triple A Conference in August.
The FMQB Triple A Conference has honored the best in the Triple A industry since 2010. Winners were selected by radio and record company executives, as well as artist management companies throughout the nation.
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Almanac -
August 25, 2015, Volume 62, No. 02
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