Angela Duckworth: Rosa Lee and Egbert Chang Professorship
Penn President Amy Gutmann, Wharton Dean Geoffrey Garrett and Penn Arts & Sciences Dean Steven J. Fluharty recently announced the establishment of the Rosa Lee and Egbert Chang Professorship at the University of Pennsylvania, generously funded by Nancy Yang (W’92) in honor of her parents. Angela Duckworth will be the inaugural recipient, effective July 2020. The endowed Rosa Lee and Egbert Chang Professorship supports a dual appointment at the Wharton School and Penn Arts & Sciences’ department of psychology.
A renowned expert on grit and self-control, Dr. Duckworth is a SAS professor of psychology, faculty co-director of the Behavior Change for Good Initiative, and faculty co-director of Wharton People Analytics. Dr. Duckworth joined the Penn faculty in 2006. Dr. Duckworth is a 2013 MacArthur Fellow and Founder and CEO of Character Lab, a non-profit that uses psychological science to help children thrive. Her book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance is a #1 New York Times best seller, and her TED talk on the topic has reached nearly 20 million views. She earned a PhD in psychology from Penn, a master’s in neuroscience from Oxford University, and a bachelor’s in neurobiology from Harvard University.
“Angela Duckworth’s scholarship combines innovative thinking and methodologies to examine how people confront challenges and make good decisions,” said President Gutmann. “Nancy Yang’s thoughtful and generous support creating the Rosa Lee and Egbert Chang Professorship will encourage ambitious, interdisciplinary research. Advancing knowledge for the good of the world is a wonderful tribute to Nancy’s parents. We are honored by her generosity and her heartfelt support of this important work at Penn.”
“Professor Angela Duckworth is fundamentally changing the way we think about the science and practice of behavior change, empowering people to grow through evidence-based decision-making,” said Dean Garrett. “I am deeply grateful for Nancy Yang’s commitment to establish this professorship. Her critical support will amplify the power of Professor Duckworth’s work to transform the lives of so many around the world.”
Dean Fluharty, who is also the Thomas S. Gates, Jr. Professor of Psychology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience, said, “Angela’s ability to connect public audiences with rigorously researched knowledge is unparalleled. Nancy Yang’s generous gift in support of interdisciplinary work will have an impact on all of us who stand to benefit from Angela’s groundbreaking research.”
This professorship supports faculty who have demonstrated exceptional achievements across disciplines. Ms. Yang’s generous funding will support travel, research and other academic activities by the faculty recipient.
“I am delighted to support Penn’s distinguished faculty. Professor Duckworth is innovating the collaborative scholarship needed to solve pressing challenges, and I look forward to seeing the impact she continues to make at the intersection of business and psychology,” said Ms. Yang.
Ms. Yang is the founder of Asian Charity Services, a Hong Kong NGO dedicated to providing NGO leaders with pro bono consulting and training to grow their organizations. She is an undergraduate alumna of the Wharton School and earned her MBA in marketing from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Among her additional leadership and contributions to the Wharton School and the University of Pennsylvania, Ms. Yang is a member of the Wharton Executive Board for Asia and a supporter of the Penn Wharton China Center. She recently responded to the COVID-19 health crisis by donating medical supplies to the University of Pennsylvania Health System.
Brigitte Weinsteiger: Associate Vice Provost for Collections and Scholarly Communications at the University of Pennsylvania Libraries
The University of Pennsylvania Libraries proudly announces the appointment of Brigitte Weinsteiger as associate vice provost for collections and scholarly communications. In this role, Ms. Weinsteiger directs the strategy, advancement and growth of the Penn Libraries’ preeminent collections while promoting academic engagement both on campus and with the Greater Philadelphia community. Ms. Weinsteiger also collaborates both nationally and internationally in the fields of collections and scholarly publishing.
“We are extremely delighted that Brigitte has accepted the inaugural position of the associate vice provost for collections and scholarly communications,” said Constantia Constantinou, H. Carton Rogers III Vice Provost and Director of Libraries. “Collections are a pillar of our strategic plan, and under Brigitte’s leadership, we will make great strides in our goals to advance information equity and ensure access to the scholarly and cultural record in all forms. Her extensive knowledge of scholarly publishing, coupled with her presence on national committees, brings invaluable experience and expertise.”
In her new role Ms. Weinsteiger oversees the Libraries’ $23 million budget for collections, its 8.5 million print and electronic volumes, and a rich array of digital resources. She leads the Collections and Scholarly Communications division of the Penn Libraries and supervises the collections-related functions of over 30 librarians across the system. Departments under her purview include Collection Strategy; Preservation; Acquisitions, Access, and Licensing; Scholarly Communications; Academic Engagement; and Community Outreach. She is responsible for ensuring that the selection, acquisition, management, and preservation of the Libraries’ collections meet the diverse needs of the Penn community; and for overseeing outreach to faculty and students at Penn, in Philadelphia, and beyond.
“I am tremendously honored to take on this expanded role within the Penn Libraries,” said Ms. Weinsteiger. “The skills and expertise of librarians are more important than ever as we address immediate information needs in response to the COVID-19 crisis. At the same time, we continue to build and provide long-term access to collections that contribute to global scholarship and that fuel Penn’s academic and research enterprise.”
Ms. Weinsteiger has been instrumental in shaping the Penn Libraries’ response to COVID-19. When the University announced in March that classes would go online for the remainder of the semester, the Libraries swiftly invested in additional digital resources and shifted major services online. Between March 12 and April 2, Ms. Weinsteiger led teams of librarians working nearly around the clock to provide virtual support to students and faculty returning from spring break, including licensing 36,000 additional e-books, doubling the number of streaming films offered, and fielding more than twice as many virtual reference contacts as the same period last year.
Ms. Weinsteiger’s prior leadership roles at the Penn Libraries include associate University librarian for collections and assistant University librarian for collections and liaison services. She began her career in libraries, working in archival processing at the Eberly Family Special Collections Library at The Pennsylvania State University. Ms. Weinsteiger then joined the staff of Penn’s Biddle Law Library. Before moving into Penn Libraries’ administration in 2016, she served as a collections analyst and a subject specialist for medieval studies and Germanic languages and literatures. Ms. Weinsteiger holds a master’s degree in liberal arts, focusing in medieval studies, from the University of Pennsylvania, a master’s degree in library and information science from Drexel University, and two bachelor’s degrees from The Pennsylvania State University, where she concentrated in medieval studies, the history of art and German literature.
Ms. Weinsteiger continues to contribute as a leader to the scholarly community. She is outgoing Chair of the Ivy Plus Libraries Confederation Collections group, a group charged with the development of collaborative collections and web archiving programs. She is on the executive committee of the Northeast Research Libraries (NERL) Consortium Program Council and the collections advisory council of the Pennsylvania Academic Library Consortium, Inc. (PALCI). Ms. Weinsteiger also serves on the advisory boards for a number of prominent publishing and distribution vendors, including most recently her appointment to the advisory boards of Project MUSE and JSTOR.
Ms. Weinsteiger’s collaborations with colleagues at Penn and beyond, and her leadership in collections, are motivated by a commitment to enabling innovative research and scholarly communications, and building, preserving and sharing distinctive cultural heritage collections. “Libraries are central to, even inseparable from, academic research and pedagogy and continue to serve a critical mission to preserve and steward extraordinary research collections,” Ms. Weinsteiger said. “At the same time, they also have an opportunity to advance societal efforts to support diversity, equity and social justice causes through collections and engagement with the community, contributing to our local, national and global good.”
School of Arts & Sciences 2020 Teaching Awards
The School of Arts and Sciences announces the following recipients of SAS 2020 teaching awards:
Ira H. Abrams Memorial Award for Distinguished Teaching
Created in 1983, the Ira H. Abrams Award recognizes teaching that is intellectually challenging and exceptionally coherent and honors faculty who embody high standards of integrity and fairness, have a strong commitment to learning, and are open to new ideas. This year’s recipients of SAS’s highest teaching honor are:
Paul Goldin, professor of East Asian languages and civilizations, is known for his contributions in shaping his department’s undergraduate curriculum and for his skillful and creative approach to engaging students in Introduction to Chinese Civilization. According a faculty colleague, “since his arrival at Penn, the undergraduate education in East Asian Languages and Civilizations has been transformed by his vision and his stellar ability to deliver the gateway course.” Dr. Goldin’s department chair agrees: “I can testify from personal experience how difficult it is to teach 3,000 years and more of Chinese culture in a way that is not ridiculously superficial or forbiddingly dense. That he has done it so successfully for so many years shows how much thought and effort he puts into teaching.”
The Charles and William L. Day Distinguished Professor in the Natural Sciences in the department of biology, Mark Goulian’s teaching engages students in the complex interdisciplinary areas of his research, which, astonishingly, range from theoretical physics to experimental molecular biology and microbiology. His students admire his energy and enthusiasm, his ability to engage them and explain difficult concepts, and his welcoming manner and approachability. His department chair reflects, “it takes true teaching talent and depth of knowledge to bring it all together and have the students come to an appreciation of the common thread of biological processes rather than seeing biology as a complex collection of a million facts. Clearly, Professor Goulian succeeds at this.”
Dennis M. DeTurck Award for Innovation in Teaching
This award, which is named after Robert A. Fox Leadership Professor and former College dean Dennis DeTurck, recognizes exceptional creativity and innovation in instruction. The 2020 recipient is Philip Gressman, professor of mathematics. Students and faculty colleagues alike applaud Dr. Gressman for bringing a distinctive and innovative combination of active learning pedagogy (largely of his own design) and inclusive teaching methodologies to the teaching of calculus at Penn. A student in Math 104 called his active learning approach “the springboard for my success in the class.”
Dean’s Award for Mentorship of Undergraduate Research
This award, which recognizes faculty members who have excelled in nurturing undergraduate students’ desires and abilities to conduct meaningful research, goes to Megan Kassabaum, assistant professor of anthropology, for “her commitment to carving out a place for mentorship at a big research school like Penn.” One colleague explained: “In the field, she shows the students how to communicate with the professional community and with the interested public, funds their participation in conferences and meetings, and models respectful and ethical behavior to the descendent communities, local professionals and each other.”
Dean’s Award for Distinguished Teaching by an Assistant Professor
This award recognizes a member of the junior faculty who demonstrates unusual promise as an educator. The 2020 recipient is Jennifer Ponce de León, assistant professor of English, who has established Latinx studies on a secure basis in her department, covering the field of Latinx studies across the spectrum of literary and visual culture. Despite—or because of—the high expectations Dr. Ponce de León sets, Penn students find her classes riveting, innovative, and life-altering. An undergraduate writes: “I personally think that everyone who finished the course came out a changed student and thinker.”
Dean’s Award for Distinguished Teaching by Affiliated Faculty
Deborah Burnham, lecturer and associate undergraduate chair of English, and Andi Johnson, senior lecturer of history and sociology of science, are the recipients of this award, which recognizes the contributions to undergraduate education made by the School’s non-standing faculty.
Dr. Burnham’s students and faculty colleagues laud her gifts as an advisor, her “genius” course design, and her use of the classroom as “a vital space of learning and discovery, with a core sense of the wonder of literary expression.” According to the department chair, “[Dr. Burnham’s] courses form the backbone of our offerings in English, and the sheer number of ways in which she has served our undergraduate program is incalculable.”
Dr. Johnson’s students and faculty colleagues praise her courses for their intellectual rigor, exceptional lucidity and highly interactive nature. A faculty member declares, “she has strong and creative instincts about how undergraduates learn best. She is very pragmatic about engaging students in class discussions, tailoring and grading assignments, and shaping syllabi so that they are interesting and challenging...quite simply, Dr. Johnson is a master teacher.”
College of Liberal and Professional Studies Award for Distinguished Teaching in Undergraduate and Post-Baccalaureate Programs
Philip Gehrman, lecturer in psychology in LPS and associate professor of clinical psychology in the Perelman School of Medicine, is the recipient of this award, which recognizes outstanding teaching in LPS’s undergraduate and post-baccalaureate programs. In their letters and course evaluations, Dr. Gehrman’s students show a deep appreciation for the clarity and goals of his classroom instruction. They recognize his genuine concern for student progress, frequently commenting on how “caring, understanding and engaging” he is an instructor, and on his high level of engagement: “He really makes a three-hour long class fly by with his anecdotes...and makes science approachable even for people like me who generally do not do well in science classes.”
College of Liberal and Professional Studies Award for Distinguished Teaching in Professional Graduate Programs
The recipient of this award, which recognizes teaching excellence in LPS graduate programs, is Dana Kaminstein, lecturer in organizational dynamics. As a stalwart faculty member of the Organizational Dynamics Program since 1997, Dr. Kaminstein has a reputation for being challenging, yet always encouraging and supportive as an instructor. One student described the impact of his approach: “He offered firm guidance while expecting the very best work. He also valued and required that I consider what I learned about myself in the process.”
Dean’s Award for Distinguished Teaching by Graduate Students
This award recognizes graduate students for teaching that is intellectually rigorous and has a considerable impact on undergraduate students. This year’s awardees are:
- Todd Baker, Philosophy
- Micah Del Rosario, English
- Taylor Dysart, History & Sociology of Science
- Stephen Hackler, Physics & Astronomy
- Theodora Naqvi, Classical Studies
- Gino Pauselli, Political Science
- Makiki Reuvers, History
- Mario Sassi, Romance Languages
- Ellen Urheim, Mathematics
- Zachary Zimmerman, Chemistry
Anish Kumar: Pennovation Works Managing Director
Pennovation Works now has a managing director, Anish Kumar, in a new role designed to manage overall direction and oversight of the 23-acre innovation community adjacent to Penn’s West Philadelphia academic campus. The creation of this position represents the University’s dedication to Pennovation Works, open to entrepreneurs in all disciplines across the Greater Philadelphia area.
Mr. Kumar is charged with implementation of the long-range strategic master plan. Mr. Kumar leads business development of the site, including marketing, communications and leasing. He manages the strategic direction of the Pennovation Center (the community’s business, technology and laboratory incubator) in collaboration with the operating partner, 1776. Mr. Kumar will also work collaboratively with Penn Center for Innovation (PCI), PCIVentures, and the Office of the Vice Provost for Research on company curation and programming. In addition, Mr. Kumar monitors development, design, construction and operations of the property as well as the operation of the JPod @ Philadelphia (Almanac November 6, 2018).
One of Mr. Kumar’s immediate responsibilities is the completion and leasing of the Pennovation Lab Building, a 65,000-square-foot, scientifically advanced, multi-tenant laboratory and office building. As the latest addition to the Pennovation Works community, tenants of the Pennovation Lab will benefit from the amenities and programming already available on the site. Leasing is ongoing at the Lab, which is anticipated to open in the third quarter of 2020.
“In adding this managing director role to our team at Pennovation, and in particular with bringing on Anish Kumar in this position, Penn can fulfill the promise of this exceptional innovation space that draws talent from the entire greater Philadelphia region, with the full weight of Penn behind it,” explained Ed Datz, executive director of real estate at Penn.
Mr. Kumar has built his career around improving urban life, enabling people to live and work together in the most inclusive and environmentally sustainable ways. Now, as managing director, he will focus on advancing Penn’s growing community of researchers and entrepreneurs at Pennovation Works.
A Penn graduate and long-time Philadelphia resident, Mr. Kumar has multi-faceted expertise in real estate business management, planning and architecture. Prior to joining Penn, Mr. Kumar most recently served as senior director for real estate development at Amtrak. In that role, he led an 18-person team and oversaw all real estate activities in support of Amtrak’s operations nationwide, including planning and portfolio strategy, acquisition disposition and lease transactions, administration of property agreements, development and fit-out of facilities, space management, budgeting and real estate financial operations. Before Amtrak, Mr. Kumar held leadership positions at major planning and architectural firms, including tvsdesign, Hillier and WRT. He has also served as an adjunct professor in Drexel University’s architecture program.
“Pennovation Works adds tremendous value to the two communities that are a significant part of my life, the University of Pennsylvania and the City of Philadelphia, and I am excited for the opportunity to collaborate with members of the Pennovation community to expand the City’s innovation ecosystem and increase Penn’s impact,” said Mr. Kumar.
Penn Vet Launches COVID-19 Canine Scent Detection Study
A pilot training program using scent detection dogs to discriminate between samples from COVID-19 positive and COVID-19 negative patients is the focus of a new research initiative at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet).
With up to 300 million smell receptors—compared to six million in humans—dogs are uniquely positioned to aid in disease detection. This pioneering study—which will explore the sensitivity and specificity of scent—sets the stage for dogs to be a force multiplier in the mission to detect COVID-19, particularly among asymptomatic patients, or hospital or business environments where testing is most challenging. Preliminary screening of live humans by trained dogs could begin as early as July.
The study is backed in part by the new Penn Vet COVID-19 Research Innovation Fund. The fund, provided with critical start-up support through a generous gift from Vernon and Shirley Hill, will bolster Penn Vet’s rapidly expanding research and response program to fight the novel coronavirus.
Penn Vet will initially begin the study with eight dogs to perform this precise detection work. Over the course of three weeks through a process called odor imprinting, the dogs will be exposed to COVID-19 positive saliva and urine samples in a laboratory setting. Once the dogs learn the odor, the investigators will document that the dogs can discriminate between COVID-19 positive and COVID-19 negative samples in a laboratory setting, establishing the platform for testing to determine if the dogs can identify COVID-19 infected people. The US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Chemical Biological Center will be lending their expertise during the study as well.
“Scent detection dogs can accurately detect low concentrations of volatile organic compounds, otherwise known as VOCs, associated with various diseases such as ovarian cancer, bacterial infections and nasal tumors. These VOCs are present in human blood, saliva, urine or breath,” said Cynthia Otto, professor of Working Dog Sciences and Sports Medicine and director of Penn Vet’s Working Dog Center. “The potential impact of these dogs and their capacity to detect COVID-19 could be substantial. This study will harness the dog’s extraordinary ability to support the nation’s COVID-19 surveillance systems, with the goal of reducing community spread.”
Dr. Otto will lead a group of multi-disciplinary researchers from across the University of Pennsylvania. Susan Weiss (Almanac April 7, 2020) and Ian Frank, both from the Penn Center for Research on Coronavirus and Other Emerging Pathogens and the Perelman School of Medicine, will lead the protocols to collect samples from adult patients being screened at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Audrey Odom John from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia will collect samples from children screened at that facility. Richard Berk from Penn Arts & Sciences, will assist in research study design and analysis of canine performance data.
“Dogs and humans, perfect together as man’s best friend, through Penn Vet in partnership with the Perelman School of Medicine and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, provide a new solution to COVID-19,” said Vernon Hill. “Shirley and I, and Sir Duffield, our beloved Yorkshire Terrier, are again proud to support Penn Vet.”
“This pilot study could not be more emblematic of Penn Vet’s unparalleled contributions to public health,” said Andrew M. Hoffman, Gilbert S. Kahn Dean of Veterinary Medicine. “What we do, and how we do it is relevant now more than ever before. The collaboration between Penn Vet, the School of Medicine, the School of Arts & Sciences, and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, are critical to success. I’m grateful for Vernon and Shirley Hill’s longstanding generosity that will allow us to swiftly accelerate our diagnostic, detection and surveillance capabilities to fight COVID-19.”
Penn Vet’s COVID-19 Research Innovation Fund is raising funds to support Penn Vet’s research laboratories that are already tackling problems associated with COVID. Ronald Harty, professor of pathobiology and microbiology, is using his lifetime expertise investigating Ebola, Marburg and Lassa Fever to understand how the SARS-CoV-2 virus leaves cells and spreads to other cells. Andrew Vaughan, assistant professor of biomedical sciences, is leveraging his work examining virally-induced lung injury to understand how the SARS-CoV-2 promotes disease, and in collaboration with Montserrat Anguera, associate professor of biomedical sciences, is investigating the factors that contribute to sex bias in the development of more severe COVID disease. Importantly, Penn Vet’s COVID-19 Research Innovation Fund will not only help these projects but will also promote an expansion of the number of Penn Vet scientists focusing on new ways to conquer SARS-CoV2.
“Penn Vet is a key part of the biomedical community here at the University of Pennsylvania. We are leveraging our unique and collective expertise in pathogen-related research, infectious disease and translational medicine to fight this pandemic,” said Phillip Scott, vice dean for Research and Academic Resources. “Penn Vet’s COVID-19 Research Innovation Fund is affording us the agility to make immediate and significant strides toward solving this public health emergency.”