October 8, 2019 Volume 66 Issue 8

The celebration of the naming of the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design and the Stuart Weitzman Plaza took place last Thursday. There were panel discussions, a keynote address and a naming ceremony, at which President Amy Gutmann said, “Design is the alchemy that refashions our world into something better. It is nothing less than the science, the art and the magic of transformation.”

President Gutmann announced that the central plaza, located adjacent to College Green between Meyerson Hall and Fisher Fine Arts Library, is now named the Stuart Weitzman Plaza. The area will undergo significant redesign and renovation by renowned landscape architect Laurie Olin, practice professor emeritus of landscape architecture at the Weitzman School, and colleagues at his firm OLIN. 

“This shared space will be a true homage to the transformative power of design. It will embody Stuart’s connection with the Weitzman School while enriching our campus for the entire Penn community,” President Gutmann said. 

Mr. Weitzman, the designer and footwear industry icon, graduated from the Wharton School in 1963 (Almanac March 12, 2019). He has had a “lifetime of engagement with Penn,” and “believes in the power of design to immeasurably improve the human experience,” said President Gutmann. 

The Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research (CNDR) at the University of Pennsylvania has received a grant expected to total $18.1 million to study the underlying genetic mechanisms that cause Alzheimer’s disease, dementia and Parkinson’s disease to progress as well as how those mechanisms are related to each other and to the cell-to-cell spread of these disease proteins. The grant, awarded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Aging (NIA), will fund four specific projects over the next five years.

The Alzheimer’s Association estimates there are 5.8 million Americans currently living with Alzheimer’s. It is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. About 80 percent of Alzheimer’s patients also develop dementia. Both of these diseases affect language and memory, whereas Parkinson’s mainly affects motor skills. The three conditions are often associated with each other, and previous research from the CNDR and others has shown they share several underlying connections, including a connection to a protein called alpha-synuclein as well as Alzheimer’s disease plaques and tangles. When normal alpha-synuclein proteins become misfolded and are not cleared away, they become deposits in the brain in the form of lesions known as Lewy bodies. They affect chemicals in the brain, which, in turn, can lead to problems with thinking, movement, behavior and mood.

“Our theory is that specific misfolded shapes of these alpha-synuclein proteins can lead to specific, different diseases. For example, one pattern may be associated with Alzheimer’s, another with Alzheimer’s and dementia, another with Parkinson’s and dementia, and so on,” said John Q. Trojanowski, the William Maul Measey-Truman G. Schnabel, Jr., M.D. Professor of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Penn Medicine. Dr. Trojanowski is also the co-director and co-founder of the CNDR with Virginia Man-Yee Lee, the John H. Ware 3rd Endowed Professor in Alzheimer’s Research.

The grant will seek to further the team’s theory through four specific projects. The first project, led by Dr. Lee, will evaluate alpha-synuclein in test tubes and cell cultures in an effort to better understand how misfolding happens and how specific shapes are created. The second, led by Dr. Trojanowski, will mimic the first project in animal models to study the impact of these shapes on the progression of disease.

The other two projects will move the work into the clinic. Project three will use imaging and antibodies to study how a patient who begins with Parkinson’s progresses to dementia and vice-versa. This work, led by Murray Grossman, professor of neurology, will focus on the potential identification of biomarkers. The fourth project will focus on tissue samples in an effort to identify genetic risk factors for these diseases. Alice S. Chen-Plotkin, the Parker Family Associate Professor of Neurology, will lead this work.

Core leaders for the Penn projects include Dr. Trojanowski, Daniel Weintraub, assistant professor of psychiatry and fellow in Penn’s Institute of Aging, and Sharon Xiangwen Xie, a professor of biostatistics and epidemiology.

The Office of the Ombuds offers all members of the Penn community a safe space where they can discuss questions, concerns and complaints. Students, faculty and staff who are experiencing conflict or other problems related to their life at Penn are urged to consult the Ombuds Office for help resolving these issues. To increase the visibility of the office we regularly visit schools and administrative divisions to explain our work, participate in resource fairs for students and staff, and widely distribute literature regarding the Ombuds Office across campus. 

Our website (www.upenn.edu/ombuds/) describes our services and the principles on which we operate. We offer visitors:  

• Confidentiality. We do not talk about visitors’ concerns or issues with others, unless given permission.
• Neutrality. We do not take sides in a dispute.
• Informality. We do not carry out official investigations, and we do not keep records of conversations with visitors. 
• Independence. The Ombuds Office operates outside Penn’s 12 schools and administrative divisions, and it is not bound by their reporting procedures. The Ombuds Office has the freedom to raise issues throughout the University and does so regularly. 

Although the Ombuds Office has no authority to set Penn policies or to change specific decisions, it does defend fairness and consistency across the University. When problematic patterns are raised with the office, they are brought to the attention of the relevant administrators in ways that protect the identities of complainants.

During the academic year, 2018-2019, 172 individuals consulted the Ombuds Office. This number represents a 5.5% increase from 2017-2018. University staff accounted for the largest proportion of our visitors (43%), followed by faculty (24%), graduate and professional students (19%), undergraduate students (7%), post-doctorates (2%) and others (4%). See Table 1. These proportions have remained roughly stable for the last several years with only slight annual variations in their distribution. They reflect the relative sizes of these groups in the total population of the University, as well as the existence of alternative support services available on campus.

Table 1: Visitors by Affiliation 2018-2019

Visitors come to the Ombuds Office with concerns that range from simple inquiries about a University policy to very complicated issues, such as tenure procedures and decisions. Tables 2 and 3 report the types of questions brought to the office and the numbers of people who raised them. (The Ombuds Office does not report the substance of individual cases to protect the anonymity of our visitors.) Most problems brought to the office during this reporting period fall into three broad categories: employment related (39%), behaviors [1] (28%) and academic related (24%). The classification system used remains standard to permit comparability over time. Because many individuals raised multiple subjects, the total number of issues tabulated (215) is greater than the number of visitors (172).

Table 2: Visitors by Issues Raised 2018-2019

Table 3 gives more detail about, as well as definitions of, the issues brought to the Ombuds Office during the past year. Questions about employee evaluations and disciplinary procedures recurred regularly, as did concerns about students’ and advisors’ academic responsibilities. The wish to challenge a decision made by a supervisor, professor or colleague, when there is no formal appeal procedure, brought many individuals to the office. Disputes about job descriptions, employee benefits and compensation underlie many complaints. Interpersonal conflicts took many forms and made it difficult for individuals to carry out their responsibilities.

A few patterns deserve special attention. Many visitors complained about a toxic or hostile work environment, which they did not know how to handle. Employees reported what they felt to be unjust or unequal assignments and a lack of respectful treatment when they raised concerns. Channels of communication within an office or a department sometimes break down and make resolution difficult. Greater attention should be paid to maintaining consistency and clarity of messages and transparency of procedures in both academic and work settings. Inappropriate or unsympathetic methods of delivering a negative message can make challenging situations worse. Times of transition, such as when employees are leaving Penn for various reasons (resignation, retirement, etc.), can be particularly hard to navigate. 

Faculty and graduate students have raised questions about academic standards and academic responsibilities. The need to change an advisor or a course assignment can lead to conflict over appropriate procedures. Decisions about dismissal and tenure are particularly contentious, as are questions related to intellectual property. These disputes can be even more difficult to resolve when a school or department lacks applicable written policies. To help address this problem, the booklet Advising and Mentoring PhD Students, issued by the Office of the Vice Provost for Education, offers guidelines for faculty, students and staff involved in graduate education. Anyone involved in graduate and professional education should be familiar with these guidelines and should circulate them within their units. Our office strongly recommends the development of associated policies at the school and department levels and for wide distribution to their respective constituencies. 

Staff also need to have greater clarity about responsibilities and expectations. The Ombuds Office regularly refers staff to Penn’s Human Resources Policy Manual as well as University Policies that may be pertinent to issues and concerns they raise. Managers and supervisors should be fully informed about these policies and associated procedures, and should encourage staff to be familiar with them as well. 

Many visitors complain about abusive and other inappropriate behavior by colleagues, supervisors, faculty and administrators. Many individuals report feeling intimidated, demeaned or bullied. When confrontations are public, their damage is hard to repair. Some resent the unwillingness of others to discuss a problematic issue. Some of these incidents are perceived to involve biases related to race, gender or sexuality. Sexual harassment is only a small part of a larger problem. During this past year, several of these complaints relate to use of social media in ways felt to be threatening. Abuse via the internet can be as wounding as a direct encounter. These grievances point to the need for more effective training for supervisors and chairs in anger and conflict management and in awareness of unconscious biases. Civil, respectful behavior is owed to all members of the Penn community regardless of status.  

When individuals come to the Ombuds Office for help, we offer a range of services. See Table 4. The Ombuds’ first duty is to listen to visitors’ concerns and their frustrations. The Ombuds Office will work with visitors to explore options for dealing with whatever problems they have raised. Often they need more information, and we can refer them to appropriate University policies. Sometimes we gather data on visitors’ behalf. When they have clarified priorities and are willing to move forward, we often direct them to other resources on or off campus that might be of 

help. The Ombuds Office does not advocate; we do often coach our visitors about how to handle appeals or approaches. We review written communications and role play possible dialogues. We can serve as neutral intermediaries between parties and can facilitate awkward discussions either through shuttle diplomacy or by hosting an expanded conversation and designing its ground rules.  Associate Ombuds Marcia Martinez-Helfman is a trained mediator, and our office offers mediation services.  

Our office is located in 113 Duhring Wing adjoining the Fisher Fine Art Library in the center of the Penn campus. We can be reached by phone at (215) 898-8261 or online.  Please consult our website www.upenn.edu/ombuds/ for more information on our office and its activities. We respond to inquiries quickly, and we encourage anyone experiencing difficulties related to their work, academics or any other aspect of life as a member of the Penn community to set up an appointment with us. Visitors may speak with us without providing names or identifying information if they so choose.

[1] Allegations of discrimination, sexual harassment and abusive/abrasive/inappropriate behaviors. 

Provost Wendell Pritchett announced the formation of a consultative committee to advise him on the appointment of a new vice provost for faculty. Anita Allen, who has served as vice provost for faculty since July 1, 2013, will conclude her current term on June 30, 2020. 

“Anita Allen has been a transformative leader across multiple dimensions of our campus,” said Provost Pritchett. “She has been an invaluable partner in advancing both the eminence and the inclusion of our outstanding faculty. Under her leadership, faculty diversity has grown across all measures. She has helped to develop and implement such essential programs as individual School diversity plans, diversity search advisors and a robust series of new training programs for faculty and staff. Through these efforts, we have made dramatic strides in naming women and minorities to high administrative positions, appointing and retaining eminent senior faculty members, and building the pipeline of assistant professors in the standing faculty. 

“She has paid equal attention to essential programs for faculty development. Working collaboratively with faculty members across the University, she has significantly expanded our Penn Fellows program  for mid-career faculty while helping to launch the Provost’s Leadership Academy and such ambitious parallel programs as the Faculty Pathways Program for STEMM faculty and the Networks in the Humanities Program in the School of Arts and Sciences. We have also significantly increased support for faculty through such resources as Presidential Professorships, the Faculty Opportunity Fund and the Excellence Through Diversity Fund. 

“At the same time, she has been a historic leader in advancing the arts at Penn, chairing the Provost’s Arts Advisory Council, launching our exciting new Sachs Program for Arts Innovation, and working closely with arts leaders across campus to lead them to new heights of success, cross-campus collaboration and creative integration with our educational programs.” 

As the campus leader with broad oversight of faculty affairs across the University, the vice provost for faculty reports directly to the Provost and is a member of his senior leadership team for academic and strategic planning. The vice provost oversees faculty life and the academic personnel process at Penn, including faculty recruitment, retention, development and retirement; appointments, tenure and promotions; enhancement of faculty diversity and equity; and resolution of individual faculty issues, including grievances. The vice provost coordinates the Provost’s Staff Conference and works closely with the deans and chairs of Penn’s 12 Schools, as well as the Faculty Senate, Vice President for Human Resources, Ombuds Office, Affirmative Action Office, diversity search advisors and PASEF. 

The committee invites nominations of and applications from currently tenured faculty members at Penn. The ideal candidate will have extensive knowledge of the University and its policies and practices, as well as experience addressing sensitive issues in an effective and principled manner. Candidates must be tactful and discreet in handling confidential information and work well with faculty, staff, deans and department chairs in negotiating difficult situations. Excellent written and oral communication skills, sound judgment and demonstrated administrative competence are all necessary.

Nominations and applications, including CVs, may be sent by November 15, 2019 to: Lynne Hunter, associate provost for administration, at: lynneh@upenn.edu 

Members of the consultative committee are: 

Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Population Health and Health Equity Professor, Perelman School of Medicine, School of Nursing, Wharton School (Chair) 

Eugenie Birch, Laurence C. Nussdorf Professor of Urban Research and Education, Weitzman School of Design

Zachary Ives, Adani President’s Distinguished Professor and Chair, Department of Computer and Information Science, School of Engineering and Applied Science

Kelly Jordan-Sciutto, Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Basic and Translational Sciences, School of Dental Medicine 

Timothy Rommen, Davidson Kennedy Professor and Chair, Department of Music, School of Arts and Sciences 

To Members of the University and Surrounding Community:

The National Institute for Women of Color (NIWC) has proclaimed March 1 National Women of Color Day. Penn, UPHS, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center and Pennsylvania Hospital seek to increase awareness of the talents and achievements of women of color by recognizing them with the Women of Color Day Award.

The Women of Color Awards are given in recognition of individuals who have conscientiously endeavored to increase respect for women of color at Penn, University of Pennsylvania Health Systems, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Pennsylvania Hospitals and the Delaware Valley community. Annually, awards are given in up to five categories:

• Helen O. Dickens Award: must have demonstrated over 25 years of previously recognized service
• Joann Mitchell Outstanding Legacy Award
• Faculty/Staff, Graduate or Professional Student Award
• Undergraduate Student Award
• Community Member Award

Nominees must be affiliated with Penn, UPHS, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center or Pennsylvania Hospital and/or the local Philadelphia area and have demonstrated:

• Outstanding leadership
• Distinguished service
• Positive impact on the community
• Commitment to enhancing quality of life for and/or serving as a role model for women of color

Joann Mitchell Outstanding Legacy Award nominees must have worked with the Women of Color Executive Planning Committee or have proven support through donations, event involvement and action advocacy of the WOCAP mission.

Nominations must be submitted on or before November 1, 2019, to Isabel Sampson-Mapp at sammapp@pobox.upenn.edu

Applications are available online at http://www.upenn.edu/aarc/wocap/awards.html

Learn more about the 2020 WOCAP Day Awards Luncheon at http://www.upenn.edu/aarc/wocap/annual.html

—Women of Color Executive Planning Committee

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’ ”—Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Involvement Recognition Awards will be presented to five individuals in the following areas:

• Community Award presented to two residents (youth and/or adult) of the greater Philadelphia community involved in community service and/or working for social justice efforts.
• Community Award presented to a faculty or staff of the Penn community involved in community service and/or working for social justice efforts.
• Community Award presented to a Penn student involved in community service and/or working for social justice efforts.
• The Rodin Education Award presented to a Penn faculty, staff, student or Philadelphia resident who demonstrates significant contributions in community service and/or working for social justice efforts through the advancement of education and educational opportunities in Philadelphia.

The awards will be presented as part of the University’s commemoration of the MLK holiday during the Interfaith program. We seek your help in nominating individuals whose work most merits recognition. Please share this information with others in your families, communities, schools, departments and organizations so that we may identify those most deserving of this award.

Nomination forms may be submitted through November 20, 2019. Electronic submissions at www.upenn.edu/aarc/mlk/award.htm are preferred but, not required. If you prefer sending by mail, please send to the African American Resource Center, attn: Colleen Winn, 3643 Locust Walk, Philadelphia, PA  19104-6230. Should you have any questions, please contact the African-American Resource Center at (215) 898-0104 or aarc@pobox.upenn.edu

—2020 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Symposium Executive Planning Committee

Trustee Emerita Deborah Marrow (CW’70, GR’78) died October 1. She was 70.

Dr. Marrow earned a BA in history from Penn’s College for Women in 1970. A dean’s list scholar, she was a member of the Sigma Delta Tau Sorority, the Judiciary Board and the Mortar Board Senior Society. After receiving a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1972, she returned to Penn and earned a PhD in art history in 1978.

A scholar of 17th century European art, she dedicated her career to increasing the role of the arts in individual, institutional and community life and to building diversity in arts leadership. She began her career at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1974 as a research assistant. She went on to teach art history at various colleges and universities in the Philadelphia area and in Southern California. In 1983 she joined the J. Paul Getty Trust. There, she launched a publications program before taking on increasingly senior roles that included dean for external relations, director of the Getty Foundation, interim director of the Getty Research Institute, and on multiple occasions, interim president and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust. Under her leadership at the Getty Foundation, the institution awarded more than 8,000 grants in over 180 countries. 

When she retired from the Getty in December 2018, she was named director emerita of the Getty Foundation, and the Trust renamed one of its programs in her honor: The Getty Marrow Multicultural Undergraduate Internship Program.

Dr. Marrow joined Penn’s Board of Trustees in 2003. During her tenure, she served as chair of the Academic Policy Committee and as a member of the Executive; Nominating; Local, National and Global Engagement; Facilities and Campus Planning; and Honorary Degrees and Awards Committees. She also served on the consultative committee that brought Amy Gutmann to Penn as its eighth President in 2004.

In recognition of her years of thoughtful service, in 2013 the Trustees awarded Dr. Marrow the distinction of Charter Trustee. Last year, she was named Trustee Emerita. She was also an overseer of the Weitzman School and a member of the Penn Alumni Board as well as the Southern California Regional Advisory Board. As a longtime member of the Trustees’ Council of Penn Women, she chaired the Sculpture Committee for the Celebration of 125 Years of Women at Penn, which resulted in the iconic Jenny Holzer sculpture at Hill Square. She supported many areas of Penn, including the Weitzman School, the department of the history of art, the Penn Museum, the Perelman School of Medicine and The Penn Fund. Through her gifts establishing and supporting student travel funds, including the Seymour and Adele Marrow Fund, Penn students have enjoyed opportunities to participate in archaeological explorations across the world. She also wrote numerous scholarly articles, as well as the book, The Art Patronage of Maria de’ Medici. 

She is survived by her husband Michael J. McGuire (CE’69); children, David and Anna; and their families.

—

To Report A Death

Almanac appreciates being informed of the deaths of current and former faculty and staff members, students and other members of the University community. Call (215) 898-5274 or email almanac@upenn.edu

The following agenda is published in accordance with the Faculty Senate Rules. Any member of the standing faculty may attend SEC meetings and observe. Questions may be directed to Patrick Walsh, executive assistant to the Senate Office, either by telephone at (215) 898-6943 or by email at senate@pobox.upenn.edu

Faculty Senate Executive Committee Agenda

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

3-5 p.m.

Meyerson Conference Room, Van Pelt Library (2nd floor)

1. Approval of the Minutes of September 4, 2019

2. Chair’s Report

3. Past-Chair’s Report

4. Identification of Participants for the 2019-2020 Senate Nominating Committee

5. Update from the Office of the President
         Discussion with President Amy Gutmann

6. Update from the Office of the Ombuds
         Discussion with Ombuds and Professor of History Emerita Lynn Hollen Lees 
         and Associate Ombuds Marcia Martínez-Helfman

7. Moderated Discussion

8. New Business

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) awarded a grant of $162,000 to Tom Baker and Allison Hoffman, both professors at Penn Law, in support of their work to organize the 2020 Health Insurance Exchange Conference, “Ten Years After the ACA: Imagining Health Insurance Futures.” With the Health Insurance Exchange Research Group of Penn’s Leonard Davis Institute, they will plan the Spring 2020 invitation-only conference, the seventh in an annual series of conferences that brings together researchers, state and federal public officials and private sector business leaders to discuss the possible futures of health insurance and the role of health insurance exchanges. Mr. Baker is an expert on insurance whose research explores insurance, risk and responsibility. Ms. Hoffman is an expert on health care law and policy whose work examines the purposes and effects of health insurance regulation.

The 2019 Wharton-Jacobs Levy Prize for Quantitative Financial Innovation was awarded to Ray Ball and Philip Brown. They were recognized for their influential work linking stock prices to accounting data, outlined in their paper “An Empirical Evaluation of Accounting Income Numbers.”

Dr. Ball is the Sidney Davidson Distinguished Service Professor of Accounting at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Dr. Brown is a senior honorary research fellow in accounting and finance and emeritus professor at the University of Western Australia, and formerly was an honorary professor at the University of New South Wales and an honorary visiting professor at Lancaster University.

The Prize was presented at the Jacobs Levy Center’s conference late last month at the New York Marriott Marquis. 

Angela Duckworth, the Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Psychology, and Marci Hamilton, the Robert A. Fox Leadership Program Professor of Practice, were recently selected as 2019 Daughters of Pennsylvania. They and the other 2019 honorees were recognized at a ceremony hosted by Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf and First Lady Frances Wolf. 

Since 1949, the Distinguished Daughters of Pennsylvania and the Governor’s Office have recognized outstanding women for their extraordinary service and contributions to Pennsylvania. Distinguished Daughters honors women whose professional and philanthropic work has earned regional, statewide or national recognition and provides value to the public.

Dr. Duckworth is co-director of the Behavior Change for Good Initiative and Wharton People Analytics, as well as founder and CEO of Character Lab, a non-profit that provides actionable, science-based advice to parents and teachers. Her book, Grit, was a New York Times best- seller and she was a 2013 MacArthur Fellow. Ms. Hamilton (L’88), is the founder, CEO and academic director of CHILD USA, a non-profit dedicated to interdisciplinary, evidence-based research to prevent child abuse and neglect. A former clerk for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, she is the leading expert on clergy sex abuse and advocate for the elimination of child sex abuse statutes of limitations.

Kimberly Trout, assistant professor of women’s health and director of the nurse-midwifery track at Penn Nursing, and Linda A. Jacobs, founding and current director of the development of cancer survivorship clinical programs, research and education initiatives at Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center, will be inducted as 2019 Fellows of the American Academy of Nursing (AAN). 

Fellow selection criteria includes evidence of significant contributions to nursing and health care, and sponsorship by two current AAN fellows. Applicants are reviewed by a panel comprised of elected and appointed fellows, and selection is based, in part, on the extent the nominee’s nursing career has influenced health policies and the health and well-being of all.  Academy fellows include hospital and government administrators, college deans and renowned scientific researchers. The newest addition of fellows within this class represents 38 states, the District of Columbia and 17 countries.

Inductees will be honored at a ceremony during the AAN’s annual policy conference, “Transforming Health, Driving Policy,” taking place October 24-26, in Washington, DC.

Fourth-year Penn Dental Medicine student William Kessler (D’20) has been recognized for excellence in clinical esthetic dentistry, taking first place in the clinical case report competition at the recent Society for Color and Appearance in Dentistry (SCAD) 11th Annual Conference, in Newport Beach, California. He won for a study titled “Approach for Predictably Matching a Veneer and Crown in Maxillary Central Incisors: A Digital Technique,” which he conducted with faculty in the School’s department of preventive and restorative sciences.

“Matching the shades of adjacent veneers and crowns on discolored abutment teeth is a major esthetic challenge. William presented a novel approach using different ceramics with updated CAD/CAM and adhesive bonding technologies to address this clinical dilemma in an exemplary patient case,” said Markus Blatz, professor and chair of Penn Dental Medicine’s department of preventive and restorative sciences, who was Mr. Kessler’s senior advisor.

Mr. Kessler’s direct supervisor on the project was Julian Conejo, chairside CAD/CAM director, with CAD/CAM lab director Michael Bergler and Leslie Stone-Hirsch, clinical associate professor of restorative dentistry, also supporting the study as co-authors.

George Pappas, UPS Foundation Professor of Transportation and chair of the department of electrical and systems engineering at Penn Engineering, has been elected a Fellow of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC). The IFAC is a scholarly society devoted to the theory and application of automatic control and systems engineering in diverse fields, including engineering, biological, social and economic systems.

The IFAC Fellow Award “is given to persons who have made outstanding and extraordinary contributions in the field of interest of IFAC, in the role as an engineer/scientist, technical leader or educator.”

Dr. Pappas, who also has appointments in the departments of computer and information science and mechanical engineering and applied mechanics, was elected “for contributions to hybrid and networked control systems with applications to robotics.”

He will receive a certificate and pin at the 2020 IFAC World Congress in Berlin, Germany.

Amy Stornaiuolo, associate professor in the literacy, culture and international education division of Penn’s Graduate School of Education, received a 2019 Emerald Literati Award in the category of English Teaching for her article with T. Philip Nichols and Veena Vasudevan, “Building Spaces for Literacy in School: Mapping the Emergence of a Literacy Makerspace,” which appeared in Vol. 17. No. 4 of English Teaching: Practice and Critique. 

Dr. Stornaiuolo’s research examines adolescents’ multimodal composing practices, teachers’ uses of digital technologies and shifting relationships between authors and audiences in online, networked spaces.

Dry eye disease (DED) is a common disease with shockingly few FDA-approved drug options, partially because of the difficulties of modeling the complex pathophysiology in human eyes. Enter the blinking eye-on-a-chip: an artificial human eye replica constructed in the laboratory of Penn Engineering researchers. Complete with a blinking eyelid, it is helping scientists and drug developers to improve their understanding and treatment of DED, among other potential uses. The research, published in Nature Medicine, outlines the accuracy of the eye-on-a-chip as an organ stand-in and demonstrates its utility as a drug testing platform.

The study was led by Penn Engineering’s Dan Huh, associate professor in the department of bioengineering, and graduate student Jeongyun Seo. They collaborated with Vivian Lee, Vatinee Bunya and Mina Massaro-Giordano from the department of ophthalmology in Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine, as well as with Vivek Shenoy, Eduardo D. Glandt President’s Distinguished Professor in Penn Engineering’s department of materials science and engineering. Other collaborators included Woo Byun,  Andrei Georgescu and Yoon-suk Yi, members of Dr. Huh’s lab, and Farid Alisafaei, a member of Dr. Shenoy’s lab.

To construct their eye-on-a-chip, Dr. Huh’s team starts with a porous scaffold engineered with 3D printing, about the size of a dime and the shape of a contact lens, on which they grow human eye cells. The cells of the cornea grow on the inner circle of scaffolding, dyed yellow, and the cells of the conjunctiva, the specialized tissue covering the white part of human eyes, grow on the surrounding red circle. A slab of gelatin acts as the eyelid, mechanically sliding over the eye at the same rate as human blinking. Fed by a tear duct, dyed blue, the eyelid spreads artificial tear secretions over the eye to form what is called a tear film.

Before proceeding with DED drug-testing, the team evoked DED conditions in their eye-on-a-chip by cutting their device’s artificial blinking in half and carefully creating an enclosed environment that simulated the humidity of real-life conditions. When put to the test against real human eyes, both healthy and with DED, the corresponding eye-on-a-chip models proved their similarity to the actual organ on multiple clinical measures. 

For DED drug testing, they landed on an upcoming drug based on lubricin, a protein primarily found in the lubricating fluid that protects joints. By comparing the testing results of their models of a healthy eye, an eye with DED, and an eye with DED plus lubricin, Dr. Huh and Ms. Seo were able to further scientists’ understanding of how lubricin works and show the drug’s promise as a DED treatment.

Similarly, the process of building a blinking eye-on-a-chip pushed forward scientists’ understanding of the eye itself, providing insights into the role of mechanics in biology. Collaborating with Dr. Shenoy, director of the Center for Engineering MechanoBiology, the team’s attention was drawn to how the physical blinking action was affecting the cells they cultivated to engineer an artificial eye on top of their scaffolding.

Human cornea cells growing on the scientists’ scaffold more quickly became specialized and efficient at their particular jobs when the artificial eyelid was blinking on top of them, suggesting that mechanical forces like blinking contribute significantly to how cells function. These types of conceptual advances, coupled with drug discovery applications, highlight the multifaceted value that engineered organs-on-a-chip can contribute to science. 

For the complete story, visit https://tinyurl.com/eyeonachip

The City of Philadelphia has a transparency problem impacting its newsrooms. Though Pennsylvania’s Right to Know (RTK) Law is designed to promote access to official government information, practical and logistical issues stymie journalists seeking public records for investigative stories.

With limited or no training, news media professionals have had to learn to navigate an opaque and unpredictable bureaucratic system in which delays and denials are the only routine part of the process. To make matters worse, many local and state news outlets face continued economic uncertainty, compounding the difficulty journalists face in dealing with unpredictable and labor-intensive methods to access needed information.

A new report from the Media, Inequality and Change (MIC) Center and the Center for Media at Risk at Penn’s Annenberg School for Communication explores the impacts and infrastructure of RTK laws through interviews with 16 Pennsylvania-based journalists. The researchers—doctoral student Muira McCammon and former postdoctoral fellow Daniel Grinberg—consider how local and state level bureaucracies have impacted the functioning of contemporary Philadelphia newsrooms.

The report highlights the results that the interviewees’ records requests have yielded and includes a comparative assessment of how Pennsylvania’s RTK laws stack up against other states as a mechanism of transparency and accountability. With special consideration to the difficulties that journalists face when they encounter resistance from open-records officers, the researchers ask how journalists telling stories in and around Philadelphia can more effectively optimize the resource of public information in service of investigative reporting.

In addition, the researchers outline a series of primary strategies that journalists and editors alike use to compel government agencies to disclose information. They also recommend a series of industry and policy reforms in order to ensure a future in which the RTK law functions as a powerful investigative tool in Philadelphia’s newsrooms.

The researchers stress that ensuring the future of transparency in Philadelphia requires looking beyond it, and they encourage scholars to conduct comparative research on trends and norms of RTK use by media practitioners in other Pennsylvania cities.

Visit https://tinyurl.com/asc-righttoknow to read the full report. 

Researchers from Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine have developed a vaccine to protect against genital herpes. Tested on both mice and guinea pigs, the immunization led to “mostly sterilizing immunity” from the virus—the strongest type of immunity. The results of the study were published in Science Immunology.

Researchers delivered the vaccine to 64 mice, then exposed them to genital herpes. After 28 days, 63 of the mice were found to have no trace of herpes infection or disease. The one remaining mouse developed dormant infection, in which a virus lies latent within an organism, without any prior genital disease. Similarly, 10 guinea pigs, whose responses to herpes infections more closely resemble that of humans, were also given the vaccine and exposed to the virus. No animal developed genital lesions. Only two showed any evidence of infection, but the infection was not in a form that animals could transmit.

“We’re extremely encouraged by the substantial immunizing effect our vaccine had in these animal models,” said the study’s principal investigator Harvey Friedman, professor of infectious diseases. “Based on these results, it is our hope that this vaccine could be translated into human studies to test both the safety and efficacy of our approach.”

The Penn team filled their vaccine with specific messenger RNA (mRNA), which can create proteins necessary for a strong immune response. This vaccine stimulates three types of antibodies: one that blocks the herpes virus from entering cells, and two others that ensure the virus does not “turn off” innate immune system protective functions. This approach differs from those of other herpes vaccines, which often only rely on blocking the virus’ entry.

This vaccine was developed with funding from the National Institutes of Health and as part of a collaboration between Penn Medicine and BioNTech, a company focused on developing immunotherapies to treat diseases. The partnership began in October 2018 to research and develop mRNA vaccines for various infectious diseases.

Genital herpes, also called Herpes simplex virus type 2 or HSV-2, is the most common sexually-transmitted disease. The virus increases one’s risk of contracting HIV, and infected pregnant women may pass herpes onto their fetus, or more commonly, to their baby during delivery.

For the complete story, visit https://tinyurl.com/pennherpesvaccine

Fitness and Learning

14 Getting to Know Your Campus Rec Facilities Wellness Walk; Chloe Cole and Erica Hildenbrand, Penn Athletics; noon; Ben Franklin Statue, College Hall; register: https://tinyurl.com/y6n5gjam (Recreation).

Talks

15 Justice and the Privatization of Health Data; Kayte Spector-Bagdady, University of Michigan; noon; rm. 108, ARCH; RSVP: https://marypham1.typeform.com/to/osNiwt (Medical Ethics & Health Policy).

    The City is Beyond Human: In Search of Animals in African Urban Studies; Saheed Aderinto, Western Carolina Univ.; 5 p.m.; rm. 330A, 3401 Walnut St.; RSVP: https://africana.sas.upenn.edu/events/africa-lecture-series-0 (Africana Studies).

AT PENN Deadlines 

The deadline for the November AT PENN calendar is October 14. The deadline for the weekly Update is the Monday prior to the week of the issue’s publication. 

PennVet celebrates LGBTQ History Month in October with a seminar and reception offering a guide to understanding and supporting those individuals who are transitioning or who may transition.

On Friday, October 11, a seminar will take place at 3:30 p.m. followed by a wine and cheese reception. With an increasingly diverse student body and professional workforce, and the rise of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer workforce over the last decade, this program will help us adapt, accept and increase inclusion within our community.

The event and reception is hosted by the PennVet department of clinical sciences and advanced medicine and the Office of Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity. 

Registration is requested. Visit https://tinyurl.com/LGBTPennVet

On Monday, October 21, The Provost’s Lecture on Diversity, What Borders Do, will feature Michael Jones-Correa, President’s Distinguished Professor of Political Science, in conversation with Fernando Chang-Muy, Thomas O’Boyle Lecturer in Law. Dr. Jones-Correa highlights the difficult issues raised by the re-imagination of borders and the trade-offs policymakers face. Mr. Chang-Muy, who will moderate audience questions, returns to Penn from a recent educational campaign in Honduras to educate people about the legal obstacles, rights and landscape of the trip to the north. The reception that follows the lecture will feature the photography of Mexican-American artist Ada Trillo, documenting the lives of asylum seekers at the US-Mexico border.

The lecture, at Penn Law’s Michael A. Fitts Auditorium at 4:30 p.m., is co-sponsored by the Office of the Provost, Penn Law School, Center for the Study of Ethnicity, Race and Immigration, Perry World House, and Penn’s political science department; it is part of Toll Public Interest Week.

RSVP appreciated but not required. For information, visit https://provost.upenn.edu/diversity-lecture or email provost-fac@upenn.edu

The University of Pennsylvania Police Department Community Crime Report

Below are the Crimes Against Persons, Crimes Against Society and Crimes Against Property from the campus report for September 23-29, 2019. View prior weeks' reports. —Ed.

This summary is prepared by the Division of Public Safety and includes all criminal incidents reported and made known to the University Police Department for the dates of September 23-29, 2019. The University Police actively patrol from Market St to Baltimore and from the Schuylkill River to 43rd St in conjunction with the Philadelphia Police. In this effort to provide you with a thorough and accurate report on public safety concerns, we hope that your increased awareness will lessen the opportunity for crime. For any concerns or suggestions regarding this report, please call the Division of Public Safety at (215) 898-4482.

18th District

Below are the Crimes Against Persons from the 18th District: 11 incidents (3 assaults, 2 aggravated assaults, 2 rapes, 1 domestic assault, 1 indecent assault, 1 purse snatch and 1 robbery) with 2 arrests were reported from September 23-29, 2019 by the 18th District covering the Schuylkill River to 49th Street & Market Street to Woodland Avenue.

Another tip in a series provided by the Offices of Information Systems & Computing and Audit, Compliance & Privacy

In observance of October as National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCSAM) the ISC Office of Information Security (OIS) is holding several events on data security and phishing for faculty, staff and students.

The events began with OIS participation at the Employee Resource Fair on October 1. OIS distributed pouches with security tips on how to protect Penn and your own sensitive data. 

The five recommended tips are:

• Understand Penn’s Data Risk Classification to know how to handle various types of data.
• Store sensitive data in a secure location, e.g., Penn Box.
• Be aware of phishing scams and learn how to identify phishing emails and social engineering attempts.
• Verify online information before you act. The web is flooded with inaccurate information. Please verify online information by visiting at least three credible resources, e.g., government and universities provide credible sources of information. 
• Consider using a password manager, (e.g., LastPass) to create strong passwords without the difficulty of having to remember each individual account password.

A free movie screening of Joker was held on October 4 for students. Preceding the movie there was a discussion of Penn’s DMCA process and copyright policy. 

On October 10, OIS is celebrating a year of offering Security Logging with Question & Answer sessions. Join OIS and learn the importance of using tools to record login/logout online activities. 

Faculty, business administrators and IT staff reviewing third-party agreements should consider attending a V-STAR presentation on October 24 at 2 p.m. V-STAR is a tool used by the University to assist in navigating and evaluating vendor responses and what is permissible and advisable when sharing Penn data with a third-party. 

Details of these events and more are available on the OIS website: https://www.isc.upenn.edu/security/ncsam2019

For additional tips, see the One Step Ahead link on the Information Security website: https://www.isc.upenn.edu/security/news-alerts#One-Step-Ahead

We need your programs for the 2020 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Symposium on Social Change. We invite your organization/department to plan a program in conjunction with this year’s symposium. Programs can include reflection on, action, or response to contemporary issues and should raise issues of social change and social justice while incorporating Dr. King’s challenging vision to end racism and poverty, to strengthen and embrace diversity and to support free expression. For date availability, visit https://www.upenn.edu/aarc/mlk/calendar_mlk.htm 

If interested, contact the African-American Resource Center, no later than December 16, 2019.

Email: cowinn@upenn.edu / toliverd@upenn.edu, phone: (215) 898-0104

Giant Heirloom Market—gift card ($50 value)

Saxby’s—10 free drink vouchers ($40 value)

Amazon@Penn—Amazon Fire TV Stick ($40 value)

SuperCuts—two free haircut gift cards ($40 value)

Philadelphia Eagles—Doug Pederson autographed photo ($40 value)

Thermo Fisher Scientific—gift card, various restaurants ($50 value)

Longwood Gardens—two complimentary passes ($46 value)

Visit http://pennsway.upenn.edu for more information about the raffle and making a pledge. Entries must be received by 5 p.m. on the prior Friday for inclusion in a given week’s drawing. Note: list subject to change.

Many travelers collect toiletries during hotel stays, but often they never use them. Instead of throwing them away, consider donating them to the homeless. Deadline: Friday, October 11.

Items being accepted include: soap, deodorant, pads/tampons, toothbrushes, shaving cream, baby wipes, washcloths, socks, hand sanitizers, hand warmers, blankets, makeup, gently worn luggage and monetary donations.

Drop-off Locations: 

• Franklin Building, 3451 Walnut St., 3rd floor; make a left off elevator; box on Yuri Rayford’s desk

• Fisher Bennett Hall, 3340 Walnut St., English Dept. 127; Stephanie Palmer’s desk

Questions? Contact Tiffany Perkins at perkinst@upenn.edu