November 10, 2020 Volume 67 Issue 18

A team of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Science and the Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania (CHOP) have been awarded a five-year, $6 million Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) grant. The MURI program is the signature research funding mechanism of the Department of Defense.

The Penn team’s proposal, “Robust Concept Learning and Lifelong Adaptation Against Adversarial Attacks,” aims to leverage insights from human cognitive development to make artificial intelligence systems better at protecting themselves from malicious disruptions.

With these systems increasingly interacting with the physical world, they are more vulnerable to being confused by ambiguous information. Rather than attempt to directly access the software that controls a self-driving car’s accelerator, an ill-intentioned person could subtly alter a speed-limit sign such that the car’s AI no longer recognizes it.

By imbuing AI with the kind of robust, adaptive learning capabilities that biological intelligences exhibit, these cyber-physical systems will be able to work with broader categories of information and thus be less prone to potentially dangerous confusion.

The team is led by Insup Lee, Cecilia Fitler Moore Professor in Penn Engineering’s departments of computer and information science (CIS) and electrical and systems engineering (ESE). Dr. Lee is also the director of the PRECISE Center, which is dedicated to researching advanced safety and security solutions of these cyber-physical systems.

Other team members include research assistant professor Osbert Bastani, Ruth Yalom Stone Professor Kostas Daniilidis, senior lecturer Eric Eaton, Eduardo D. Glandt Distinguished Professor Dan Roth, research assistant professor James Weimer, all in CIS, and Julia Parish-Morris, assistant professor of psychiatry at CHOP, who provides expertise in how children develop language and a theory of mind.

The need for insights from human cognitive development stems from the fact that current “deep learning” approaches require a significant amount of labeled data to be effective. Artificial intelligence systems may have perfect memory and react faster than any human, but their knowledge is limited to the narrowly focused domains that they have been explicitly trained in. Their ability to make correct decisions falls apart when applied in novel settings, while humans naturally apply lessons learned in one context to others with no explicit training.

“Robust, concept-learning techniques will assure that trained models operate effectively in the presence of malicious attacks, offering a substantial improvement over the vulnerability of today’s systems that can be easily compromised by even small anomalies,” Dr. Lee said.

“Research on neuro-inspired machine learning models has long been driven by biological principles, and the incorporation of learning mechanisms employed by young children is a natural extension of that,” said Dr. Weimer.

Altogether, this team’s work will benefit researchers and designers of autonomous systems by raising awareness of the danger these systems can present when placed in the real world, and by creating new tools and technologies to reduce these risks.

The international hunt to find more genetic risk markers for testicular cancer is expanding. A team of researchers led by Katherine L. Nathanson, deputy director of the Abramson Cancer Center and the Pearl Basser Professor for BRCA-Related Research in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, was recently awarded $5.4 million over five years from the National Institutes of Health to continue the long-standing genomics work of the TEsticular CAncer Consortium (TECAC).

A total of nearly $7 million has been awarded to TECAC, which includes researchers from 27 institutions around the world, whose collaborative goal is understand the genetic susceptibility to testicular germ cell tumors (TGCT).

TGCT are the most common cancer in the United States and Europe in men between the ages of 15 to 45, and the number of cases has continued to rise over the past 40 years. Approximately 50 percent of the risk of disease is due to genetic factors, higher than for other cancer types.

To date, TECAC has identified 22 novel susceptibility alleles, bringing the total number of risk markers to 66. Dr. Nathanson led a study in 2017 published in Nature Genetics that identified eight of those markers in previously unknown gene regions, as well as four in previously identified regions.

Members of TECAC also were the first to identify CHEK2, a moderate penetrance gene for TGCT. Penetrance refers to the proportion of people with a mutation in specific gene. Unlike other solid tumor types (e.g. breast, ovarian), the inherited risk of TGCT is likely due to multiple variants rather than any single gene.

“Our work has revealed critical roles for genetic variants and mutations in testicular germ cell tumors and defined the biology of TGCTs as associated with defects in maturation of male germ cells, but there’s still much more to discover with this highly heritable disease,” Dr. Nathanson said.  “This grant will allow us to continue to pool our resources and expertise to better understand its biology and etiology, as well as provide data that can help identify men at higher risk of the disease and in need of surveillance.”

The latest round of funding will focus on three initiatives: to identify rare and common variants using whole exome genetic sequencing from biosamples of more than 2,000 men; to conduct a transcriptome-wide association study, or TWAS, to identify novel candidate susceptibility genes in nearly 250,000 men (the largest to date); and to further evaluate any variants or gene discovered from those two projects using tools, such as CRISPR, in cells.

Other Penn collaborators on this grant (R01 CA164947 A1) include David Vaughn, Linda Jacobs, Li-San Wang and Mingyao Li.

Laura J. Alber, C’90, and Ned Klingelhofer, parents, have made a gift to establish the Alber-Klingelhofer Presidential Professorship to be held by a faculty member in Penn Arts & Sciences. 

Presidential Professorships are awarded to exceptional scholars selected on the basis of their achievements with an emphasis on enhancing the diversity of Penn’s faculty. Presidential Professors enrich the academic community and bring new perspectives to our students and faculty.

“Laura and Ned’s thoughtful gift will provide the resources needed to recruit and retain dynamic faculty at the College,” said Penn President Amy Gutmann. “It is critically important that our professors represent diverse backgrounds and perspectives who can then share their knowledge and challenge our students to think critically.  We appreciate Laura and Ned’s desire to support our core academic teaching and research mission, which will greatly benefit our students and ensure that they are stronger and more dynamic leaders when they embark on their futures.”

“In honor of my 30th reunion, we wanted to make a gift that would really have an impact,” said Ms. Alber. “Faculty members are leading scholars, but they also can create transformative experiences in the classroom. Making this gift is an expression of appreciation for my Penn Arts & Sciences education and an investment in learning for future generations of students.”

“I’m grateful for Laura and Ned’s continued partnership,” said Steven J. Fluharty, Dean and Thomas S. Gates Jr. Professor of Psychology, Pharmacology, and Neuroscience. “Advancing Faculty Distinction is a key priority in The Power of Penn Arts & Sciences Campaign. The Alber-Klingelhofer Presidential Professorship will be held by an outstanding member of our diverse group of dynamic, collaborative scholars.” 

Ms. Alber graduated from the College of Arts & Sciences in 1990 with a degree in psychology. She is a University Trustee, a member of the Parent Leadership Committee, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Penn Arts & Sciences Board of Overseers. Ms. Alber is Chief Executive Officer, President, and Director of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. Mr. Klingelhofer is a portfolio manager at Bitterroot Enterprises and a member of the Parent Leadership Committee. Previously, Ms. Alber and Mr. Klingelhofer have supported the Alber-Klingelhofer Scholarship, the Ronald O. Perelman Center for Political Science and Economics, the Arts & Sciences Annual Fund, and Penn Athletics. 

When Morris Arboretum began to establish its fundraising goals for the Ever Green campaign, which began in April 2018, several key priorities were obvious, none more so than the establishment of a $1.5 million endowed fund to support a Chief Arborist position. It is hardly imaginable that Morris Arboretum would function without a Chief Arborist, but the economic fallout from 2008 required exactly that. Since that time, it has been a key objective to reinstate this important position in a financially sustainable manner. Creating endowments for key positions is one of the most financially stable ways to sustain them. 

Now, more than a decade later, the Arboretum is thrilled to announce that Peter Fixler has been hired as the Chief Arborist, a position made possible by the McCausland Foundation and Janet and John Haas, who have combined forces to fully endow the Chief Arborist position. In doing so, they have chosen to honor Paul W. Meyer, who recently retired after 43 years of service, 27 of those as the F. Otto Haas Executive Director. To be known as The Paul W. Meyer Chief Arborist, Mr. Fixler’s position will strengthen the Arboretum’s tree care program while also helping to advance arboriculture education and outreach programs. 

“Funding the Chief Arborist position is something that we have been working toward for several years. It is remarkably gratifying to have secured the funding that has allowed us to fill this critical Arboretum role. I am so grateful to the McCausland Foundation and to Janet and John Haas for making this a reality,” said Anthony Aiello, The Gayle E. Maloney Director of Horticulture and Curator, Morris Arboretum. 

Peter Fixler came to the Morris Arboretum with 20 years of professional experience. His background includes commercial experience at Bartlett Tree and The Care of Trees (now Davey Tree), as well as multiple years as a staff arborist at Longwood Gardens. He holds a BS in biology, with an emphasis on botany and entomology, from Coastal Carolina University. He has been actively involved in the Penn-Del ISA chapter since he started climbing trees and has been their Arbor Day Chair for 13 years. 

With climate change taking its toll on woodlands in the Northeast, trees are more important than ever, and there is a greater need for more tree “doctors” according to The New York Times.

Mr. Fixler’s role is an important one at the Arboretum. Because its tree collection is the foundation of the Arboretum and a fundamental aspect of its mission, it is essential to preserve, maintain, and grow this collection to achieve the goals of research, horticulture, and education. It takes continual effort to improve the Arboretum’s arboriculture to ensure that this resource continues for future generations. The Chief Arborist is the person who heads up these efforts and manages the daily work flow that keeps the Arboretum’s trees safe and healthy, plans for future care, and contributes to teaching and outreach efforts. Mr. Fixler will oversee the Arboretum’s over 4,000 trees and manage signature specimens like the katsura tree, one of Morris Arboretum’s best-known trees. The Chief Arborist’s role is to ensure the health of these trees for many years to come. 

Penn Dental Medicine has plans to launch an innovative postdoctoral training program in general dentistry designed to educate dental residents in primary dental care for vulnerable and underserved patients. The School has been awarded $2.1 million over five years from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) in support of this new Advanced Education in General Dentistry (AEGD) program.

“This new program builds on our ongoing efforts at Penn Dental Medicine to address persistent health disparities and difficulties in accessing oral health care for vulnerable and underserved patients in Philadelphia,” said Dr. David Hershkowitz, Division Chief of Restorative Dentistry at Penn Dental Medicine and Principal Investigator on the HRSA grant, who will be the AEGD Program Director. “It is our plan that program graduates will receive advanced knowledge, skills, and experiences to best serve these populations.”

Dental residents in the AEGD program are anticipated to be placed in two of the School’s community-based sites—Penn Dental Medicine at Sayre Health Center, a federally qualified health center (FQHC) where the School has a four-chair dental care center; and Penn Dental Medicine at Puentes de Salud, serving the Latino immigrant community, where Penn Dental Medicine provides primary dental care within a three-chair facility.

Dental residents will also complete clinical dental care within Penn Dental Medicine’s soon-to-open Care Center for Persons with Disabilities, and in the School’s clinical dental program for Survivors of Torture in partnership with Philadelphia’s Nationalities Service Center.

“Through Penn Dental Medicine’s substantial ongoing investment in treating vulnerable populations, we see not only the need for excellent comprehensive dental care, but also the need for advanced training in the delivery of that care,” said Dr. Olivia Sheridan, Professor of Clinical Restorative Dentistry, who leads the clinical care program for Survivors of Torture and will teach AEGD residents. “This program will provide that care and become a model for the advanced education of compassionate dental graduates to enhance their skills and understanding in the care of this population.”

Over the first planning year (July 2020–June 2021), Penn Dental Medicine will develop the program and apply for approval from the Commission on Dental Accreditation. It is anticipated that the first class will begin in July 2021, with four students accepted into the one-year program each year.

“The program will provide knowledge, skills, and clinical experiences in cultural competency and health literacy,” added Dr. Joan Gluch, Division Chief of Community Oral Health and a member of the program faculty. “We will also be tracking outcomes and develop systems for evaluating program impact regarding both access to care for the vulnerable and underserved and the quality of care received by patients.”

Chicago Booth’s Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation, the Harvard Business School Impact Collaboratory, and the Wharton Social Impact Initiative of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School recently announced the launch of the Impact Finance Research Consortium (IFRC), a joint effort to collect comprehensive data on impact investing funds. The IFRC’s key initiative is to build a database on the financial performance, due diligence practices, investor relations, legal governance, strategy, and management of impact investing funds across the world. The resulting Impact Finance Database (IFD) will catalyze groundbreaking research on this young but rapidly expanding field.

This effort comes as impact investing is becoming an increasingly important part of the investment landscape, with individual and institutional investors seeking to combine private sector financing with the promise of achieving broader social and environmental aims. The upswell in impact investing is evident from allocations of large institutions, foundations, development finance institutions, and family offices, as well as the increase in funds focusing on private and publicly held securities that seek to achieve both financial and social returns.

At the same time, many questions remain. For example, many impact investors assert that social and environmental benefits can be achieved without sacrificing financial performance, but there is little independent research to support or refute this claim. In addition, the way impact investments are structured to maximize efficacy is an important but open issue.

The Impact Finance Database builds on the Wharton Impact Research and Evaluation Database (WIRED), which was originally launched in 2014 by the Wharton Social Impact Initiative under the guidance of Professor David Musto and Vice Dean Katherine Klein.

“At Wharton Social Impact, we’re focused on building the community and the evidence base for impact investing. Our partnership with Chicago Booth and Harvard Business School will expand and accelerate our efforts to do both. The data we collect will contribute to leading research on the intersection of finance and impact, while also demonstrating the value of collaboration among practitioners and academics,” said Dr. Klein.

“The field of impact investing is developing, and the accelerating growth of impact funds makes now the perfect time to collect data on the industry,” said Jessica Jeffers, assistant professor of finance at Chicago Booth. “This partnership has the potential to provide access to fund-level goals and other quantitative metrics. And with access to more data, we hope, will come new evidence-based practices to guide the future of impact investing.”

Harvard Business School finance professor Shawn Cole said, “We are pleased to collaborate with Wharton and Chicago Booth on this effort. Both schools bring considerable resources and talent to this project. Quality data and rigorous research—on both financial and social returns—will not only dramatically advance conceptual understanding but aid actual practice in this space.”

The IFRC is actively contacting impact investing firms, with hopes of building a large and representative sample of the sector within six months.

Noah S. Prywes, professor emeritus of computer and information science in Penn’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, died on September 21. He was 94. 

Dr. Prywes was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1925. He immigrated with his family to pre-state Israel in 1933; there, he later served in the Haganah and the beginnings of the Israeli Navy. He earned a BS in electrical engineering from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, then moved to the U.S. for graduate school. He earned a master’s degree at Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) and, in 1954, a PhD in applied physics at Harvard University. Dr. Prywes first worked on early electronic computers at UNIVAC in the 1950s, leading the computing unit for the UNIVAC LARC computer, one of the world’s first supercomputers. 

In 1958 Dr. Prywes was hired as an associate professor at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. Ten years later, he became a full professor in the Moore School’s relatively new department of computer science. He remained a professor of computer science at Penn for almost three decades, during which the department moved to Penn’s School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS). 

While at Penn, Dr. Prywes advanced the school’s international academic presence: Dr. Prywes took a leave in 1975 to  research budget allocation with researchers at Tel Aviv University and the Ministry of France in Israel. In 1984, he was part of a delegation Penn sent to the People’s Republic of China to strengthen academic linkages (Almanac September 18, 1984). In 1996, he retired and took emeritus status (Almanac May 7, 1996). 

Dr. Prywes was a pioneer in early computer technology; under his stewardship, Penn’s Moore School developed one of the nation’s first computer science departments. One of his students, Sister Mary Kenneth Keller, was the first person to receive a PhD in computer science in June 1965. In the 1960s, Dr. Prywes created Multi-List, one of the first relational database management systems. Around the same time, he advanced and commercialized timesharing, the predecessor to today’s cloud computing (Almanac November 1969). 

In the 1980s and 1990s, Dr. Prywes was at the forefront of automatic programming, nonprocedural specification systems and reverse engineering and the application of these technologies to parallel and distributed computing. In the early 2000s, he developed innovative speech technology for use in telephony. These technologies have gone on to have many applications, ranging from Wall Street financial reporting to real-time systems for the military and aerospace. Dr. Prywes was awarded numerous patents and was a Fellow of the IEEE Computer Society.

Dr. Prywes is survived by his wife of 67 years, Ruth; his sons, Menahem, Daniel and Ron; and seven grandchildren.

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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. email almanac@upenn.edu.

The following is published in accordance with the Faculty Senate Rules. Among other purposes, the publication of SEC actions is intended to stimulate discussion among the constituencies and their representatives. Please communicate your comments 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 Actions

Wednesday, November 4, 2020

Chair’s Report. Faculty Senate Chair Kathleen Hall Jamieson reported with appreciation that several areas of University leadership have expressed public support of the October 6, 2020, Resolution for Election Day, including a memo from President Amy Gutmann to the entire University community and Dean Steven Fluharty to all School of Arts and Sciences Fall 2020 Instructors and Teaching Assistants directly referencing the Resolution and urging them to offer flexibility to those needing time to cast votes or take on poll-worker duties as part of the 2020 General Election. The Resolution is an example of the Senate’s efforts rising above symbolic action and setting precedents that will shape future University policies. Prof. Jamieson also requested that SEC discuss the status of the October 14, 2020, Resolution on Engaged Scholarship with Provost Wendell Pritchett during his visit later in the meeting.  

Past Chair’s Report. No report was offered.

2021 Senate Nominating Committee. SEC members voted to adopt a membership slate for the 2021 Senate Nominating Committee.  The slate is published in this issue of Almanac for comment by Standing Faculty members.

Proposal to Add the Senior Lecturer Track in the Wharton School. Prof. Jamieson presented a proposal from The Wharton School to add the Senior Lecturer track within the School. The Senate Committee on Faculty and the Academic Mission (SCOF) reviewed the proposal along with an endorsement from Provost Pritchett and voted unanimously in support of it. Professors William Braham and Chenoa Flippen, both of whom are SCOF members, offered brief comments in support of the documentation already provided. Following a brief discussion and a call to question, SEC members also voted unanimously in support of the proposal. Notification of these votes were shared with the Office of the Provost.

Update from the Office of the Provost. Provost Pritchett mourned the loss of the thousands of people who have died of COVID-19 complications, which includes some loved ones of SEC members. He then expressed appreciation for the support of the Faculty Senate and SEC during his tenure-to-date as Provost, whose guidance contributed significantly to the launch of enhanced student wellness initiatives at Penn and the creation of the Chief Wellness Officer position and the emphasis SEC has placed on engaged scholarship for both faculty and students. Deans have responded positively to the Engaged Scholarship resolution, and while several complicated details remain to be resolved, many school leaders have used the Resolution as a means of re-framing how they approach the resolution of those details. Upon adjournment of the meeting, Provost Pritchett participated in a Faculty Senate Seminar to which all members of the faculty were invited. A recording of that Seminar and all others is available for viewing here: https://provost.upenn.edu/senate/faculty-senate-seminar-series.

Under the Faculty Senate Rules, formal notification to members may be accomplished by publication in Almanac. The following is published under that rule.

TO: Members of the Faculty Senate
FROM: Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Chair
SUBJECT: Senate Nominating Committee 2021

1.  In accordance with the requirements of the Faculty Senate Rules, notice is given to the Senate Membership of the Senate Executive Committee’s slate of nominees for the 2021 Nominating Committee. The Nominating Committee nominates candidates for election to the office of the Faculty Senate Chair, to the At-Large and Assistant Professor positions on the Senate Executive Committee, to the Senate Committee on the Economic Status of the Faculty, and to the Senate Committee on Academic Freedom and Responsibility. The nominees, all of whom have agreed to serve, are:

• Graciela Gonzalez Hernandez, Associate Professor of Informatics
• Roberta Rehner Iversen, Associate Professor of Social Policy and Practice
• Steven Kimbrough, Professor of Operations, Information and Decisions
• Marc Meredith, Associate Professor of Political Science
• Florence Momplaisir, Assistant Professor of Medicine at HUP
• Amy Offner, Associate Professor of History
• Andrew Postlewaite, Harry P. Kamen Professor of Economics and Professor of Finance
• Jennifer Punt, Professor of Immunology
• Rand Quinn, Associate Professor of Education
• Michael Weisberg, Professor of Philosophy

2.  Pursuant to the Rules, additional nominations may be submitted by petition containing at least 25 signed names and the signed approval of the candidate. All such petitions must be received by Tuesday, November 24, 2020.  If no additional nominations are received, the slate nominated by the Executive Committee will be declared elected. If additional nominations are received, a mail ballot will be distributed to the Faculty Senate membership. Please forward any nominations-by-petition via email to the Faculty Senate office, senate@pobox.upenn.edu.  Questions may be directed to Mr. Walsh by email to the address above or by telephone at (215) 898-6943 (please leave a voicemail message).

Ritesh Agarwal, professor in the department of materials science and engineering, has been elected a fellow of the Optical Society (OSA).

The scholarly society has, since 1916, been the “world’s leading champion for optics and photonics, uniting and educating scientists, engineers, educators, technicians and business leaders worldwide to foster and promote technical and professional development.”

The Optical Society cited Dr. Agarwal for “pioneering contributions to advancing complex light-matter interactions in low-dimensional semiconductors, phase-change and topological materials for applications in integrated photonics.”

Dr. Agarwal recently published a study in the journal Science, detailing his group’s creation of novel “quasiparticles” known as helical topological exciton-polaritons, as well as a new type of topological insulator that supports them.  Dr. Agarwal’s group is now working on studying how topological polaritons interact with one another, which would bring them a step closer to using them in practical photonic devices.

Malitta Engstrom, faculty director of the master of social work (MSW) program at Penn’s School of Social Policy & Practice (SP2), has received a significant grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Dr. Engstrom, an associate professor at SP2, was awarded a grant to fund a substance use training program for MSW students at SP2. Social workers are uniquely positioned to reach people experiencing substance use disorders across a range of service settings; however, most social workers do not receive specialized training in substance use-related services during their professional education. The training program addresses this gap by ensuring that every MSW student will receive specialized education in evidence-supported practices to assist people affected by substance use concerns. The training will use evidence-supported pedagogical strategies to enhance substance use-related practice knowledge and skills, including the development of a multimodal curriculum with video, online, and standardized client trainings.

“Penn MSW students will have a rare and critically important opportunity to enhance their knowledge, skills, and effectiveness to work with individuals, families, and communities affected by substance use concerns. This training holds great promise to improve outcomes among people in a wide range of settings,” Dr. Engstrom said.

Overall, the program aims to ensure that individuals have consistent access to high-quality substance use-related services across diverse service settings and to reduce the gap between substance use treatment need and access. With the support of the project team—professor and director of SP2’s Doctorate in Clinical Social Work program, Jacqueline Corcoran; PhD student Jessica Cho Kim; and online learning coordinator Nicole Auge—the training will begin to be implemented in the MSW Program curriculum in 2021.

The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS) has named Deep Jariwala, assistant professor in the department of electrical and systems engineering, a winner of their Frontiers of Materials Award.

Dr. Jariwala is an expert in nano- and atomic-scale devices that could have applications in information technology and renewable energy, among other fields. His recent research includes a new way of manipulating color with one such nanoscale device.

The TMS Frontiers of Materials Award is given to a top-performing early career professional capable of organizing a Frontiers of Materials Event centered around a hot or emergent technical topic at the TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition.

As a winner, Dr. Jariwala will organize an event on Low-Dimensional and Quantum Materials: Interface Design and Engineering, which is scheduled to take place at the TMS 2021 Annual Meeting & Exhibition, March 14-18, 2021 in Orlando, Florida.

Eleni Katifori, associate professor of physics and astronomy, has been awarded the 2021 American Physical Society (APS) Early Career Award for Soft Matter Research for “the seminal use of physical principles in understanding living transport networks.”

The Katifori group’s research seeks to uncover the physical principles behind the function and development of complex biological flow systems. This includes the investigation of how the connectivity and hierarchical nature of the networks lead to new emergent properties that could not have been predicted by detailed knowledge of the performance and behavior of an individual link.

Dr. Katifori was previously an independent group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization in Göttingen, Germany, before returning to the U.S. to join the faculty at Penn. She has received a Burroughs Wellcome Career Award at the Scientific Interface and a National Science Foundation Career Award and is a Simons Investigator in the Mathematical Modeling of Living Systems.

Maria Torchia LoGrippo, the Kehler Family Assistant Dean of Curricular Affairs and Innovation and Practice Associate Professor in Penn Nursing’s department of family & community health, is one of 15 distinguished nurse educators selected for the 14th class of fellows to be inducted into the prestigious NLN Academy of Nursing Education.

The National League for Nursing Academy of Nursing Education fosters excellence in nursing education by recognizing and capitalizing on the wisdom of outstanding individuals in and outside the profession who have contributed to nursing education in sustained and significant ways. Fellows are expected to provide visionary leadership in nursing education and in the Academy, and to support the vision of the NLN. The induction ceremony took place at the Honors Convocation during the 2020 NLN Education Summit, held virtually from September 23-25, 2020.

Gabriel Raeburn, a PhD candidate in the departments of religious studies and history, has been awarded the 2020 Dissertation Grant from the National Institute of Social Sciences.

Mr. Raeburn received the prestigious award for his proposal to research and complete his dissertation, “Preaching Prosperity: Pentecostals and the Transformation of American Evangelism.” He studies 20th-century US religion and politics and the histories of race, inequality, and evangelicalism. Mr. Raeburn’s dissertation explores how Pentecostal evangelists created the “Prosperity Gospel” and used their growing influence to remake the American religious and political landscape.

The National Institute of Social Sciences launched its Grants Program (originally called the Seed Grant Program) in 2011 to support outstanding graduate students in the social sciences. The grant funds support research in two political and religious archives that help illuminate the relationship between Pentecostals and conservative politicians/strategists throughout the 1980s.

Jordan Raney, assistant professor in mechanical engineering and applied mechanics, has been awarded a DARPA Young Faculty Award. His research involves developing a way for robots to respond to their environments using properties that are built into their materials.

Bioinspiration, the practice of using biological models as guides for materials, structures or systems, is becoming a prominent practice in research labs as the engineering demand for strong, multifunctional and adaptable materials has exploded. Dr. Raney is interested in the Venus fly trap, a carnivorous plant that can snap shut when potential prey touches the hypersensitive hairs inside its leaves.

With this award, Dr. Raney will build on these structures to produce materials with “distributed intelligence.” By combining their mechanical logic gates into more complex arrangements, these materials may allow new capabilities in unconventional robots.

“In our previous work, we combined nonlinear mechanical mechanisms with stimuli-responsive materials to produce simple logic gates that evaluate and respond to their environment,” Dr. Raney said. “In this new project, we will utilize those principles but in larger-scale systems with many more such evaluations. These evaluations could be used, for example, to steer a robot away from a hazard, such as high temperatures, or toward a goal without a traditional control system.”

Dr. Raney’s research will make use of advanced 3D-printed materials to build these structures, such as silicones to sense solvents, hydrogels to sense water, and liquid crystal elastomers to sense temperature and light. Printing allows these structures to be spatially controlled and makes them a viable candidate for building flexible robots that can change shape and function when programmed conditions are met, such as a certain temperature increase or decrease.

Joseph Subotnik, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Term Professor of Chemistry, has been named a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS). APS fellowships recognize those who have made advances in physics through original research and publication, or made significant innovative contributions in the application of physics to science and technology. Dr. Subotnik was honored “for pioneering advances in understanding the nature of nonadiabatic processes and merging electronic structure with chemical dynamics, advances that have allowed us to better model photo-induced processes and dissipation at metal-molecule interfaces.”

Dr. Subotnik is a theoretical chemist who focuses on electronic processes in the condensed phase. He has made key contributions in electronic structure theory, chemical dynamics, and statistical mechanics. His many prizes and awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Science Foundation Career Advancement Award, and the Presidential Early Career Award for Science and Engineering. APS is a nonprofit membership organization working to advance and diffuse the knowledge of physics through its outstanding research journals, scientific meetings, and education, outreach, advocacy, and international activities.

We are pleased to provide you with this electronic edition of the Penn Center for Innovation’s (PCI) Fiscal 2020 Year in Review.

This year’s report highlights many of PCI’s achievements across a wide range of commercial activities; accomplishments that were realized despite the significant operational disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in the second half of the fiscal year.

PCI’s FY20 successes include the execution of nearly 650 commercialization agreements, the facilitation of a robust portfolio of faculty-led corporate sponsored research projects that resulted in $116 million of funding received and our industry-leading team supported Penn spinouts that collectively raised nearly $600 million of venture capital funding during the course of the fiscal year. PCI also continued its steadfast focus on increased client impact through our numerous programs and stakeholder engagement activities.

Adding to Penn’s innovation reputation nationally and internationally, at least two of the leading COVID-19 vaccine candidates currently in late-stage clinical trials incorporate key Penn-owned intellectual property assets, and Penn was recently ranked in the top ten of global R&D centers by FierceBiotech via the Nature Index.

I am extremely proud of the world-class staff at PCI and the impact of their sustained efforts to support Penn’s robust community of researchers and innovators. The team at PCI has shown remarkable fortitude, perseverance and resilience throughout the course of the current pandemic, and their dedication and professionalism are a testament to their commitment to serving the Penn community. We are all sincerely grateful for the sustained support and expert guidance from the Trustees of the University, President Gutmann, and all of Penn’s executive leaders.

A descriptive summary of PCI’s FY20 accomplishments can be accessed at the link above, and you are also welcome to print the poster of Penn’s key statistics in the areas of innovation and commercialization. We look forward to seeing you in person in the (hopefully!) near future.

—John S. Swartley,
Associate Vice Provost for Research and Managing Director, PCI

The Penn I-Corps Site is an National Science Foundation (NSF)–sponsored program at Penn designed to facilitate commercialization of University research for as many as 30 faculty-student teams per year.

The Innovator’s Help Desk provides a convenient and user friendly interface where faculty and researchers can easily and quickly access a variety of resources to help support their intellectual property and business development interests.

The PCI Fellows program provides support for the commercial assessment of new technologies disclosed to PCI. Penn graduate students and post-doctoral fellows are welcome to apply.

UPadvisors, managed by PCI Ventures, empowers students, faculty and staff in their entrepreneurial endeavors by assisting and advising them on the path to commercialization.

PCI Ventures (PCIV) is dedicated to supporting technology commercialization within the Penn community. Since 2010, PCIV has worked with over 200 faculty and staff members to form and launch new companies based on selected inventions and innovative technologies. By connecting local entrepreneurs, investors and partners with Penn inventors, PCIV adds a powerful platform for a larger entrepreneurial ecosystem in greater Philadelphia and beyond.

UPstart, managed by the PCI Ventures, a division of PCI, provides the Penn community with the means and support to launch businesses based on their promising ideas and research.

Fitness and Learning

14        Winter Wellness Walks; 1 p.m.; Morris Arboretum; reservation required: https://experience.morrisarboretum.org/Info.aspx?EventID=21 (Morris Arboretum). Saturdays through March.
15        Coffee & Conversation: Aesthetic of the Cool: Yara and the Camera in Milford Graves’s A Mind-Body Deal; talk with graduate students about the current ICA exhibit; 3 p.m.; Zoom meeting; register: https://tinyurl.com/ica-coffee-conversation-nov-15 (ICA).

Penn Libraries
For info and to register, visit https://www.library.upenn.edu/about/exhibits-events/events
11        Intro to Video Editing with iMovie; 3 p.m.
16        Podcast Editing Basics with Audacity; 11 a.m.
17        Creating Animated GIFs with Adobe Photoshop; 2 p.m.

Music

11        What She Said; an evening of musical theater written by women for women; 6 p.m.; online event; info: mbragle@sas.upenn.edu (Music).

Readings and Signings

12        Saving America’s Cities: Ed Logue and the Struggle to Renew Urban America in the Suburban Age; Lizabeth Cohen; 6 p.m.; Zoom meeting; register: https://tinyurl.com/cohen-reading-nov-12 (City and Regional Planning).

Special Events

12        Rare Books in the Hands of Penn Students; guided tour of a “Met-worthy” collection of Japanese illustrated books; 4 p.m.; online event; register: https://penn.events.alumniq.com/go/hc20 (Penn Libraries; Penn Alumni).
           SP2 Alumni Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony 2020; five new SP2 alumni are inducted; 6 p.m.; online event; register: https://tinyurl.com/sp2-alumni-hall-of-fame-2020 (SP2).
13        Tales from the Crypt; Penn Dental librarians dive into the Evans art collection; 4 p.m.; register: https://penn.events.alumniq.com/go/hc20 (Penn Dental; Penn Alumni).

Sports

14        Penn vs Harvard Homecoming Game Rebroadcast; original broadcast: November 16, 2002; 1:30 p.m.; youtube.com/pennsportsnetwork (Penn Athletics).

Talks

10        Healing Properties Within Navajo Ceremonies; Lori Arviso Alvord, former U.S. surgeon general nominee; 4 p.m.; Zoom meeting; join: http://bit.ly/PNACC1 (Native American Community Council).
11        The Role of Utilization in Meeting Mid-Century Carbon Removal Targets; Peter Psarras, Cuyahoga College; 3 p.m.; Zoom meeting; info: chebiom@seas.upenn.edu (CBE).
           Optimal Policy Under Dollar Pricing; Dmitry Mukhin, University of Wisconsin-Madison; 4 p.m.; Zoom meeting (Economics).
           Non-State Actors and the Preservation of Threatened Heritage in Syria; Amr Al-Azm, Shawnee State University; 4:30 p.m.; online event; register: https://tinyurl.com/al-azm-talk-nov-11 (Middle East Center).
12        Towards Precision Medicine Therapies for ARDS: Insights from Causal Inference; Tiffanie Jones, PSOM; 9 a.m.; BlueJeans meeting; join: https://bluejeans.com/368827150 (CCEB).
           The Effects of Working while in School: Evidence from Uruguayan Lotteries; Thomas Le Barbanchon, Bocconi University; 3:30 p.m.; Zoom meeting (Economics).
           Living Room Lecture; George Leader, anthropology; 5:30 p.m.; Facebook event (Museum).
13        Culture, Ethnography, and Interaction; Peter Harvey, sociology; noon; Zoom meeting (Sociology).
16        The Functional Consequences of Extinctions and the Evolution of Gigantism; Catalina Pimiento, Swansea University; noon; online event; info: ncrivaro@sas.upenn.edu (EES).
           Lama, Emperor, Icon: Art, Tantra, and the Right to Rule; Karl Debreczeny, Rubin Museum; 6 p.m.; online event (CEAS; EALC).
17        Latent-State Models for Precision Medicine; Eric Laber, North Carolina State University; 3 p.m.; BlueJeans meeting; join: https://bluejeans.com/885381327 (CCEB).
           Engineering Next-Generation CAR-T Cells for Cancer Immunotherapy; Yvonne Chen, UCLA; 4 p.m.; BlueJeans meeting; join: https://primetime.bluejeans.com/a2m/live-event/wxbzgjty (BE; Immunology).

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AT PENN Deadlines

The November AT PENN calendar is online. The deadline for the December AT PENN calendar is today. Submit events for weekly calendar updates at almanac@upenn.edu.

Deadlines are Monday for the next Tuesday’s issue.

University of Pennsylvania Police Department Crime Report

Below are the Crimes Against Persons, Crimes Against Society and Crimes Against Property from the campus report for October 26-November 1, 2020. 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 October 26-November 1, 2020 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: 7 crimes against persons (2  aggravated assault, 2 indecent assault, 2 robberies, and 1 domestic assault) were reported for October 26-November 1, 2020 by the 18th District, covering the Schuylkill River to 49th Street & Market Street to Woodland Avenue.

Franklin Field and Penn Park artificial turf fields are currently available for Open Recreation activities. Penn faculty and staff members have access to a complimentary Fall Open Recreation Membership plan, which provides free registration for Fall Open Recreation activities. To  activate the Fall Open Recreation Membership click here. Please take a moment to review these policies and procedures as they will be strictly enforced.

Fall Open Recreation Information:

Franklin Field, 233 South 33rd Street
Entrance is located in the driveway between Weightman Hall & Dunning Coaches’ Center
Open recreation includes use of assigned track lanes and conditioning on the artificial turf in assigned quadrants. Additionally, a limited capacity Bootcamp is offered each Wednesday at noon on the turf. Registration for the Bootcamp is required. The use of sporting equipment (balls, sticks, goals, etc.) is not permitted in Franklin Field.

Penn Park, 3000 Walnut Street
Entrance is located at the east gate of Dunning-Cohen Champions Field and west gate of Ace Adams Field
Open Recreation includes socially distant physical activity in designated conditioning zones. Participants are permitted to bring sport specific equipment. The following equipment will be provided and properly stationed to ensure physical distancing:
Adams Field: lacrosse goals, soccer goals, field hockey cages, rack of hurdles, baseball and softball hitting nets
DCC Field: soccer goals, field hockey cages, football goal posts, rack of hurdles

Hours of Operation, by reservation only.
Walk-ups are not permitted.
Each participant needs a reservation.
45 minute sessions on the hour with 15 minutes in between sessions.
Monday-Friday: 7-9 a.m., 11 a.m.-2 p.m., 4-7 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday: 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Online Registration, faculty and staff memberships and reservations are free of charge. To register for the Fall Open Recreation Membership:

1. Visit the Campus Recreation Member Portal and log into your account
2. Select Memberships
3. Select Fall Open Recreation Membership
4. Select Duration
5. Select Fall Semester
6. Select Add to Cart
7. Review User Agreement/Waiver and click Accept Now
8. Click Checkout to complete registration

If you have any questions, please e-mail Penn Campus Recreation Membership Services.

The deadline for the MLK Community Involvement Recognition Awards (Almanac October 13, 2020) has been extended to November 23. Due to COVID-19 nomination forms may be accessed and submitted through the deadline at: https://aarc.upenn.edu/mlk/mlk-award-nominations

The awards will be presented as part of the University’s commemoration of the MLK holiday during the Interfaith program. Should you have any questions, please email aarc@pobox.upenn.edu

Almanac will publish weekly through the rest of the fall 2020 semester, with the exception of December 1, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving break. For more information, visit https://almanac.upenn.edu/publication-schedule-deadlines. Submissions are due Mondays for the next Tuesday's issue. Email submissions to almanac@upenn.edu.

This edition of Almanac is digital-only. Please distribute to your colleagues and encourage them to subscribe to receive the E-Almanac by visiting https://almanac.upenn.edu/express-almanac The email will include links to the newly posted material. 

No issues were printed to distribute across campus because of COVID-19. Almanac is distributed electronically each Tuesday.