June 15, 2021 Volume 67 Issue 40

Vijay Kumar has been reappointed the Nemirovsky Family Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Pennsylvania. His term will run through June 30, 2027.

The announcement was made on May 25 by President Amy Gutmann and Provost Wendell Pritchett.

Under Dean Kumar’s leadership during the previous six years, the school’s strategic plan, Penn Engineering 2020, has catalyzed growth across all of the school’s dimensions, especially in engineering health, computer and information science, and energy science and technology. Dean Kumar and the Penn Engineering community continue to focus their collective efforts on critical areas of school-wide importance, including diversity, equity, and inclusion; collaborative and translational research; and pedagogic innovation in online learning and investment in educational technologies.

“Penn Engineering has achieved truly remarkable growth under Dean Kumar,” said President Gutmann. She cited growth in its preeminent faculty, adding 44 new tenure-track faculty from 2015 to 2020; modernization and growth in its physical campus, highlighted by the soon-to-come Data Science Building; growth in student selectivity and diversity; growth in cross-school, interdisciplinary partnerships, with prominent examples including the Penn Center for Health, Devices and Technology (Penn Health-Tech); energy science and technology initiatives; growth in innovative new degree programs, most notably the first-of-its-kind online Master of Computer and Information Technology (MCIT); and student entrepreneurship programming.

“Under Dean Kumar’s exemplary leadership, the school’s response to the pandemic was nothing short of heroic,” President Gutmann said. “Students banded together to manufacture and mass produce critical, life-saving PPE; researchers developed diagnostics, treatments, and therapeutics in partnership with Penn Medicine and other health science schools; and faculty members reconfigured hundreds of longstanding courses for a virtual format.”

Provost Pritchett said, “We believe that Dean Kumar is exceptionally well-positioned to lead Penn Engineering through an exciting period of growth and as it continues its ascent to international preeminence.”

Dean Kumar’s reappointment was recommended by a Review Committee chaired by Erika James, dean of the Wharton School. The committee conducted informational interviews and conversations with various members of the faculty, staff, student body, and alumni community and held open meetings for faculty, staff, and students within the school. The committee also examined a comprehensive selection of data and documents concerning the school, including detailed budget, enrollment, and employment data.

At its stated meeting on June 11, Penn’s Board of Trustees passed a resolution to reappoint Dean Kumar.

Boris Striepen, professor of pathobiology at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet), an internationally recognized parasitologist, has been named the Mark Whittier and Lila Griswold Allam Professor of Microbiology and Immunology.

Dr. Striepen has an extraordinary record of scholarly accomplishments. His research program focuses on Cryptosporidium parvum, which causes cryptosporidiosis, a zoonotic disease causing diarrhea in millions of children and adults each year, especially in low-resource countries with poor-quality drinking water. Dr. Striepen seeks to understand the biology of Cryptosporidium and its interaction with the host immune system by using innovative strategies for genetic manipulation of both. He is currently PI on three NIH grants and co-PI on one, and received funding through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation from 2015 to 2020.

“Dr. Striepen’s scientific work has resulted in over 140 peer reviewed publications in high-impact journals that include Nature, Cell Host and Microbe, Nature Microbiology, and PNAS,” said James “Sparky” Lok, interim chair of the department of pathobiology and professor of parasitology. “His outstanding achievements have garnered him numerous awards, including the 2017 William Trager Award from the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, and have made him highly sought after by editorial boards for top journals such as Eukaryotic Cell and PloS Pathogens, and as a reviewer for Science and other top-flight journals.”

Following a postdoctoral fellowship with David Roos at the department of biology in the School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Striepen’s early career advanced at the University of Georgia from assistant professor to associate professor to professor and then to endowed distinguished research professor in the departments of cellular biology, microbiology and biochemistry, and molecular biology. He also served as a prominent faculty member at the University of Georgia’s Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases. Dr. Striepen joined Penn Vet’s department of pathobiology in 2017 as a professor of pathobiology.

The awarding of a named, endowed professorship is the highest honor bestowed upon a faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania and reflects excellence in scholarly achievement. The Mark Whittier and Lila Griswold Allam Professorship was established in 1980 by Elizabeth R. Moran in honor of Mark Allam, who was Penn Vet’s eighth dean and co-founder of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons.

The University of Pennsylvania has announced the appointment of Alanna Shanahan, C’96, as the T. Gibbs Kane, Jr., W’69, Director of Athletics and Recreation, starting July 19, 2021.

“We set out to bring to Penn a trailblazing leader in intercollegiate athletics and that is exactly what we have with Alanna Shanahan,” said Penn President Amy Gutmann. “Alanna has the vision, experience, expertise, and energy to ensure that Penn Athletics continues its commitment to excellence both on and off the playing field. For nearly two decades, Alanna proudly donned the Red and Blue as a student athlete, coach, and administrator. Today, we are thrilled to welcome her back home to Penn.”

Dr. Shanahan is currently Vice Provost for Student Affairs at Johns Hopkins University. She served there from 2016 to 2019 as director of Athletics and Recreation. At Penn, she was deputy director of Athletics and senior women’s administrator from 2013 to 2016 and executive director of the Penn Relays from 2011 to 2016, capping an almost-twenty-year career at Penn that she began as assistant (and then interim head) women’s lacrosse coach. She played women’s lacrosse as an undergraduate anthropology major in the Class of 1996 and went on to earn an EdD and MS in higher education administration from Penn’s Graduate School of Education, all while working as an assistant, associate, and senior associate athletic director.

“Alanna Shanahan is the ideal leader to chart the future of Penn Athletics and Recreation,” said Provost Wendell Pritchett. “She has been a dynamic member of our community for more than half her life—across a brilliant career that brought her from Captain and MVP of the women’s lacrosse team to deputy director of Athletics and executive director of the Penn Relays. She has a deep understanding of the role of athletics and recreation in our shared life on campus, which will be invaluable as we emerge from the pandemic together in the years ahead.”

“It’s an honor to return to Penn, a University and athletics department with a storied history which continues to excel today,” Dr. Shanahan said. “Penn provides student-athletes with an unrivaled experience—an outstanding education coupled with the opportunity to achieve competitive excellence. As a former Penn student-athlete, coach and administrator, there is no place I’d rather be. The opportunity to lead a program that had such a profound impact on my life is a dream come true.”

As deputy director of Athletics, Dr. Shanahan managed all aspects of Penn’s highly successful 33-sport intercollegiate athletics program—with direct oversight of the football, basketball, and lacrosse programs—including recruiting, budgeting, Title IX compliance, academic services, and alumni relations. As director of Athletics and Recreation at Johns Hopkins from 2016 to 2019, she oversaw the University’s 24-sport athletic program, leading it to the most successful years in the school’s history, with 37 conference titles and three consecutive top ten finishes in the Learfield IMG College Directors’ Cup standings, including a second-place finish in the 2018-2019 academic year.

At Johns Hopkins, Dr. Shanahan has made a priority of advancing the academic and personal development of student-athletes, creating the first full-time directorship of Student-Athlete Success and launching a leadership development program for student-athletes. As Vice Provost for Student Affairs at Johns Hopkins since August 2019, she has continued to focus on student well-being, developing a new Hopkins Student Center, expanding the O’Connor Center for Recreation and Well-Being, leading the University’s efforts to reimagine the student experience during the pandemic, and managing all aspects of academic, residential, and extracurricular university life for more than 8,000 graduate and undergraduate students.

“President Gutmann, EVP Carnaroli, and I are deeply grateful to the Advisory Committee who helped us arrive at this outstanding result, as well as to all the members of the Penn community who offered their ideas and to Rudy Fuller for his exceptional service as interim director,” said Provost Pritchett. “We look forward to working together under the exciting leadership of Alanna Shanahan in the years ahead.”

William Adelman has been named the new Executive Director of Student Health and Counseling, effective July 1. This position was created to support the further integration of Penn’s clinical services.

Dr. Adelman has more than two decades of experience in adolescent medicine.He joins Penn from his most recent role as division director of Adolescent Medicine at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. Dr. Adelman previously served as chief of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine and chief of Pediatric Primary Care Services at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, deputy commander of clinical services at Kirk U.S. Army Medical Health Clinic, and as the adolescent medicine consultant to the U.S. Army Surgeon General. In addition to many other prominent leadership positions, Dr. Adelman is an accomplished academician and a professor in the department of pediatrics at the University of Missouri Kansas City School of Medicine.

Dr. Adelman has published on varied subjects, including quality adolescent health care, adolescent risk behavior, tobacco use and cessation, and marijuana.  He has served on numerous national committees, including the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine subcommittee on Alcohol and other Drugs (chair), the Department of Defense/Veterans Administration committee on tobacco use cessation, and the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Adolescence. Dr. Adelman is a retired United States Army Colonel.

“We are thrilled to be welcoming Dr. Adelman to our Wellness team at Penn,” said Benoit Dubé, Associate Provost and Chief Wellness Officer at Penn. “His unique and extensive experience in adolescent medicine will be a tremendous addition to our already expansive clinical team, further broadening our abilities to provide a full spectrum of comprehensive wellness services to our diverse student body.”

In his role at Penn, Dr. Adelman will assist the current leadership team in advancing its ongoing transformative initiative to integrate physical and behavioral health clinical services to create a new, all-inclusive Student Health and Counseling Services (SHCS). This position will oversee departments that provide comprehensive, world-class physical, mental, and behavioral health services that nurture the resilience and success of the more than 26,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students at Penn.

“I am honored to join such a stellar group at Penn and to assist with the holistic approach to health and wellbeing to maximize wellness and achievement for all students in all aspects of life,” said Dr. Adelman. “I have dedicated my professional career to improving the health and wellness of adolescents and young adults from diverse backgrounds and in a range of settings, and I look forward to continuing that passionate pursuit while at Penn. I am also thrilled to return to Philadelphia where I can agonize over the Eagles with friends and relatives and unabashedly root for the Phillies, Flyers, and Sixers!”

This year, the Graduate School of Education (GSE) is honoring faculty members for their service to students. This award goes to faculty who have gone above and beyond to assist, support, and/or mentor students during this academic year. Those honorees are:

Yumi Matsumoto, an assistant professor in the educational linguistics division, is an expert on English as a lingua franca—a shared language used among speakers with different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. She is particularly interested in how multilingual speakers use multimodal communication practices—such as gestures, laughter, and actions—to resolve miscommunication. Dr. Matsumoto is also interested in studying how second language teachers develop professionally through the lens of sociocultural theory.

Rand Quinn, an associate professor in the division of teaching, learning and leadership, is affiliated with the division’s educational leadership program. He is a faculty affiliate with the educational policy division and the education, culture, and society program and is a senior researcher at the Consortium for Policy Research in Education and a faculty affiliate of the Center for the Study of Race and Equity in Education. Dr. Quinn teaches courses on the politics, organization, and leadership of education.

Sharon M. Ravitch is a professor of practice in the teaching, learning and leadership division. She is the principal investigator of Semillas Digitales, a school-based program in the coffee-producing regions of Nicaragua that aims to give students digital literacy. Dr. Ravitch’s scholarship integrates the fields of education, qualitative research, educational anthropology, human and organizational development, psychology, and business. Dr. Ravitch earned two master’s degrees from Harvard University and received a Fulbright Fellowship. She has published seven books.

Amy Stornaiuolo, an associate professor in the division of literacy, culture and international education, examines adolescents’ multimodal composing practices, teachers’ uses of digital technologies, and shifting relationships between authors and audiences in online, networked spaces. More broadly, her work centers on how to create equitable and accessible learning opportunities for young people by examining how they draw on diverse cultural and linguistic repertoires as they participate in richly literate lives. In prior work, Dr. Stornaiuolo has taught post-secondary composition and reading at the college level and conducted research on reading/writing relationships, the social construction of remediation, and learning transfer across contexts.

Krystal Strong is an assistant professor in the literacy, culture, and international education division. Dr. Strong’s research and teaching focus on student and community activism, the cultural and political power of youth, new media and popular culture, and the role of education as a site of political struggle, with a geographic focus on Africa and the African Diaspora. As a scholar and active organizer in the city of Philadelphia, her hometown, Dr. Strong brings a commitment to local communities and the lessons of activism to bear on her scholarship and pedagogy.

Penn Dental Medicine faculty members were honored for excellence in teaching by the Class of 2021. Each academic year, the graduating class recognizes members of the faculty who have had a significant impact of their educational experience.

This year’s awards and recipients included the following:

The Basic Science Award

This award is presented for excellence in teaching within the basic sciences. This year’s recipient is Michael Speirs, a lecturer in the department of basic & translational sciences. Dr. Speirs has been teaching at Penn Dental Medicine since 2006 and a member of the Penn faculty since 1996. Since the most recent redesign of the Penn Dental Medicine curriculum, Dr. Speirs has taught systemic and clinical anatomy across the two-year basic science track and directed both the first-year and second-year cadaveric anatomy lab courses. This was the third time Dr. Speirs has received this award, also having been honored in 2020 and 2015.

The Robert E. DeRevere Award

This award is presented for excellence in preclinical teaching by a part-time faculty member. The award is named in honor of Robert DeRevere, a member of the Penn Dental Medicine Class of 1945 who served on the school’s faculty.

This year’s recipient is Frank Smithgall, C’79, D’83, a clinical associate professor of restorative dentistry who has been a member of the school’s part-time faculty since 1984. Dr. Smithgall lectures in preclinical courses, and for the past six years, he has been course director of “Partial Removable Dental Prosthesis.” This is the seventh time Dr. Smithgall has been recognized with this award, also receiving it in 1990, 2010, 2011, 2016, 2018, and 2020.

The Joseph L. T. Appleton Award

This award is presented to a part-time faculty member for excellence in clinical teaching. This year’s recipient is Alan Nathanson, a clinical assistant professor of restorative dentistry. Dr. Nathanson has been part of the school’s clinical faculty since 2012.

The Appleton Award is named in honor of Joseph Appleton, a 1914 alumnus of Penn Dental Medicine, who served as dean of the school from 1941 to 1951. The award was founded in 1979 by Abram Cohen, a member of the Class of 1923 and father of Dean Emeritus D. Walter Cohen, Class of 1950.

The Earle Bank Hoyt Award

This award is presented for excellence in teaching to a faculty member who is a Penn Dental Medicine graduate. The award was established by a grateful patient in honor of Dr. Hoyt, a distinguished clinician and educator and member of the Class of 1918.

This year’s recipient was Frank Setzer, GD’06, MS’07, D’10. Dr. Setzer is an assistant professor of endodontics and director of the predoctoral endodontics program and the Endodontic Clinic. He teaches endodontic courses/seminars in both the pre- and postdoctoral programs. This is the second year in a row that Dr. Setzer has been recognized with this award.

The Senior Outstanding Teaching Award

This award is presented to a faculty member who has gone beyond the scope of their responsibilities to significantly impact the class’s education at Penn Dental Medicine. This year’s recipient is Artur Kofman, director of laboratory affairs and the Office of Laboratory Affairs supervisor for the clinical labs at the school; this is the fifth year in a row that he is recognized with this award. Mr. Kofman has been sharing his knowledge and expertise in dental lab work with students as a member of the school’s staff for the past 20 years.

Among his responsibilities, he coordinates students’ lab work at the school with commercial laboratories and vice versa, guides dental students in lab-related technical issues, and provides hands-on assistance as needed for minor adjustments to dental appliances in a chair-side setting. In addition, he operates the newly established 3D printing lab for fabricating 3D models, occlusal guards, and surgical guides.

We announced the salary guidelines for the upcoming academic year in Almanac at the end of March (Almanac March 30, 2021). Since then, we have continued to monitor the economic landscape and the University’s financial outlook. Based on this assessment, we are revising the salary guidelines to further increase the merit pool.

The University’s merit increase program is designed to recognize and reward the valuable contributions of faculty and staff to the University’s commitment to the highest levels of excellence in teaching, research and administration by paying market competitive salaries in a fiscally responsible manner.

Revised Faculty Increase Guidelines

Below are the standards for faculty increases that the Deans are asked to follow. The Deans will give the department chairs their own guidelines at the school level regarding available resources.

• The minimum academic salary for new assistant professors will be $74,050.
• Merit increases for faculty should be based solely on performance as evidenced by scholarship, research, teaching and service to the University and the profession. As in previous years, there will be no cost of living increase for continuing faculty.
• The aggregated merit increase pool for faculty will be 3.0 percent. Some schools and centers may have financial constraints that can only support budget growth of less than 3.0 percent. Salary increase recommendations that are below 1.0 percent for non-meritorious performance, as contrasted with general limits applied to an entire class of faculty, must be made in consultation with the Provost. Likewise, salary increases that exceed 5.0 percent must also be made in consultation with the Provost. Deans may wish to give careful consideration to salary adjustments for faculty who have a strong performance record but whose salaries may have lagged behind the market.

Revised Staff Increase Guidelines

Presented below are the merit increase guidelines for July 1, 2021.

• This year’s aggregate salary increase pool is 3.0 percent for staff. The merit increase range is zero to 5.0 percent.
• Monthly, weekly, and hourly paid staff members are eligible for a merit increase if they are regular full-time, regular part-time or limited service status employees, and were employed by the University on or before February 28, 2021. The following groups are not covered under these guidelines: student workers, interns, residents, occasional and temporary workers, staff on unpaid leave of absence, staff on long term disability, and staff who are covered by collective bargaining agreements.
• The merit increase program is designed to recognize and reward performance. The foundation of this program is the Performance and Staff Development Plan. Salary increases should be based on performance contributions within the parameters of the merit increase budget. The Performance Appraisal System documents each employee’s performance and contributions and establishes performance goals for the new fiscal year. All employees must receive Performance and Staff Development Plans for the next review cycle, whether or not they receive merit increases. Schools and centers were requested to submit performance appraisals by June 1, 2021. The Division of Human Resources’ Staff and Labor Relations team is available to discuss performance management issues.
• Merit increases should average no more than 3.0 percent for staff and may average less if a school or center establishes a lower percentage merit pool based on financial considerations.  The aggregated salary increases within a school or center may not exceed 3.0 percent regardless of performance rating distributions. Performance expectations should be raised each year as employees grow in experience and job mastery. Performance ratings and raises should reflect a normal distribution for all employees. Employees with unacceptable performance are not eligible for a merit increase.
• There will be no bonuses, in keeping with the elimination of discretionary bonuses announced in prior years.

The Division of Human Resources Compensation office is available to discuss specific merit increase parameters with schools and centers.  Staff and Labor Relations team members are available to discuss performance management issues.

—­Amy Gutmann, President
—Wendell Pritchett, Provost
—Craig Carnaroli, Executive Vice President

The following holidays will be observed by the University in the upcoming fiscal year (July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2022) on the dates listed below:

• Independence Day, Monday, July 5, 2021 (observed)
• Labor Day, Monday, September 6, 2021
• Thanksgiving, Thursday and Friday, November 25 & 26, 2021
• Christmas Day, Friday, December 24, 2021 (observed)
• New Year’s Day, Friday, December 31, 2021 (observed)
• Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Monday, January 17, 2022
• Memorial Day, Monday, May 30, 2022

To the University Community:

Each year, the President, Provost and Executive Vice President assess the feasibility of observing Penn’s traditional Special Winter Vacation. Thus, the Special Winter Vacation granted to faculty and staff will be December 27, 28, 29, and 30 2021. If an employee is required to work to continue departmental operations for part or all of this period, the Special Winter Vacation can be rescheduled for some other time.

Staff members who are absent from work either the work day before a holiday, the work day after a holiday, or both days, will receive holiday pay if that absence is charged to pre-approved paid time off or to sick time substantiated by a written note from the staff member’s health care provider.

Vacations and holidays for hospital employees or those staff members in collective bargaining units are governed by the terms of hospital policies or their respective collective bargaining agreements.

—Division of Human Resources

NOTE: This has been updated to include the Juneteenth holiday. Visit https://almanac.upenn.edu/volume-68-number3#update-to-the-recognized-holidays-for-fiscal-year-2022 for the latest version.

A team of neuroscientists led by Michael Kahana, the Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Term Professor of Psychology and director of the Computational Memory Lab, has launched a $3.4 million project aimed at developing and testing new therapeutics for treating memory loss in patients with traumatic brain injury. The project, sponsored by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC) and awarded through the Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium, will fund clinical studies of neurosurgical patients at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, UT Southwestern Medical Center, the University of Texas at San Antonio, Emory University, and Dartmouth University. It will also support basic research on electrophysiological biomarkers of memory at Penn and technology development at Nia Therapeutics, a team of visionary scientists, engineers, and medical device experts dedicated to improving human memory using safe, secure neurotechnology.

The project builds on a recently completed $24.5 million DARPA-funded study. Dr. Kahana, principal investigator of both the completed and present study, explained, “Our prior work demonstrated that stimulating the brain precisely at moments when memory is predicted to fail can boost memory by 18-20 percent. By evaluating the longer-term impacts of closed-loop brain stimulation on both memory and physiology, and also fabricating a prototype of a fully implantable device, this project will bring us closer to a therapy for treating memory loss in patients suffering from traumatic brain injury or neurological disease.” Although the present vision is to develop an implantable technology to treat memory loss, another objective of this effort is to evaluate the potential of decoding memory lapses non-invasively with a net of electrodes placed on the scalp.

Brain stimulation has recently emerged as an effective therapy for Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, and certain forms of hearing and visual impairments. Researchers are now evaluating the potential use of implanted brain stimulators to treat other indications such as depression and obsessive-compulsive disorders. “Our team’s recent studies demonstrate that closed-loop brain stimulation could provide a life-changing therapy for patients with memory loss,” said Dr. Kahana. “The present USAMRDC project hopes to bring that vision closer to reality.”

José A. Bauermeister and Antonia M. Villarruel are leading one of 10 research teams from across the country that received National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants totaling $14 million to extend the reach of the NIH’s Community Engagement Alliance (CEAL) Against COVID-19 Disparities. The Philly CEAL team was awarded $1.4 million from the NIH, with additional support from Penn Nursing and the University of Pennsylvania, bringing the total funding for the project to $1.53 million. The team includes researchers Penn Medicine, Annenberg School for Communication professors John Jemmott and Andy Tan, and researchers at the Philadelphia Department of Public Health and Philly Counts.

“The toll of the pandemic among racial/ethnic populations in Philadelphia cannot be understated. Alongside the stark morbidity and mortality COVID-19 estimates reported by the city, racial/ethnic minorities in Philadelphia have also been most likely to experience job loss, income reduction, and decreased access to social resources,” said Dr. Bauermeister, the Albert M. Greenfield Professor of Human Relations and chair of the department of family & community health in Penn Nursing. “As a result, we have witnessed deepening health inequities in our communities. The Philadelphia CEAL project is an opportunity to coordinate evidence-based planning efforts to address COVID-19 inequities in Philadelphia.”

CEAL’s mission is to create a multisectoral coalition in Philadelphia focused on identifying opportunities and evaluating ongoing COVID-19 strategies to mitigate disparities across COVID-19 testing, vaccine uptake, and therapeutics. Together, the Philly CEAL team will propose and evaluate strategies that meet the needs of people hardest-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, including African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, Asian Americans, and Native Americans/Alaska Natives, with the goal of building long-lasting partnerships and improving diversity and inclusion in Penn’s research response to COVID-19.

“We are excited to be working with the City of Philadelphia Public Health Department, Philly Counts, our partners across Penn, including Penn Medicine and the Annenberg School for Communication, and community members,” said Dean Villarruel, professor and Margaret Bond Simon Dean of Nursing. “We will work to synergize efforts to address the disproportionate impact of COVID 19 on underserved communities.”

Over the next year, CEAL researchers will work with community leaders, trusted organizations, and experts familiar to diverse communities across Philadelphia to strengthen a local response to COVID-19. Philly Counts will help provide materials and support to the grantees to ensure the greatest impact on communities. As teams within the CEAL Alliance personalize these outreach strategies, they will also share their findings with each other and the broader community of those working to move the country past the pandemic.

Using data collected from Philadelphia residents, city epidemiologic data and trends, and feedback from communities, the Philly CEAL team will propose programs that align with the needs of the community, synergize existing efforts across the city, and evaluate new COVID-19 initiatives as they are rolled out in Philadelphia.

In alignment with the city’s goal to vaccinate Philadelphians against COVID-19, the Philly CEAL coalition’s efforts will facilitate access to COVID-19 testing and vaccines and promote participation in COVID-19 therapeutic trials among underserved communities in the region. “The use of community-engaged research is central to the success of our project,” said Dr. Bauermeister. “We must be ready to bring to the table leaders from the community, healthcare systems, community health and social support agencies, the private sector, universities, faith-based institutions, philanthropy, and policy and advocacy groups. With their voices and support, we can continually pivot and respond to the shifts in the pandemic, and consider its short- and long-term impact in our community.”

CEAL is an NIH-wide effort co-led by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI).

With support of a multi-year gift from Penn National Gaming, Inc., the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School has announced the launch of the Harold Cramer Memorial Scholarship Program. The gift, which takes the form of a multi-year $100,000 commitment, and scholarship program will support the Law School’s Post-9/11 GI Bill Yellow Ribbon Program, which provides financial assistance to veterans pursuing a juris doctor degree.

The Yellow Ribbon Program is a provision of the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008, under which the Department of Veterans Affairs matches school aid contributions made to eligible veterans. In recognition of the importance of service, the Law School has created a learning environment that is ideal for students who seek a career in public service and which supports the unique perspective of law students who have served in the military. It provides support to students making the transition from military to civilian life and encourages those with service backgrounds to apply.

“The Harold Cramer Memorial Scholarship Program underlines the Law School’s continued dedication to service,” said Law School Dean Ted Ruger. “Harold Cramer, L’51, was a giant in his field, and I can think of no better way to honor his legacy by supporting servicemembers [who] desire to pursue a degree in the law at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School.”

Upon graduation from the Law School, Mr. Cramer was drafted into the U.S. Army and sent to Korea as a commissioned officer. He later attended the Judge Advocate General’s School and became the chief prosecutor for the Eighth Army in Korea. He was ultimately awarded a Bronze Star for his service, as well as the Korean Service Medal with three battle stars, the United Nations Korea Medal, the National Defense Medal, and the Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation (twice).

Following his military service, Mr. Cramer worked as a lawyer specializing in corporate and commercial law. He was a highly influential and iconic member of the Philadelphia legal and business community until his passing in 2017.

“We are proud to establish the Harold Cramer Memorial Scholarship Program in honor of one of Penn National Gaming’s original and most beloved board members,” said Jay Snowden, President and CEO of Penn National Gaming. “As a distinguished veteran, past president of the Law School’s Alumni Society and a longtime generous benefactor to the Law School, I know helping other young veterans pursue a law degree at his alma mater is something Harold would have loved.”

“Supporting our nation’s heroes is a personal passion of mine and it’s one of Penn National’s top priorities, which extends to our recruitment efforts, team member recognition and ongoing charitable and community support,” said Mr. Snowden.

With the nation’s largest and most diversified regional gaming footprint, including 41 properties across 19 states, Penn National Gaming continues to evolve into a highly innovative omni-channel provider of retail and online gaming, live racing and sports betting entertainment.

University of Pennsylvania Vice President of Information Technology & University Chief Information Officer Tom Murphy approved a consolidation of IT Security related policies into an IT Security Policy and IT Security Standard. Effective immediately, the new policy and standard replace the following policies:

• Computer Security Policy
• Information Systems Security Incident Response Policy
• Mobile Device Encryption Policy
• Web Application Security Policy
• Policy on the Definition of a PennName
• Policy on PennNames Compliance
• Policy on Requirements for Authenticated Access at Public Jacks, Kiosk, Wireless Networks, and Lab Computers on PennNet
• Policy on Server-Managed Personal Digital Assistants (PDS’s)

The consolidation, while not introducing any substantial new requirements, modernizes and clarifies requirements for managing and securing Penn information technology infrastructure.

The IT Security Policy and IT Security Standard may be accessed at:

https://www.isc.upenn.edu/ITPC/sec-standards
https://www.isc.upenn.edu/ITPC/security-policy

Questions regarding the IT Security Policy and IT Security Standard may be addressed to Nick Falcone, executive director of Information Security & University Information Security Officer, nfalcone@upenn.edu.

—Information Systems and Computing

June 8, 2021

Our country has recently witnessed a deeply disturbing increase in anti-Semitism and instances of prejudice and bigotry directed toward people of Asian or African descent and other diverse groups. This is wholly unacceptable anywhere. It is all the more unconscionable in a free and educated nation that anyone should fear for their safety or be forced to endure the vile rantings and sickening symbols of bigotry.

Penn is deeply committed to ensuring that every member of our community feels safe and supported. No individual or group­—whether defined by race, nationality, gender identity, sexual orientation, or religion—should be subjected to intimidation or hostility. Hatred has no place on our campus or in our world. It is inimical to our values, and it is time for all of us to stand up to the hatred and to speak out against the prejudice that infects too much of society.

We are extraordinarily proud of the strong, vibrant, and diverse communities that we have at Penn. Differences of religion, race, nationality, sexual orientation, or gender identity and myriad other individual and group identities are critical in shaping a richly informative and innovative educational landscape. A diverse and inclusive campus is an essential part of who we are and aspire to be as a learning community. The past year has been one of the most challenging in our nation’s history. At all times, but especially in this difficult time, we want to assure every member of the Penn community of how much we value their presence at Penn, how fully we support them, and how deeply committed we are toward doing everything in our power to create a more just and inclusive society—one that rejects discrimination and bigotry and champions inclusion.

By working together, Penn is doing its part to meet the challenge of a worldwide pandemic. More remains to be done here at home and across the globe. We must also work together to defeat the diseases of hatred, prejudice, and bigotry. There can be no higher priority for us as a university.

—Amy Gutmann, President
—Wendell Pritchett, Provost
—Craig Carnaroli, Executive Vice President
—J. Larry Jameson, Dean, Perelman School of Medicine and Executive Vice President University of Pennsylvania for the Health System

June 1, 2021

As we look ahead to a vibrant fall semester with a full resumption of in-person teaching, research, and University operations, maintaining a safe and healthy environment for the entire Penn community remains our highest priority.

Vaccine Requirement

The single most important measure each of us can take to protect ourselves along with those on campus and in our surrounding communities is to get vaccinated against COVID-19. With well-grounded confidence in the safety, effectiveness, and broad availability of COVID-19 vaccines, we previously announced that all students are required to be vaccinated for the fall semester with exemptions provided only for medical and religious reasons.

Today we are announcing that all current faculty, staff, and post-doctoral trainees are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 no later than August 1, 2021. Employees of Penn’s health schools must follow any additional school-specific guidelines.

In the next two weeks, we will launch a simple process in Workday for all employees and post-doctoral trainees to record their COVID-19 vaccination status securely and confidentially. Vaccinated faculty, staff, and post-docs should enter their vaccination information by July 1. When the process launches, you will receive step-by-step instructions and reminders on how to complete this task in Workday. New hires and those vaccinated after July 1 should update their record as soon as possible.

Effective July 1, individuals who have recorded being fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in their Workday record will be exempt from regular Penn Cares screening testing. Individuals who report their vaccination status after July 1 will be exempt thereafter. Penn Cares testing remains a highly effective public health tool on campus. We thank those of you who have been participating diligently throughout the fall, spring, and early summer semesters. 

We recognize that some individuals will choose not to obtain vaccines for medical and religious reasons, and some may choose not to disclose their vaccine status. Faculty, staff, and post-doctoral trainees who are not fully vaccinated will be required to continue to participate in daily symptom checks on PennOpen Pass and weekly Penn Cares screening testing, as well as to continue to wear masks indoors.

Vaccine Availability

There is clear evidence that vaccines are both safe and highly effective at stopping the spread of COVID-19. More than 1.7 billion vaccine doses have been administered worldwide and half of the adult population in the U.S. are vaccinated. The protection provided by the vaccines is proven to be very high. Unvaccinated individuals, however, still have a high COVID-19 case rate.

COVID-19 vaccines are now widely available through most retail pharmacy chains such as CVS, Rite Aid, and Walgreens. You can also visit vaccines.gov to find a location near you or use a link on your Green PennOpen Pass to call the Penn Medicine COVID-19 Vaccine Scheduling Hotline for assistance.

Other Safety Measures

As we previously announced, for gatherings, classes, meetings, and returning to the office, we will follow the guidance of the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. The City of Philadelphia will lift physical distancing restrictions on June 2. Accordingly, classrooms, labs, and other University spaces will be used at 100 percent capacity.

While requirements for mask use while outdoors on campus for those who are fully vaccinated were lifted last week, mask use has been shown to be an effective disease prevention tool. Eventually, mask use will not be required indoors, but it will remain an effective preventative measure, especially during cold and flu season. 

Beginning July 1, use of PennOpen Pass will be required just for employees who have not reported their vaccine status. PennOpen Pass will support testing compliance and daily symptom checking for those individuals, but it will no longer be used to enter campus buildings. Vaccinated individuals should expect to return to pre-pandemic conditions while on campus. We are actively evaluating when we can phase out other campus health measures instituted in the wake of the pandemic. These timetables will depend upon the widespread vaccination of our employees.

For more than a year, we have all worked tirelessly to fulfill our mission of delivering exceptional education and research, while keeping the Penn community and those around us safe from illness. We have followed the science and the guidelines established by federal, state, and local authorities. Vaccines have proven to be safe and highly effective in preventing hospitalizations, death, and the spread of the virus. Getting vaccinated and recording your vaccination status are the next and most critical steps in our collective efforts to end this crisis and return to normalcy.

We look forward to seeing you on campus very soon.

—Amy Gutmann, President
—Wendell Pritchett, Provost
—Craig Carnaroli, Executive Vice President

David Frederick Babbel, a professor emeritus of business economics and public policy and a professor of finance in the Wharton School, passed away on May 20 from complications of leukemia. He was 72.

Dr. Babbel was born in 1949 in Salt Lake City and spent his youth in Arlington, Virginia. From 1968 to 1970, Dr. Babbel served a mission in Brazil for the Church of Latter-Day Saints. Afterward, he graduated from Brigham Young University and then earned a PhD in finance from the University of Florida, as well as PhD certificates in Latin American studies and tropical agriculture. From 1976 to 1977, Dr. Babbel studied inflation and indexation in Brazil on a Fulbright Scholarship.

In 1978, Dr. Babbel joined the faculty of the Haas School of the University of California at Berkeley as an assistant professor of finance. Seven years later, he came to Wharton as an associate professor of finance and risk management and an associate professor of insurance. In 1993, he became a full professor of insurance, and four years later he became a professor of risk management and finance. During 2001 and 2002, Dr. Babbel was also a group speaker in Wharton’s executive education department. While at Penn, Dr. Babbel conducted influential research, publishing over 130 peer-reviewed papers. In 1997, he spoke before Congress in opposition of a bill that would result in mutual insurance policy-holders losing their ownership stake as company executives got rich; he also spoke and presented his research before district courts all over the country. His research delved into the fields of finance, investments, risk management, insurance, and international finance. In 2002, Dr. Babbel retired from Penn and took emeritus status.

The same year, Dr. Babbel accepted a missionary position in Brazil and spent the next three years overseeing more than 500 missionaries there, experiences he later wrote about in his book Mine Angels Round About You. When Dr. Babbel returned to the U.S. in 2006, he joined Charles River Associates as a senior advisor to the Finance Group and Insurance Economics Practice. During his academic career, Dr. Babbel briefly served as a vice president of the pension and insurance department at Goldman Sachs from 1987 to 1988, as well as a senior financial economist at the World Bank in 1995. Dr. Babbel received many awards and honors during his career, including Wharton’s William G. Whitney Award for Distinguished Teaching in 2003 (Almanac May 6, 2003).

Outside of the academic, business, and religious spheres, Dr. Babbel was an avid Phillies fan and was immensely proud of his children and grandchildren.

Dr. Babbel is survived by his wife, Mary Jane; their four children, Tara Haglund (Evan), Elise Hahl (Oliver), Karisa McAllister (John), and Tyson; and 13 grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that friends and family consider donating blood to the Red Cross.

Ei-ichi Negishi, Gr’63, the Herbert C. Brown Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at Purdue University, passed away on Sunday, June 6. He was 85.

Dr. Negishi, who was born in Japanese-ruled Manchuria and completed dissertation work under Penn professor of chemistry Allan Day in 1963, won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2010. The prize recognized his research in using palladium complexes as catalysts to link together carbon molecules into larger, more complicated structures (Almanac October 12, 2010). Dr. Negishi shared the Nobel Prize with Richard Heck of the University of Delaware and Akira Suzuki of Japan’s Hokkaido University. Dr. Negishi was the seventh Nobel laureate with ties with the Penn chemistry department.

Anne Schacht Lee, a researcher at Penn and a lecturer at Penn’s School of Nursing, died peacefully on November 17, 2020, at home in Atlanta, Georgia. She was 91.

Dr. Lee was born in Philadelphia in 1929, the youngest of five children. She attended the University of Pennsylvania on a full academic scholarship and graduated in 1950. While at Penn, she met Everett S. Lee, and they were married in 1950. She later got a PhD in demography, also from the University of Pennsylvania. 

In 1953, Dr. Lee was hired as a research investigator at Wharton Population Distributions. From 1956 to 1957, she was an instructor in the department of sociology of Penn’s School of Arts and Sciences. In 1960, she became a research associate at the Greenfield Center for Human Relations (now the Greenfield Intercultural Center). Three years later, she became a lecturer in Penn Nursing, teaching in Penn’s Hospital Contract Program. She held this position until 1965. After teaching at Penn, Dr. Lee taught at the University of Massachusetts and the Medical College of Georgia.

As a sociologist specializing in demography, Dr. Lee conducted influential research in the field of public health. She worked with colleagues in the field from around the world. Outside of academia, Dr. Lee was a lifelong Girl Scout—she was a Scout, a troop leader, and a member of the organization’s local and national boards. 

Dr. Lee is survived by her children, Deborah Lee (John), John Lee (Deb), and Sarah Lee; four grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, contributions in Dr. Lee’s memory may be made to the Girl Scouts USA. Checks should be made payable to GSUSA and mailed to GSUSA Fundraising, P.O. Box 5046, New York, NY 10087-5046.

Anthony C. Ruggerio, GD’62, an assistant professor of periodontics at Penn Dental Medicine, passed away peacefully in his home on January 17, 2021. He was 93.

Dr. Ruggerio grew up in Hammonton and Camden, New Jersey. He served in the U.S. Navy at the close of World War II and attended college through the GI Bill, then attended dental and post-doctoral school, including a graduate degree from Penn Dental in 1962. He joined the faculty at Penn Dental the same year as an instructor in the department of periodontics. He moved upward, becoming an associate instructor and then, in 1969, an assistant professor of periodontics. Dr. Ruggerio’s research was widely published; he also had a practice in Haddonfield, New Jersey. In 1976, he scaled back his teaching at Penn Dental, becoming an adjunct professor (still in the department of periodontics), but later became an assistant clinical professor, an associate clinical professor, and a clinical associate in the department before leaving Penn in 1990. 

Dr. Ruggerio was an avid music lover and played saxophone and clarinet in the Haddonfield Community Philharmonic and Marching Band, which marched in an annual 4th of July parade. He was also a skier, dog lover, and lifelong Eagles fan.

He is survived by his children, Mark (Vanessa Morenzi), Bonnie Guistwhite, Cynthia (John Anooshian); and two grandchildren. A service was held on January 21. 

At the University of Pennsylvania Board of Trustees (virtual) Stated Meeting on Friday, June 11, 2021, David L. Cohen presided over his last meeting as Chair. The meeting began with an invocation led by Charles Howard, Vice President for Social Equity and Community and University Chaplain, before Mr. Cohen presented his final Chair’s Report.

After formally acknowledging Lee Spelman Doty as the incoming Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees, Mr. Cohen thanked her and Robert Levy for their service as co-chairs of the Power of Penn campaign. During her Vice Chair’s report, Ms. Doty read a resolution to elect Scott L. Bok as Chair of the Board of Trustees, effective July 1, 2011, which was approved.

Vice Chair and incoming Chair Scott L. Bok then presented a resolution of appreciation for David L. Cohen and to re-elect him as Charter Trustee, which was approved. Mr. Cohen thanked everyone for their support, friendship, and enthusiastic engagement on behalf of Penn. He expressed gratitude at being a part of the Penn family.

During the Nominating Committee Report, Mr. Cohen presented resolutions to elect the Executive Committee and the Investment Board, as well as to re-elect Marc J. Rowan as Term Trustee and to elect Harlan M. Stone as Term Trustee, which were all approved.

President Amy Gutmann said Commencement was a memorable occasion and a precursor to the fall semester, which will bring the Penn community back together on campus. She highlighted the extraordinary efforts Penn contributed to understanding the COVID-19 virus and the creation of COVID vaccines. She then presented a resolution to re-appoint Vijay Kumar as Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science, a resolution to appoint Craig R. Carnaroli as Senior Executive Vice President, and a resolution to appoint Whitney Soule as Vice Provost and Dean of Admissions, which were all approved.

Senior Executive Vice President Craig Carnaroli gave the financial report; Executive Vice President for the Health System and Dean of PSOM J. Larry Jameson gave the Penn Medicine Report; and Interim Dean of Admissions John McLaughlin reported on the record number of applications received for the Class of 2025.

President Gutmann thanked Dr. Jameson and his team for their work to protect Penn and the greater community during the COVID-19 pandemic through the provision of testing, expert care, and vaccine administration.

The Trustees then heard committee reports. David Ertel, chair of the Academic Policy Committee, presented resolutions to establish a Master of Advanced Dental Studies in the School of Dental Medicine and to adopt the Revised Patent and Tangible Research Property Policies and Procedures of the University of Pennsylvania, both of which were approved.

Dhananjay Pai, chair of the Budget and Finance Committee, presented 14 resolutions, all of which were approved.

Chairs of the Audit and Compliance; Development; Facilities and Campus Planning; Local, National and Global Engagement; and Student Life Committees presented, as did the President of Penn Alumni.

Before adjourning, Mr. Cohen presented 16 resolutions of appointments to Penn Medicine and other boards, all of which were approved.

For more information, visit https://secretary.upenn.edu/trustees-governance/open-trustee-meeting.

The next Trustees meetings will be held on September 23, 2021.

The Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) at Penn has awarded doctoral candidate Lauren Bridges a 2021-22 Graduate Fellowship for Teaching Excellence.

CTL Graduate Fellows are nominated for their teaching excellence by their schools or departments across the University and then chosen in a highly selective process by CTL. Between 10 and 14 fellows are typically chosen each year.

CTL’s Graduate Fellowship for Teaching Excellence program honors graduate students who are dedicated to excellent teaching and is designed to foster conversations about teaching in order to help graduate students develop as teachers. Graduate Fellows organize and facilitate teaching workshops in their departments and across the University, observe graduate students teaching and offer feedback, and meet regularly as a fellows group to discuss teaching practices.

Ms. Bridges, who was previously recognized for her teaching excellence with the Annenberg School’s 2019 James Woods Award, has served as a teaching fellow for three courses at Annenberg and has taught a summer section of COMM 130 as the instructor of record.

Ms. Bridges researches the material and discursive entanglements of digital infrastructures in the (re)production of state and corporate power and pays particular attention to the stories we tell about technology and its imagined futures. Her work has been published in New Media & Society, Big Data & Society, and Information, Communication & Society, and she has received awards and honorary mentions from the International Communication Association, the National Communication Association, and the Association of Internet Researchers. She holds an MA in creative writing, publishing, and editing from the University of Melbourne and a BA in business from Queensland University of Technology.

Rachel French, a postdoctoral fellow in the National Clinician Scholars Program at Penn Nursing and Penn Medicine, has been named a 2021-22 American Academy of Nursing (AAN) Jonas Policy Scholar.

Dr. French will participate in a two-year experience focused on mentoring, policy, and engagement. Through professional development with the National Policy Mentoring Council (NPMC), in-depth policy discussions, and an immersion session with prominent stakeholders, Dr. French and her cohort will hone their skills to impact change. The cohort members will work closely with the AAN’s policy staff and NPMC to promote the policy priorities and strategic plan of the Academy. This AAN program is funded by a generous grant from Jonas Nursing and Veterans Healthcare, one of four impact areas within Jonas Philanthropies.

Dr. French’s research seeks to identify ways to equitably improve the care and outcomes of people who use drugs by determining the best strategies to successfully implement evidence-based practices in hospital and community settings. As a Jonas Policy Scholar, she is focused on eliminating regulatory barriers to care for people who use drugs while mitigating the racial, ethnic, and geographic disparities that currently exist.

The Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy has awarded research fellowships to the following Penn undergraduates for projects to be begun in the summer of 2021 and completed during the 2021-2022 academic year:

Maya Essimel (Philosophy Politics and Economics), for “A Reevaluation of Judicial Ethics in Light of Emerging Social Media Phenomena”

Ruijun Liu (Communication), for “Persuading Climate Skeptics with Causal Explanations: Evidence from a Large Survey Experiment”

Brendan Lui (Political Science), for “Kept Down and Locked Out: Comparing the Exclusion of Racial and Ethnic Minority Workers in the Skilled Construction Sectors of Denmark, Italy, and the United States”

Claire Nguyen (History), for “(Dis)placed: A History of Vietnamese Refugee Americans in San Jose, California, 1975-1999”

Chinaza Ruth Okonkwo (Philosophy), for “Igbo Enwe Eze: Towards an Indigenous Igbo Conception of Democracy”

Kaitlyn Rentala (Philosophy, Politics and Economics), for “Analyzing Modern Day Surveillance Capitalism Through the Rawlsian Basic Structure”

Denali Sagner (History), for “Defense, Capitalism, and the Cold War’s Fallout in Alabama’s ‘Model City’”

Julie Sohnen (Political Science), for “More Than Just a Spy: Jonathan Pollard and the ‘Special Relationship’”

Eden Vance (History), for “Evaluating The Legacy of the Boer Wars in Edwardian-Era Reforms”

Nikita Zinzuwadia (Health & Societies), for “Criminal Justice, Mass Incarceration, and COVID-19: Understanding Prison Health and Prison Health Activism in the United States”

Penn’s Asian American Studies Program (ASAM) has announced the winners of the 2021 Dr. Rosane Rocher Prize in Best Undergraduate Essay in Asian American Studies.

This year the prize goes to Amanda Oh for her essay “Auntie’s First Days” and Lydia Ko for her essay “Weak Lungs but a Strong Heart.”

Amanda Oh is a sophomore from Los Angeles, CA. She is in the College of Arts and Sciences studying urban studies, with particular interests in criminal justice and migration.

Lydia Ko is a junior from Los Angeles, CA studying design and cognitive science in the College of Arts and Sciences. She hopes to pursue a career working in animation once she graduates, and use visual storytelling to continue to share the journeys and experiences of members within Asian communities.

The recipients of Penn’s inaugural Projects for Progress prize have been named. Each winning team will receive up to $100,000 to implement an initiative that will make a positive impact on the city of Philadelphia by working towards one or more of the following objectives: eradicating or reducing systemic racism, achieving educational equity, or reducing health disparities based on race, gender, sexual orientation, and/or social determinants of health. Penn students, staff, and faculty submitted applications.

Shelter Health Outreach Program—Community Family Care Clinic

The team will establish a Community Family Care Clinic (CFCC) at the People’s Emergency Center in West Philadelphia, focused on offering prenatal, women’s, and pediatric healthcare twice weekly by professional providers. In partnership with Sayre Health Center, Penn Medicine, and Chosen 300, a homeless advocacy organization, CFCC will combat health disparities in Philadelphia’s homeless and underserved populations through consistent, community-centric care.

• Evelyn Gotlieb, Wharton 2021—undergraduate, concentration in healthcare management and policy, minor in chemistry
• Junduo Liu, College of Arts & Sciences 2022—undergraduate, double major in biochemistry and health & societies, minor in bioethics
• Michael Hagan, College of Arts & Sciences 2022—undergraduate, major in neuroscience
• Ian McCurry, Perelman School of Medicine 2022—doctor of medicine program
• Deepti Tantry, College of Arts & Sciences 2022—undergraduate, major in neuroscience, minor in healthcare management
• Mentor: Joseph Teel, Perelman School of Medicine—associate professor of clinical family medicine and community health

Bridging Gaps and Building Capacity: Student and Educator Supports for School Reopening in Learning Network 2

To help mediate the effects of the global pandemic, this initiative will address elementary students’ school readiness and teachers’ instructional capacity and mental health needs by providing evidence-based programming and professional development at one or two summer learning sites in West Philadelphia, followed by network-wide professional learning supports throughout the 2021-2022 academic year.

• Caroline Watts, Graduate School of Education—director, Office of School & Community Engagement; senior lecturer, professional counseling programs
• Diane Waff, Graduate School of Education—professor of practice; director, Philadelphia Writing Project
• Zachary Herrmann, Graduate School of Education—executive director, Center for Professional Learning
• Marsha Richardson, Graduate School of Education—senior lecturer, human development & qualitative methods
• Regina Bynum, the Netter Center for Community Partnerships—director of teaching and learning, University-Assisted Community Schools

A Collaborative Initiative to Renovate and Optimize the Cobbs Creek Community Environmental Center

Through major renovations, updated instrumentation, and additional environmental justice-focused STEM programming, this initiative will enhance the Cobbs Creek Community Environmental Center and its K–16+ collaborative learning opportunities. The team has engaged with key stakeholders in the West Philadelphia community to identify and prioritize their needs and goals.

• Erica DePalma, the Water Center—research program coordinator, Earth and environmental science
• Chinedu “Ocek” Eke, School of Engineering and Applied Science—director of graduate student programming, Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
• Anna Balfanz, the Netter Center for Community Partnerships—senior research coordinator
• Cooper Yerby, School of Arts & Sciences 2023—doctoral program in Earth and environmental science

César de la Fuente, a Presidential Assistant Professor in psychiatry, microbiology, chemical & biomolecular engineering, and bioengineering, has been recognized with the 2021 Princess of Girona Foundation Scientific Research Award by the Princess of Girona Foundation.

The honorary chairman of the foundation, King Felipe VI of Spain, announced the honor during a ceremony on April 29.

Dr. de la Fuente was selected for his leadership and achievements in the field of computational biology as principal investigator of Penn’s Machine Biology Group, which aims to develop new antibiotics using computers to fight antibiotic resistance.

Terence P. Gade, an assistant professor of radiology and co-director of the Penn Image-Guided Interventions Lab, received the 2021 RRA New Investigator Award from the Association of University Radiologists during its 69th annual meeting. The award is given to a clinician-scientist in their early to mid-career who is on their way to becoming an independent investigator.

Michael Harhay, an assistant professor of epidemiology and pulmonary & critical care medicine, was selected by the Assembly on Critical Care of the American Thoracic Society to receive the assembly’s Early Career Achievement Award. The award is given to an individual who has made outstanding scientific contributions in clinical, translational, or laboratory-based research relevant to critical care.

Penn Medicine’s Center for Connected Care received the national 2021 Quality and Practice Innovation Award from the Society of General Internal Medicine, which recognizes practice innovations that lead to gains in quality through safety, efficiency, equity, and patient focus, among other areas. The Center for Connected Care is jointly led by Ann Huffenberger, the director of operations, and Krisda Chaiyachati, the medical director of the center’s Penn Medicine OnDemand virtual practice.

Jason Moore, the Edward Rose Professor of Informatics, was elected a member of the International Statistical Institute (ISI). The ISI is a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization that has had consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations since 1949.

Penn Medicine earned a FutureEdge 50 Award for the Conversation Connect project. This project redesigned a clinical workflow with a machine-learning algorithm that automatically flags patients who would benefit most from a timely conversation about their end-of-life goals and wishes and prompts clinicians to have these conversations before patients’ illnesses progress too far. The project was led by Penn Medicine’s Predictive Healthcare Team and the Abramson Cancer Center and was executed by a cross-disciplinary team of oncologists, clinical informaticists, human factors scientists, data scientists, and software engineers, resulting in an improved patient care experience and the reduction of missed opportunities for important conversations.

Avery Posey, an assistant professor of pharmacology in the department of systems pharmacology and translational therapeutics, received a $200,000 V Scholar grant from the V Foundation for Cancer Research, funded by the foundation’s Stuart Scott Memorial Cancer Research Fund. The award recognizes researchers from the Black community, which is underrepresented in scientific research. Dr. Posey’s research focuses on novel immunotherapies for multiple myeloma. In addition, he received the Lustgarten Foundation-AACR Career Development Award in Pancreatic Cancer Research, given in honor of the late Congressman John Lewis, at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Marco Ruella, an assistant professor of hematology-oncology and scientific director of Penn Medicine’s Lymphoma Program, received a Clinical Investigator Career Development Award from the Lymphoma Research Foundation (LRF).

Richa Kapoor, a postdoctoral fellow in Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine, also received a fellowship grant from the LRF as part of its new Health Equity Initiative, which is devoted to breaking down barriers women and researchers of color may face while navigating a career in lymphoma research and addressing inequities in the care and treatment of lymphoma patients.

Joseph M. Serletti, Henry Royster-William Maul Measey Professor in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and chief of plastic surgery, received the 2021 Johns Hopkins School of Medicine’s Distinguished Medical Alumnus Award from the Johns Hopkins Medical & Surgical Association. The award honors Johns Hopkins alumni who have demonstrated unique dedication and leadership through their personal and professional accomplishments.

Alisa Stephens-Shields, an assistant professor of biostatistics, has been named an inaugural member of the Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies (COPSS) Leadership Academy. The COPSS intends membership in the new academy to be one of the highest honors given to early-career statistical scientists.

Russell T. Shinohara, an associate professor of biostatistics, was selected as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association (ASA). The ASA is the world’s largest community of statisticians, the “Big Tent for Statistics.” It is the second-oldest continuously operating professional association in the country.

Catalin Susztak, a professor of renal-electrolyte and hypertension in the department of medicine, was awarded the Alfred Newton Richards Award by the International Society of Nephrology for her outstanding basic research in nephrology. Dr. Susztak has made fundamental discoveries toward defining critical genes, cell types, and chronic kidney disease mechanisms. She was instrumental in defining genetic and epigenetic transcriptional changes in diseased human kidneys. She has identified novel kidney disease genes and demonstrated the contribution of Notch signaling and metabolic dysregulation to kidney disease development.

Senior Vice Provost for Research Dawn Bonnell and the Office of the Vice Provost for Research have announced the 2021 cohort of Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellows for Academic Diversity, the largest cohort in the program’s history.

Designed to help postdocs advance their careers while enriching the community of scholars at Penn and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), the fellowship program has supported more than 70 postdocs across nine of Penn’s schools and at CHOP since its launch in 2010. Half of these fellows have gone on to positions in academia while the remaining have found careers in industry, nonprofits, and government.

“As the new cohort begins their fellowship, we are hopeful that, while advancing their own research and scholarship, they will form the necessary connections to spread the ideals of this program at Penn within their field as well as in the broader community,” said Vice Provost Bonnell. “Additionally, we hope that their experience at Penn positions them for success in the future that will inspire future generations.”

During the three-year fellowship period, postdocs conduct research while participating in training and development to enhance professional skills. New programming and networking events have recently been added to augment the fellows’ research and scholarship activities and to help prepare the postdocs for the next step in their careers.

This year’s cohort, with the majority beginning their fellowships in July, will work across the School of Arts & Sciences, Perelman School of Medicine, School of Nursing, Annenberg School for Communication, and School of Engineering and Applied Science.

The 2021 Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellows for Academic Diversity are:

Tiffany Joyce Huang will be working with Wendy Roth in the School of Arts & Sciences. Dr. Huang’s research is on race and immigration, with a particular focus on the second-generation children of Asian immigrants.

Joanna Medina, who aims to investigate the epigenetic mechanisms of neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders, will be working in the lab of Penn Medicine’s Zhaolan Zhou.

Onome Osokpo will be working in the School of Nursing with Mary Naylor. Dr. Osokpo’s research will examine the individual, cultural, and systemic factors that affect self-care behaviors, such as diet and nutrition, sleep, and physical activity, and the use of health care services in the U.S.

Daphne Penn will complete her book project, The American Dream Deferred, exploring the educational response to the growing population of unaccompanied minors in the U.S., under the supervision of Emilio Parrado and Roberto Gonzales in the School of Arts & Sciences. She will also extend her research on intergroup relations and the politics of demographic change in new immigrant destinations.

Paulina Inara Rodis will work with Sarah J. Jackson from the Annenberg School. Dr. Rodis’ research expands scholarship on digital media, inequality, and identity to examine how women of color perceive and respond to racism and sexism in online networks.

Vinitha Rangarajan will use network models of the brain to study how perception changes during the human lifespan while working with Penn Engineering’s Danielle Bassett.

Daniel Sanchez will be working with Robert Carpick in Penn Engineering. His project will use nanoscale mechanical probes to study the formation of 2D pleats: tiny, folded structures made from materials that are mere atoms thick.

Jaclyn Welles aims to understand how insulin controls sugar and fat metabolism in animal models of diabetes and liver disease. While working in the lab of Paul Titchenell at the School of Medicine’s Institute for Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism, Dr. Welles’ research will help uncover new signaling pathways that could lead to novel therapies to treat metabolic disease.

Kaitlyn Werner will be working with Angela Duckworth in the School of Arts & Sciences. Her research considers how factors like context, timing, and motivation shape what strategies people choose to regulate their life goals and how successful those strategies are in both the short- and long-term.

Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellows for Academic Diversity each receive a stipend of $54,000 a year in their first year with $2,000 increases during the second and third year. In addition, fellows receive annual allowances for travel and research and a relocation expense of as much as $5,000 if they are moving to Philadelphia from elsewhere.

Al Filreis, Kelly Family Professor of English and faculty director of the Kelly Writers House, announced the names of undergraduate students at Penn who received RealArts@PENN internships for the summer of 2021. RealArts is directed and associate directed, respectively, by Mingo Reynolds and R.J. Bernocco. In addition, Anthony DeCurtis is the faculty director of the RealArts program and creator of the series of RealArts events and symposia at the Kelly Writers House, co-sponsored by Creative Ventures.

Journalism, Publications & Print

Downtown Bookworks Publishing (New York City)—Anna Collins
The Flathead Beacon (Montana)—Skye Lucas
Library of Congress (Washington D.C.)—Wes Matthews
McSweeney’s & The Believer magazine (San Francisco)—Lizzy Lemieux
Philadelphia Magazine (Philadelphia)­—Navya Janga
Pitchfork Media (New York City)—Kelly Liu, Sue Park

Museums

Morgan Library and Museum (New York City)—Leo Gearin
The Museum of the Moving Image (Astoria, NY)—Jessica Bao

Television & Film

Artists First (New York City)—Justin Cohen
Brooklyn Films (Los Angeles)—Ilyse Reisman
David Stern and Stuart Gibbs, Writers (Los Angeles)—Paola Camacho
FilmNation (New York City)—Melody-Susan Kulaprathazhe
Grandview (Los Angeles)—John Anderson,  Sammy Gordon
Monami Productions (Los Angeles)—Amanda Oh
ViacomCBS: Creative + Strategy (New York City)—Amanda Bello

Theater

1812 Productions (Philadelphia)—Melannie Jay

In 2021, Penn’s School of Social Policy & Practice (SP2) established the SP2 Social Justice Scholars Program, which cultivates a distinct and impactful learning environment for cohorts of students of color while eliminating the financial burden of a graduate education at Penn. The program offers full-tuition scholarships and specialized, rigorous academic programming for incoming students—with a preference for those graduating from historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and minority-serving institutions (MSIs). Now, the first cohort of three SP2 Social Justice Scholars has been announced. These exceptional students—Gianni Morsell, Paloma Brand, and Skye Horbrook— bring unique and varied backgrounds and passions to SP2 and are ardently eager to continue their pursuits of social innovation, impact, and justice—within the Penn community and beyond.

Gianni Morsell, who is completing a degree in political science at Morgan State University in Baltimore, initially planned to become a lawyer. After a number of internships, she worked in a law office. But then, Ms. Morsell and others noticed that many students, staff, and faculty at their institution were dealing with food insecurity, both on and off campus. They came up with a plan to develop an on-campus food pantry and assembled a committee to do so.

“We worked together to develop the Morgan State Food Pantry, which we later renamed to the Morgan State Food Resource Center because we noticed how ‘food pantry’ has a negative connotation—it’s a dreary place where people go to get prepackaged food, and they don’t really get to pick out what they want all of the time,” Ms. Morsell said. “We wanted the Food Resource Center to be more innovative.”

Ms. Morsell, who is entering SP2’s nonprofit leadership (NPL) program in the fall, found out about the SP2 Social Justice Scholars Program through one of her professors. “What really stood out to me about SP2 was that they dedicate a lot of their resources to issues faced in the African American community, and you don’t see that in a lot of other college campuses,” she said. Ms. Morsell views her time as a scholar as a clear continuation of working on the social justice issues that matter most to her.

“Food insecurity in the African American community is really important to me because we should all be granted the same opportunities,” she continued. “There’s always more work that needs to be done, and that’s what I want to do as a Social Justice Scholar— make sure that people get the resources they need, especially in the African American community.”

Paloma Brand, an incoming Social Justice Scholar, completed her undergraduate studies in criminology and criminal justice at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, Texas. Ms. Brand originally envisioned going into the law enforcement field but became more drawn to social theories and criminal theories. Ms. Brand completed an internship with the child support division of her local attorney general’s office before graduating in 2019.

“When I was looking for jobs, most were correctional jobs at juvenile prisons and things like that. I wanted to be in more of a helpful position, so I started working at a shelter for kids in foster care called St. PJ’s, and worked there for about a year,” Ms. Brand said. “I didn’t know much about foster care before that, but I learned a lot there about children in foster care and became really invested in that population, so I started pursuing a career in that and became a case manager at a child placing agency called A World for Children, which is where I work currently.”

She originally applied to Penn’s master of science in criminology program, but deferred a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While researching the program further, Ms. Brand came upon SP2’s master of social work (MSW)/MS in criminology dual degree program.

“I was leaning more toward the social work route anyway, so I thought that would be a really good fit for me, and that’s why I applied,” she explained. “I’m excited to connect with people who are also interested in social justice and learning about more ways to promote social justice, because I’ve mainly been on the volunteering end.” Ms. Brand, who previously volunteered with groups such as the Interfaith Welcome Coalition, looks forward to volunteering with SP2 and Penn-affiliated organizations in Philadelphia, particularly those focused on child welfare.

Skye Horbrook graduated with a degree in computer science from Bowie State University in Bowie, Maryland. Attending an HBCU was valuable, as she was able to learn with a community of students with similar backgrounds and cultural experiences. She describes her professional focus as advancing social impact through innovation and community engagement.

“Connecting with communities has been influential toward my career choices. I have volunteered with organizations focused in disaster management and digital equity for people of color,” she said. “I completed a service term in AmeriCorps NCCC FEMA Corps with the American Red Cross and FEMA in multiple locations across the country. I have also worked in tech-related roles at two local nonprofits in southern New Jersey.”

Ms. Horbrook, who will enter the master of science in social policy + data analytics program, was drawn to SP2 both because of the school’s mission and the social change-oriented skills and knowledge offered in the MSSP+DA curriculum.

“SP2 appealed to me as an institution that is invested in developing students that would be pillars of change in their communities. The MSSP + DA program stood out to me as an opportunity to grow as a public interest technologist,” she said. “The curriculum focuses on policy analysis, research, and evaluation skills through data processing techniques, which I value considerably. I aspire to bridge policy and data together and this program is a great fit for me as I advance in my career.”

During her time as a Social Justice Scholar and SP2 student, Ms. Horbrook looks forward to enriching students’ learning experiences by stimulating class discussions and skill development alike, forging a supportive community of students and faculty, and building on the connections that she makes at SP2.

“The social justice topics that drive me the most are digital equity, education, urban development, and disaster management,” Ms. Horbrook said. “To me, a critical part of being a Social Justice Scholar is understanding the value of connecting with communities. Through these connections, I can uplift the stories of these communities and work with them to cultivate growth.”

Over the longer term, the SP2 Social Justice Scholars Program aims to expand its recipient pool each year and fund graduate educations for 12 students over the next five years.

Martin Seligman, the Zellerbach Family Professor of Psychology in the School of Arts and Sciences and director of the Positive Psychology Center, was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences in Dublin at the 2021 RCSI School of Medicine conferring ceremony.

Dr. Seligman is recognized as the founder of positive psychology as a field of scientific study. He has written more than 350 scholarly publications and 30 books, and his methods have been adopted widely across the world in education, healthcare, and public policy. His most recent book, The Hope Circuit, published in 2018, is an autobiography and memoir of his ideas.

RCSI established an Annual Honorary Doctorate Award in 2011 to recognize excellence and to provide inspiration to graduating students on their conferring day. The Honorary Doctorate of Science is the highest academic award given by RCSI, and awardees are exceptional people who have made a difference to the world through education, research, or service.

Cathal Kelly, CEO of RCSI, said: “It is a great honour and privilege for RCSI that Professor Martin Seligman has accepted this Honorary Doctorate. Professor Seligman is a pioneer. As the founder of the field of positive psychology, he has dedicated his distinguished 55-year-long career to building our understanding of how our strengths, positive emotion, good relationships, meaning, and flourishing shapes our lives and our health.”

“His influence permeates the culture of RCSI and, inspired by his work, we launched the world’s first academic centre for positive psychology and health in 2020. He is a most deserving recipient of this Honorary Doctorate,” added Dr. Kelly.

Ethnographic studies of Black Muslim youth in Philadelphia and multilingual teachers in Morocco have earned two Penn GSE doctoral students National Academy of Education/Spencer Dissertation Fellowships.

Irteza Binte-Farid and Gareth Smail received the prestigious fellowships, which support individuals whose dissertations show potential for bringing fresh and constructive perspectives to the history, theory, analysis, or practice of formal or informal education anywhere in the world.

Irteza Binte-Farid, a joint PhD candidate in Penn GSE’s literacy, culture, and international education division and Penn’s department of sociology, was recognized for her dissertation “My Ancestors Could Do This, So I Have to Keep Going With It”: Historical Narratives, Faith Practices, and Civic Engagement amongst Black Muslim Youth in Philadelphia.

Following 30 black Muslim youth in and out of history classrooms for two years in two Philadelphia charter schools, Ms. Binte-Farid found that ethnic identities contributed to divergent interpretations of black history and the Black Lives Matter movement among African American and West African youth, while engaging in Islamic practices together created friendships that formed the basis for civic engagement.

Examples from her study can show teachers how acknowledging the diversity of Black youth’s identities can counter essentialization of Black experiences while also creating productive learning spaces. Teachers can empower students to challenge anti-Blackness and Islamophobia through historical examples. Additionally, Black Muslim students can be taught to acknowledge historical difference, find common ground with peers through racial and religious bonds, and aspire for hopeful futures where Black lives truly matter.

Gareth Smail, a PhD candidate in educational linguistics, was recognized for his dissertation, Reconciling Multilingualisms: Teacher Identity and Language Diversity in Moroccan Public Schools.

Mr. Smail examined emerging linguistic diversity in Moroccan schools, where the long-marginalized Tamazight language and so-called international languages like French and English are being taught more widely in addition to the country’s post-independence emphasis on Standard Arabic.

Mr. Smail explores the dilemmas Moroccan teachers face as they enact this new state multilingualism. His project focuses on a group of teachers tasked with introducing a new “creative” language arts program in a community with its own longstanding vernacular bilingualism. It analyzes how the teachers—as simultaneously community members, agents of the state, and aspirants to a global class of professional educators—document and describe their own multilingual pedagogical practices as they attempt to establish legitimacy for their novel project.

USRowing, the American governing body for the sport of rowing, recently announced the list of athletes who would be competing at this summer’s Tokyo Olympic Games. The list includes a Penn alumna, Regina Salmons. Ms. Salmons, C’18, was a team captain of women’s rowing during her time at Penn and will compete in the Women’s Eight. Ms. Salmons is the 15th Penn women’s rowing team member to participate in the Olympics and the third since 2000. Most recently, Susan Francia, C’04, won gold medals in both the 2008 and 2012 Women’s Eight. Ms. Salmons was a decorated athlete during her time at Penn, winning the All-Ivy and Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) All-Conference with her team in 2018 and leading Penn’s Varsity Eight to third place at the Ivy League Championship.

Penn has sent over 200 athletes to the Olympics since 1900. Penn’s most recent Olympian is Penn Law student and former Olympic figure skater Sarah Hughes, who attended the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, as part of the Presidential Delegation for the Winter Olympics, where she consulted with American athletes in a diplomatic role. No Penn athletes competed in the 2016 Summer Olympics, but in 2012, James Corner, a professor emeritus of landscape architecture in the Weitzman School of Design, helped design the Olympic grounds in London. That same year, Ms. Francia competed in women’s rowing and Aniekan Okon (Koko) Archibong, C’03, competed on the Nigerian basketball team.

Since the 1900 Olympic games in Paris, Penn students, faculty, staff and alumni have competed in the storied competition. Most of Penn’s athletes over the years have been involved in track and field or rowing events (like Ms. Salmons), but Penn has also contributed members to the swim, wrestling, field hockey, equestrian and even the modern pentathlon teams. The 1900 Paris Olympics were both the first and the most successful Olympics for Penn athletes. That year, thirteen Red and Blue athletes participated in the games to win a total of twenty-two medals, including eleven gold. The gold medal winners that year (some of whom earned multiple gold medals) include Irving Knott Baxter, L’1901; Alvin Christian Kraenzlein, GD’1900; Josiah Calvin McCracken, C’1899, M’1901; George W. Orton, G’1894, Gr’1896; and John W.B. Tewksbury, GD’1899.

Penn sent athletes to the next four Olympic games, sometimes as many as seven at a time. In 1908, Penn sent a coach to the Olympics for the first time—Mike Murphy, Penn’s head track coach. The same year, Michail Dorizas, Gr’1924, won a gold medal for his home country of Greece; he later joined Penn’s athletic staff as a coach. Four years later, Penn students Donald Lippincott, C’1915, and Ted Meredith, C’1916, set world records on the track and earned four gold medals for Penn. While Penn sent several athletes to the Olympics over the next two decades, they won few medals. In 1932, William Arthur Carr, C’33, won two gold medals—the most recent ones a Penn-affiliated track team member has earned.

However, Penn’s athletic prowess did not decline—it merely shifted to other Olympic events. In the 1936 Berlin Olympics, future Penn swim coach Jack Medica won three medals in swimming. Mr. Medica set a precedent for future Penn swimmers to dominate at the Olympics. According to the Penn Archives, from 1948 to 1988, ten Penn students and faculty served on Olympic committees and over 150 athletes earned 28 Olympic medals, including 11 crew medals and eight swimming medals. Penn students also earned medals in yachting, equestrianism, and ice hockey during this era.

As Penn’s student body diversified during the second half of the twentieth century, so did its Olympic team members. The first woman athlete with Penn ties to compete in the Olympics was Mary G. Freeman Kelly, C’52, who competed on the 1952 U.S. swimming team. In 1968, Eleanor Drye, G’74, won a gold, a silver and a bronze medal in swimming, and in 1972, crew team member Anita DeFrantz, L’77, won two bronze medals. Ms. DeFrantz, the first Black woman with Penn ties to compete in the Olympics, returned in 1976, the first year women’s rowing was a sport, and has remained involved with Olympic committees since. In 1972, Larry Dean Bader, E’72, an ice hockey player, was the first Quaker to compete in Winter Olympics games.

While Penn has ceded some of its Olympic dominance in recent years, it continues to send student, faculty, staff, and alumni athletes to compete at the international level. Since the Olympics’ reemergence at the dawn of the twentieth century, Penn has sent over two hundred athletes, coaches, managers, doctors and committee members to the Olympic Games. That number includes sixty-one crew team members, fifty-four track and field athletes, twenty-one fencers, eleven field hockey players, eight swimmers and several others in nearly a dozen other sports. Seventy-four of those athletes have won medals.

The Tokyo Olympic Games are scheduled to take place from July 21-August 8; rowing is set to run from July 23-30.

To read more about Penn athletes in the Olympics, visit https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/meet-penn-athletes-competing-tokyo-olympics.

Thanks to the University of Pennsylvania Archives for providing useful information about the history of Penn and the Olympics. For a list of all of Penn’s Olympics competitors, visit https://archives.upenn.edu/exhibits/penn-people/notables/athletics/olympics/athletes.

COVID-19 vaccines have quickly helped contain COVID-19. Scientists created a vaccine to prevent the new virus using foundational research and technology developed at Penn. Today, as we race to vaccinate more people in more places against COVID-19, the biology behind these vaccines is poised to change the world again. With the promise of a whole new class of vaccines based on mRNA, the story of this novel treatment continues at Penn, where researchers and labs are investigating other infectious diseases, including influenza and sexually transmitted infections, that could be prevented with an effective mRNA vaccine.

What are mRNA Vaccines?

COVID vaccines use messenger RNA, or mRNA, to instruct the body to produce specific proteins called spike proteins. These proteins look similar to those of the virus, and this antigen triggers the body’s immune system to create specific antibodies that can fight off the real virus should the body become exposed. Drew Weissman, a professor of infectious diseases at the Perelman School of Medicine, and Katalin Karikó, an adjunct associate professor of neurosurgery, helped pave the way for the COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna with their 2005 mRNA discoveries.

What are the Advantages of mRNA Vaccines?

“There are a few crucial benefits of using mRNA vaccines versus other types of vaccines,” said Dr. Weissman. He points out that mRNA vaccines are both easier to make and may be more effective than other types of vaccines.

As seen with the COVID-19 vaccine, it is possible to construct a new vaccine quickly: “mRNA vaccines are essentially plug and play. We believe you can change the part of the mRNA that encodes a protein, plugging in new code specific to the virus we hope to protect against, and cause one’s body to produce proteins that match that virus’ proteins. We do not have to develop and manufacture an entirely new formula.”

Another benefit is the speed at which mRNA vaccines can be made. With other vaccine types, like live attenuated vaccines (think measles, mumps, rubella vaccine) or inactivated vaccines (think flu and polio vaccines), actual pathogens must be transported and replicated during the manufacturing process, Dr. Weissman said. “This equates to faster production, which is important should a new infectious disease pop up that we need to quickly protect ourselves against.”

Both clinical trials and real-world studies investigating the capabilities of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines have shown enormous efficacy. The likelihood of contracting COVID-19 if you have been fully vaccinated with an mRNA vaccine is less than 10 percent, Dr. Weissman said. And the latest data says that if you do catch COVID-19, your symptoms will not be severe enough to require hospitalization.

“That level of protection is far greater than many other vaccines for other diseases,” Dr. Weissman said.

How Can Foundational Research Make Better mRNA Vaccines in the Future?

James Eberwine, a professor of systems pharmacology and translational therapeutics at Penn whose work largely focuses on foundational and basic research related to neurobiology, has been a long-time believer in mRNA’s promise.

“We saw that if you put the RNA from cell A into cell B, then cell B will become cell A,” Dr. Eberwine explained of experiments in his lab from decades ago. “RNA and mRNAs have a figurative cellular memory and a literal transformational quality.”

Dr. Eberwine’s work to understand how translating different RNA molecules into proteins affects different cells dates back to 27 years ago at Penn, before Drs. Weissman and Karikó’s groundbreaking research. Dr. Eberwine and his colleagues were the first to “transfect” RNA into cells when they put RNA into a region of a neuron to determine what the protein made from that RNA did in that region of the neuron.

Although the current mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines each instruct the body to make only one type of spike protein, Dr. Eberwine believes that the benefit of mRNA vaccines lies in their ability to be crafted to create several different proteins within the body, and those proteins in turn would lead to antibodies that target various aspects of invading viruses; ultimately, that means the body has different weapons to attack threatening viruses.

Among other things, he and his lab are working on developing better ways to see the shape of viral and other disease-related proteins by making solution-based protein structures rather than crystal structures. That will lead to a clearer picture of what regions of mRNA are most effective and useful as building blocks of cellular therapies and vaccines.

Vaccines for many other diseases beyond COVID-19 are already in the works. Below is a quick look at some of the mRNA research happening at Penn to fight infectious diseases.

Can mRNA Vaccines Prevent the Flu or Replace Seasonal Flu Vaccination?

Responsible for tens of thousands of deaths in the United States in a typical year, seasonal influenza is a constant source of infectious disease risk, said Scott Hensley, a professor of microbiology at Penn. Pandemics can also occur when new influenza viruses jump from animals to humans. Dr. Hensley has been developing new influenza vaccines since launching his laboratory over 10 years ago and now directs Penn’s new NIH-funded Center of Excellence for Influenza Research and Response (CEIRR).

“Influenza viruses are constantly changing,” Dr. Hensley said. “We need to develop new vaccines that elicit immunity against diverse viral strains and we need new vaccine technologies that can be updated quickly to keep up with these fast moving viruses.”

Currently, scientists and vaccine manufacturers have to study the virus and mutation trends to predict and conceive what the virus will look like in order to create new seasonal vaccines each year.

“The mRNA technology checks all the right boxes for influenza vaccines,” Dr. Hensley said. “These vaccines elicit high levels of antibodies that recognize antigenically diverse viral strains and the vaccines themselves can be updated easily.”

Together, Drs. Hensley and Weissman developed an H1N1 mRNA vaccine and found it evoked persistently high levels of antibodies in mice and ferrets. It comes down to epitopes, parts of antigens to which antibodies attach (such as the spike protein in the case of COVID-19 vaccines). Importantly, their H1N1 flu vaccine elicits antibodies that target epitopes that are conserved among many different influenza virus strains and therefore might offer universal protection against many varieties of influenza.

Small human trials studying influenza virus mRNA vaccines have already been conducted and this area is likely to expand, given the success of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines in humans.   

Can mRNA Vaccines Prevent Sexually-Transmitted Diseases?

The most common sexually-transmitted disease (STD), herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV-2) is a non-curable disease that can be painful, can increase risk of other infections (like HIV), and can be fatal to newborns and fetuses of mothers infected with the virus. Additionally, HSV-2 is often undetected.

“HSV-2 affects mental and emotional health, too,” said Harvey Friedman, a professor of infectious diseases and a HSV researcher. “Those with the disease have to worry about passing it to others and engaging in sexual relationships. And while there are treatments and ways to limit spreading the disease to sexual partners, there are no current treatments that make it completely safe to have sex with someone who has HSV-2.”

In order to address the many different negative impacts of HSV-2, Drs. Friedman and Weissman and their colleagues are developing an mRNA HSV-2 vaccine. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, a study of their mRNA herpes vaccine in mice showed that almost all mice that were vaccinated and then exposed to HSV-2 had sterilizing immunity, which meant there was no amount of the disease present in the body after the exposure.

This mRNA herpes vaccine has the potential to be so effective because it stimulates antibodies to three different HSV-2 proteins, which an mRNA vaccine easily allows.

“One antibody prevents the herpes virus from entering cells, and two others keep the virus from essentially turning off typical protective immune-system functions,” Dr. Friedman said. “Other vaccines being developed for HSV-2 elsewhere are only targeting that first antibody.”

Drs. Friedman and Weissman are on track to begin human clinical trials of their HSV-2 mRNA vaccine in 2022.

All STDs are different, so this exact vaccine for HSV-2 wouldn’t protect against other STDs, but Dr. Friedman believes that once targets are identified for other specific STDs, mRNA “may be the best way to develop an effective vaccine.”

Can mRNA Vaccines Prevent Future COVID Variants or Other Coronaviruses?

Since the COVID-19 pandemic is not over and new variants continue to emerge, vaccines like the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, which can be more easily adapted to cover new variants compared to other vaccine formats, remain valuable. Dr. Weissman’s lab is researching new formulas that may cover a wider spectrum of coronaviruses and COVID-19 variants.

The need for reliable vaccines will also continue to be a need for the foreseeable future, especially in countries with fewer financial resources.

“As we’ve seen, richer nations have been able to put money behind the manufacturing and purchasing of vaccines,” Dr. Weissman said. “But everyone deserves and needs access to COVID-19 vaccines.”

In the spring of 2020, Kiat Ruxrungtham from Chulalongkorn University in Thailand contacted Dr. Weissman and his lab asking about how Dr. Ruxrungtham’s lab, supported by the Thai government, could develop their own mRNA vaccine for COVID-19. Dr. Ruxrungtham, his colleagues, and the Thai government imagined that their citizens and people in surrounding, poorer countries would have difficulty securing COVID vaccines. They had read the research from Dr. Weissman’s lab and felt that an mRNA vaccine would work well and could be created fairly quickly.

Dr. Weissman and his lab have since collaborated with Dr. Ruxrungtham’s lab to create a brand new COVID-19 mRNA vaccine that will be manufactured specifically for people in Thailand and neighboring low-resource countries. Dr. Weissman’s lab and his Penn colleagues have supported Chulalongkorn’s efforts without compensation. Among other things, they meet with them virtually, review data and mRNA “code,” and assist with production and testing. Thailand plans to start phase 1 trials of the new vaccine there in June.

“I pursued scientific research as a career because I wanted to help people,” Dr. Weissman said. “I am not only concerned about America and our own self-interests. I want the whole world to be vaccinated. Regardless, to put this pandemic behind us, we need as many people vaccinated as possible. COVID has reiterated that we do not live in a bubble.”

Adapted from a Penn Medicine news release, April 27, 2021.

Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are ubiquitous, powering smartphones, tablets, laptops and, increasingly, electric vehicles. Making these batteries lighter, smaller, cheaper and able to charge faster, all without sacrificing performance, is therefore a major design challenge. To tackle this problem, scientists and engineers are developing new electrode materials that can store greater amounts of lithium in the same amount of space.

One promising solution is the use of alloy-type materials in a battery’s negative electrode, also known as the anode. For example, one pound of silicon—which produces an “alloy-type” anode—can store about the same amount of lithium as ten pounds of graphite, which is found in the “intercalation-type” anodes currently used in commercial lithium-ion batteries. This means that replacing the latter with the former could potentially make the anode 10 times lighter and considerably smaller.

Despite this promise, alloy-type anodes have not seen widespread adoption. This is partly because when lithium ions are inserted into the alloy-type silicon particles within the anode, those particles begin to expand and break apart, resulting in a battery that fails after only a few charging cycles. Reducing the size of these particles so their features are at the nanoscale—such as in nanoporous silicon—mitigates this kind of degradation, but the actual mechanisms at play are not fully understood.

Now, in a study published in ACS Energy Letters, Penn Engineering researchers have charted the complicated electrochemical process that occurs at the nanoscale when alloy-type anodes charge and discharge. A better understanding of the degradation behavior that is currently impeding this promising class of energy storage materials could open the door to new, more efficient battery designs.

The study was conducted by Eric Detsi, Stephenson Term Assistant Professor in the department of materials science and engineering (MSE), along with graduate research assistants John Corsi and Samuel Welborn. They collaborated with Eric Stach, professor of MSE and director of the Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter (LRSM).

As their name suggests, lithium-ion batteries store energy through an electrochemical reaction between lithium from the positive electrode, also known as the cathode, and the material in their anode. As lithium ions physically enter the spaces in the anode’s lattice during charging, they bond with that material and absorb electrons in the process; discharging the battery removes the lithium so the process can be repeated, but in the case of alloy-type anodes, also causes the anode material to grow and eventually break apart.

There are multiple intermediary steps in these processes; understanding how they differ between dense silicon and nanoporous silicon might give some hint as to why the latter better resists degradation. However, close investigation of these processes in action has been stymied by challenges in imaging the relevant silicon structures at such small scales.

“To address this challenge,” Dr. Detsi said, “we used a unique combination of transmission electron microscopy and X-ray scattering techniques to study the degradation of lithium-ion battery anodes during charging and discharging.”

“We used gold instead of silicon because gold yields better contrast during electron microscopy imaging than silicon, which allows for clear detection of the solid-electrolyte interphase surface coating, known as SEI, that forms on the gold electrode during charging and discharging,” added Mr. Welborn. “Gold also scatters more X-rays than silicon, which makes it easier to probe changes to the anode structure during those processes.”

For this study, the team used the electron microscopy facility at the Singh Center for Nanotechnology, as well as the Penn Dual Source and Environmental X-ray Scattering (DEXS) facility in the LRSM. The results from these two techniques formed a rich dataset that allowed the researchers to update the previously understood model for how this degradation process occurs.

These instruments allowed the team to identify the crucial step during discharge: the formation of a thick SEI layer on the porous gold surface. As the battery is charged again, a fresh SEI layer grows on the surface, collecting more fractured pieces of the electrode. This damage accumulates over repeated charging cycles, with large pieces of the electrode eventually splitting off and causing the battery to rapidly fail.

The researchers believe that the insights obtained for nanoporous gold have wide-ranging implications for other highly studied, promising alloy-type anode materials such as silicon and tin. Understanding the mechanisms for how these anodes degrade over time will allow researchers to design long-lasting, high-energy-density battery materials.

Adapted from a Penn Engineering story, June 3, 2021.

Exhibits

6/18    Virtual Global Guide Tour: Africa Galleries; a thought-provoking tour of the Africa Galleries led by a guide who grew up on the continent; online event; 2:30 p.m.; register: https://tinyurl.com/global-guide-june-18 (Penn Museum). 

Fitness & Learning

6/16    Dance Outside With Pride; a prideful virtual and in-person dance class; 2 p.m.; Zoom meeting; join: https://vpul-upenn.zoom.us/j/95435996859; in person, LGBT Center (LGBT Center). 

6/18    Bioengineering Juneteenth Town Hall; Juneteenth address and Town Hall meeting featuring address by Ololade Fatunmbi, U.S. Department of Defense; 11 a.m.; Zoom meeting; info: be@seas.upenn.edu (Bioengineering). 

            Master in Law Information Session for General Audiences; information session that will give an overview of the Master in Law (ML) degree; noon; Zoom meeting; register: https://tinyurl.com/law-info-june-18 (Penn Law). 

Center for Undergraduate Research & Fellowships (CURF)
Online events. Info and to register: https://www.curf.upenn.edu/curf-events

6/22    Penn Libraries: What is Information Literacy?; noon. 

Human Resources Workshops
For faculty and staff. Online events. Info and to register: www.hr.upenn.edu/registration.

6/15    30-Minute Meditation for Stress Management; noon.

           TIAA’s Financial Guide for Women; noon.

           TIAA’s Marketproof Your Retirement; 3 p.m.

6/16    TIAA’s Real Estate as a Portfolio Investment; noon.

            Managing Time and Setting Boundaries; 12:30 p.m.

            Project Management; 12:30 p.m.

            TIAA’s Overview of a Well-Rounded Retirement; 3 p.m.

6/17    6-Week Resilience and Well-Being Workshop (Week 6); noon. 

            TIAA’s Financial Housekeeping for Now and Later; noon.

            TIAA’s Transitioning From Career to Retirement; 3 p.m.

6/21    30-Minute Chair Yoga Core; noon.

6/22    Call Up Calm Mindfulness Workshop; 12:30 p.m.

Penn Libraries
Online workshops. Info and to register: https://guides.library.upenn.edu/workshops.

6/16    Introduction to Zotero: Organize Your Research and Manage Your Citations; 4 p.m.

6/22    Introduction to Mendeley: Managing and Citing Sources; 9 a.m.

Talks

6/15    Revisiting Reform: Taking Stock One Year Later; panel of speakers discuss the murder of George Floyd; 11:30 a.m.; online event; register: https://pennlaw.cvent.com/d/jmq7wp (Penn Law). 

6/17    How Scientists Invent Race; Dorothy Roberts, Penn Law; 9 a.m.; BlueJeans meeting; join: https://bluejeans.com/368827150 (CCEB). 

            How Do You Study and Teach Korea/Koreans in Literature? Youngju Ryu, University of Michigan; 8 p.m.; Zoom meeting; register: https://tinyurl.com/ryu-talk-june-17 (Korean Studies). 

6/18    International Waste Chains: Tracing the Supply Chain from Formal Waste Collection to Informal Waste-Processing; Silpa Kaza, the World Bank; Dagna Rams, University of Lausanne, Switzerland; 11 a.m.; Zoom meeting; register: https://tinyurl.com/iur-talk-june-18 (PennIUR). 

Medical Ethics and Health Policy
Online events. Info and to register: https://medicalethicshealthpolicy.med.upenn.edu/events.

6/15    Kidney to Share: The Ethics of Living Organ Donation; Martha Gershun, Jackson County CASA; John Lantos, Children’s Mercy Hospital; noon. 

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AT PENN Deadlines

The Summer AT PENN calendar is now online. Check back every week as events from across the University are added. If you or your department at Penn would like to include an event in our Summer AT PENN calendar, email almanac@upenn.edu with the details.

The Penn community is invited to the University of Pennsylvania’s Juneteenth Event, featuring Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to Be an Antiracist and Stamped from the Beginning. Dr. Kendi will speak in conversation with Erika James, Dean of the Wharton School.

The event takes place on Friday, June 18, 2021, at noon. Please visit the following link to register: https://pennprovostevents.wufoo.com/forms/zzo8son1ijlzrs/. This event is co-sponsored by the African-American Resource Center, the department of Africana Studies, the Division of Human Resources, Makuu: The Black Cultural Center, the Office of Social Equity and Community, and the Division of University Life.

Ibram X. Kendi is one of America’s foremost historians and leading antiracist scholars. Dr. Kendi is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities and the Founding Director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research. He is also the 2020-2021 Frances B. Cashin Fellow at Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. To learn more about Dr. Kendi, visit www.ibramxkendi.com. 

Registration is now open for this year’s Penn Supplier Diversity Forum & Expo. 

The 2021 Forum & Expo, which will be held on Wednesday, July 28, will be a virtual event and begin with welcoming remarks from Penn President Amy Gutmann at noon. She will be followed by Erika H. James, Dean of the Wharton School, facilitating a discussion with Janice Bryant Howroyd, founder and CEO of ActOne Group—the largest privately held, minority-woman-owned personnel company founded in the United States—on the critically important socioeconomic benefits of diverse and inclusive workplaces.

Senior Vice President for Institutional Affairs and Chief Diversity Officer Joann Mitchell and Senior Executive Vice President Craig Carnaroli will also make remarks. Attendees also can look forward to an announcement from Chief Procurement Officer Mark Mills regarding this year’s recipients of the inaugural Penn Supplier Diversity and Economic Inclusion Impact Award. 

The forum will be followed by the expo, also virtual and opening at 1:30 p.m., and will bring together local and diverse suppliers showcasing their services to Penn’s community of buyers. Local business organizations and agencies will be on hand to celebrate supplier diversity and feature their resources that are available to local, diverse businesses.

The virtual Penn Supplier Diversity Forum & Expo is hosted by the University of Pennsylvania under the auspices of the Office of the Executive Vice President, Office of Government and Community Relations, the division of Business Services, and the division of Facilities and Real Estate Services.

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 May 31-June 6, 2021. 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 May 31-June 6, 2021. 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: 9 incidents (3 robberies, 2 domestic assaults, 2 harassments, 1 aggravated assault, 1 assault) with 3 arrests were reported for May 31-June 6, 2021 by the 18^th District, covering the Schuylkill River to 49th St & Market St to Woodland Avenue.

The University of Pennsylvania’s 2021-2022 University Catalog was released on June 2, 2021 and contains information about degree programs and courses at all levels of study. Additionally, the catalog includes the Pennbook, a collection of university policies that relate to student life, the Faculty Handbook, and other important academic policies and resources.

The University Catalog can be found at https://catalog.upenn.edu.

Please send all questions and comments to catalog@registrar.upenn.edu.

Our appreciation and thanks to all who contributed to this year’s catalog.

—Catalog and Curriculum Team, Office of the University Registrar

Penn Parking would like to remind its current permit holders whose permits are currently suspended that it is time to update their parking status.

Monthly permit patrons are urged to update their permit status to either reactivate or cancel, using the online form previously provided in email communications sent on Friday, May 21 and again on Monday, June 7. Any permit holders who have not completed the online form provided by Monday, August 2 will experience an automatic cancelation of their permits.

If you have not received any of the recent emails, please contact parking@upenn.edu.

Each permit status is defined below:

• Reactivate your permit. This action will enable you to resume permit parking at your currently assigned lot/garage. Permits must be reactivated to begin no later than September 1, 2021. Payroll deductions will resume the month you begin parking.
• Cancel your permit. If you choose this option, your suspended status and parking privileges will end. You are responsible for returning any parking access credentials in your possession (e.g. - hang tag, AVI, and pedestrian door access) to the Transportation and Parking Office. You may do so when you return to campus. You may also choose to mail them to the address below:

Penn Transportation and Parking
3401 Walnut Street, Suite 447
Philadelphia, PA  19104

Other Commuting and Parking Options

To support faculty and staff exploring what commuting and parking options are available, we have implemented a new commuting information resource portal that is now available at www.upenn.edu/commuting/updates. This website connects you to important information about discounted public transit and bike commuter options, how Penn Transit can serve commuters who reside near the University, campus parking options, and other valuable resources and updates.

Customer Service Options

The Office of Transportation and Parking is your resource for questions regarding campus parking sites, rates, and availability, or any issues with point-of-sale payment in our garages or lots. Please contact our staff at parking@upenn.edu. Inquiries about the SEPTA Key Card and available transportation fare products may be directed to SEPTA Key Card Customer Service at 1 (855) 56-SEPTA [1 (855) 567-3782]. For questions regarding placing a new discounted commuter order or updating an existing one, please call Health Equity/ WageWorks at 1 (877) 924-3967 and follow the prompts.

If you have general comments or concerns you would like to provide about our commuting and parking options, please contact Business Services Feedback.

—Penn Transportation and Parking

All Penn students, faculty, and staff now have free online access to The New York Times from the Penn Libraries.

This campus-wide subscription provides digital access to nytimes.com and through tablet and mobile apps.

You will have the same customizable experience as a new subscriber, with the ability to sign up for individual newsletters, follow favorite topics, explore the historical archive back to 1851, and download the New York Times app.

This new subscription is one of numerous news resources available to you through the Penn Libraries, including subscriptions to The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The Financial Times, as well as databases such as Nexis Uni and NewsBank with full text versions of many more publications.

Learn more and activate your access.

There will be two more full issues of Almanac this summer—July 13 and August 10—before weekly issues resume on August 31 for the fall semester.

For the full publication schedule and information about submitting content, visit https://almanac.upenn.edu/publication-schedule-deadlines.