Academy of Arts & Sciences Fellows

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences has elected 175 new Fellows this year including three Penn professors. They are Charles Bernstein, Donald T. Regan Professor of English, Dr.Andrew Postlewaite, Harry P. Kamen Professor of Economics and professor of finance, and Dr.Amos Smith, Rhodes-Thompson Professor of Chemistry. “It gives me great pleasure to welcome these outstanding leaders in their fields to the Academy,” said Academy President Patricia Meyer Spacks. “Fellows are selected through a highly competitive process that recognizes individuals who have made preeminent contributions to their disciplines and to society at large.”

Guggenheim Fellows

The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has chosen 187 artists, scholars, and scientists from 3,000 applicants as Guggenheim Fellows for 2006. Four come from Penn’s faculty, and their areas of study are:

Dr. David Christianson, the Roy and Diana Vagelos Professor in Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Complexes Between Biological Macromolecules and Nonbiological Nanomolecules.

Dr. Steven Feierman, professor of history and sociology of science, Social Medicine in Africa.

Dr. Barbara Fuchs, an associate professor of Romance languages, “Moorish” Culture and the Conflictive Construction of Spain.

Jackie Tileston, assistant professor of fine arts, Painting.

Best-Book Award: Dr. Licht

Dr. Walter Licht, professor of history, along with co-author Thomas Dublin, have received the Merle Curti Prize for their book, The Face of Decline:  The Pennsylvania Anthracite Region in the Twentieth Century. The Merle Curti Prize is awarded annually by the Organization of American Historians for the best book on U.S. social, intellectual and/or cultural history.  

Binkley-Stephenson Award

Jamie J. Fader, doctoral candidate in sociology, Dr. Michael B. Katz, Walter H. Annenberg Professor of History and Dr. Mark J. Stern, professor of social policy and practice, have been selected by the Organization of American Historians (OAH) to receive the 2006 Binkley-Stephenson Award for the best scholarly article entitled “The New African American Inequality” published in the Journal of American History last June. According to the OAH, the article “is an ambitious and revealing essay exploring some of the most dramatic changes that occurred within U.S. society during the twentieth century.”

Top Young Historian: Dr. Sugrue

Dr. Thomas J. Sugrue, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Professor of History and Sociology, was named as one of the Top Young Historians by the History News Network for his research in twentieth-century American politics, urban history, and race relations. Dr. Sugrue is the author of the prize-winning book The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit.

Gairdner Foundation International Award: Dr. Brinster

Dr. Ralph Brinster, Richard King Mellon Professor of Reproductive Physiology in the School of Veterinary Medicine, will be awarded the Gairdner Foundation International Award on October 26 in Toronto. Dr. Brinster is receiving the award for his “pioneering discoveries in germ line modification in mammals.”

National Humanities Fellow: Dr. Keilen

Dr. Sean Keilen, assistant professor of English, has been appointed a fellow for the National Humanities Center for the academic year 2006-2007. Fellows work individually on research projects in the humanities, and will share ideas in seminars, lectures, and conferences at the National Humanities Center in Research Triangle Park, NC. Dr. Keilen will study The Classical Tradition in English Literature: The Friendship of the Ancients and the Moderns.

Humanism in Medicine Award: Dr. MacGregor

Biomedical Research Grant: Dr. Rader

Dr. Daniel Rader, associate director of the Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics (ITMAT), has been selected to direct a “Freedom to Discover” Unrestricted Biomedical Research Grant, which was awarded to Penn by Bristol-Myers Squibb. The Freedom to Discover Award includes $100,000 per year for five years to use in support of Dr. Rader’s research program. He is recognized for his translational research in applying basic research in pathways of cholesterol metabolism and atherosclerosis to the development of new therapeutic approaches to reduce heart disease risk.

Beacon Award for Critical Care Excellence: HUP’s Surgical Team

The Rhoads 5 Surgical Critical Care Team at HUP has been awarded the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses’ (AACN) Beacon Award for Critical Care Excellence. HUP is the only hospital in Pennsylvania to earn this recognition this spring. They were recognized for exhibiting high quality standards including exceptional care of patients and their families, as well as healthy work environments.

Distinguished Service Award: Dr. Rostain

Dr. Anthony Rostain, associate professor of psychiatry and pediatrics and director of the education department of psychiatry, will be honored with Exceptional Parent magazine’s Maxwell J. Schleifer Distinguished Service Award on Disability Awareness Night, May 9 during a Phillies pre-game ceremony at Citizens Bank Park. Dr. Rostain is recognized for his advocacy for people living with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). 

Two Sociologists Honored

At the annual meeting of the Population Association of America, sociologists Dr. Hans-Peter Kohler and Dr. Samuel Preston were presented with awards for achievements in the field of population.

Dr. Kohler,  associate professor of sociology, was honored with the Clifford C. Clogg Award for Early Career Achievement. The award honors outstanding innovative scholarly achievements of population professionals who have attained their highest professional degree within the previous 20 years.

Dr. Preston, the Frederick J. Warren Professor of Demography and professor of sociology, received the Mindel C. Sheps Award. The award, is given biennially for outstanding contributions to mathematical demography or demographic methodology.  

PolyMedix Board: Dr. Kelley

Dr. William Kelley, professor of medicine and professor of biochemistry and biophysics, has been elected to the PolyMedix Board of Directors. PolyMedix develops acute care products for drug resistant bacteria and acute cardiovascular disorders based on biomimetics—novel non-peptide small molecule drugs that mimic the activity of proteins.

Penn Pearls Awards

The Penn Pearls Teaching Awards are given annually to faculty and house staff based on votes from medical students currently in attendance. This year’s recipients are:

Dr. Todd Barton, assistant professor of clinical medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases
Dr. Colleen Crumlish, assistant professor of clinical medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine
Dr. Howard Ross, assistant professor of surgery
Dr. Gregory Tino, associate professor of medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care
Dr. Robert Weinrieb, associate professor of psychiatry
Dr. Christopher Dibble, resident in internal medicine
Dr. Jessica Dine, chief resident of internal medicine
Dr. Beau Duwe, resident in internal medicine
Dr. Dhwani Shah, resident in psychiatry
Dr. Oana Tomescu, resident in internal medicine

KSTF Fellows

Danny Hahn and Alex Joujan, both in the Masters in Secondary Education Program at GSE, were selected to be Knowles Science Teaching Foundation (KSTF) Mathematics Teaching Fellows. Both fellows have an interest in urban education and look forward to the opportunities the fellowships will provide as they continue their work with urban youth. KSTF Teaching Fellows are young men and women who have received a bachelor’s or advanced degree in science, engineering or mathematics and are committed to teaching high school science and/or mathematics in U.S. schools. The fellowship supports them professionally and financially for up to five years through a teacher preparation program to eligibility for tenure.

Four Goldwater Scholars

Four Penn undergraduates have been named Goldwater Scholars. They are: Tara Kaufmann, C ’07, Judy Liu, C ’07, Paul Scherer, C ’08, and Jonathan Singer, SEAS ’08. The Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program was established in 1986 by Congress to honor former U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater to foster and encourage excellence in science and mathematics. Each student will receive up to $7,500.

Two Truman Scholars

Kate Liberman, C ’07, and Kimberly Hsu, C ’07, were named Truman Scholars by The Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, the federal memorial to the 33rd president of the U.S., that awards up to $30,000 merit-based scholarships to college students who plan to pursue graduate degrees in public service fields.

Top 10 Most Patents: Penn

The Department of Commerce’s United States Patent and Trademark Office included Penn in the top 10 list of universities that received the most patents in 2005. Penn tied at #9 with Georgia Institute of Technology with 43 patents.

PennVention Winners

The second annual PennVention took place last month. Developed by Weiss Tech House, the competition is for student inventors looking to create, develop and legitimize their inventions. The winning teams:

Grand Prize: MuscleMorph, a revolutionary artificial muscle that is more power-efficient, lightweight and cost-effective than any other actuator that is currently used in prosthetics or robotics, developed by a team led by Howard Katzenberg, WG ’06. MuscleMorph was awarded the $5,000 grand prize along with six months free office space, amenities from the Science Center and pro bono legal consultation from Lowenstein Sander LLC to further develop the product.

Grand Prize Winner, MuscleMorph, from left to right, Kevin Galloway, Rodrigo Alvarez, Howard Katzenberg, Rahul Kothari.

Second Place Award: The second place prize of $2,500 went to the Octave Swing Trainer, led by Erik de Brun, SEAS/Grad ’06. The trainer can attach to any golf club and wirelessly transmit swing speed to a mobile phone, PDA or optional ground display. The Octave Swing Trainer also won the Paramount Rapid Prototype Award for its potential for rapid prototyping and commercialization.

Third Place Award: VuShare, led by Francisco Martin-Rayo, SEAS ’06, received $1,000 to further develop their prototype. VuShare is a product that allows two people to watch two different channels or play different video games on the same television at the same time.

QVC Consumer Innovation Prize: Dropps are innovative, premeasured dissolvable packets of super-concentrated laundry detergent, led by Kunal Bahl, W ’06, received $2,500 and a one-hour meeting with a QVC buyer.

Lowenstein Sandler Legal Mentoring Award: Fire Retardant Paint, a team led by Jonathan Hefter, W ’09, developed a method for making an acrylic resin that is flame retardant and self-extinguishing.

Wharton Business Plan Winners

The student team MuscleMorph won the $20,000 grand prize as part of activities at the annual Wharton Venture Finals on April 25. The team presented a plan to supply advanced motors that power movement of damaged muscles for, among other users, the 1.8 million amputees in the U.S. (see PennVention)

Second prize winner, IntelliStem’s concept focused on a medical device that can prevent bone loss for orthopedic implant patients.

Third prize winner, Home-Base was rewarded for its plan to create a call center “community” with spouses of active military personnel as agents.

The teams claimed over $70,000 in combined cash and in-kind prizes. For more on the WBPC winners see www.bpc.wharton.upenn.edu/.

Penn Prize for Excellence in Teaching by Graduate Students

The Penn Prize for Excellence in Teaching by Graduate Students was established in 2000 to recognize the profound impact graduate students have on undergraduate education at Penn. Nominations for the award come from the undergraduates. Ten prizes are awarded annually. A reception was held on April 18 at the Graduate Student Center, where President Amy Gutmann and Deputy Provost Janice Bellace congratulated the winners and extended thanks as well to all of the other TAs cited for their outstanding efforts by the 189 undergraduates who submitted nominations. The 2006 awardees are:

Faye Allard, Sociology
A. Rahman Ford, Political Science
Rebecca Arvary, Chemistry
Kevin Galloway, Mechanical Engineering & Applied Mechanics
Erin Buckley, Physics & Astronomy
Andrew Knight, Management
Christa Cesario, Anthropology
Emily Ogden, English
Kristin Doughty, Anthropology
John Roper, History

Front row (left to right): Deputy Provost Janice Bellace, Erin Buckley, President Amy Gutmann, Christa Cesario, Kristin Doughty.
Back row (left to right): Faye Allard, Rebecca Arvary, Rahman Ford, Kevin Galloway, Emily Ogden, Andrew Knight, John Roper.

Wistar Journalism Award: Ms. Trivedi

The winner of the 2006 Wistar Institute Science Journalism Award is freelance science writer Bijal Trivedi who won for her article “Slimming for Slackers,” in the October 1 issue of New Scientist magazine,  which explored a new area of science investigating the complex bacterial ecology of the gut and its implications for understanding metabolism and managing health, particularly the growing epidemic of obesity. The award and cash prize of $5,000 will be presented to Ms. Trivedi at a ceremony in Philadelphia on June 9.