Honors & Other Things

Women of Color Awards

For the 18th consecutive year, Penn and the Health System celebrated Women of Color Day by recognizing the talents and achievements of a diverse group of women in the Penn community whose special commitment and dedicated service to their workplace or the Delaware Valley, have made a difference. The singular accomplishments of the following women were recognized at the  Women of Color at Penn Awards Program on March 4.

Faculty/Staff Award: Kusum Soin, office coordinator, Pan-Asian American Community House.

Graduate/Professional Student Award: Teresita Hurtado, School of Social Work ’05.

Undergraduate Student Award: Sabrina Austin, Wharton ’05.

Helen O. Dickens Lifetime Achievement Award: Bertilla Heggs Adams, nursing coordinator, Nursing Network Center, Penn School of Nursing and full-time nurse at HUP.

Recognition was  given to the achievements of the five top-ranking female students graduating this June from neighboring  high schools:

• Dashay Love, Motivation High School;
• Wahnee Brown, Overbrook High School;
• Chantelle Harper, Parkway Gamma High School;
• Chinyere Ebo, University City High School;
• Sylvia Ennels, West Philadelphia High School.

Medicine’s Pilot Projects

Six faculty members have been awarded funding through the department of medicine’s new Pilot Project Program, which was initiated to provide funding to support seed grants for collaborative research projects. The goal is to provide researchers from the department of medicine the opportunity to develop research projects that reach beyond the scope of a single investigator.

The recipients are:

Dr. Ian Frank, associate professor of medicine, division of infectious diseases, “The Relationship Between HIV Phenotype and Chemokine Receptor Expression in Gastrointestinal Lymph Tissue;”

Dr. Peter Groeneveld, assistant professor of medicine, division of general internal medicine, “Paradigm Shifts and the Dynamics of Healthcare Technology Diffusion;”

Dr. Angela Haczku, research assistant professor of medicine, division of pulmonary, allergy and critical care, “Role and Regulation of the Epithelial Innate Immune Molecules SP-D and RELM-b in Models of Th2-type Inflammation;”

Dr. Terri Laufer, assistant professor of medicine, division of rheumatology, “Dendritic Cell-CD4 T Cell Interactions During Th2 Differentiation;”

Dr. Muredach Reilly, assistant professor of medicine, division of cardiology, “Bariatric Atherosclerosis Regression Study;” and

Dr. Gary Wu, associate professor of medicine, division of gastroenterology, “Host Metabolic Response to Intestinal Nematode Infection.”

Benjamin Franklin Medal: Dr. Joshi

Dr. Aravind K. Joshi, Henry Salvatori Professor of Computer and Cognitive Science and co-director, Institute for Research in Cognitive Science, has received the 2005 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science.

The Award Citation reads: “The 2005 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science is awarded to Aravind Joshi for his fundamental contributions to our understanding of how language is represented in the mind, and for developing techniques that enable computers to process efficiently the wide range of human languages. These advances have led to new methods for computer translation.”

Dr. Joshi is a world leader in the interdisciplinary research that covers linguistics, cognitive science and computer science. His theoretical insights regarding the structure of human language, and the resulting tools and techniques he developed, help us understand how we communicate and allow us to interface with technology more naturally. 

He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

Dr. Klein’s Birthday Symposium

Dr. Michael L. Klein, Hepburn Professor of Physical Science and director of Penn’s Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter, was honored with a symposium at the American Chemical Society’s annual conference, March 13-17 in San Diego. The symposium was held to celebrate Dr. Klein’s 65th birthday and featured talks by Klein’s peers in the field of molecular simulation, including many of Dr. Klein’s former group members. “There are few greater—and more fitting—ways to honor a man such as Michael Klein than by demonstrating outright what a an amazing impact he has made among his colleagues,” said Dr. Larry G. Sneddon, professor and chair of Penn’s department of chemistry. “We are all deeply indebted to him for his pioneering work and his role in training a generation of researchers.”

Young Alumnus: Dr. Hennessy

Dr. Sean Hennessy, assistant professor of biostatistics and epidemiology, will receive the Young Alumnus Award for 2005 from the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia on May 7. This award is bestowed annually upon an alumnus who has received his degree within the last 15 years and who has contributed in an outstanding fashion to the professions, to science and/or mankind. Dr. Hennessy received his B.S. and PharmD. from Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science (now the University of the Sciences) and his MSCE in 1996 and Ph.D. in epidemiology in 2002, both from Penn’s School of Medicine.

Claire Fagin Award: Dr. Strumpf

Dr. Neville E. Strumpf, Edith Clemmer Steinbright Professor in Gerontology, has been awarded the Claire M. Fagin Distinguished Researcher Award for her contributions to the field of gerontology. Dr. Strumpf is best known for her work with Dr. Lois Evans on the elimination of physical restraints in nursing homes and hospitals. She is currently director of Penn’s Center for Gerontologic Nursing Science and the Hartford Center for Geriatric Nursing Excellence, where she continues to develop new models of care to enhance the quality of life for the elderly and infirm. The award is named in honor of Dr. Claire M. Fagin, former dean of Penn’s School of Nursing, founder of the Doctor of Nursing Science program, and former interim president of the University. Past winners of this award include Dr. Barbara Medoff-Cooper, Helen M. Shearer Term Professor in Nutrition, and Dr. Mary D. Naylor, Marian S. Ware Professor in Gerontology.

International Work Honor: Dr. Estes

Dr. Richard Estes, professor of social work, recently received the Partner in International Education Award from the Global Commission of the Council on Social Work Education (CSE).

In presenting the award, CSE president Dr. Kay Hoffman of the University of Kentucky cited Dr. Estes for “exemplary leadership in advancing education for international social work.”

In addition to focusing on education for international work, Dr. Estes’ research deals with a wide range of international issues including quality of life worldwide, global poverty, international development assistance, international trafficking in human beings and the use of social indicators in identifying major global trends. Dr. Estes is only the second person to have received such an award from the Council’s Global Commission.

Penn Faculty Projects Exhibited

Dr. James Corner, professor of landscape architecture and regional planning; Peter Latz, adjunct professor of landscape architecture and Marion Weiss, associate professor of architecture, are among the artists involved in the Landscape Architecture Exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art where it will be on display through May 16.

Designing Slots Parlors

Two teams of students from Penn’s School of Design won the slots parlors designing contest for a waterfront and Center City site. Penn’s School of Design and the Daily News sponsored the competition. The Centrifuge team, who won for the Center City site on the Girard block, consists of Ke-Wei Chang,Nathaniel Cram, Prema Katari, Nicholas Wallin and Huaiche Yang. Their design consists of a spiral staircase leading from the SEPTA station to a multi-story atrium where there are slot machines, restaurants and a theater. The Bridge design team, who won for the waterfront site on Columbus Blvd., consists of Halee Bouchehrian, Jeff Chen, Linda Kikunaga, Harry Kim and Kaz Morihata. The waterfront design, themed “A Thousand Bridges—A Thousand Drops,” is a cantilevered casino jutting out over Columbus Blvd.