| Honors & Other Things |
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November 11, 2008, Volume 55, No. 12
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Erin Anderson B2B Research
Last month, the Wharton School held the first Erin Anderson B2B Research Conference in memory of the former professor of marketing who died November 21, 2007. Dr. Anderson served on the Wharton faculty from 1981 to 1994 and went on to work at INSEAD, Wharton’s partner school in France. She was frequently referenced by researchers in business and economics. In keeping with some dominant themes of her work, the conference was designed to examine a number of aspects involving economic, interpersonal, and interorganizational management of business-to-business relationships.
Dr. Behrman: LACEA Prize
Dr. Jere R. Behrman, W.R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Economics, has been awarded the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association’s (LACEA) 2008 Carlos Díaz-Alejandro Prize, which honors individuals who have made significant contributions to the economic analysis of issues relevant to Latin America. The LACEA recognizes Dr. Behrman’s research on the effects of nutrition and education on productivity and social mobility, and their influence on effective social policies in developing countries.
Dr. Diamond: BMES Fellow
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Dr. Scott Diamond, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, was named a Fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) during the Society’s annual fall meeting in St. Louis, Missouri. He was elected for “demonstrating exceptional achievements and experience in the field of biomedical engineering.” Dr. Diamond’s research contributions to biomedical engineering include endothelial mechanobiology, blood clot dissolving therapies, blood coagulation, nonviral gene therapy, proteomics, and high throughput drug discovery.
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Dr. Evans: ASTRO Honorary Member
Dr. Audrey E. Evans, professor of pediatrics, has been elected an honorary member of the American Society of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO). She was honored for her clinical and laboratory contributions to the treatment and understanding of childhood cancer and for initiating the Ronald McDonald House program. That program, started by her in Philadelphia, is now global in scope, with more than 250 houses scattered around the world. The Program provides a home-away-from-home for the families of children undergoing in- or out-patient care.
An A+ For Annenberg Classroom
Education World has honored Annenberg Classroom with an A+ grade for being “a rich resource for teachers and students of civics and government” and applauding its content and design. Annenberg Classroom is home to the Leonore Annenberg Institute for Civics and the Sunnylands Classroom, offering an array of multimedia classroom resources on the Constitution, citizenship and the institutions that form the pillars of American democracy.
Dr. Harper: Early Career Award
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Dr. Shaun R. Harper, assistant professor in the Graduate School of Education, is the recipient of the Association for the Study of Higher Education’s Early Career Award. His research interests include a current project, the National Black Male College Achievement Study, the largest known empirical investigation of black male undergraduates. The award was presented at the ASHE Annual Meeting in Jacksonville, Florida last week.
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Dr. Manno to NYU
Dr. Catherine S. Manno, former associate chair for clinical activities in the department of pediatrics and professor of pediatrics, was selected as the new chair of the department of pediatrics at New York University and assumed her position November 1. As a leader in pediatric hematology, Dr. Manno is recognized internationally for her work in transfusion medicine and hemostasis and thrombosis, as well as for her direction of the challenging and critical trials of gene therapy for hemophilia.
Dr. Nelson: Emily M. Gray Award
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Dr. Philip Nelson, professor of physics, has been awarded the 2009 Emily M. Gray Award from the Biophysical Society. The award is the international professional organization’s top honor for education and outreach.
Awardees are selected for their significant contributions to education in biophysics whether by teaching, developing novel educational methods, promoting scientific outreach or otherwise fostering an environment exceptionally conducive to education in biophysics. The award cited Dr. Nelson’s recent book, Biological Physics, as an example of an approach to the field that emphasizes fundamental physics ideas and how they come together in the operation of living organisms.
A condensed matter theorist and expert in soft matter physics, Dr. Nelson’s current research involves the physics of biopolymers such as DNA and the physical transactions they make that enable cells to regulate gene activity. A member of Penn’s Nano-Bio Interface Center, he is also interested in the connections between biomolecules and nanotechnology.
“I’m always fascinated by the discoveries that seem to have been made years earlier than they ‘should have’ been,” said Dr. Nelson.
“When I teach, I try to draw out what kinds of thought processes made those discoveries possible in the past, and will continue to do so in the future. Those are the habits of thought that the next generation of scientists will need.”
Dr. Nelson will be presented with the award in Boston at the Society’s annual meeting in February.
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Dr. Paterson: Breast Cancer Grant
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Dr. Yvonne Paterson, professor of microbiology, has been awarded a 2008 BCRF-AACR Grant for Translational Breast Cancer Research for approximately $250,000. These awards are a joint effort of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and the American Association for Cancer Research. Only three recipients are chosen each year.
The grants provide direct support for innovative cancer research projects designed to accelerate the discovery, development, and application of new agents to treat breast cancer and/or for pre-clinical research with direct therapeutic intent. Dr. Paterson and her postdoctoral fellow Dr. Matthew Seavey proposed using the facultative intracellular bacterium Listeria monocytogenes to target molecules expressed by breast tumor vasculature. Since all tumors require intact vasculature to provide nutrients and remove wastes, damage to this network causes tumor death.
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Dean Porter: National Assessment Governing Board
Penn GSE Dean Andy Porter has been appointed to the National Assessment Governing Board for his second four-year term, US Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced recently. In joining the Governing Board for another four-year term, Dr. Porter will help lead its work to set policy for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), commonly known as The Nation’s Report Card. The assessment makes objective information on student performance available to policy-makers and the public at the national, state, and local levels, and has served an important role in evaluating the condition and progress of American education since 1969.
Dr. Wortham: Distinguished Fellow
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Dr. Stanton Wortham, Judy & Howard Berkowitz Professor in the Graduate School of Education (GSE), was selected by The William T. Grant Foundation to its fourth group of Distinguished Fellows. Dr. Wortham received this award for his work in studying the challenges that districts, schools, and practicing educators face in serving immigrant Mexican students.
The title of his project, “Involving Parents in the Schooling of Immigrant Mexican Students,” reflects his interest in assisting such schools and districts in creating and implementing a plan to increase involvement of these parents in the education of their children. Dr. Wortham will work with the Norristown Area School District.
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