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Honors & Other Things |
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May 31, 2016, Volume 62, No. 36 |
Abass Alavi: Honorary Doctorate
Abass Alavi, professor of radiology and neurology and director of research education in the department of radiology in Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine, received an honorary doctorate from the Medical University of Gda?sk in Poland. Dr. Alavi is a physician-scientist specializing in the field of molecular imaging, most notably in the imaging modality of positron emission tomography (PET) and single emission computed tomography (SPECT).
He was recognized for his contributions to medicine and medical imaging during a ceremony earlier this month in Gda?sk. He has recently applied PET imaging techniques to the investigation of atherosclerosis and he is interested in its potential application to heart disease. This is the sixth honorary degree he has received during the past decade.
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Karin Corbett: Ivy League Coach of the Year
Karin Corbett, head coach of Penn’s women’s lacrosse team, was named Ivy League Coach of the Year for 2016.
This year, Ms. Corbett guided the Quakers to their ninth Ivy League championship in 10 years. She concluded the regular season with a career record at Penn of 187-97, which equates to a .658 winning percentage. Six of her players were named All-Ivy at the conclusion of the regular season, for a total of 85 in Ms. Corbett’s career with the Quakers. She has also coached five positional Players of the Year since the Ivy League instituted those awards in 2013—more than any other Ivy head coach.
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Judith Currano: Vormelker Award
Judith Currano, head of Penn’s Chemistry Library, has been selected as the 2016 Rose L. Vormelker Award winner by the Special Libraries Association (SLA) in recognition of “her commitment to advancing the development and knowledge of people from all backgrounds who are engaged in the study of chemistry.”
At Penn, Ms. Currano also teaches a course in chemical information that is required of all first-year doctoral students in chemistry, gives lectures on information resources to students in undergraduate organic chemistry laboratory courses, and is an active member of the Penn Women in Chemistry. Off campus, she has long been offering training to fellow information professionals at the SLA Annual Conference. She will receive the Vormelker Award at the opening session of the 2016 SLA Annual Conference this June in Philadelphia. |
HHMI Medical Research Fellows
Three Penn graduate students have been selected as Medical Research Fellows by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). Ryan Kiefer and Richard Maduka from the Perelman School of Medicine and Megan Clark from the School of Veterinary Medicine will each spend a year in a laboratory working with a mentor on a biomedical research project. Each Fellow will receive $41,000 in grant support.
Mr. Kiefer, a third-year medical student at the Perelman School of Medicine, will perform basic and translational science research under the mentorship of Terence Gade, an assistant professor of radiology who is part of the Penn Image-Guided Intervention Laboratory. They will study the metabolic stress response of live cancer in an effort to develop a novel imaging paradigm for dormant cancer states that may lead to improved detection and treatment.
Mr. Maduka, also in his third year at the Perelman School of Medicine, will perform basic science research under the mentorship of Celeste Simon, a professor of cell & developmental biology who runs her laboratory within Penn’s Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute. They will work to characterize the role of the HIF1-alpha gene and B lymphocytes in pancreatic cancer, and the mechanism by which these factors promote accelerated oncogenesis.
Ms. Clark, a second-year student at Penn Vet, has pursued immunology research in the lab of Phillip Scott, professor of microbiology & immunology in Penn Vet’s department of pathobiology. Ms. Clark will use a murine model to examine how tissue-resident memory T cells migrate into non-inflamed skin sites and how they are retained in the skin to provide protection against leishmaniasis. |
David Issadore: Hartwell Individual Biomedical Research Award
David Issadore, an assistant professor in the department of bioengineering with a secondary appointment in electrical & systems engineering, received the 2015 Hartwell Individual Biomedical Research Award for “Microchip Diagnostic for the Rapid Isolation and Identification of Human Plasma-Derived Exosomes.” He will receive support from the Hartwell Foundation for three years at $100,000 direct cost per year.
Dr. Issadore’s research focuses on microelectronics, microfluidics, nanomaterials and molecular targeting, and their application to medicine. These multidisciplinary skills enable him to explore new technologies that can bring medical diagnostics from expensive, centralized facilities directly to clinical and resource-limited settings. |
Carl June and Alain Rook: Clinical Research Achievement Awards
Carl H. June and Alain H. Rook of the Perelman School of Medicine are among the recipients of the 2016 Clinical Research Achievement Award. They were honored at an awards ceremony last month in Washington, D.C.
Dr. June, the Richard W. Vague Professor in Immunotherapy in the department of pathology & laboratory medicine, was acknowledged for his myeloma research progress, including papers on two different T-cell therapies published in the New England Journal of Medicine and Nature Medicine.
Dr. Rook, a professor of dermatology and director of the Cutaneous Lymphoma Program at Penn Medicine, was acknowledged for his research on resiquimod therapy for cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. He planned and served as principal investigator on a study on this topic published in the journal Blood. |
Ebbing Lautenbach and Ben Z. Stanger: AAP Members
Two Penn Medicine physicians, Ebbing Lautenbach, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases and the Robert Austrian Professor in the department of medicine, and Ben Z. Stanger, an associate professor of medicine and associate investigator in the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute, have been elected to the Association of American Physicians (AAP).
Dr. Lautenbach, also a professor in the department of biostatistics & epidemiology and a senior scholar in the Center for Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics, has focused on the control of bacterial infections in healthcare and community settings. He has recently researched the role of biomarkers to inform the use of antibiotics.
Dr. Stanger and his lab study how cells acquire their specialized features and their ability to adapt to new roles when given exposure to new, different conditions. His work has focused on gastrointestinal cancer and tissue regeneration. |
Dorothy Roberts: Two Honors
Dorothy Roberts has been selected to receive the Society of Family Planning Lifetime Achievement Award. She will be honored in November at the 2016 annual meeting, the North American Forum on Family Planning, in Denver, Colorado.
She has also been named to Harvard Law’s Women Inspiring Change list for 2016. The Third Annual Harvard Law International Women’s Day Portrait Exhibit showcases the astounding contributions of women around the world to the areas of law and policy. The honorees were nominated by Harvard Law students, faculty or staff.
Dr. Roberts is the George A. Weiss University Professor of Law & Sociology, the Raymond Pace & Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander Professor of Civil Rights and a professor of Africana studies. She is also the 14th Penn Integrates Knowledge (PIK) Professor and the director of the Program on Race, Science & Society. |
Merle J. Slyhoff: AALL Hall of Fame
Merle J. Slyhoff, collection development librarian at the University of Pennsylvania’s Biddle Law Library, has been named one of four winners of this year’s American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) Hall of Fame Award. This award recognizes AALL members who have made significant, substantial and long-standing contributions to the profession of legal information management. Ms. Slyhoff will be recognized at the 109th AALL Annual Meeting & Conference in Chicago in July. |
Soccer Without Borders: 2016 Lipman Family Prize
The Wharton School named Soccer Without Borders as the winner of the 2016 Barry & Marie Lipman Family Prize, made possible by a multi-million dollar gift by Barry Lipman, W’70, and his wife, Marie, in 2011, and enhanced by an additional gift last year (Almanac September 1, 2015). Chosen from more than 170 applicants, Soccer Without Borders received $250,000 at an award ceremony last month.
Soccer Without Borders, which works in 10 countries on three continents, uses soccer as a vehicle for positive change, providing newcomer refugee, asylee and immigrant youth with a toolkit to overcome obstacles to growth, inclusion and personal success. The organization was co-founded and is led by Mary McVeigh, a former professional soccer player. Many participants have fled severe violence and discrimination, and more than 70% are refugees or have sought asylum in the US. |
Jane Willenbring: NSF CAREER Award
Jane Willenbring, an assistant professor in the School of Arts & Sciences’ department of earth & environmental science, is the recipient of a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award.
Dr. Willenbring will continue to explore the use of beryllium isotopes in dating soils. In the lab, she and her students will test beryllium adsorption and desorption on a variety of minerals under varying conditions, then test their findings using a field sample collected from the Amazon River basin that could reflect the major changes in landscape that have occurred over the last 20 million years—namely, the rise and erosion of the Andes Mountains.
With this grant, Dr. Willenbring will continue to organize Soil Kitchen events, during which community members bring in soil samples from their yards and test them for metal contamination. If levels are high, she and her students provide information on how to mitigate the effects of having contaminated soil. She has held the events annually in Philadelphia since 2012 and will unveil a nationwide network of similar events in the coming years.
Using results from the soil testing, she and her students will use publicly available records of blood lead testing of Philadelphia’s children to identify associations between soil lead and blood lead levels. She will test samples for beryllium to see if this metal is a problem in Philadelphia neighborhoods. She will also train sixth-grade earth science teachers in Philadelphia schools to engage students in lessons that relate community gardens, often planted at the schools, to the science of food, plants, soil and sustainability. |
Penn Prize for Excellence in Teaching by Graduate Students
Earlier this month, ten Penn students received the Penn Prize for Excellence in Teaching by Graduate Students, which recognizes the profound impact of graduate students on undergraduate education at Penn. Nominations for this annual prize come directly from undergraduates.
The 2016 recipients are:
Richard Eisenberg, computer & information sciences
Ambar La Forgia, health care management & economics
Andrea Lloyd, Romance languages
Marcus Michelen, mathematics
Paul Mitchell, anthropology
Stan Najmr, chemistry
Kaitlin Kylie Pomerantz, fine arts
Lindsey Reuben, Romance languages
Rachel Stonecipher, communication
Sarah Wolf, chemistry |
Class of 2016 Ivy Stone
The Class of 2016 Ivy Stone (left) was designed by Jesus Perez, C’16, and will be made from Vermont gray granite. The stone will be installed at the southeast corner of 37th Street and Locust Walk.
Student Awards Senior Honor Awards
*Althea K. Hottel Shield Award: Renata M. O’Donnell, C’16
*Gaylord P. Harnwell Flag Award: Julie M. Bittar, C’16
*David R. Goddard Loving Cup Award: Jane R. Meyer, C’16
*R. Jean Brownlee Skimmer Hat Award: Mahalatchmi Subramaniam, W’16
*Spoon Award: Robert C. Lundquist, C’16
*Bowl Award: Jesus O. Perez, C’16
*Cane Award: Chad R. Payne, W’16
*Spade Award: Sebastian E. Negron-Reichard, C’16, W’16
Leadership Awards
*Association of Alumnae Fathers’ Trophy: Jennifer C. Hebert, C’16
*Class of 1915 Award: Samuel H. Mattis, W’16
*James Howard Weiss Memorial Award: David D. Lai, C’16
*Penn Student Agencies Award: Laura C. Sorice, C’16
*Penn Alumni Student Awards of Merit: Alexis E. Block, E’16; Guthrie M. Gintzler, E’16, W’16; Brad M. Hebert, C’16, W’16; Cheyenne R. Rogers, C’16; Amanda A. Russoniello, W’16
*Sol Feinstone Undergraduate Awards: Roderick M. Cook, C’16; Mabel Oviedo, C’16; Cheyenne R. Rogers, C‘16; Sam Trinh, C’16
James Brister Society Student Leadership Award: Nicolas F. Garcia, C’16
Association of Latino Alumni Student Leadership Award: Diana C. Cabrera, C’16
Association of Native Alumni Student Leadership Award: Danielle M. Tiger, C’16
Black Alumni Society Student Leadership Award: Adebisi A. Ogunrinde, C’16, W’16
University of Pennsylvania Asian Alumni Network Student Leadership Award: Jin S. Kim, C’16
Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Alumni Association Student Leadership Award: Roderick M. Cook, C’16
Trustees’ Council of Penn Women Leadership Award: Megan C.Yan, C’16, W’17
William A. Levi Kite & Key Society Award for Service and Scholarship: Brad M. Hebert, C’16, W’16
Note: Awards marked with an asterisk (*) were presented during the Ivy Day ceremony on May 14. The other awards were presented at different award ceremonies this semester. |
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Almanac -
May 31, 2016, Volume 62, No. 36
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