The School of Engineering and Applied Science held a groundbreaking ceremony for its new data science building and unveiled its official name, Amy Gutmann Hall, honoring Penn’s president. “We have witnessed a transformation under Amy Gutmann that is truly astonishing, as her vision and leadership has created so much opportunity for so many,” said Harlan M. Stone, a trustee and Penn Engineering advisor who made a $25 million commitment to Penn Engineering in 2019. “This building is all about realizing and seizing opportunities. We are now able to properly honor Amy’s remarkable work by naming this building Amy Gutmann Hall. May the new discoveries and innovation achieved within these halls echo for all to hear of Amy’s courageous leadership.”
The University has made a $100 million commitment to the School of Engineering and Applied Science to establish the Center for Precision Engineering for Health, which will conduct interdisciplinary, fundamental, and translational research toward developing new designs from novel biomolecules and new polymers “Biomaterials represent the ‘stealth technology’ which will create breakthroughs in improving health care and saving lives,” says Penn President Amy Gutmann. “Innovation that combines precision engineering and design with a fundamental understanding of cell behavior has the potential to have an extraordinary impact in medicine and on society.”
At a ceremony celebrating the Penn Alexander School as a recipient of the National Blue Ribbon Award from the U.S. Department of Education, Penn President Amy Gutmann invoked the words of the school’s namesake, Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander. “Here’s what she said: ‘Don’t let anything stop you. Make yourself the very best you can of what you are—the very best.’ So, uphold her creed, talented students, engaged parents and families, and inspiring teachers,” Gutmann remarked. She was joined by Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney and Philadelphia School District Superintendent William Hite, among others.
Drew Weissman and Katalin Karikó, two Penn scientists whose work laid the foundation for the mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines, were awarded the 2021 Lasker~DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award. The award is widely regarded as America’s top biomedical research prize. “Dr. Weissman and Dr. Kariko’s visionary research and persistence in unlocking the power of mRNA as a therapeutic platform have established both Penn and Philadelphia as the birthplace of mRNA vaccines, and provided us with the blueprint for a future in which we can fight infectious diseases and incurable genetic diseases, from herpes and malaria to sickle-cell anemia and cancer,” says Larry Jameson, dean of the Perelman School of Medicine.
In a guide, Penn Today provided details on how to use the daily and exposure symptom tracker. The guide details who is required to use it, what to do upon receiving a Red Pass, and how it’s used.
Postdoctoral researcher Colin Twomey, of Penn’s MindCORE program, and Professor Joshua Plotkin of the Biology Department released a new study that details an algorithm capable of inferring a culture’s communicative needs to communicate about certain colors. “The color-word problem is a classical one: How do you map the infinitude of colors to a discrete number of words?” says Plotkin. The algorithm uses data from 130 languages.
The Provost’s Office sponsored this year’s Climate Week at Penn, with a guiding theme of “Find your place in the climate movement.” The week included 40 events organized by various schools, centers, and campus organizations. “We are continuing the theme Year of Civic Engagement, and that has a perfect intersection with climate activism, pointing to actions students can take on campus and in their own communities,” says David Fox, director of NSO and academic initiatives. “We’re looking forward to building on this topic in NSO in future years.”
The Alice Paul Center will now be known as the Center for Research in Feminist, Queer, and Transgender Studies, and will be led by Melissa E. Sanchez, a professor of English and comparative literature. The name change, Sanchez says, reflects the diversity of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies.
Drew Weissman and Katalin Karikó were honored with the 2022 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences for engineering the mRNA technology that enabled the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. The Breakthrough Prize is the world’s largest science prize; each of the five prizes awarded confers $3 million to its winners.
To commemorate 9/11, the Penn community gathered at the Love Statue on campus to remember those lost on that tragic day in 2001. Penn President Amy Gutmann gave remarks of remembrance, while Rev. William Gipson—University chaplain on 9/11—shared Toni Morrison’s poem “The Dead of September 11.” Rev. Charles “Chaz” Howard, meanwhile, read the names of the 16 Penn alumni.
The Executive Committee of the Trustees has formed a Consultative Committee to support the University’s presidential search process. “The outcome of our search will affect the University far into the future,” Scott Bok, chair of the Broad of Trustees, said in a message. “The goal of the Trustees, in which they seek the Committee’s assistance, and the Penn community’s input, is to identify the best individual to serve as the new president of this extraordinary institution.”
The 144th Penn football season kicked off with a game against Bucknell in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. The occasion marked the first time the Quakers took the field since Nov. 23, 2019, due to the pandemic.
In “Without Your Interpretation,” the Institute of Contemporary Art showcases the work of Ulysses Jenkins, a video artist who has been a pivotal influence on contemporary art for more than 50 years. “This exhibition continues ICA’s deep commitment to supporting under-recognized artists and is an opportunity to understand in depth Jenkins’ unparalleled and inspiring body of work,” says Zoë Ryan, director of the ICA.
Zachary Loeb, a doctoral candidate in the School of Arts & Sciences, was quoted in The Washington Post, commenting on the head of Instagram’s recent remarks that social media is comparable to cars. He cautions that Facebook’s analogies seem to lower the bar for itself over time. “There used to be this utopian aura where they had been trying to act as though they were the latest in the stream of these transformative [communication] technologies,” Loeb said. “Now they’re kind of like, ‘We’re this banal, everyday technology that we’ve all gotten used to, and we understand it’s screwing up the environment and actually really annoys you and people die all the time because of it, but you can’t imagine getting rid of it anytime soon.’”
The SNF Paideia Program partnered with Penn alumnus and artist JJ Tiziou for “Walk Around Philadelphia,” a fall retreat for student fellows that involved small groups of students, faculty, and staff walking the boundaries of the city to grasp a sense of place, belonging, and accomplishment. “My biggest takeaway is that there’s always more to home than you realize,” says Yasmin Abdul Razak, a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences.
Reusable food containers, a new program to recycle flexible plastics, and mask and glove recycling are among the ways that Penn is helping members of the community keep the environment in mind this year. The move is part of an effort to create a greener campus life and work toward the goals of the Climate and Sustainability Action Plan 3.0.
Dan Romer, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, was quoted in ARS Technica for a story debating the portrayal of suicides in fiction and the possibility of suicide contagion. "There are some researchers that think there's no harm in these fictional portrayals," said Romer. "There's a concern [among those experts who disagree] that if they get the upper hand in terms of influence in Hollywood, then Hollywood will go crazy with this kind of content. I feel like one has to steer a middle course here."
