News
Staff Bonuses
Mitch Newcomer and Simon Dicker are 2 of just 15 SAS staff members to receive awards from the 2012 School of Arts and Sciences Staff Incentive Bonus Award program. From over 50 nominations, these two were selected based on the recommendation of a staff and faculty committee to receive cash awards. These bonuses recognize the hard work, accomplishments, and dedication - above and beyond the job description - of Mitch and Simon to the mission of SAS.
Vijay Balasubramanian receives new endowed chair
Vijay has just been named the Cathy and Marc Lasry Professor, effective immediately.
Mark Trodden interviewed by Physics World magazine
Prof. Mark Trodden is a regular contributor to the blogosphere through his regular contributions to Cosmic Variance, a blog hosted by Discover magazine. Physics World magazine recently put out an interview on Mark in which he discusses the art of science blogging.
Mark Devlin in the Inquirer/Daily News
Prof. Mark Devlin is featured in an article for the Inquirer/Daily News.
Mirjam Cvetic featured in SAS Frontiers magazine
Prof. Mirjam Cvetic is featured in this month's addition of the School of Arts and Sciences online magazine "SAS Frontiers". The article, "The Art and Science of Teaching", discusses Mirjam's approach to teaching and mentoring undergraduate and graduate students studying physics and follows on to her impressive double-win of the Lindback and Abrams awards earlier this year.
Marija Drndic shares in $19M NIH Award
Grants of almost $19 million will help to develop technologies to dramatically reduce the cost of DNA sequencing, the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), announced today. During the past decade, DNA sequencing costs have fallen dramatically (see www.genome.gov/sequencingcosts), fueled by tools, technologies and process improvements developed by genomics researchers. The use of nanoscale devices for sequencing, reflected in many of these projects, is accelerating.
Mark Trodden elected Fellow of IOP
Mark Trodden has been elected as a Fellow of the Institute of Physics. The senior class of membership indicates a very high level of achievement in physics and an outstanding contribution to the profession. The Institute of Physics is a leading international professional body and learned society, established to promote the advancement and dissemination of physics.
Alison Sweeney wins Bartholomew Award
Asst. Prof. Alison Sweeney has been selected as this year's winner of the Bartholomew Award. This award is given each year to the top young physical biologist by the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology. She will give the keynote address at the meeting of the Society in January 2013. More information on the award itself is available here.
First light for Dark Energy Survey
Eight billion years ago, rays of light from distant galaxies began their long journey to Earth. That ancient starlight has now found its way to a mountaintop in Chile, where the newly-constructed Dark Energy Camera, the most powerful sky-mapping machine ever created, has captured and recorded it for the first time. A contingent of faculty, staff and students from the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Arts and Sciences is playing a major role in the Dark Energy Science collaboration.
Fay Ajzenberg-Selove
Emeritus Professor of Physics Fay Ajzenberg-Selove passed away on August 8. Fay became the second female tenured professor in the School of Arts and Sciences in 1973 and remained at Penn until her retirement in 2003.Before coming to Penn she was the first full-time female faculty member at Haverford College. Her principal scholarly work was in the preparation of evaluated reviews and summaries of studies on nuclei with mass numbers 5 to 20. The influence of her publications and her remarkable personal journey in science led to her receiving the National Medal of Science in 2007.