September 21, 2021 Volume 68 Issue 6

Drew Weissman, the Roberts Family Professor of Vaccine Research in the Perelman School of Medicine, and Katalin Karikó, an adjunct professor of neurosurgery at the Perelman School of Medicine and a senior vice president at BioNTech, have been named recipients of the 2022 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences for their mRNA-based vaccine technology which formed a foundation for two SARS-CoV-2 vaccines that have led the world’s battle against the virus. The world’s largest science prizes, each of the five main Breakthrough Prizes confers $3 million to its winner or winners.

Drs. Weissman and Karikó teamed up more than 20 years ago at Penn to investigate mRNA as a potential therapeutic. In 2005, they published landmark research that revealed how mRNA could be altered for therapeutic use and developed an effective strategy that allows mRNA to be delivered into the body to reach the proper target. Before their discovery, mRNA vaccines being developed to prevent infectious diseases did not effectively and safely spur protective immune-system responses in animal models. Their 2005 research and subsequent findings led to successful animal and human trials, and both Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna licensed Penn technology that is used in the vaccines, a combined 360 million doses of which have now been administered in the U.S. alone. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is being deployed in 126 countries across the globe, and 71 countries use the Moderna vaccine.

Drs. Weissman and Karikó have been honored with multiple national and international awards this year, including the Princess of Asturias Award (Almanac August 10, 2021) and the Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research (Almanac September 14, 2021).

“The work of Drs. Weissman and Karikó is the scientific foundation on which these innovative and lifesaving vaccines rest,” said J. Larry Jameson, executive vice president of the University of Pennsylvania for the Health System and dean of the Perelman School of Medicine. “Their discovery of how to chemically modify mRNA to more effectively produce proteins in vivo laid the groundwork for the rapid development and deployment of mRNA vaccines—and has sparked a completely new way to look at prevention of infectious diseases and novel pathways for the treatment of cancer and other serious conditions.”

Since its founding in 2013 by Sergey Brin, Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg, Yuri and Julia Milner, and Anne Wojcicki, the Breakthrough Prize has been given to standout individuals in life sciences, mathematics, and fundamental physics. Along with Drs. Weissman and Karikó, this year’s recipients are Jeffery W. Kelly of the Scripps Research Institute; Shankar Balasubramanian and David Klenerman of the University of Cambridge; and Pascal Mayer of Alphanosos. Traditionally celebrated during a live, televised awards ceremony that honors the laureates, the program will be postponed from this year until 2022 due to the pandemic.

Penn researcher Virginia Man-Yee Lee, the John H. Ware 3rd Endowed Professor in Alzheimer’s Research in the Perelman School of Medicine, received the 2020 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences for cellular discoveries in Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and Multiple System Atrophy. Physicists Charles Kane and Eugene Mele of the School of Arts & Sciences won the 2019 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for new ideas about topology and symmetry in physics, leading to the prediction of a new class of materials that conduct electricity only on their surface.

Nancy Hodgson has been named the Claire M. Fagin Leadership Professor in Nursing. This named professorship was established in 1992 as a tribute to Dr. Fagin and her accomplishments as Dean of Penn Nursing and as a vehicle to continue her vision of nursing as a research-based practice discipline with a vital role in shaping the world’s health care. 

“Nan is a nationally recognized nurse scientist in gerontology and psychiatric nursing,” said Penn Nursing Dean Antonia Villarruel. “She brings an incredible wealth of knowledge, leadership, and experience to her new role at Penn Nursing. She has expertise in blended learning and a passion for educating the next generation of nursing leaders. She embodies the spirit of Penn Nursing Dean Emerita Claire M. Fagin, after whom this professorship is named.” 

“As a proud Penn Nursing alumna, I am tremendously humbled and honored to be named the Claire M. Fagin Leadership Professor in Nursing,” said Dr. Hodgson. “Claire Fagin’s fearless work has had a profound influence on my life and work, including my passion to help our frailest patients live to their fullest capacity. I’m thrilled to be able to expand my work to advance research and policy through this chair.” 

Dr. Hodgson, who is also chair of Penn Nursing’s department of biobehavioral health, is an internationally recognized nurse scientist. She is a leading gerontologist with a strong program of research focused on incorporating evidence-based findings into geriatric nursing practice to conquer challenges in palliative care such as promoting dignity, minimizing symptoms, and honoring peoples’ preferences for care at the end of life and advancing palliative dementia care.  Her research has been published in high-impact, peer-reviewed journals, and she is co-author of Better Living with Dementia: Implications for Individuals, Families, Communities and Societies (Elsevier), based on a MOOC with over 80,000 participants worldwide.  For more than 20 years, she has received continuous research and training grants from both federal agencies and private foundations, including the Alzheimer’s Association and the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Hodgson has served as director of Penn’s Hillman Scholars Program in Nursing Innovation. She is an academic research representative on the Pennsylvania Long-Term Care Council, a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and the Gerontological Society of America, and was recently appointed to the thirteenth cohort of the Penn Fellows Program for 2021 (Almanac May 25, 2021).

Penn Engineering has announced the recipients of three scholarly chairs: Karen Winey, Shu Yang, and Stephan Zdancewic. 

Karen Winey: Harold Pender Professor of Engineering and Applied Science

Dr. Winey is a professor in the department of materials science and engineering at the School of Engineering and Applied Science. She holds a PhD in polymer science and engineering from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and completed her postdoctoral training at AT&T Bell Laboratories before joining Penn in 1992. 

Dr. Winey has received numerous awards for her research. Most recently, she was named fellow, POLY (Division of Polymer Chemistry) American Chemical Society, 2021. She has also a 2020 Herman F. Mark Senior Scholar Award from the American Chemical Society (ACS) and the 2020 Braskem Award for Excellence in Materials Science & Engineering from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). She is the 2012 recipient of Penn Engineering’s George H. Heilmeier Faculty Award for Excellence in Research.

Dr. Winey’s research is in the area of polymer nanocomposites and ion-containing polymers.  She was among the first to fabricate polymer nanocomposites with carbon nanotubes and devised processing methods to manipulate their hierarchical structures to improve their electrical and thermal properties. She has also dramatically expanded the range of nanoscale, self-assembled structures found in single-ion conductors with the aim of designing plastics with exceptional transport properties for batteries and separations.

The Harold Pender Professorship was established in honor of the first dean of the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at Penn.

Shu Yang: Joseph Bordogna Professor of Engineering and Applied Science

Dr. Yang is a professor in the department of materials science and engineering at the School of Engineering and Applied Science. She joined Penn in 2004 after four years at Bell Laboratories. She received her PhD from Cornell University in 1999. 

In addition to her professorship, Dr. Yang serves as the chair of the department of materials science and engineering. Highlights of her many awards include her 2021 election to the Materials Research Society, her 2018 election as a fellow of the American Physical Society and her 2018 election as a fellow of the division of polymeric materials: science and engineering of the American Chemical Society.

Dr. Yang’s research is in the area of novel materials synthesis and fabrication methods. She combines novel materials at the nanoscale and geometric designs at micro- and macroscales, to explore unique surface, optical, and mechanical properties for potential applications, including coatings, adhesives, displays, (bio)sensors, energy efficient building skins, robotics, biomedical devices, and wearable technology. 

The Joseph Bordogna Professorship was established in honor of the dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science from 1981-1990.

Stephan Zdancewic: Schlein Family President’s Distinguished Professor

Dr. Zdancewic is a professor in the department of computer and information science at the School of Engineering and Applied Science. He earned a PhD in computer science from Cornell and joined Penn that same year, in 2002.

Dr. Zdancewic serves as the associate chair of the department of computer and information science. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including an NSF CAREER award, an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, and Penn’s Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching.

Dr. Zdancewic’s  research focuses on the problem of building software that is reliable, robust and secure, drawing from programming language semantics, type theory, mathematical logic, theorem proving and quantum computing with the goal of applying these techniques to security properties for real-world-problems.  His work in this area has been pioneering and he is widely seen as a leader in the field of language-based security. 

The Schlein Family President’s Distinguished Professorship was established in 2015 with the support of University Trustee and Penn Engineering advisor Theodore E. Schlein, C’86, PAR’20.

The Working Dog Center at the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn Vet) has launched a new video, “Two Decades Since 9/11: A Tribute.” This short video features the handlers of search and rescue working dogs deployed to Ground Zero and the Pentagon immediately following September 11, 2001. 

“On September 11, I got the call to pack my bags and report to the Philadelphia Fire Academy as part of the Pennsylvania Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 1,” said Cynthia Otto, professor of working dog sciences and sports medicine and director of Penn Vet’s Working Dog Center. “I spent 10 days at Ground Zero taking care of the dogs that were working there. That indelible, very personal experience served as the guidepost and inspiration for the Working Dog Center that we have today.”

The video is dedicated by the Working Dog Center to the canines who served our country in the aftermath of September 11, and to all dogs who continue to bring humans hope in difficult times.

Dear Penn Community:

Hurricane Ida’s devastating impacts continue to be felt from the coastal regions of the southeast to communities across the northeast. Coping with intense weather is an emotional experience, especially for those who have been directly impacted.

We want to remind you that Penn’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP) can help connect you and your families to resources to help those displaced by the storm, working through the process of recovery, or simply responding to the emotional trauma a disaster can create.

If you were directly impacted by Ida, help is available. The guides listed below can connect you to the recommendations of state and local officials during this crisis. For future reference, these sources also provide directions for preparing homes in flood-prone areas and creating emergency plans that families can use when severe weather strikes.

Community Hurricane and Tropical Storm Support Guides

• General Relief and Response Resources
• Pennsylvania Relief and Response Resources
• New Jersey Relief and Response Resources
• Ready.gov Flood Readiness Resources
• Red Cross Flood Relief
• FEMA FloodSmart: Before and After Guide
• CDC Coping with Disaster
• FEMA.gov Flood Insurance Program
• Post-Hurricane Stress, Anxiety, Recovery, and PTSD

In these trying times, Penn’s Wellness team would like to remind you there are supportive resources available to you and your family members, such as Penn’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and other support resources are detailed in the Mindwell at Penn digital guide.

Penn’s EAP is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to assist you. Please feel free to contact the EAP at any time.

• Call: 1 (866) 799-2329
• Schedule an EAP appointment through Penn Cobalt
• Email: EAPinfo@healthadvocate.com
• Visit: Penn Employee Assistance Program website

Penn’s EAP provides eligible faculty and staff and immediate family members - your spouse, dependent children, your parents and parents-in-law, access to free, confidential, 24/7 counseling and referral services for personal and professional life issues from any location.

EAP resources for managers include coaching for interpersonal issues in the office and critical incident debriefings following a traumatic incident for the organization.

EAP services are available by phone, email, webchat, and video sessions. Health Advocate EAP counselors will connect you with the right experts at the right time: masters level clinicians, work/life specialists, medical bill negotiators, and financial and legal professionals. In addition, Health Advocate offers multi-language capabilities.

Each eligible member can receive up to eight free counseling sessions per distinct problem, per year, from the time of your initial intake. If you exceed this limit, Health Advocate will make every effort to coordinate services with your existing health insurance. You may be referred to your insurance plan for services, where applicable, before your eight sessions are completed if it is determined that your clinical needs require treatment beyond the short-term scope of EAP.

Please visit the behavioral health coverage webpage for more information about behavioral health benefits available through Penn’s medical plans for eligible faculty and staff and enrolled dependents.

—Division of Human Resources

We are pleased to provide the community with a progress report on the implementation of the recommendations of the Penn Public Safety Review and Outreach Initiative, which began its work in August 2020 and issued its recommendations in April 2021, after extensive consultations across the Penn and West Philadelphia communities. These recommendations centered on four goals: increase transparency; increase accountability; develop new approaches to ensure the safety, well-being, and belonging of the Penn and West Philadelphia communities; and invest more in campus and West Philadelphia initiatives that promote safety, well-being, and belonging and do not involve police. The Division of Public Safety has embraced these recommendations and developed new processes and procedures to implement them. We will provide further progress reports to the community as this implementation continues to move forward.

— Craig Carnaroli, Senior Executive Vice President
— Beth Winkelstein, Interim Provost

Update from the Division of Public Safety on the Penn Public Safety Review and Outreach Initiative Recommendations

In the spring and summer of 2020, many questions arose across the country about the role of policing in society. President Amy Gutmann, Provost Wendell Pritchett and Senior Executive Vice President Craig Carnaroli launched the Penn Public Safety and Outreach Initiative to explore the question of how we best advance a safe and welcoming campus, which we hold as an unwavering priority. How do we ensure fairness, justice, and racial equity in police interactions both on Penn’s campus and in our neighboring community?  

To lead the initiative, Penn named as advisors: Dorothy Roberts, the George A. Weiss University Professor of Law and Sociology, Raymond Pace and Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander Professor of Civil Rights, and Professor of Africana Studies; and Rev. Charles “Chaz” Howard, Vice President for Social Equity and Community and University Chaplain. They were supported by: John Holloway, Associate Dean of the Penn Carey Law School and Executive Director of the Penn Carey Law School’s Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice; and Paul Heaton, the Quattrone Center’s Senior Fellow and Academic Director.

The following four (4) pillars were established as a measurement of how we at the Division of Public Safety provide safety and security to the Penn, University City and West Philadelphia communities:

• Transparency
• Accountability
• Reimagine
• Reinvest

This report provides an update on the work that has been accomplished to date by the Division of Public Safety in support of the pillars.

Transparency

Website Project

On July 1, 2021, DPS launched the DPS Transparency Website. Included on this website are several Penn Police Policies and Procedures, including police directives, explaining department policies on use of force and monthly analyses of pedestrian and vehicle stops, the memorandum of understanding with the Philadelphia Police Department, and officer code of conduct requirements. Additional information includes, but is not limited to: 

• 2020 CALEA Reaccreditation Report, which includes data on pedestrian and vehicle stops;
• Department equipment and fleet information;
• Expanded information on the complaint process;
• Expanded information on the hiring process for new officers; and 
• Information on the varied types of officer training, including a twenty (20) year lookback of our DEI training.

Expanding Outreach Programs

Public Safety is working with College House and Academic Services (CHAS) to expand upon our long-standing DPS Liaison Program. We will strengthen our outreach and conversations with college house students and staff with trained staff on the nation’s current state of police and citizen relations, utilizing trained Penn Police personnel in business casual attire.

Public Safety is also enhancing and expanding our outreach to West Philadelphia community organizations by designating our Commanding Officer for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion as the point person for communicating on neighborhood concerns. 

Accountability

DPS Advisory Board

A new structure for an expanded DPS Advisory Board will include three (3) seats for members of West Philadelphia neighborhood, a seat for the University Wellness Officer, and others. This new structure will also include additional seats for rotating members from other areas of the Penn community while continuing to include seats for the Health System, student organizations, and our cultural resource centers. Invitations to join the board will come from the Senior Executive Vice President. Additionally, Rev.William Gipson of the Office of Social Equity and Community has agreed to serve as chair of the Advisory Board for the 2021-2022 academic year.

Complaints Against Police

For the past 13 years, the DPS Advisory Board has assisted Penn Police on reviewing and updating the complaint process. Public Safety has presented to the DPS Advisory Board its detailed annual review of complaints that were filed against officers. An annual statistical summary of complaints continues to be found on our Police Complaint Procedure page.

As a part of DPS’s expanded outreach goal, the Commanding Officer of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Captain Nicole McCoy has met with all cultural resource centers, College House directors, and West Philadelphia neighborhood associations to refresh and inform them about the complaint process, including the various places and methods by which one can file a complaint. 

Community Survey

Public Safety will be working with the Office of Institutional Research and Analysis to develop a survey to gather feedback from our Penn and West Philadelphia community on Penn’s commitment to safety in University City. We will consult with University faculty experts on distribution methods. 

Reimagine

New Co-Responder Pilot 

DPS has held discussions with Wellness, Penn Medicine, University Life, Director of the African American Resource Center Valerie Dorsey Allen, Dean Sally Bachman of the School of Social Policy and Practice, and others on creating a new co-responder model for those in mental health crisis and in need of social services. In meeting with Chief Wellness Officer Benoit Dubé and the new Executive Director of Student Health and Counseling Bill Adelman, the team is exploring expanding our existing mental health co-responder model to include a CAPS counselor to ride with a specially trained Penn Police Officer wearing a soft uniform to be the first responders on mental health calls for service. This new Crisis Response Unit (CRU) would be modeled on our Alternative Response Unit, which we currently use to respond to low acuity medical emergencies.

Reinvest

PAL Partnership

In 1997 Penn partnered with the Philadelphia Police Athletic League (PAL) to create the Philadelphia Police/Penn Police Tucker PAL Center. The center has a Penn supported endowment. The center was last located at 4040 Ludlow Street. Due to the sale of this privately-owned property, the PAL Board and Penn are in search of a new location for this center. Penn pays the salary of a full-time Penn Police Officer to co-lead the Tucker PAL Center. The personnel cost for the Penn PAL Officer averages $72,000 per year plus benefits. 

City-wide PAL centers are invited to bring PAL children annually to PAL Day at the Palestra, PAL Day at the Ice Rink, Penn Relays events, and Pottruck climbing wall trips, just to name a few programs offered at Penn.

Conclusion

In summary, the Division of Public Safety, in concert with the Penn, University City and West Philadelphia communities, is committed to expanding our efforts on these four (4) pillars, in order to create a welcoming and safe community for all.

—Maureen S. Rush, MS, CPP
Vice President for Public Safety
Superintendent of Penn Police

The Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellowships (previously called the Postdoctoral Fellowships for Academic Diversity) seek to attract promising researchers and educators from different backgrounds, races, ethnic groups, and other diverse populations whose life experience, research experience, and employment background will contribute significantly to the University’s academic and research missions. Fellowships are available for postdoctoral training in all areas of study at Penn.

Fellows receive a stipend of $57,000 in year one, with increases of $2,000 in years two and three, as well as annual allowances for travel ($2,000) and research ($4,000) and a one-time relocation allowance of $5,000. The University also provides a medical, vision, dental, and life insurance benefits package. Successful candidates will receive highly mentored scholarly and research training, as well as workshops to enhance their research and professional success skills. Penn graduate students who are completing their doctoral programs and looking for postdoctoral positions are eligible to apply for fellowships starting July 2022. 

The application deadline is November 15, 2021. Complete details about the program can be found at https://research.upenn.edu/postdocs-and-students/penn-provosts-postdoctoral-fellowships/.

Please note that fellowships are funded in partnership between the postdoctoral fellow’s host school and the Office of the Provost. Questions should be directed Josie Rook, Associate Vice Provost for Research, at rookj@upenn.edu.

Chong-Sik Lee, an emeritus professor in political science in Penn’s School of Arts and Sciences and a prominent scholar of East Asian politics, died on August 17 from complications from myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). He was 90. 

Born in Anju, North Korea, in 1931, Dr. Lee escaped Japanese rule and fled to South Korea, where he supported his family after his father disappeared under mysterious circumstances. During the Korean War, he served the South Korean army and the U.N., translating between Korean, Chinese and Japanese. During this military service, Dr. Lee learned English, and after the war, American officers helped him to move to the U.S. He earned an undergraduate degree from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), one of the first Korean Americans to do so. He later also earned a master’s degree in political science from UCLA and a PhD in political science from UC Berkeley. 

Famed academic Robert Scalapino persuaded Dr. Lee to learn about the history of Korea, and inspired by Dr. Scalapino, Dr. Lee launched a career in East Asian studies. In 1963, he came to Penn as an assistant professor of political science, a department that at the time was housed in the Wharton School. A decade later in 1973, Dr. Lee was promoted to a full professor of political science. During his time at Penn, Dr. Lee also taught in the College of General Studies in the School of Arts and Sciences (the precursor to today’s College of Liberal and Professional Studies) and in SAS’s department of international relations. He retired in 1999, taking emeritus status. 

In the 1960s, Dr. Lee taught the first course on Korean studies at Penn. This class eventually led to the formation of a Korean studies program at Penn (Almanac February 11, 1997); after the formation of the program, Dr. Lee was an active participant. He was also active elsewhere at Penn, serving on University Council committees and leading a conference in Yanji, China. In 1982, he wrote a Speaking Out letter in Almanac advocating for Penn to pay tuition for the children of faculty members (Almanac December 14, 1982). 

In 1969, Dr. Lee received a Ford Foundation Faculty Research Fellowship. Four years later, he co-authored (with Dr. Scalapino) Communism in Korea, and the year after that, he received the Woodrow Wilson Foundation Award from the American Political Science Association for the best book on government, politics, or international affairs. He later wrote books about several major figures in Korean history, like Seo Jae-Pil, Syngman Rhee, Lyuh Woon-Hyung, and Park Chung-Hee. He also wrote books about the international relations of East Asia, particularly Korea-Japan relations, books that are now considered pioneering academic works in the field. In 2020, he published an autobiography in Korean that covered his life up to 1974 but “left out the rest of the stories for next time.” He continued to delve into questions about Korean history up until his death.

Dr. Lee was an avid tennis player in his free time, and six of his former tennis partners visited him shortly before his death, sharing colorful anecdotes. Dr. Lee also enjoyed learning the Russian language. 

Dr. Lee is survived by his wife, the former Myungsook Woo; their daughters, Sharon and Gina Lee; and three grandchildren. A memorial service was held on August 28. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent in Dr. Lee’s memory to the Professor Chong-Sik Lee scholarship fund, c/o and payable to the Philip Jaisohn Memorial Foundation, 6705 Old York Road, Philadelphia, PA 19126.

Elias Schwartz, a pediatric hematologist and former physician-in-chief of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, died on July 17 from renal failure. He was 85. 

Born and raised in Brooklyn, Dr. Schwartz graduated from Erasmus Hall High School in Flatbush. Then, he earned a bachelor’s and a medical degree Columbia University and interned at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx. While living in New York City, he met Brooklyn college student Esta Rosenberg. They married in 1960. Dr. Schwartz completed a residency in pediatrics at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in Philadelphia, then served in the Air Force from 1963 to 1965 in Omaha, Nebraska, caring for the children of military personnel. After leaving the military, he completed an internship in hematology at Boston Children’s Hospital. 

In 1967, Dr. Schwartz launched his academic career by serving as a professor of hematology and on the pediatric staff of Thomas Jefferson University. During this era, Dr. Schwartz was also a research fellow at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and at Cardeza Foundation for Hematologic Research. In 1972, he was hired as a professor of pediatrics in Penn’s School of Medicine. Seven years later, he also accepted a secondary position in the department of human genetics. Dr. Schwartz was named the Werner and Gertrude Henle, MD Professor of Pediatrics in 1992. He served as physician-in-chief until 1997, when he retired from his teaching and professional duties, taking emeritus status. 

In addition to his teaching duties, Dr. Schwartz served at CHOP as the chair of the hematology division, a position in which he “accomplished a lot and bettered the lives of many children,” according to his wife, Esta. In 1991, he became the physician-in-chief at CHOP, treating patients from all over the world, especially including children suffering from sickle cell anemia, his area of expertise. 

Dr. Schwartz was active in University life. In 1988, he served on a working group on professional education, and the next year, he chaired the Medical School’s Task Force on Education. Outside Penn, Dr. Schwartz was a member of numerous professional societies and served on the editorial boards of several medical journals. He published over 150 research papers and edited the textbook Hemoglobinopathies in Children. “Eli’s limitless intellectual curiosity made him a superb scientist with a constant stream of novel ideas, and his compassion and commitment to his patients made him a physician who could translate those novel ideas into treatments that improved the lives of thousands of children and adults throughout the world with sickle cell disease, thalassemia and other blood disorders,” said Alan Cohen, a pediatric hematologist and former chair of CHOP’s and the Perelman School of Medicine’s department of pediatrics.

Outside of his professional and academic roles, Dr. Schwartz was an avid jazz aficionado and piano player, teaching classes on jazz and film at Temple University’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. He also enjoyed woodworking, tennis, ping pong, camping, and more. 

Dr. Schwartz is survived by his wife, Esta; his sons, Rob and Sam; six grandchildren; and other relatives. A funeral was held on July 18. Donations in Dr. Schwartz’s memory may be made to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia–Division of Hematology, 3401 Civic Center Blvd., Philadelphia, PA 19104.

The short film Emile, directed by Shawn Kornhauser and depicting the life of Emile Bruneau, a former research associate and lecturer at the Annenberg School for Communication (Almanac October 13, 2020), has been accepted to two film festivals. 

A peace and conflict neuroscience researcher, Dr. Bruneau’s life mission was to bring together groups in conflict, and his research made great strides in that direction. More than a year before his passing, Dr. Bruneau reached out to the Annenberg School communications staff, and specifically documentary filmmaker Shawn Kornhauser, with an idea for a series of videos about his research, which Mr. Kornhauser made. But Mr. Kornhauser was so riveted by “Emile’s light” that he visited Dr. Bruneau at home to make another, more personal film, which became the short documentary, Emile.

To date, this 16-minute film has been accepted into two film festivals—the Global Peace Film Festival and the Morehouse College Human Rights Film Festival—and will be shown in them later this month.

“I am ecstatic that Emile is going to have a chance to be put in front of a wider audience,” says Mr. Kornhauser. “The entire goal with the film was to spread Emile’s words to as many people as possible and I’m hopeful that these festivals are just the beginning.”

In the film, Dr. Bruneau embraces his glioblastoma diagnosis with surprising positivity, working closely with his collaborators to accelerate the timeline of his research. At the same time, he reflects back on his life, including the experience of growing up with a schizophrenic mother and how that built his empathy, and considers how to prepare his two young children for the loss of their father.

The film will show first in the Morehouse College Human Rights Festival, and will be available on demand from September 23-25.

The film will also be available in the online component of the Global Peace Film Festival from September 27 through October 3.

Christopher Carlos Brzovic and Julian Turley have been selected for the Moelis Scholars Program in the department of city and regional planning at the Weitzman School.

Established in 2019 through the leadership of Ron Moelis, C’78 W’78, the program prepares students with a commitment to diversity to be the next generation of leaders in the field of urban planning. Students who intend to pursue careers in public/private development or housing, community and economic development are particularly encouraged to apply. Scholars are provided with full tuition for the two years of the program, along with a one-year research assistantship, one year of membership of the American Planning Association post-graduation, and mentorship from a faculty member and Moelis Scholar alumni.

Christopher Carlos Brzovic is pursuing a master of city planning with a concentration in housing, community, and economic development. Mr. Brzovic grew up in San Diego County, California, and first attended Grossmont College. He later graduated summa cum laude from the University of California, San Diego, with a dual major in philosophy and political theory. Mr. Brzovic has worked in housing and homelessness services in Burlington, Vermont, for the past six years, building an entry system that provides coordinated access to housing and services for all households experiencing homelessness in Chittenden County, Vermont. Starting as an AmeriCorps member, he successfully coordinated a homeless registry event, mobilizing volunteers to survey over 200 unsheltered individuals and generating the community’s first by-name list of people experiencing homelessness. Using this data, Mr. Brzovic led the greater Burlington community in adopting Housing First policies and prioritizing supportive housing resources according to need and vulnerability. Working with the statewide Veterans Committee, Mr. Brzovic and his team successfully ended veteran homelessness in Chittenden County, an accomplishment that was recognized by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has revealed the magnitude of housing precarity in the U.S., Mr. Brzovic has decided to focus his efforts on homelessness prevention by addressing the structural and intersectional determinants of housing precarity and inequality. “Although my dream job may be utopian, it would involve centering social, economic, racial, and environmental justice in all policy and decision-making,” Mr. Brzovic said. “I would ideally work to realign federal, state, and local systems and resources to empower local communities to achieve reparative housing justice and democratically shape their own environments and futures.

Julian Turley is pursuing a master of city planning with a concentration in public and private development. Mr. Turley is from Grand Rapids, Michigan, and graduated with a degree in political science from the University of Michigan. As a student, he served as a research and education chair for the Black Student Union, and co-founded Nomsy, a web and mobile food discovery app for those with dietary lifestyles. After graduating, Mr. Turley moved to Oakland, California, and worked at Code2040, a nonprofit that helps Black and Latinx technologists enter the tech sector through internships. While working to close the racial gap through tech, Mr. Turley observed that much of the wealth created by tech contributed to displacing native residents. He moved back to his hometown to become an entrepreneur-in-residence at Grand Valley State University to help students launch their ventures though the 77IdeaLab accelerator, and became an equity and people researcher at Pink Cornrows, a public policy, communications, and equity firm led by women of color.

Mr. Turley’s mission is to build equitable communities through entrepreneurship. “Within entrepreneurship, the designer methodology requires engaging day-to-day users, understanding their needs, pain-points, and wants to then work with them to have a solution” Mr. Turley said. “As a Black man raised in a single-parent household, my experiences with urban planning have not embodied these elements of equitable design.”

Nine nursing professionals with ties to Penn Nursing will be inducted as 2021 fellows of the American Academy of Nursing (AAN). One is a current Penn faculty member and alumna; the others are Penn Nursing alumni. 

All of the inductees will be honored at a ceremony during the AAN’s 2021 Health Policy Conference, taking place on October 7-9, 2021. This year’s conference and induction ceremony will be offered in a hybrid format, allowing attendees to participate either in-person (at the Marriott Marquis in Washington, DC) or virtually. 

The Nursing faculty member/alumna fellow this year is Karen Lasater, GR’15, associate professor in the department of biobehavioral health sciences. 

Penn Nursing alumni recipients include:

• Diane Breckenridge, GNu’81 
• Karen Dunn Lopez, Nu’85 
• Maureen A. Madden, GNu’94 
• Ruth Masterson Creber, C’05, Nu’05, GNu’07, GR’14 
• Sarah Collins Rossetti, Nu’03 
• Fedricker Diane Barber, GNu’95 
• Melissa M. Gomes, GNu’00 
• Rhoda Redulla, GNC’08 

Fellow selection criteria include evidence of significant contributions to nursing and health care, and sponsorship by two current AAN fellows. Applicants are reviewed by a panel comprised of elected and appointed fellows, and selection is based, in part, on the extent the nominee’s nursing career has influenced health policies and the health and well-being of all.  Academy fellows include hospital and government administrators, college deans, and renowned scientific researchers. The newest fellows represent 38 states, the District of Columbia, and 17 countries. 

The NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health has announced Penn Medicine’s FOCUS program as a winner of the NIH Prize for Enhancing Faculty Gender Diversity in Biomedical and Behavioral Science. FOCUS on Health & Leadership for Women, founded in 1994, supports the advancement and leadership of women in academic medicine and promotes education and research in women’s health and careers. The honor comes with a prize of $50,000 in recognition of the program’s demonstrated commitment to improving gender diversity and equity among faculty.

The American Society for Microbiology (ASM) has announced César de la Fuente, a Presidential Assistant Professor in psychiatry, microbiology, chemical & biomolecular engineering, and bioengineering, as a recipient of the ASM Award for Early Career Applied and Biotechnological Research for his outstanding contributions to the microbial sciences. The ASM awards recognize leading scientists and researchers in the field for their contributions to research, education, diversity and professional accomplishments.

Penn Medicine’s department of radiation oncology has been named a recipient of the American Society for Radiation Oncology’s APEx accreditation at nine locations, including the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine and its network sites in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. APEx is a four-year accreditation program developed by ASTRO that recognizes a facility or facilities’ excellence in delivering safe, high-quality care to their patients.

Rhonda Zaleski, director of clinical talent acquisition and workforce planning, has been recognized in the top 50 for the 2021 OnCon Icon Awards. The OnCon Icon Awards recognize the top talent acquisition professionals and talent acquisition vendors worldwide.

The Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (ANAC) has honored research led by Anne Teitelman, associate professor emerita in Penn Nursing’s department of family and community health, as the 2021 JANAC (Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care) Article of the Year.

Dr. Teitelman’s research team and their article, “Just4Us: Development of a Counselor Navigator and Text Message Intervention to Promote PrEP Uptake Among Cisgender Women at Elevated Risk for HIV,” will be honored during the 34th Annual ANAC Conference in Washington, D.C., November 11-13, 2021. 

“In the United States, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) uptake among eligible cisgender women has been slow, despite the availability of oral PrEP since 2012,” said Dr. Teitelman and her team in their article’s abstract. “Although women make up nearly 20 percent of those living with HIV, there are currently few PrEP uptake interventions for cisgender women at elevated risk for acquiring HIV. This research describes the process used to design and pre-pilot test Just4Us, a theory-based behavioral intervention to promote PrEP initiation and adherence among PrEP-eligible cisgender women.”

“This award recognizes the importance of research aimed at promoting informed decision-making about PrEP among cisgender women who could benefit from biomedical HIV prevention. PrEP can be empowering as it is a woman-controlled HIV prevention modality,” said Dr. Teitelman. “The Just4Us intervention is among the first to address the lack of widespread awareness of PrEP, misinformation, and limited access among cisgender women in the U.S.”

All PPSA members are encouraged to participate in this special (virtual) meeting. We will welcome Stacey Lopez, the staff representative to the Consultative Committee for the Selection of a President, for a listening session. Dr. Lopez will receive feedback from Penn staff, which will be conveyed to the Committee to inform its deliberations. Registration link via Zoom. 

Participation at this special meeting is limited to members of Penn’s monthly-paid (“overtime exempt”) professional staff, excluding senior level administrators.

During the session, participants are invited to address the following question: What do you see as the major challenges for the University over the likely tenure of the next President? (In other words: what not-necessarily-obvious, structural changes should the next University President make in order to tangibly improve Penn?)

Participants may alternatively use this two-question form to share written responses to the above question with PPSA leadership. (Identifying information is not requested via the form, and your response will be aggregated with others before it is shared with Dr. Lopez.) The form will be available until noon on Wednesday, September 22.

The Consultative Committee has also made available a “Community Survey,” however submissions through that survey are not known to PPSA.  By sharing information via PPSA’s form or during the listening session, PPSA can amplify the voices of Penn staff in the deliberation process.

Please reply to ppsa@lists.upenn.edu with questions or comments regarding this special meeting.

—J. Patrick Walsh, Chair of the Penn Professional Staff Assembly

An open session of the WXPN Policy Board will be held on Wednesday, September 29, 2021 at noon at WXPN. For more information, email tess@xpn.org or call (215) 898-0628 during business hours.

Children’s Activities

Penn Museum
Online and in-person events. Info and to register: https://www.penn.museum/calendar.

28        At-Home Anthro Live: Create a Tapa Cloth; 1 p.m.

Fitness & Learning

23        Caregiver Resources Session for Faculty; will give an overview of the caregiving resources available to Penn faculty; 10 a.m.; Zoom meeting; register: https://tinyurl.com/caregiving-resources-sept-23 (Vice Provost for Faculty).

            GIC Open House, Welcome and Introduction to Native and Indigenous Community; 6 p.m.; Greenfield Intercultural Center, 3708 Chestnut St. (GIC).

24        Master in Law Information Session for General Audiences; will give an overview of the Master in Law (ML) degree, application instructions, highlight various courses of study available, and provide insight into the student experience; noon; Zoom meeting; register: https://tinyurl.com/penn-law-info-sept-24 (Penn Law). Also September 28, noon, for members of the Penn community.

African American Resource Center
Online and in-person events. Info and to register: https://aarc.upenn.edu/events.

22        Penn Women’s Center & African American Resource Center Graduate Student “Open House”; 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

            Women of Color at Penn Meet & Greet; 4 p.m.

23        Men of Color Meet & Greet; 5 p.m.

25        Penn Women’s Center & African American Resource Center Community Lunch; noon.

Graduate School of Education (GSE)
Online and in-person events. Info and to register: https://www.gse.upenn.edu/news/events-calendar.

22        Developing a Daily Practice for Calm; 12:30 p.m.

24        Friday Virtual Chats with Admissions; noon.

            Virgin Pulse Wellness Platform Demo; noon.

            Conflict Resolution; 12:30 p.m.

27        Virtual Information Session: Mid-Career; 6 p.m.

LGBT Center
In-person events at Goodhand Room, LGBT Center. Info: https://lgbtc.vpul.upenn.edu/.

21        Mid-Autumn Moon Festival; 7 p.m.

24        Cultural Resource Festival Festival; 1-3 p.m.

Penn Libraries
Online and in-person events. Info and to register: https://guides.library.upenn.edu/workshops.

22        Introduction to Zotero; 5 p.m.

24        Penn Walks 2 Wellness; noon.

27        Zotero 101; 4 p.m.

28        Getting the Most Out of Mendeley: Organize and Cite; 11 a.m.

School of Social Policy and Practice (SP2)
Online events. Info and to register: https://www.sp2.upenn.edu/sp2-events/month/2021-09/.

25        Admissions Information Session: Master’s Programs; 10 a.m.

Music

22        Odean Pope / Immanuel Wilkins / Chad Taylor Trio: An Autumn Equinox Celebration and Opening Night for the Second Annual John Coltrane Symposium; a closing celebration of the New Grass program series; 5 p.m.; the Woodlands (Music, Ars Nova Workshop).

Readings & Signings

22        Climate Week at Penn Book Talk: Climate Change and Journalism; brings together the co-editors and contributing authors of the new book; 1 p.m.; Zoom meeting; register: https://tinyurl.com/annenberg-climate-week-sept-22 (Annenberg School).

23        Celebrating New Faculty Books: The Muridiyya on the Move. Islam, Migration, and Place Making; Cheikh Babou, history; 5 p.m.; room 209, College Hall and Zoom meeting; join: https://upenn.zoom.us/j/97889770844 (History).

            Black/Queer/Risk and the Museum Reading Group; view the works of contemporary black queer visual artists; 5 p.m.; Zoom meeting; info: juliafox@upenn.edu (Fine Arts).

Talks

21        New Approaches for Integrating Microbiome and Covariate Data; Christine Peterson, MD Anderson Cancer Center; 3:30 p.m.; BlueJeans meeting; join: https://bluejeans.com/515188833/2631 (CCEB).

22        Making Progress in Health Equity: Rethinking Governance and Aligning Systems; José Pagán, NYU; 10 a.m.; online event; register: https://tinyurl.com/ldi-talk-sept-22 (Leonard Davis Institute).

            Blackface Minstrelsy in Buster Keaton's 1920s Films; William Schmenner, cinema studies; noon; Zoom meeting; join: https://tinyurl.com/schmenner-talk-sept-22 (Cinema Studies).

            New Directions in Research on Immigration and Crime; Charis Kubrin, UC Irvine; noon; Zoom meeting; ID: 946 9550 1694; password: CRIM 558 (Criminology).  

            Non Reciprocal Phase Transitions; Vincenzo Vitelli, University of Chicago; 3:30 p.m.; Zoom meeting; join: https://tinyurl.com/vitelli-talk-sept-22 (Physics and Astronomy).

            Race, Solidarity, and Allyship: Embracing our Black LGBTQ+ Siblings; panel discussion; 5:30 p.m.; register: https://tinyurl.com/PennRSASignUP (AARC).

            Seams: Crafting an Architecture; Felecia Davis, architect; 6:30 p.m.; YouTube livestream; register: https://tinyurl.com/davis-talk-sept-22 (Architecture).

23        Profiles of Asian American Adulthood; Phoebe Ho, University of North Texas; 9:30 a.m.; room 367, McNeil Building (Sociology).

            Al Mudhif – A Confluence with Yaroub Al-Obaidi; Yaroub Al-Obaidi, Indiana University of Pennsylvania; 12:30 p.m.; online event; info: https://tinyurl.com/al-obaidi-talk-sept-22 (Penn Museum).

            Investigating New Reactivities Enabled by Polariton Chemistry; Frank Huo, University of Rochester; 1 p.m.; Zoom meeting; info: https://www.chem.upenn.edu/events/ (Chemistry).

            True Confessions: Foucault in the Archives; Niki Kasumi Clements, Rice University; 3:30 p.m.; Zoom meeting; info: doschaef@upenn.edu (Religious Studies).

            Responding to “Unequivocal” Climate Change: Legal and Policy Implications of the Latest IPCC Report; Daniel Bodansky, Arizona State University; Nathaniel Keohane, Center for Climate and Energy Solutions; Shelley Welton, University of South Carolina; 4 p.m.; Zoom meeting; register: https://tinyurl.com/law-talk-sept-23 (Penn Law).

            Rural Development in China and East Asia; Kristen Looney, Georgetown University; 4:30 p.m., CSCC conference room and Zoom; info: https://tinyurl.com/looney-talk-sept-23 (Center for the Study of Contemporary China).

24        Urban Informality, Latinx Immigrants, and the State of Employment in the U.S.; Michael Jones-Correa, political science; noon; location TBA; info: https://tinyurl.com/jones-correa-talk-sept-24 (Penn IUR, LALS).

            Josephine Baker Goes to the Pantheon: Black Women and Citizenship in France; Annette Joseph-Gabriel, University of Michigan; 4:30 p.m.; Zoom meeting; join: https://upenn.zoom.us/meeting/97685558366 (French & Francophone Studies).

27        Corona Time: Reading Fiction During the COVID-19 Pandemic; Christina Lupton, University of Copenhagen; Ben Davies, University of Portsmouth; 5:15 p.m.; Class of 1978 Pavilion, Van Pelt Library (Workshop in the History of Material Texts).

            Architecture & Robotics: New Modes of Practice & Pedagogy; panel of speakers; 6:30 p.m.; Plaza Gallery, Meyerson Hall; register: https://tinyurl.com/architecture-talk-sept-27 (Architecture).

28        Kirigami: Programming Cutting and Folding from Microscale to Meter Scale; Shu Yang, materials science & engineering; 10 a.m.; Zoom meeting; info: peterlit@seas.upenn.edu (Mechanical Engineering & Applied Mechanics).

            Different Mechanisms Define IncRNA and Protein Coding Gene Transcription Units In Mammalian Cells; Nicholas Proudfoot, Oxford; noon; GoToMeeting webinar; join: https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/227215405 (Wistar Institute).

            The Obvious Facts and Deceptions of Photoredox Reactions; John Swierk, Binghamton University; noon; Carol Lynch Lecture Hall, Chemistry Complex (Chemistry).

            New Evidence of Racial Disparities in Financial Regulatory Leadership; Chris Brummer, Georgetown University; 5 p.m.; Zoom meeting; register: https://tinyurl.com/brummer-talk-sept-28 (Penn Law).

Annenberg School for Communication
Online events. Info and to register: https://www.asc.upenn.edu/news-events/events.

22        Archiving Trump: Cruelties, Corruption and Citational Complexity; Jay Rosen, NYU; Leah Wright Rigueur, Brandeis University; 12:30 p.m.; Zoom meeting.

Classical Studies
In-person events. Info: https://www.classics.upenn.edu/events.

23        Hipponax, Iambic Laughter and the Question of Genre; Ralph Rosen, classical studies; 4:45 p.m.; room 402, Claudia Cohen Hall and Zoom.

Penn Dental
Online events. Info and to register: https://www.dental.upenn.edu/news-events/events/.

22        Preventive Nutritional Interventions for Individuals with Special Needs; Matthew Whipple, Seven Valley Dental; 5:30 p.m.

Economics
Online and in-person events. Info and to register: https://economics.sas.upenn.edu/events.

22        The Welfare Impact of Market Power: The OPEC Cartel; Jan De Loecker, KU Leuven; 3:30 p.m.; Zoom.

            Reparations and Persistent Racial Wealth Gaps; Loukas Karabarbounis, University of Minnesota; 4 p.m.; room 100, PCPSE.

Mathematics
In-person events. Info: https://www.math.upenn.edu/events.

21        Cancer Early Detection with Circulating Tumor DNA; Giulia Simoni, Stanford; 4 p.m.; room 4C8, DRL.

23        “Concordance” in Algebraic Geometry and Hilbert Schemes; Elden Elmanto, Harvard; 5:15 p.m.; room 4C8, DRL.

28        Geometric Properties of Generalized Sheaves of Conformal Blocks; Chiara Damiolini, mathematics; 3:30 p.m.; room 4C4, DRL.

Middle East Center
Online and in-person events. Info: https://mec.sas.upenn.edu/events.

23        Return to Ruin: Iraqi Narratives of Exile and Nostalgia; Zainab Saleh, Haverford; 5:30 p.m.; room 110, Annenberg School.

AT PENN Calendar

The September AT PENN calendar is online now and the October AT PENN calendar will be published next Tuesday, September 28. To submit an event for an update to either calendar, email us at almanac@upenn.edu. 

University of Pennsylvania Police Department Crime Report

Below are the Crimes Against Persons, Crimes Against Society and Crimes Against Property from the campus report for September 6-12, 2021. View prior weeks’ reports. —Ed.

This summary is prepared by the Division of Public Safety and includes all criminal incidents reported and made known to the University Police Department for the dates of September 6-12, 2021. The University Police actively patrol from Market St to Baltimore and from the Schuylkill River to 43rd St in conjunction with the Philadelphia Police. In this effort to provide you with a thorough and accurate report on public safety concerns, we hope that your increased awareness will lessen the opportunity for crime. For any concerns or suggestions regarding this report, please call the Division of Public Safety at (215) 898-4482.

18th District

Below are the Crimes Against Persons from the 18th District: 5 incidents (3 aggravated assaults and 2 robberies) were reported for September 6-12, 2021 by the 18^th District, covering the Schuylkill River to 49th St & Market St to Woodland Avenue.

In support of this year’s unprecedented demand for parking, Penn Transportation and Parking is pleased to announce the availability of discounted daily (12-hour) and monthly permit parking rates at the Amtrak CIRA Parking Deck, 2929 Arch Street, next to 30th Street Station. Advanced registration is required. 

This location, operated by the SP+ Corporation (also known as Parking.com) is conveniently connected to the LUCY® Gold and Green Shuttle Routes, which operate Monday–Friday from 6:10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and provide free transportation to campus and the hospital complex for riders who display their PennCards or UPHS IDs.

Daily Parking

SP+ (also known as Parking.com) is offering discounted daily parking to the Penn and UPHS communities via advance registration at a dedicated reservation site. Follow the instructions provided on the landing page and enter Penn’s unique access code to receive the special discounted rate of $15 for up to 12 hours.

You will be emailed a receipt confirming your reservation, with a linked QR code.  Scan the QR code both at entry and exit of the garage at the box with red flashing lights. In the event that you do not have a smartphone, you may print out the QR code for entering and exiting the garage.

You should also be aware of the following information:  

• The discounted rate is not available without having obtained the special QR code before you arrive at the parking facility.
• Parkers will be charged at the time a reservation is made. Should your plans change, contact the SP+ Corporation at (844) 472-7577 for support. Cancelation must occur before the scheduled reservation takes effect.
• A new QR code will be issued each day you elect to park at the facility and will be unique to your specific reservation.
• You may create and save an account for faster daily checkout.
• Daily parking may also be reserved via Parking.com, which is available on the AppStore and Google Play.
• This discounted rate is only available through May 31, 2022.

Additional support regarding online reservations for this site is available from SP+ at (844) 472-7577 or email them at phl_customerservice@spplus.com.

Monthly Permit Parking

Parking.com is also offering monthly passes to individuals from Penn and UPHS at the discounted rate of $175. Those interested can submit an application directly to SP+ by using their specially dedicated website.

Payment options

In addition to payment by personal credit card, University of Pennsylvania full-time, benefits-eligible faculty and staff may use the WageWorks Commuter Parking Card to pay for parking fees at this facility. Parkers can realize significant tax savings by deducting their commuting parking fees, via payroll, up to $270 a month on a pre-tax basis. Any amount over $270 each month is regarded as post-tax dollars. Commuters must place their order no later than the 10th of the month before the commuting month requested.

Monday, October 4 through Friday, October 8

Pottruck Health and Fitness Center

Monday-Thursday: 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Friday: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

No appointments.

Join Wellness at Penn for our annual Flu Clinic this October! Flu shots are free for all students, faculty, and staff. No registration is required; all you need is your Penn Card. For more information, please visit the Wellness at Penn Campus Health website: https://campushealth.wellness.upenn.edu/fluclinic/.

Do you have an idea for a startup in STEM? It’s time to test it with potential customers!

Through a grant from NSF, the I-Corps program works with Penn faculty, staff, post-docs, and students to test and validate startup ideas through customer discovery.

Participants learn valuable skills on connecting with customers, asking the right questions, and how to find partners to help get your startup off the ground. Plus, teams are awarded grants of up to $2000 for participating.

Applications can be submitted at any time and are reviewed on a rolling basis. The final application deadline for the fall 2021 cohort is Tuesday, September 28.

For more information and how to apply, visit the Penn I-Corps webpage.

Simon Richter

I love the looks I get when people outside of academia ask me what I do. My answer comes in two parts. “I’m a professor of German and Dutch literature and culture.” No problems there. It’s nice to have some humanists around. “And, together with some very talented staff and students, I’m the organizer of Climate Week at Penn.” Incredulity. How did that happen? Why would a professor in the department of Germanic languages and literatures even be involved? Let me explain.

Our academic disciplines are parceled out and protected like the polders of a Dutch landscape. Over the last few decades, we’ve lowered the dikes here and there and allowed for a measure of interdisciplinarity within the protective bounds of the university. Outside of these bounds, however, sea level rise accelerates, hurricanes intensify, flash floods increase, wildfires rage, crops bake, and temperatures soar. All of these extremes are attributable to a rate of climate change that, as the IPCC now says, is unequivocally caused by human behavior, specifically, our extractive, fossil-fuel-powered culture. What we do now will determine our future. How can we act as if this is not happening? 

As the Dutch are discovering after centuries of waging war against water, one of the most effective ways to adapt to its excess—whether from rising seas, flooding rivers, or extreme rainfall—is to give it more room. Out of a sense of responsibility to both my students and the university, I have taken down the barriers and allowed my teaching and research to be inundated by the climate emergency. I’ve adapted. And, in the process, I’ve realized that my discipline has a powerful role to play in addressing genuine academic, intellectual, and emotional needs. 

Let’s start with teaching. I see the general requirement as an ideal way to place the resources of my discipline at the disposal of a broad range of students. I teach two sectored courses in rotation, “Water Worlds,” primarily informed by my interest in cultural aspects of water management and responses to catastrophic flooding, and “Forest Worlds,” which begins with the cultural history of the forest and sustainable yield forestry in Germany. Please don’t get the idea that I’ve sold out my discipline. I haven’t. The main texts for both courses are narratives in the form of literature (epics, short stories, novels) and film (feature, indie, documentary), interspersed with readings about the climate emergency. I keep news of hurricanes and floods, drought and wildfire, oil spills and extinctions, as well as political and cultural news (the annual climate summits, student climate strikes, and other manifestations of climate citizenship) close at hand. Students tell me they’ve never felt so roundly informed about the climate emergency. It’s empowering and overwhelming at the same time. That’s where narrative comes in. The literary and cinematic stories we plunge into allow students to work through feelings of anxiety and grief, anger and fear, isolation and guilt. But more than that: these stories open their eyes and hearts to the intelligence and beauty of the non-human communities we’re embedded in, the waters and forests we depend on. Resilience, these stories teach us, is anchored in communities. That is why an additional component of the course involves exposure to local networks of climate scientists, activists, NGOs, knowledge centers, policy makers, and innovators at Penn and in the city—the good people, often young, who have made climate action a significant part of their lives. “Attend an event, take a selfie, and write a paragraph about what you learned,” the syllabus instructs them. The first five events earn a required point each, any others go towards extra credit. The selfie puts them into the picture. Many find their place and join climate-active communities. 

Opening up to the climate emergency has also transformed my research. Rising waters have carried me to places I never imagined. Nowadays my research partners are experts in climate adaptation and water governance, landscape architects and designers, city planners and ethnographers. Our projects aim at increasing community-based, future-oriented climate adaptability through novel participatory processes in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and Indonesia. Nothing and everything prepared me for the role I play. It wasn’t obvious to anyone that a scholar of literature would an asset. Twenty years ago, attempts at this kind of wide-ranging interdisciplinarity would have been rebuffed or, at best, seen as an insignificant sideshow. There was no basis, no crying need for what a humanist could bring. Now there is. Story-telling, imagination, and cultural awareness are in high demand. Narrative maps onto process; imagination involves the future and seeing ways to do things differently; intercultural understanding underlies and enables interaction. My humanist skill set uniquely equips me for this role in ways my partners affirm. I’ve adapted the stock-in-trade of my discipline—the analysis, interpretation, and critique of narrative—into a method of creative reflection about the cultural process of climate adaptation itself. 

My climate-engaged research differs from conventional research in the humanities in three ways: it’s collaborative, creative, and solution-based. An unexpected boon is that it’s easier to integrate my research with undergraduate teaching and mentoring. This summer, for example, I’ve been working with three students through the Penn Undergraduate Research Mentoring program (PURM). Together we are creating a series of animated videos to inform both the Dutch public and the public at large about the potential impact of accelerated sea level rise on the Netherlands and to contribute to the debate about the best adaptive approach. Because the affected region contains major cities (Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam) and is the economic engine of the Netherlands, there is considerable resistance to confronting these facts. Based on my experience, there are some things only a trusted outsider can say. We’ve settled on a form of gentle humor and use unexpected metaphors as a way to get past routine defenses. As we write scripts and create storyboards, we consult with Dutch experts to make sure our message is accurate and on target. Working at the nexus of climate and culture, the students continually astound me with their ability to translate complex adaptation issues into arresting animated visuals. 

One of the most important lessons I teach all of my students comes from novelist Octavia Butler’s adaptation of the parable of the talents. When you leverage all your possibilities and influence in the service of climate justice, you inevitably create more possibilities, greater influence, and expand your community. That insight sums up my path from professor of German to my role in bringing first the 1.5* Minute Climate Lectures and then Climate Week at Penn into being. In one way or another, the climate emergency bears down on everyone in the Penn community, including the administration. It’s emotionally grueling to maintain the cognitive dissonance between a sense of extreme urgency and daily academic routine. I think that is why I see so many expressions of relief and even joy when members of the Penn community suddenly realize that their position allows them to contribute to making Climate Week possible. 

Climate Week runs from September 20-24. Check out the website. The possibilities for climate-engaged teaching are endless. 

----

Simon Richter is the Class of 1942 Endowed Term Professor of German. 

This essay continues the series that began in the fall of 1994 as the joint creation of the College of Arts and Sciences, the Center for Teaching and Learning and the Lindback Society for Distinguished Teaching. 

See https://almanac.upenn.edu/talk-about-teaching-and-learning-archive for previous essays.