Four Penn professors have been awarded 2003-2004 Fulbright Scholar grants to lecture or conduct research abroad. There are also four international scholars who have visited or are visiting the University as Fulbright grant recipients this cycle. Approximately 800 U.S. faculty and professionals were awarded Fulbright grants this year, joining about 86,000 U.S. and foreign scholars who have participated in the program since its inception in 1946.

2003-2004 Faculty Grantees

Susan B. Davidson, professor in the Department of Computer and Information Science and director of the Center for Bioinformatics, will research at the French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control in Rocquencourt, France, from January through July 2004.

Cynthia Ott, postdoctoral researcher in the American Civilization Program, began lecturing at the University of Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, in September 2003 and will continue through July 2004.

Julia Felice Paley, a visiting scholar in the Urban Studies Program, lectured from May to August 2003 at Simon Bolivar University in Quito, Ecuador.

Noga Vardi, research associate professor in the Department of Neuroscience at the Medical School, began research at Tel Aviv University in Israel in September 2003 and will continue through July 2004.

2003-4 Visiting Grantees

Roziyamo Ashurovna, president of The Odamiyat (“Humanity”) Association in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, conducted research from September through December 2003.

Miroslav Barta, assistant professor, Faculty of Arts at the Czech Institute of Egyptology at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic, began research in August 2003 and will continue through June 2004.

Petr Zdenek Charvat, director and associate professor in the Department of Africa and the Near East in the Oriental Institute, Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague, began conducting research in October 2003 and will continue through August 2004.

Ulo Valk, professor and chair of the Department of Literature and Folklore at the University of Tartu in Tartu, Estonia, began research in September 2003 that will continue through July 2004.

Medal and prize for Beck

Aaron T. Beck, professor emeritus of psychiatry at the School of Medicine, has been awarded the Rhoda and Bernard Sarnat International Prize in Mental Health for the Year 2003, consisting of a medal and $20,000, from the Institute of Medicine and the Grawemeyer Award in psychology for 2004, a $200,000 cash prize administered by the University of Louisville.

Widely recognized as the “father of cognitive therapy,” Beck, 82, has been listed as one of the 10 most influential people in the history of American psychiatry and one of the five most influential psychotherapists of all time. (See “Q & A,” page 4.) He is the founder and president of the Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy, which opened in 1994, and is the author or co-author of 17 books. Beck joined the Department of Psychiatry in 1954 and currently heads the Psychopathology Research Unit in that department.

Morton Amsterdam C’43,D’45, professor emeritus of periodontics and periodontal prosthesis and Norman Vine Professor of Restorative Dentistry at the School of Dental Medicine, is the 2003 recipient of the American Academy of Periodontology Master Clinician Award. Amsterdam, who was first appointed to Penn Dental in 1955, was recognized for his clinical excellence at the Academy’s 89th annual meeting. A leader in the field, Amsterdam initiated, developed and implemented the periodontal prosthesis at Penn.

Gregory Possehl was awarded the 2003 Choice Magazine Award for Outstanding Academic Book for his text, “Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective” (AltaMira Press, 2002). Possehl, a Museum of Archeology and Anthropology Asian section curator and professor of anthropology, is a leading expert in the history and archeology of the ancient Indus civilization. Since 1964, Possehl has been engaged in archeological research in India and Pakistan.