PHILADELPHIA - Jonathan D. Moreno from the University of Virginia and Christopher B. Murray from the IBM research division have been named Penn Integrates Knowledge professors at the University of Pennsylvania.

PIK is a University-wide initiative, launched in 2005 by Penn President Amy Gutmann, to recruit exceptional faculty members whose research and teaching exemplify the integration of knowledge across disciplines.

"Penn is known internationally for cross-disciplinary studies, and the addition of these scholars to the Penn faculty moves that reputation vigorously forward," Gutmann said.  "I am proud they are joining us as we continue to move Penn from excellence to eminence in areas - such as nanotechnology and bioethics - that are critical to the future of our university and society."

"The contributions that Jonathan Moreno and Christopher Murray will make in educating Penn students and in adding to the store of knowledge for the nation and the world are profound," Penn Provost Ron Daniels said.  

Moreno will hold appointments in medical ethics in the School of Medicine and in the history and sociology of science in the School of Arts and Sciences.  He will hold the David and Lyn Silfen University Professorship, named in recognition of a Silfen family gift.  David Silfen, a Penn trustee, is senior director of The Goldman Sachs Group.

At U.Va., Moreno is a professor of biomedical ethics and director of the Center for Biomedical Ethics.  He is also a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress in Washington, D. C.

Moreno is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies and serves on the Institute's Board on Health Sciences Policy.  He is also a member of the Council on Accreditation of the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs and a past president of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities.  He is a bioethics advisor for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and a Faculty Affiliate of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University.

Moreno received his bachelor's degree from Hofstra University in 1973, with highest honors in philosophy and psychology.  He was a University Fellow at Washington University in St. Louis, receiving his doctorate in philosophy in 1977, and was a Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow in cooperation with the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies.

Christopher B. Murray will hold appointments in chemistry in the School of Arts and Sciences and in materials science in the School of Engineering and Applied Science.  He will hold the Richard Perry University Professorship, named in recognition of a gift from Richard Perry, a Penn trustee and founder of the investment management firm Perry Capital.

At IBM since 1995, Murray is manager of the Nanoscale Materials and Devices Department and researches the synthesis characterization and integration of nanostructured materials with an emphasis on the exploration of finite size effects in nanoscale magnets and semiconductors.

Murray is a Master Inventor and patent evaluator at IBM.  He received his B.Sci. degree in 1989 from Saint Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, before pursuing graduate studies in chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  At MIT, he developed methods for the synthesis and characterization of semiconductor nanocrystals and nanocrystal superlattices, earning a Ph.D. in 1995.  His work on semiconductor nanocrystals was honored with the American Chemical Society's 1997 Nobel Laureate Signature Award.

The Technology Review recognized Murray's innovation in the development of nanocrystalline materials with his selection in 2000 as one of the most influential innovators younger than 35.   

Cherie R. Kagan, Murray's spouse, will join Penn as an associate professor of electrical and systems engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

Kagan, a 1991 graduate of Penn with both a B.S.E. in materials science and engineering and a B.A. in mathematics, earned her Ph.D. in materials science and engineering and electronic materials at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1996.  

Kagan is manager of IBM's Molecular Assemblies and Devices Group, where her work on the creation of flexible transistors earned her recognition as an innovator of one of the Top 10 Emerging Technologies in The Technology Review.  In 2002, she was named one of the Top 12 Young Women at the Forefront of Chemistry by the American Chemical Society.  

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