Warren J. Ewens, Ph.D., professor of biology, is among 49 scientists worldwide elected Fellows of the Royal Society this month. Election to the Society is recognized internationally as a sign of the scientific community’s highest regard. His contributions to genetics research include a test widely used in searching for genes involved with diseases and a formula for describing a gene sample, which has been highly influential in evolutionary genetics, probability theory and combinatorial theory.
Ian Lustick, Ph.D., chair of the political science department, has received a $248,000 grant from the Carnegie Corporation to study the relationship between globalization and the resurgence of identity politics. The grant is being run through the Solomon Asch Center for Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict, using a computer model developed here at Penn.
Scholars ship overseas
Megan Tracy, a Ph.D. candidate in anthropology, has won a National Security Education Program (NESP) Fellowship, for the study of languages and cultures deemed critical to U.S. national security. Tracy will study Mandarin and Mongolian in China.
David B. Hollenberg, a Ph.D. candidate in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, has been awarded a 2000-2001 Queen Elizabeth Scholarship to pursue dissertation research in medieval Islamic studies at Oxford. The scholarship, made possible by the generosity of Sir Walter Annenberg, is intended to encourage the historic friendship between the United States and the United Kingdom.
Mellon grant
The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology received a $170,000 planning grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to develop scholarly Internet access to archive and artifact collections.
Fundraising honor
The University has received a CASE 2000 Circle of Excellence Award in Educational Fundraising for its outstanding performance in fund raising. The award, given by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, recognizes the efforts of the Office of Development and Alumni Relations.
Appointment
Larry Gladney, Ph.D., Professor of Physics, has agreed to serve in the newly created position of Faculty Advisor for Academic Support Services for a term of three years. Gladney will serve as a liaison between the faculties of the four undergraduate schools and the Department of Academic Support Programs so tutoring, workshops and study groups can work in concert with faculty to help students meet their class requirements.
The Polyhedral Structures Laboratory is housed at the Pennovation Center and brings together designers, engineers, and computer scientists to reimagine the built world. Using graphic statics, a method where forces are mapped as lines, they design forms that balance compression and tension. These result in structures that use far fewer materials while remaining strong and efficient.
From ancient tombs and tiny robots to personalized gene editing and AI weather models, Penn’s 2025 research portfolio showed how curiosity—paired with collaboration—moves knowledge into impact and stretches across disciplines and continents.
Centering joy in AI development and implementation
PIK Professor Desmond Upton Patton—of Annenberg and SP2—and collaborators introduce a joy-informed framework designed to initiate conversations among engineers, designers, and researchers.
Reflecting on Jane Austen, 250 years after her birth
English professors Michael Gamer and Barri Joyce Gold have been teaching courses specifically dedicated to Jane Austen for years. They spoke with Penn Today about their approach to teaching her novels, how they challenge common readings and myths, and what makes Austen’s work so enduring—and adaptable to the screen—more than two centuries later.
Electronic medical records help save lives of HIV patients
Wharton’s Leandro “Leo” Pongeluppe and colleagues found that HIV clinics in Malawi that switched from paper to electronic medical records saw an estimated 28% reduction in deaths in five years.
Warren J. Ewens, Ph.D., professor of biology, is among 49 scientists worldwide elected Fellows of the Royal Society this month. Election to the Society is recognized internationally as a sign of the scientific community’s highest regard. His contributions to genetics research include a test widely used in searching for genes involved with diseases and a formula for describing a gene sample, which has been highly influential in evolutionary genetics, probability theory and combinatorial theory.
