The University is forging ahead on at least one aspect of the Penn Compact -- President Amy Gutmann's three-pronged plan for Penn's future -- by increasing interdisciplinary opportunities.
Along with improving accessibility for students and engaging locally and globally, Gutmann cited integrating knowledge as one goal that will bring the University "from excellence to eminence." There are a least two examples of such integration currently in the works -- the Penn Nano/Bio Interface Center and the Penn Summit on Global Issues in Women's Health.
"The most interesting and important intellectual problems and practical problems of our time require us to have more than one set of disciplinary knowledge," Gutmann said.
The Nano/Bio Interface Center -- which officially opened on Nov. 23 within the Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter on the corner of 33rd and Walnut streets but will eventually be housed in its own building -- will combine the work of three schools to explore nanotechnology. The center examines the interaction between physical and biological systems at the molecular level.
Faculty from the School of Engineering and Applied Science, the School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Medicine are able to collaborate thanks to an $11.4 million grant from the National Science Foundation to build one of six new Nanoscale Science and Engineering Centers across the country.
Eduardo Glandt, dean of SEAS, commented on the intensity of the efforts to integrate knowledge both at the Nano/Bio Interface Center and across the entire campus.
"I think what [Gutmann] means as integrating knowledge goes beyond 'interdisciplinary,' which has been used a lot," Glandt said. "It's integrating across disciplines. It's integrating across schools ... it's linking all across the University."
The Summit on Global Issues in Women's Health -- spearheaded by the School of Nursing and to be held on April 25 and 26 -- will incorporate faculty from all 12 schools in some way, according to Afaf Meleis, dean of Nursing.
Only when Meleis and Arthur Rubenstein, dean of the School of Medicine, decided to bring Penn faculty together to discuss women's health issues did Meleis realize that so many on campus were working on this topic.
"People didn't know the work of others on campus" when they were initially contacted about the summit, Meleis said.
"I was absolutely amazed that there was such a lack of coherence and integration."
The main goals of the summit are to bring attention to global women's health issues -- such as HIV/AIDS, maternal and infant mortality, human rights, the empowerment of women and the encouragement of policy change. Yet Meleis hopes the summit will also "inspire more work that is more collaborative, interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary."
The Nano/Bio Interface Center and the Summit on Global Issues in Women's Health are steps towards further integration.
Interim Provost Peter Conn noted the challenges of this work.
"Penn probably has a more promising and rich array of educational resources ... than almost any university in the United States," Conn said. "On the other hand, it's hard work to design the right programs, to make the right opportunities available."
