Five Penn faculty members were elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an honorary society and independent research center.
On April 22, the organization announced that 252 new members were recognized. Among the recipients are Mark Allen of the School of Engineering and Applied Science, Sara Cherry of the Perelman School of Medicine, Earth and Environmental Sciences professor Michael Mann, Penn Integrates Knowledge professor Duncan Watts, and Provost John Jackson, Jr.
“We celebrate the achievement of each new member and the collective breadth and depth of their excellence,” Academy President Laurie Patton wrote in the press release, adding that this selection “is a fitting commemoration of the nation’s 250th anniversary.”
Chartered in 1780, the Academy celebrates “the excellence of its members” and convenes leaders across disciplines to address “issues of importance to the nation and the world.” The society’s members advance society and the “interest, honor, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people.”
Allen researches microelectromechanical systems, as well as the development and application of new micro and nanofabrication technologies. Among his accomplishments are co-founding companies like Cardiomems and Axion Biosystems — the former specializes in medical devices and the latter is a biotechnology organization — and publishing over 120 journal articles.
Mann is a professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences in the School of Arts and Sciences, with a secondary appointment in the Annenberg School for Communication.
With appointments in the Engineering School, the Annenberg School, and the Wharton School, Watts is the 23rd Penn Integrates Knowledge professor at Penn. He studies social and organizational networks, along with large-scale digital data.
Cherry, a professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Penn Medicine, researches emerging RNA viruses. Her lab focuses on genetic and mechanistic studies of viral-host interactions.
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Jackson serves as the University’s Provost and maintains appointments in both the Annenberg School and SAS. He is the only professor in Penn’s history to serve as dean of two separate Penn schools.
Induction ceremonies for the new members will take place this October in Cambridge, Mass.
