Masao Sako, the Arifa Hasan Ahmad and Nada Al Shoaibi Presidential Professor of Physics and Astronomy, has been named faculty co-director of the Center of Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Innovation.
CETLI was established on Nov. 1, 2023 through the merging of the Center of Teaching and Learning and the Online Learning Initiative. Provost John Jackson. Jr. and Deputy Provost Beth Winkelstein announced Sako’s appointment, which will begin on April 1.
CETLI aims to improve the quality and reach of teaching across Penn's schools, ranging from new teaching assistants to senior faculty. It provides programs and services to faculty, instructors, graduate students, and teams leading online programs via Penn.
“[Sako] is consistently at the forefront of bringing new educational ideas and methods to campus, which makes him an ideal leader to help us chart the future of teaching at Penn as part of the new Center of Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Innovation," Jackson said in the announcement.
Sako has been a professor at Penn since 2006. His research focuses on observational cosmology with supernovae, and his group is actively involved in developing machine learning and deep learning methods. In 2015, he received the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching, the highest University-wide teaching award.
Beyond research, Sako helped establish Penn Boot Camps, which provides training in the fields of cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and data science. He also helped develop the Summer Undergraduate Research Academy, Structured Active In-Class Learning at Penn, and the Peer-Led Team Learning Initiative in the Physics department. He is also currently the faculty co-director of the new data science and analytics minor at Penn.
Sako is part of the team of Penn researchers working on the development of the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope with NASA. His role in the project focuses on the telescope’s ability to detect and recognize supernovae and other cosmic objects, and he will be hiring students to join his group.
CETLI is currently accepting nominations for the other faculty co-director position, which can be sent to Winkelstein until May 1.
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