Science profs honored for work

One teaches her students by rapping to them, a second says he's surprised his research was even recognized, a third is credited with discovering a new dinosaur, a fourth is an award-winning physicist and the last is trying to save lives.

So what do these five Penn professors have in common?

Helen Davies, Scott Poethig, Peter Dodson, Elias Burstein and Eli Glatstein were all named fellows of the American Association of the Academy of Sciences this October and will be officially inducted into the organization at an annual meeting on Feb. 13.

AAAS "is an enormously important organization [and] a well-developed mechanism for the dissemination of knowledge to the press and public," noted Dodson, who is a veterinary anatomy and earth and environmental science professor.

AAAS represents a community of scientists -- including 8,455 fellows -- from various fields that publishes Science magazine. Each year, it chooses a new class of fellows based on their outstanding advancement of the sciences through teaching, publication or public service. Penn has contributed 60 fellows to the organization since its 1874 founding.

This year, the five Penn professors were among the 291 selected.

Davies, who is a microbiology professor and academic coordinator, said that she is "thrilled" to be part of an organization of such prestige and history.

She was one of the first people to work with bacterial cytochromes and is recognized for her active recruitment of women and people of color in biomedical careers, an area that she calls "one of the most important parts of my life."

Davies also began Penn's high school education program and the January Program, which encourages underprivileged students to pursue a college education.

Currently, she teaches a popular honors seminar on infectious diseases in which she sings to her students to help them memorize the material.

"If you can put some of [the material] into rap, you've got something they can hang on to, and that's one of the lovely and fun things you can do" as a teacher, Davies explained.

She has also received a number of prestigious awards, including the American Medical Student Association's 2001 National Gold Apple for Teaching, which identified her as a favorite among medical professors nationwide.

Poethig, a biology professor, said he is "delighted" to have one of the most important parts of his life -- his research -- recognized by the AAAS.

"I was surprised and happy to be nominated," he said. "I did not expect [to be named a fellow], partly because I work in plant development [and] not too many people study it."

Poethig is recognized for his work on the Arabidopsis plant and corn. He is currently investigating the genetic and molecular mechanisms for shoot maturation.

Dodson, known best for his 2000 discovery of the dinosaur Paralititan, called the recognition "a nice honor." He also noted that "it may make it a bit easier in [getting] my next grant proposal and give me [more] authority when I speak."

He is currently finishing his 240-plus citations in the bibliography of The Dinosauria -- the revised edition of a comprehensive work on dinosaurs -- and trying to obtain a research grant to work on digs with a former Penn student in China.

Burstein, who is a Mary Amanda Wood professor emeritus of physics, specializes in solid state or condensed matter physics and boasts discoveries in the optics and magnetics of physics.

He was also the founding editor of The Journal of Solid State Physics Communications, served as secretary treasurer for the American Physical Society and is known for his organization of conferences and symposia.

"I felt honored by [the recognition], and I look forward to being part of the organization and being as helpful as I can toward its goals," Burstein said.

Glatstein, a professor of radiation oncology, is recognized for his work in radiation therapy for Hodgkin's disease at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

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