Each spring, at the Dean's Forum, the Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences recognizes nine College students for their outstanding academic achievements. Students are nominated by faculty from among those with a grade point average of 3.7 or higher.
Click on a picture to read about their achievements.
Jason Beiger, C'06 His work in a Chemistry research laboratory during high school led Jason to pursue a double major in Chemistry and Biochemistry in the College. A Vagelos Scholar and University Scholar, Jason is also a submatriculant into Penn’s Chemistry graduate program. Following his freshman year, Jason interned at a progressive pharmaceutical company and discovered a passion for Organic Chemistry. Since 2003, he has been a student researcher in a University laboratory where he works on designing and synthesizing novel pyrrolinone-based HIV-1 protease inhibitors. As a senior, Jason will begin his Masters thesis and is considering the topic of compounds that inhibit a protein implicated in Alzheimer’s disease. The president of the Penn Band, he was thrilled to play trumpet with the band during the first round of the 2005 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship. Jason’s future plans include attending graduate school to pursue doctoral studies in organic chemistry.
Laura Cappelli, C'06 A Vagelos Scholar majoring in Biochemistry, Laura will submatriculate into Penn’s Chemistry graduate program. Since May 2004, Laura has conducted research in a molecular biology lab where she studies mouse mammary tumor virus and works on mechanisms of virus entry into cells. A member of Bloomers, the all-female musical sketch comedy group since freshman year, during her sophomore and junior years she served as social chair and will be an auditions board member during senior year. A volunteer in the Child Life Department on the Pulmonary Care Unit at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia since August 2004, she currently serves as a Peer Advisor for the Vagelos Program. After graduating from the College, Laura will be applying to M.D. and M.D./MPH joint degree programs and would like to pursue a specialty in infectious diseases and work in public health.
Hormuzdiyar Dasenbrock, C'05 Double majoring in European History and Molecular Biology, Hormuzdiyar was elected to Phi Beta Kappa as
a junior. An interest in Italian art and culture led him to study art history in Florence during the summer after his freshman year. For his Biology honors thesis, he created a transgenic mouse to be used to study bile duct development. Hormuzdiyar’s History honors thesis was written on the Allied measures to preserve the cultural monuments of Italy during World War II and his 2003 paper, “Not an Ordinary Target: The Allied Bombing of Rome” was published in the spring 2004 edition of the Penn History Review. In 2005, Hormuzdiyar will be working at the National Institutes of Health where, as a post-baccalaureate fellow, he will perform research for one year on the role of transcription factors in epigenetic phenomena. Hormuzdiyar’s future plans also include applying to M.D./Ph.D. programs.
Andrew Kortina, C'05 A Philosophy and English double major, Andrew considers his most important accomplishment at Penn to be shifting from a Computer Science major to the liberal arts, the study of which he regards as indispensable. As a junior, Andrew received the College Alumni Society Henry Reed Prize for his paper on Milton’s treatment of the conflict between free will and predestination in Paradise Lost. His Philosophy honors thesis discusses Plato’s views of moral education and the possibility of virtue for non-philosophers. Andrew has been practicing Okinawan Karate with the Penn Kempo Club for four years and is currently Secretary of Epicurean Affairs. Following graduation, he will promote and develop an online classified service for campus communities he co-created during his senior year. A grateful recipient of a Berger Scholarship and a Trustee Scholarship, Andrew plans to continue his study of the liberal arts and to encourage and hopefully fund undergraduate scholarship in philosophy and intellectual history
Jaclyn Link, C'07 A double major in Philosophy and Science and Psychology, Jaclyn holds membership in the University’s Philomathean Society and the University of Pennsylvania Parliamentary Debate Team, for which she will be the 2005 tournament director. Since spring 2004, Jaclyn has been a member of the community service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega, where she currently serves as a pledge educator. Jaclyn also volunteers at the Hillel weekly soup kitchen and has participated in annual service events such as the AIDS Walk and the Walk Against Hunger. A member of the John Marshall Pre-Law Honor Society since her freshman year and a recent inductee into Psi Chi, the National Honor Society in Psychology, Jaclyn hopes to enter legal academia where she plans to attain a J.D. as well as a Ph.D. in Psychology.
Ruth McAdams, C’06 A Benjamin Franklin Scholar, Ruth is majoring in English with minors in German and Music. Since 2003, she has been a member of the National German Honor Society, Delta Epsilon Phi, and the English Undergraduate Advisory Board for which she currently serves as co-chair. As a 2004-2005 Penn Undergraduate Humanities Forum Research Fellow, Ruth researched the syntax of sleep in James Joyce’s two novels, Finnegans Wake and Ulysses. A member of the Philomathean Society since fall 2003, she has served as Music Committee chair and was academic events coordinator of the Society. In the spring of her junior year she oversaw the new membership selection process as the Society’s First Censor, or Vice President. Principal oboist in the University of Pennsylvania Orchestra since freshman year, Ruth takes private lessons with a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Following her studies in the College, Ruth wishes to pursue a Ph.D. and become a professor of English Literature.
Angela Pugliese, C'07 A Chemistry major and a NSF-REU Summer Research Fellow, Angela will study a class of compounds that facilitate the process of organic synthesis in the University’s Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter during summer 2005. As a participant in the West Philadelphia Tutoring Project she has mentored elementary school students since fall 2004. Also since her sophomore year, Angela has volunteered in the Child Life and Education Department at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia where she has assisted departmental and nursing staff in conducting age-appropriate activities for patients. On the club tennis team since freshman year and a member of the Alpha Phi sorority, she has served as the Eta Iota chapter’s Panhellenic Delegate since spring 2005. In the future, Angela is considering either attending medical school or pursuing graduate studies in chemistry.
Michael Sheehan, C'05 Majoring in Anthropology with a concentration in Human Biology, Michael was a 2003 recipient of a Fulbright-Hayes fellowship to study the Isi Zulu language. A University Scholar, he received a grant, which enabled him to conduct research in Kenya for his Anthropology honors thesis on the social behavior in juvenile blue monkeys. Michael is also the co-author of a paper on comparative primate brain morphology published this year in Nature Neuroscience, the premiere Neuroscience journal. A University of Pennsylvania Trustees scholarship recipient for all four years of his undergraduate career, Michael also has served as the Treasurer and Vice Chair of SCUE and has held
membership in the Sphinx senior honor society and the Mu chapter of the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity. Following graduation, Michael plans to pursue doctoral work in
animal behavior.
Jennifer Weiss, C'05 A Benjamin Franklin Scholar double majoring in Theatre Arts and Linguistics, Jennifer also has minors in English, Hispanic Studies and Music and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa as a junior. In spring 2004, she played in the musical “Lady in the Dark” for the performance piece of her Theatre Arts honors thesis on acting techniques in musical theater. For her Linguistics honors thesis, she conducted original research on Tarascan, an indigenous language of Michoacan, Mexico. As the author of a weekly column for the DP since fall 2004, she has focused on campus and public topics that relate to students. During her senior year she worked with at-risk middle school girls at a North Philadelphia PAL Center and following graduation, will join Teach for America to serve as a bilingual English-Spanish elementary school teacher in New York for two years. In the future Jennifer plans to attend graduate school. |
