Faculty Honors

Three faculty were honored as exceptional scholars and innovators with their election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. They are Cristina Bicchieri, S.J. Patterson Harvie Professor of Social Thought and Comparative Ethics; Michael Hanchard, Gustav C. Kuemmerle Professor of Africana Studies and Professor of Political Science; and Sarah Tishkoff, David and Lyn Silfen University Professor in Genetics and Biology.

Numerous members of the Department of Psychology were recognized with major awards. David Brainard, RRL Professor of Psychology and Associate Dean for the Natural Sciences, received The Optical Society 2021 Edgar D. Tillyer Award for distinguished work in the field of vision. Sudeep Bhatia, Assistant Professor of Psychology, won the Association for Psychological Science Janet Taylor Spence Award, which recognizes members who have made transformative early career contributions to psychological science. Nicole Rust, Associate Professor of Psychology, received the National Academy of Sciences 2021 Troland Award, given for significant advancements in experimental psychology and neuroscience. The Association for Psychological Science named Anna Schapiro, Assistant Professor of Psychology, a Rising Star, and Allyson Mackey, Assistant Professor of Psychology, earned a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER award, the NSF’s most prestigious award in support of early-career faculty.

Jessica Anna, Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Elliman Faculty Fellow, was also honored with an NSF CAREER award. Arjun Yodh, James M. Skinner Professor of Science in Physics and Astronomy, was the 2021 recipient of The Optical Society Michael S. Feld Biophotonics Award, which recognizes individuals for their innovative and influential contributions to the field of biophotonics. And Eleni Katifori, Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy, earned an American Physical Society 2021 Early Career Award for Soft Matter Research.

In a virtual sweep, members of the Department of Criminology were recognized with four of the major awards presented by the Academy of Experimental Criminology. Adrian Raine, Richard Perry University Professor of Criminology, Psychiatry, and Psychology, won the Joan McCord Award for distinguished experimental contributions to criminology and criminal justice. Aaron Chalfin, Assistant Professor of Criminology, received the Young Experimental Scholar Award for exceptional early career scholarship; and John MacDonald, Professor of Criminology and Sociology, was part of a Penn team honored for Outstanding Field Experiment. Robert F. Boruch, University Trustee Chair Professor of Education and Statistics, received the Jerry Lee Lifetime Achievement Award.

Eiichiro Azuma, Associate Professor of History and Asian American Studies, received the American Historical Association John K. Fairbank Prize for East Asian history since 1800 for his book, In Search of Our Frontier: Japanese America and Settler Colonialism in the Construction of Japan’s Borderless Empire. Melissa Sanchez, Donald T. Regan Professor of English, earned an honorable mention for the Modern Language Association Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for Comparative Literary Studies for her book, Queer Faith: Reading Promiscuity and Race in the Secular Love Tradition. Tyshawn Sorey, Presidential Assistant Professor of Music, received an American Academy of Arts and Letters Goddard Lieberson Fellowship. Jolyon Thomas, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, won an American Academy of Religion 2020 Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion in the Analytical-Descriptive Studies.