M O L E Cular Architect
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Ar ts&Sci e n c es MAGAZINE University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences / Fall 2005 Mo l e c ular Architect “When I was young, I had a dream of creating art with molecules,” says polymer chemist Virgil Percec. Today he builds miniscule monuments invisible to the eye. EVO LUTION WA RS | BAG HDAD DIARY | TEACHING THE TROO PS | THE HOOTE RS TO DAY | THE MAKER OF MAGIC CA RD S INSIDEPenn Arts Sciences Fea t ures Depa r tme nts 10 Cover The Molecular Architect 3 Letters Chemist Makes Monumental Structures out of Molecules 4 Dean’s Column by Dana Bauer Planning for Eminence in the Arts and Sciences 14 Creative License 6 SAS Journal Ð Campus News A Biologist and a Philosopher Interns Invade Philly Dissect a Pseudoscience Civil Rights Award by Peter Nichols Swing, Batter! Advising.com 18 Collateral Damage Whimsical Works Preserving the Memory of the Ancient World Q&A with Brian Rose 8 SAS Frontiers Ð Faculty Research BLAST Off 20 House of Fear East Meets West Undergrad Writes about the Death Delayed Rain of Bombs in Baghdad Continental Divide Book excerpts from Thura’s Diary Talk It Out 24 With Class Ð Teaching & Learning Briefs Mind Games 5 Rock ’n’ Roll & a Comfy House 26 SAS Partnerships Ð Advancing Our Mission The Hooters on Stardom and Staying Power Make a Difference for SAS Partners: Partners in Crime 23 The Wizard Gift of Music Mathematician Finds Magic in Numbers Collaborating on Collaboration The Business of Science The Society of Arts and Sciences 30 Last Word Two Poems by Charles Bernstein 31 Last Look Crossing Chords 2 P E NN ARTS & SCIE N CES Cover courtesy of J. Meija and Jon Perlmutter Letters Penn Arts & Sciences welcomes letters Hit piece and reserves the right to edit.Write to I read with interest Joseph McLaughlin’s us at 3440 MarketStreet,Suite 300, cover story, “Still a Lot More to Do.” Philadelphia, PA 19104-3325 or e-mail at After summarizing Mary Frances Berry’s [email protected]. career in the civil rights movement,the biography dissolves into a hit piece on the George W. Bush administration. What next? There are five paragraphs of negative As a retired faculty member, I was comments and outright attacks against The only political comment that dumbfounded by Dean DeTurck’s the current government and its civil is accurate in the whole piece is that statement in “Down with Fractions” that rights record. Where is the “fair and “minorities’ … longtime loyalty to “in this digital age,[fractions] are as balanced”in this journalism? the Democrats has not been rewarded.” obs o l e te as Roman num e ral s . ” It remi n d ed McLaughlin cites Berry’s charge that Comparing the Cabinet-level appoint- me of efforts by one of the state legis- one of the “contemporary threats to civil ments of the Clinton and George W. lators a few decades ago to change the rights” is the president’s appointment Bush administrations leaves no other value of pi to 3 because 3.14 may be of minorities, such as Secretary of State conclusion. too complicated. Learning fractions in Rice and Attorney General Gonzalez. I trust that in your next issue there elementary school helps develop the What a threat! He quotes Berry as saying will be a piece favorable to the Bush brain just as crawling helps develop that appointments of minorities to administration’s position on civil rights muscles for walking. I have worked with positions of power are applauded by or some other issue of importance to comp u ters since the 1950s. As a consu l t a n t minorities “when it happens for the first provide a semblance of balance. time.”Nothing was then added about for RCA’s Advanced Technology Group, Wes l e y B. Tru i t t ,C ’ 6 1 minority appointments by the president I found that some programmers Mar ina del Rey, CA understood how to program, but they in his second term, which followed the did not have a sufficient understanding appointments in his first. Thus Dr.Rice’s Where does that leave us? of mathematics to program equations appointment was not “the first time” a correctly. In the 1970s,I disallowed the minority served as secretary of state. I just read “Still a Lot More to Do” use of calculators during exams after McL a u gh l i n ’s attack gai n e d momen - regarding Mary Frances Berry. While she several students, in calculating the speed tum whe n he stated that “B ush refuses is to be admired and given the greatest of electrons in a conductor, produced to add r ess the annual conventi o n of th e res p ect for her yea r s of work, does anyone answers greater than the speed of light. NAACP.” How many conventions did see the irony in the first paragraph, Too often, computers and calculators President Bush not attend? One is the wherein she is listed as an Independent lead to reliance on the machines rather answer, but the not-so-clever action verb and also quoted as saying, “If the people than proper education, which develops “refuses” makes it sound like a string of on the right and people on the far left the ability to think. Any nitwit can them. Bush was so badly treated at an both have bad things to say about me, punch keys on the keyboard but not ea rl i e r NAA CP appea ra n c e that he under- then I must be doing alright.”Is the everyone can tell whether the results are st a n d a b ly decli n e d to exp ose himsel fa ga i n . balance in the last statement between correct or even reasonable! What next? The president’s acceptance of the those on the right and those on the far Down with spelling because we have Supreme Court’s ruling on affirmative left,and where does that leave us? action is not treason. It is the same spell-checkers? Michael Koehn, Gr’79 position other conservative leaders have Leon W. Zelb y, EE’ 5 6 , Gr’ 6 1 Palos Verdes Estates, CA taken,arguing that special preferences No rm a n ,O K diminish the self - h e lp eff orts of mi n o riti e s and encourage a feeling of victimhood and entitlement. FA L L 2005 3 Planning for Eminence in the Arts and Sciences BY DEAN RE BE CCA W. B U S HNE L L D E A N ’ S C O L U M N n recent years, the School of For the School to prosper, we course requirements. In response We needed to Arts and Sciences has gained must increase facu l t y size to exp a n d to evolving needs of lifelong build on the School’s a reputation for excellence in t o new areas of kn o wled ge , to learners,the College of General mo m e n tum and unprecedented in its history. in n o vat e in educ a ti o n and to achi e ve Studies will review its bachelor’s IThis reputation is grounded in critical mass in key disciplines. and master’s degree programs to shape a future our superb faculty and students, To recruit and retain top scholars, ensure continuing excellence and th a t would bring who are intellectually ambitious, we must also attend to the time, to exp l o re promising new direction s . it to new heights inventive and versatile. Our faculty funding and facilities that support We also believe a Penn education move nimbly across disciplinary teaching and research. Most should be accessible to the very of eminence. boundaries to address emerging critically, the School will pursue best students, regardless of ability que s ti o ns and idea s . The y are known a long-range facilities plan that to pay. The School will make fund- for their eagerness to innovate in includes new construction projects, raising for endowed undergraduate teaching and research,and to such as phase II of the Life Sciences scholarships and the identification engage with local and global com- Bui l d i n g , as well as ext ens i ve reno va- of new sources for graduate munities. The School attracts tio n of cla s s r ooms and laborat orie s . fellowships a high priority. exceptio nal stud ent s who thrive on The School is home to almost All these efforts will be coordi- the challenges and opportunities half of Penn’s students and plays a nated with targeted investments in th e y find on campus, in Philadelph i a central role in the education of five cross-school, multidisciplinary and around the world. nearly all undergraduates and initiatives that engage numerous Our current strength derives from many graduate and professional University partners in a common a strategic plan devised in 1999, students.A more flexible general cause. We believe that many of the under the leadership of my prede- education curriculum,approved by world’s most pressing problems ces s o r, Sam Pres t on. Whe n I beca m e the faculty this past spring, will be and its most compelling questions dea n , I qui ck l y rea l i z ed it was tim e implemented for the Class of 2010. demand mul ti d i s c i p l i n a r y res p ons e s .