The Penn Stater Magazine

98 Percent of Time’s Top 100

April 30, 2009 at 2:03 pm Lori Shontz Leave a comment

Time magazine has published its annual list of the world’s Top 100 influential people, and three Penn Staters made the list — all under the category “Scientists and Thinkers.”

Roland Fryer ’01 MA ’02 PhD Lib was honored for his groundbreaking research on whether financial incentives can improve student performance. In the magazine’s essay, written by the chancellor of the District of Columbia public schools system, Michelle Rhee, he was cited for his research, the creation of Harvard’s Education Innovation Laboratory, and because “every chance he gets, he spends time in some of America’s most troubled classrooms, talking with students to continue learning how public education can serve them better.”

Stephan Schuster, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, and Webb Miller, professor of biology and of computer science and engineering, were honored together. They led a team that sequenced the DNA of the woolly mammoth, which has been extinct for 10,000 years. J. David Venter, who mapped the human genome in 2001, wrote that the duo’s “pioneering work will undoubtedly inspire many to push the limits of DNA analysis, both to explore our past and perhaps predict our future.

Lori Shontz, senior editor

Entry filed under: Eberly College of Science, Famous Penn Staters, Penn State in the news. Tags: Harvard, J. David Venter, Michelle Rhee, Roland Fryer, Stephan Schuster, Webb Miller.