4/22
Computer Science
The pioneering career of Norman Badler
The pioneering career of Norman Badler
The computer and information sciences professor retired in June. He chats about his recent ACM SIGGRAPH election and his expansive computer graphics path.
The multilayered challenges of broadband expansion
The multilayered challenges of broadband expansion
Penn professors identify the challenges ahead for expanding broadband access to people who need it, in areas both rural and urban.
Studying plants from 400 miles up
Studying plants from 400 miles up
Using remote sensing data, senior Paul Lin looked for signals of climate change in the grasslands of the Great Plains.
From insightful courses to traveling and teaching, reflecting on Penn’s ‘unending opportunities’
Hyacinthe Uwizera came to Penn with an interest in science and engineering. During the past four years, she’s also fostered an interest in Africana studies and discovered a passion for traveling and teaching.
Four Penn faculty elected to the National Academy of Sciences
Four Penn faculty elected to the National Academy of Sciences
The new members of the Academy, honored scholars recognized for their unique and ongoing contributions to original research, include researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine, School of Engineering and Applied Science, and Annenberg School for Communication.
Toward a better understanding of ‘fake news’
Toward a better understanding of ‘fake news’
PIK Professor Duncan Watts publishes a framework for developing a comprehensive research agenda to study the origins, nature, and consequences of misinformation on democracy.
The impact of providing hands-on, interactive projects
The impact of providing hands-on, interactive projects
With inventXYZ, President’s Innovation Prize winner Nikil Ragav has created a high-tech curriculum for high school to motivate future problem-solvers.
The world’s first general purpose computer turns 75
The world’s first general purpose computer turns 75
The Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC), built at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering, sparked the “birth of the computer age” thanks to a team of women programmers.
An ‘electronic nose’ to sniff out COVID-19
An ‘electronic nose’ to sniff out COVID-19
Through a newly funded grant, researchers across the University are developing a device that can rapidly detect COVID-19 based on the disease’s unique odor profile.
How Microsoft and Sony’s new consoles improve game technology
How Microsoft and Sony’s new consoles improve game technology
Marking the launch of PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, Penn professors and lecturers explain the significance of the new console hardware hitting the market this holiday.
In the News
Big Think
Can we stop AI hallucinations? And do we even want to?
Chris Callison-Burch of the School of Engineering and Applied Science says that auto-regressive generation can make it difficult for language learning models to perform fact-based or symbolic reasoning.
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CNET
How the solar eclipse will affect solar panels and the grid
Benjamin Lee of the School of Engineering and Applied Science says that the electrical grid will have to figure out how to match supply and demand during brief windows where the energy source goes away.
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CNBC
Students can soon major in AI at this Ivy League university—it’ll prepare them for ‘jobs that don’t yet exist’
The Raj and Neera Singh Program in Artificial Intelligence at Penn will be the first AI undergraduate engineering major at an Ivy League school, led by George Pappas of the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
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NPR
Looking back at the transformative first year of ChatGPT
Michael Kearns of the School of Engineering and Applied Science says that ChatGPT could be remembered one day as being as important as the invention of the iPhone, or even the internet itself.
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Tech Crunch
As OpenAI’s multimodal API launches broadly, research shows it’s still flawed
Chris Callison-Burch of the School of Engineering and Applied Science and Ph.D. student Alyssa Hwang provide their early impressions of GPT-4 with vision.
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The New York Times
A.I. could soon need as much electricity as an entire country
Benjamin Lee of the School of Engineering and Applied Science says there are many dramatic statements about the rapid growth of A.I., but it’s actually dependent on how quickly Nvidia chips can be distributed.
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