Graduate Students

Nourishing the brain with conversations about food

A yearlong colloquium from Penn Anthropology offers a steady diet of research perspectives, delving into how this facet of culture affects modern health and practices, and broadens our historical outlook.

Michele W. Berger

Putting Black history lessons into action

Five GSE doctoral students and participants in Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action share the Black history they wish they learned in school.

Penn Today Staff

Battling longer, more intense fire seasons

In a Q&A, doctoral student Clare Super describes her research into wildland firefighting, the impact on firefighters, U.S. policy around wildfires, and parallels to what’s happening in Australia.

Michele W. Berger

Evan and the chocolate factory

Engineering student Evan Weinstein fixated on the idea of liberating bespoke chocolates from the confines of both the bar and the mold. Rather than cast a chocolate shape, why not build it? Cocoa Press is his solution. 

Tina Rodia

Understanding how information flows into and out of Gitmo

Annenberg doctoral student Muira McCammon studies the intersection of technology, law, and military policy. She’s on the quest to understand how people and data move through the Guantánamo Bay detention center.

Michele W. Berger , Julie Sloane



In the News


Toronto Star

Few options available to Western leaders weighing response to Vladimir Putin critic Alexei Navalny’s death

Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon of the School of Arts & Sciences says that Western countries have little practical leverage to push Russia off its authoritarian path after Alexei Navalny’s death, given the economic and diplomatic sanctions already levied against Vladimir Putin.

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Philadelphia Inquirer

Bus Revolution would bring frequent bus service to 1 million SEPTA riders

In an Op-Ed, graduate student Jonathan Zisk of the Weitzman School of Design says that SEPTA should green-light the Bus Revolution project and allow the rollout of transformative bus service across the Philadelphia region.

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Baltimore Sun

What did I get from affirmative action? Three Ivy League degrees and another underway

In an Op-Ed, Wharton School doctoral student and Penn Carey Law student Olamide Dozier-Williams says that his academic journey reflects the value and educational equity once provided by affirmative action.

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Philadelphia Inquirer

Too many Philly police are no-shows in court, derailing cases and undermining our justice system

Research by Sandra Mayson of Penn Carey Law, Aurelie Ouss of the School of Arts & Sciences, and doctoral candidate Linsday Graef finds that Philadelphia police officers failed to appear in 31% of cases for which they were subpoenaed between 2010 and 2020.

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NBC Philadelphia

A family affair: Three sisters stick together as they attend Penn Dental Medicine at the same time

Joanna Haddad, Mira-Belle Haddad, and Anna-Maria Haddad are making history as one of the few groups of three or more siblings to be simultaneously enrolled in the School of Dental Medicine.

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United Press International

Herniated discs could be repaired with biologic patch one day, researchers say

Preclinical research by Robert Mauck of the Perelman School of Medicine, Thomas Schaer of the School of Veterinary Medicine, and Ana Peredo, a Ph.D. graduate of the School of Engineering and Applied Science, reveals how a biologic patch activated by natural motion could become a key tool for repairing herniated discs in the back and relieving pain.

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