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Math
Who, What Why: Om Manghani
With MathMates, an after-school tutoring program at Andrew Hamilton School, Om Manghani has started a program to help middle school students succeed. But it’s about more than fractions and decimals, he says.
Getting creative to communicate science
Across Penn’s School of Arts & Sciences, students and professors are devising imaginative ways to bring their scientific work to the public.
The evolution of societal cooperation
Research led by the School of Arts & Sciences’ Joshua Plotkin and Taylor Kessinger sheds light on the impact of social contexts and multilayered societies on promoting cooperative behavior.
Social conformity in pandemics: How our behaviors spread faster than the virus itself
Researchers led by former postdoc Bryce Morsky and Erol Akçay of the School of Arts & Sciences have produced a model for disease transmission that factors in the effects of social dynamics, specifically, how masking and social distancing are affected by social norms.
Two Penn fourth-years awarded 2023 Churchill Scholarships
College of Arts and Sciences fourth-years Ryan Jeong and Arnav Lal are among 16 students selected nationwide to receive a Churchill Scholarship for a year of graduate research study at the University of Cambridge in England.
The art and science of video game development
In the group UPGRADE, students take an interdisciplinary approach to game creation.
Wormhole-like dynamics
Theoretical physicists Vijay Balasubramanian and Jonathan Heckman of the School of Arts & Sciences speak with Penn Today to explain the implications of new research claiming to have observed wormhole-like teleportation on a quantum computer.
Structured, Active, In-class Learning is changing the calculus on teaching
Mathematics professor Philip Gressman sees the comprehensive teaching approach as a way to engage students as a dynamic group, something STEM courses don’t often embrace.
When curved materials flatten, simple geometry can predict the wrinkle patterns that emerge
The findings—from a collaboration between Penn, Syracuse, and the University of Illinois Chicago—have a range of implications, from how materials interact with moisture to the way flexible electronics bend.
Undergraduates help songbird research project take flight
Through the PURM internship program, Julia Youngman and Eric Tao had the opportunity to work in neuroethologist Marc Schmidt’s lab studying the neural basis of courtship behaviors in songbirds.
In the News
Penn to become first Ivy League to offer AI degree, looks to ‘train the leaders’ in emerging field
Penn is the first Ivy League university to offer a degree in artificial intelligence, with remarks from Robert Ghrist of the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
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A brief illustrated guide to ‘scissors congruence’—an ancient geometric idea that’s still fueling cutting-edge mathematical research
Ph.D. candidate Maxine Calle and Mona Merling of the School of Arts & Sciences explain the definition and history of the mathematical concept of “scissors congruence.”
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The new math of wrinkling
Eleni Katifori of the School of Arts & Sciences is credited for her work simulating wrinkle patterns, which were crucial to an overall theory of geometric wrinkle prediction.
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Researchers have worked out the rules for how some things wrinkle
Eleni Katifori of the School of Arts & Sciences and colleagues used simulations of curving plastic pieces to predict the formation of wrinkling patterns.
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Mega Millions jackpot reaches $1.2 billion
Dennis Deturck of the School of Arts & Sciences estimates the odds of winning the lottery, contrasting it with increasingly more unlikely occurrences.
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Mathematicians prove 2D version of quantum gravity really works
Xin Sun of the School of Arts & Sciences spoke about new research at the intersection of physics, philosophy, and math. “This is a masterpiece in mathematical physics,” he said.
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