How Penn researchers are advancing knowledge of psychedelics
Adding their expertise in psychiatry, medical ethics, nursing, history, and more, faculty and students are shaping conversations on treatments that show promise for helping people with various mental health conditions.
It’s been 50 years since Legionnaires’ disease was discovered in Philadelphia. David Barnes, associate professor of history and sociology of science, says people can learn a lot from that moment.
Awards and accolades for Penn faculty and recent graduate
Members of Penn faculty and a Class of 2026 graduate in Penn Carey Law, Penn Nursing, the Weitzman School, and the Wharton School received awards and honors in their fields.
Healthcare epidemiologist and infectious diseases specialist Judy O’Donnell gives facts about measles and its symptoms and important information regarding vaccination and immunity.
Reaching for the stars: Using light to sail into space
Multiple projects trace mechanical engineer Igor Bargatin’s decade-long commitment to space exploration as they climb from the edge of the atmosphere to the stars—powered, almost every time, by light itself.
Bioengineering a ‘natural connection’ for rotator cuff repair
Researchers at Penn Medicine have developed a new fix that imitates the body’s natural environment and could lead to more durable rotator cuff repairs.
Penn’s 287th academic year formally kicked off with Convocation, where Penn President J. Larry Jameson declared the start of the Class of 2030’s ‘Penn odyssey.’
Empowering high school students through speech and debate
In an internship through the Netter Center for Community Partnerships, third-year Renee Liu developed a comprehensive afterschool speech and debate program that responded to needs identified by students and faculty in two West Philadelphia high schools.
This exhibition explores the history behind what was often a fraught relationship between women students and scholars and Penn faculty and administration. It highlights how women moved beyond earlier stereotypes to integrate themselves into all academic and professional disciplines, including all aspects of University life. From early memorabilia and photographs of women on campus to athletics, literary journals, and community work, the vast and ongoing influence of women on the evolution of the University will be on display. Free and open to the public.
Wildfires to Floods: Health Effects of Extreme Weather
Led by Marilyn Howarth, adjunct associate professor in the Department of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics at the Perelman School of Medicine, this Penn Climate seminar will focus on how the changing climate interfaces with existing environmental challenges, including the health impacts that particularly affect already-vulnerable populations. Free and open to the public. Register to attend.
A University-wide initiative to shape Penn’s future
Guided by Penn’s strategic framework, In Principle and Practice, Penn Forward launched in September 2025 with six working groups of faculty, staff, students, and postdoctoral scholars who challenged legacy assumptions and proposed bold, actionable strategies to advance Penn’s mission and strengthen operations.
Penn Forward’s initial nine priority initiatives aim to build trust with those we serve, enable bold discovery, and extend Penn’s geographic reach and impact across a lifetime. Learn more about these initiatives and follow along with Penn Today as Penn continues to drive forward.
Chapters of Change: Thirty years of life sciences transformation at Penn
In the fourth and final installment of the series, ‘Chapters of Change’ highlights another transformational moment in Penn’s past when the evolution of life sciences research sparked the University to commit to investing in new research facilities and cross-disciplinary collaboration.
Penn’s community engagement progress at the turn of the century
The third installment in the limited series ‘Chapters of Change’ explores how Penn has led community engagement efforts in public education, economic development, and neighborhood prosperity during a time of widespread change in the nation’s cities.
Chapters of Change: Thirty years of life sciences transformation at Penn
In the fourth and final installment of the series, ‘Chapters of Change’ highlights another transformational moment in Penn’s past when the evolution of life sciences research sparked the University to commit to investing in new research facilities and cross-disciplinary collaboration.
How the Quaker Commitment empowered one student to create her path at Penn
Gabrielle Fine, a fourth year in the Wharton School and recipient of financial aid from the Quaker Commitment, will graduate in May with an interdisciplinary skillset and new perspectives from a global adventure and local engagement.
Burnout among psychiatric nurses is high. What can hospitals do to improve?
To reduce nursing burnout, Justinna Dixon of the School of Nursing says, “One of the main takeaways is that 40% of current inpatient psychiatric nurses right now are burned out...Staffing was a huge driver of these outcomes, the impact of the work environment on the poor job outcomes of the nurses.”
The quantum computer revolution is tantalizingly close
“When the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, or Eniac, was first built by the University of Pennsylvania for the US Army in 1946, it weighed about 30 tons and had 18,000 vacuum tubes that filled an expansive room...Now, a typical laptop can do more than 3 billion calculations per second and costs around $1,000.”
The Fed doesn’t know who’s financing the $3 trillion AI boom
Joao F. Gomes of the Wharton School writes, “AI is also creating a large and rapidly evolving financing ecosystem whose leverage, exposures and vulnerabilities are much less well understood.”
