Pennsylvania artist Stacy Levy's site-specific installations serve an educational as well as an aesthetic purpose: they make natural phenomena and aspects of nature that we either cannot see or often ignore plainly visible through sculpture. Levy's work will be much in evidence around Penn over the next month, with two indoor works opening May 17 at the Institute of Contemporary Art and her latest outdoor installation, "Wissahickon Food Web," being formally unveiled that same morning at the Morris Arboretum.
"Wissahickon Food Web," a long-term work that will remain on display through December 2000, highlights the incredible diversity of aquatic life in the Wissahickon Creek through a series of etched-glass and Pennsylvania bluestone sculptures (similar in concept to her Seattle project "Cornerstones," pictured here) set along the creek as it flows past the arboretum. The sculptures depict creatures ranging from microscopic protozoa to the highly-visible trout. The sculptures are connected to the rest of the Arboretum environment by means of a serpentine path of waist-high red-twigged dogwoods leading to the terrace.
"WISSAHICKON FOOD WEB": Unveiling at 10 a.m. in the Madeleine K. Butcher Sculpture Garden, Morris Arboretum, 100 Northwestern Ave., Chestnut Hill. Admission $5, seniors $4, students $3, children under 6 free. Info: 247-5777. Exhibit runs through December 2000..
The Polyhedral Structures Laboratory is housed at the Pennovation Center and brings together designers, engineers, and computer scientists to reimagine the built world. Using graphic statics, a method where forces are mapped as lines, they design forms that balance compression and tension. These result in structures that use far fewer materials while remaining strong and efficient.
From ancient tombs and tiny robots to personalized gene editing and AI weather models, Penn’s 2025 research portfolio showed how curiosity—paired with collaboration—moves knowledge into impact and stretches across disciplines and continents.
Centering joy in AI development and implementation
PIK Professor Desmond Upton Patton—of Annenberg and SP2—and collaborators introduce a joy-informed framework designed to initiate conversations among engineers, designers, and researchers.
Reflecting on Jane Austen, 250 years after her birth
English professors Michael Gamer and Barri Joyce Gold have been teaching courses specifically dedicated to Jane Austen for years. They spoke with Penn Today about their approach to teaching her novels, how they challenge common readings and myths, and what makes Austen’s work so enduring—and adaptable to the screen—more than two centuries later.
Electronic medical records help save lives of HIV patients
Wharton’s Leandro “Leo” Pongeluppe and colleagues found that HIV clinics in Malawi that switched from paper to electronic medical records saw an estimated 28% reduction in deaths in five years.
Pennsylvania artist Stacy Levy's site-specific installations serve an educational as well as an aesthetic purpose: they make natural phenomena and aspects of nature that we either cannot see or often ignore plainly visible through sculpture. Levy's work will be much in evidence around Penn over the next month, with two indoor works opening May 17 at the Institute of Contemporary Art and her latest outdoor installation, "Wissahickon Food Web," being formally unveiled that same morning at the Morris Arboretum. 
