Consider spreading some holiday cheer by participating in the Annual Penn Volunteers in Public Service Christmas Drive. Toys and gifts donated will support the efforts of organizations like the People’s Emergency Shelter, Potter’s Mission, Our Lady of the Rosary and Intercultural Family Services. All items for the holiday drive must be new. Please specify the gender and age-appropriateness of all gifts. Contact Isabel Mapp, director of Penn VIPS, at 215-898-2020 for donation drop-off locations.
New dual degree
Biotechnology and business have linked arms at Penn with a new dual degree program for biotechnology management. Students can now earn an M.B.A. from Wharton and a Master’s of Biotechnology from the Engineering School and the School of Arts and Sciences. Scott L. Diamond, director of the Biotechnology Program, said decisions made in today’s biotechnology business world, such as those involving drug discoveries, require “a fundamental grasp of modern molecular biology.” With the new program, he said “an M.B.A. student [can] look at DNA microarray data in the morning and learn about biotechnology licensing in the afternoon.” More at www.upenn.edu/biotech.
They did it again
The Financial Times Business Survey ranks Wharton’s M.B.A. for Executives as number one for the second year. Columbia Business School came in second with New York University’s Stern School following in third. The schools are ranked in 16 categories and on responses to two questionnaires: one for the business schools and one from alumni who have been in the workplace for three years since graduation. Some of the categories include salary percentage increase, career progress, work experience and aims achieved.
Nanoparticle blueprints reveal path to smarter medicines
New research involving Penn Engineering shows detailed variation in lipid nanoparticle size, shape, and internal structure, and finds that such factors correlate with how well they deliver therapeutic cargo to a particular destination.
A generous gift from alumni Glenn and Amanda Fuhrman brings the work of internationally acclaimed artist Jaume Plensa to the University of Pennsylvania. The latest addition to the Penn Art Collection expands Philadelphia's public art.
A massive chunk of ice, a new laser, and new information on sea-level rise
For nearly a decade, Leigh Stearns and collaborators aimed a laser scanner system at Greenland’s Helheim Glacier. Their long-running survey reveals that Helheim’s massive calving events don’t behave the way scientists once thought, reframing how ice loss contributes to sea-level rise.
