In recent years, The David & Lyn Silfen Forum has tackled issues of far-reaching significance—from public debate in the United States to the 2012 elections. On Friday, April 5, from noon to 1:30 p.m., this year’s forum will address one more: “Open Learning and the Future of Higher Education.” As the global demand for a highly educated work force continues to grow, many students are finding it increasingly difficult to afford the cost of obtaining a college degree. Meanwhile, universities, including Penn, are beginning to explore the potential of massive open online courses (MOOCs). But is it possible for colleges and universities to effectively pursue online learning while maintaining their core academic missions?
Penn President Amy Gutmann will lead a panel of experts to tackle these complicated questions, including Thomas Friedman, Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign affairs columnist for The New York Times; Martha J. Kanter, under secretary for the U. S. Department of Education under President Barack Obama; William E. Kirwan, chancellor of the University System of Maryland; and Daphne Koller, co-founder of Coursera and professor in the computer science department at Stanford. Tickets and full bios of this year’s panelists are available at the Silfen Forum website.
Novel plant-based approach to a better, cheaper GLP-1 delivery system
Research led by Penn Dental’s Henry Daniell investigates the use of a lettuce-based, plant-encapsulated delivery platform as a new oral delivery of two GLP-1 drugs previously approved by the FDA in injectable form.
No brain, no gain: Neuronal activity enhances benefits of exercise
Research led by Penn neuroscientist J. Nicholas Betley and collaborators finds that hypothalamic neurons are essential for translating physical exertion into endurance, potentially opening the door to exercise-mimicking therapies.
In honor of Valentine's Day, and as a way of fostering community in her Shakespeare in Love course, Becky Friedman took her students to the University Club for lunch one class period. They talked about the movie "Shakespeare in Love," as part of a broader conversation on how Shakespeare's works are adapted.
In Becky Friedman’s English course Shakespeare in Love, undergraduate students analyze language, genre, and adaptation in the Bard’s plays through the lens of love.
Beating the heat: Designing cooling for bodies in motion
Dorit Aviv, director of Weitzman’s Thermal Architecture Lab, studies how humans, technology, and design intersect, paving the way for the development of novel approaches to cooling people efficiently.
