Fourth-year communication student Nick Bausenwein took two gap years to skate professionally with a touring show, competed with the Penn Figure Skating Club, and wrote a thesis on children’s perceptions of film character meet-and-greets.
New 3D-printing enables color-changing, stress-responsive materials for smart sensing, displays, and robotics
Penn engineers have developed a transparent silicone shell to preserve cholesteric liquid crystal elastomers—color-changing materials that can respond to mechanical stress—while supporting intricate 3D designs.
National Academy of Sciences elects four from Penn
The newly elected members, recognized for their innovative contributions to original research, are Mark Devlin of the School of Arts & Sciences and Katalin Karikó, Virginia Lee, and E. John Wherry III of the Perelman School of Medicine.
Empowering high school youth through immersive art mentorship
Penn fourth-years Ejun Mary Hong and Jack Nicholas Roney will use a President’s Engagement Prize to expand their existing initiative dedicated to connecting under-resourced high school students in Philadelphia with art mentorship, creative skill-building, and industry networking opportunities.
Penn Washington names Celeste Wallander as inaugural executive director
Wallander will assume leadership and operational management of Penn Washington, and its mission and bridge Penn research with policy discussions on pressing issues, beginning June 1.
This timely conversation between Arne Duncan, former U.S. Secretary of Education and current director of Chicago CRED, and Katharine O. Strunk, dean of Penn GSE, will focus on the evolving role of the federal government in education. The purpose will be to foster productive dialogue about innovative approaches to education policy.
Experts at the Steven Miller Conservation Laboratory have uncovered new insights into several artifacts, including the ashes of a burned Shakespeare folio. As part of the Global Discovery Lecture Series and co-sponsored by The Penn Libraries, this panel will feature English professors Whitney Trettien and Zachary Lesser, and Head of Conservation Sarah Reidell, for a talk about these mysterious relics and what this means for the present and future of libraries and conservation. Register to attend.
Four Shakespeare folios printed in the 17th century were on view during the Penn Libraries First Folio Day, including a first edition printed in London in 1623.
Penn’s guiding principles are the University’s enduring values and distinctive strengths: anchored, inventive, interwoven, and engaged. The practices support and strengthen Penn’s core educational mission.
At Penn Today, we focus on some of the ways the University is putting this framework into action. From student, faculty, and staff profiles to research updates and event coverage, Penn Today highlights the latest examples of the University’s principled approach to excellence.
Penn lends support to Rebuilding Together Philadelphia effort repairing 11 local homes in two days
Marking a milestone block build, 70 Penn volunteers combined forces with Rebuilding Together Philadelphia, a nonprofit with roots at the University, to revitalize owner-occupied houses in the West Philadelphia community. The momentous two-day event involved a block build and speaking program—with a local homeowner sharing a heartfelt message.
Supporting a community for learning, research, and thriving
Four months after the launch of the Office of Religious and Ethnic Interests (Title VI), the office is combating discrimination in all forms while leading educational efforts about dialogue and adaptive leadership.
AI Across Disciplines event highlights the power of ‘breadth and connectivity’ at universities
At a cross-disciplinary gathering at Amy Gutmann Hall, the Penn community celebrated the launch of the Penn AI Initiative with a panel discussing AI research at Penn—and writ large.
Evaluating large language models for cyberbullying behavior
In the Brachio Lab, doctoral students at Penn Engineering probe AI models for signs of cyberbullying capabilities. This emerging problem with the rise of AI may pose challenges in areas like business, education, and public health.
When ChatGPT broke an entire field: An oral history
Christopher Callison-Burch of the School of Engineering and Applied Science shares his reaction to experimenting with the GPT-3 beta in 2020, the precursor to OpenAI’s ChatGPT generative AI model.
Farmers are using IoT to take the guesswork out of growing
As director of the Internet of Things for Precision Agriculture research center, Cherie Kagan of the School of Engineering and Applied Science is uniting university faculty, industry professionals, and farmers to support the development of precision agriculture IoT technologies.
