The latest installments of The Wharton School’s faculty research podcast, ‘Ripple Effect,’ explores whether workplace wellness programs have the desired effect, social media connections and boundaries, and work/life balance over the years.
New class of materials passively harvest water from air
Researchers at Penn Engineering have discovered a new class of nanostructured materials that can pull water from the air, which could enable new ways to collect water in arid regions and devices that cool electronics or buildings using the power of evaporation.
Penn researchers have devised a biologically-inspired model of how prions spread protein misfolding opening new avenues to study brain disease, memory, and self-building materials.
Brothers follow similar paths in music and medicine
Daniel Zhang co-founded the Penn Medicine Symphony Orchestra in 2016 and served as its founding conductor. When moved into residency training, his brother David stepped up; he is the orchestra’s current music director and conductor.
The rising fourth-year golfer discusses her All-Ivy season, what she enjoys about the sport, the recent success of the women’s golf team, training and conditioning, hitting a hole-in-one, and the correlation between figure skating and golf.
Delivering a one-two punch to superbugs to fight infections
Penn researchers create mirror-image molecules that both kill pathogens outright and rally the immune system—an advance aimed at the growing crisis of antimicrobial resistance.
Toll the Bell is a city-wide sound installation bringing greater awareness to the gun violence epidemic affecting our city and the nation. At 1 p.m. on June 6, National Gun Violence Awareness Day, a prolonged period of bell ringing and other sound-making will take place at 30-plus locations across the city and beyond.
Continuing the city-wide Toll the Bell event that calls attention to gun violence, this free program will feature an encore of Philadelphia-based jazz vocalist and composer Ruth Naomi Floyd’s “Echoes: Shattered Flesh and Breathless Souls,” as well as several speakers and a two-part showcase by the Omar’s Hat music collective. Omar’s Hat will perform a commissioned work exploring loss, community, and hope.
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.
Keeping it local: Penn’s partnerships with Philadelphia-based vendors boost local economy, neighborhood impact
According to the University’s latest Economic Impact Report, Penn helps power Philadelphia’s economy by procuring goods and services from neighboring businesses. Local CEOs discuss the meaningful impact that Penn has on their bottom line and in the community.
Using behavioral economics-based interventions, a 2025 President’s Engagement Prize-winning project will address health and nutrition inequities in a West Philadelphia elementary school.
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.
This Philadelphia doctor’s story of saving his own life is being made into a movie: ‘I almost died five times’
David Fajgenbaum and his team at Penn Medicine are repurposing existing medications with the help of artificial intelligence to treat rare diseases, a venture that began with Fajgenbaum’s own self-treatment for Castleman’s disease.
Guthrie Ramsey of the School of Arts & Sciences says the Philly jazz sound includes “a kind of expansive approach to sonic spirituality that is able to transcend demographics.”
