Penn salutes graduates at University’s 269th Commencement
Actor, director, producer, and Penn alumna Elizabeth Banks delivered the Commencement address to around 6,000 graduates on Monday, May 19, at Franklin Field.
Penn professor Paris Perdikaris and collaborators developed Aurora, a machine-learning model that has predictive capabilities for air quality, ocean waves, tropical cyclone tracks, and weather.
Study sheds light on why for-profit hospitals have worse nursing and patient outcomes
Penn Nursing researchers find that for-profit facilities in Illinois have lower investments in nursing services than not-for-profit ones, despite no statistically significant difference in operating margins.
Lillian Miller, a May graduate from the College, will begin graduate studies in the laboratory of Irina Marinov this summer, where she is leveraging big data to tackle ocean and climate-focused research.
Annually for more than 150 years, the Ivy Day Ceremony has celebrated remarkable graduating fourth-years for their leadership and service, with the Senior Honor Awards being among the oldest traditions at Penn.
Bees, Butterflies, and Blooms: A Pollinator Paradise
Morris Arboretum staff will kick off the “Bees, Butterflies, and Blooms” summer-long exhibition at the Hummingbird Hut. Participants will learn about the connections between plants and pollinators, including the hummingbird, as well as how they pollinate and how to attract them to homes. Free with Penn ID.
An adult monarch butterfly resting on a flossflower plant. Monarch butterflies migrate from Mexico to the continental United States, stopping along the way for nectar and to lay eggs.
This tour will focus on evergreen and deciduous shrubs for home gardeners. Shrubs provide showy foliage, vibrant blooms to attract pollinators, and structures to be used as natural screens. Participants can discover new and old-time favorite shrubs. Free with Penn ID.
The Ellipse Garden with Edgeworthia shrub (foliage in bottom mid-left), Hibiscus (bottom, mid-right), and Baptisia (bottom left corner). (Image: Rachel Browne)
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.
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.
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.
Is empathy required in the age of AI — or can we just outsource it?
Lynn Wu of the Wharton School says that machine-generated data produces worse content than human data when it’s fed into an AI algorithm, causing the output of generative AI to gradually degrade when it relies solely on itself.
The White House’s tax bill will consider SALT (again). What’s that mean for you?
Kent Smetters of the Wharton School says that protective zoning privileges existing homeowners at the expense of new development, which leads to increased property taxes in some higher-income states.
New studies show what’s at stake if Medicaid is scaled back
A study co-authored by Eric Roberts of the Perelman School of Medicine finds that patients who lose access to Medicaid and Medicare coverage fill fewer prescriptions on average and are more likely to die, depending on their conditions and drug costs.
An adult monarch butterfly resting on a flossflower plant. Monarch butterflies migrate from Mexico to the continental United States, stopping along the way for nectar and to lay eggs.
