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Cutting through the cluttered media landscape
Duncan Watts and the lab members of Media Bias Lab.

Duncan Watts (far left) and managing director Jeanne Ruane (second from left) with members of Penn’s Computational Social Science Lab.

(Image: Courtesy of Inspiring Impact)

Cutting through the cluttered media landscape

Penn’s Computational Social Science Lab’s Media Bias Detector team, under founder and director Duncan Watts, explores how people behave, how media works, how society functions, and how the human mind operates.

From Penn Inspiring Impact

2 min. read

Mapping catalyst failure to advance clean hydrogen fuel production
A car at a hydrogen refueling station.

Image: David McNew via Getty Images

Mapping catalyst failure to advance clean hydrogen fuel production

A new study co-led by computational Penn engineering professor Aleksandra Vojvodic and collaborators offers an unprecedented view of the complicated degradation process of a material based on one of the rarest elements, iridium. Their findings, which show how this catalytic agent breaks down at the atomic scale, pave the way for better hydrogen fuel production.

3 min. read

Four third-years receive Goldwater Scholarships
(Top row) Shreya Nair and Ian Peng. (Bottom row) Pranav Sompalle and Emily Valerio.

(Top row) Shreya Nair and Ian Peng. (Bottom row) Pranav Sompalle and Emily Valerio.

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Four third-years receive Goldwater Scholarships

Goldwater Scholarships are awarded to students planning research careers in the sciences, engineering, and mathematics.

3 min. read

Five from Penn named 2025 AAAS Fellows
Portraits from left to right, first row: Cherie Kagan, Danny Krashen, George Pappas. Second row: Kai Tan, Patrick Walsh.

(Top, from left) Cherie Kagan, Daniel Krashen, and George Pappas. (Bottom, from left) Kai Tan and Patrick Walsh.

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Five from Penn named 2025 AAAS Fellows

Five faculty researchers representing the School of Arts & Sciences, School of Engineering and Applied Science, and the Perelman School of Medicine have been elected 2025 American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows. They are among the nearly 500 scientists, engineers, and innovators spanning 24 scientific disciplines who are being recognized for distinguished achievements.

3 min. read

How a postwar research push changed Penn
Three men and one woman look at an item through a microscope in a HUP laboratory.

Researchers look through a microscope in a lab at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania around 1940.

(Image: Courtesy of University Archives)

How a postwar research push changed Penn

In the second of a limited series, “Chapters of Change” showcases another transformational moment in Penn’s past shaped by changes in society—World War II—during which the U.S.’s drive for knowledge sparked massive investments in research.

5 min. read

2025 PEP, PIP, and PSP winners: Where are they now?
nirby pip prize winner working on a laptop in a field

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2025 PEP, PIP, and PSP winners: Where are they now?

Nearly a year after being awarded the 2025 President’s Engagement Prize, President’s Innovation Prize, and President’s Sustainability Prize, the recipients—now alumni—provide updates on their projects.

3 min. read

A stiff defense: Rethinking gum disease
A section of healthy human gum tissue captured using an imaging technique called Second Harmonic Generation microscopy. In this sample, collagen fibers (shown in yellow), which give healthy gums their firm, resilient stiffness, are dense and well-organized—acting as a supportive scaffold for the surrounding cells (shown in teal).

A section of healthy human gum tissue captured using an imaging technique called Second Harmonic Generation microscopy. In this sample, collagen fibers (shown in yellow), which give healthy gums their firm, resilient stiffness, are dense and well-organized—acting as a supportive scaffold for the surrounding cells (shown in teal).

(Image: Hardik Makkar)

A stiff defense: Rethinking gum disease

Penn Dental Medicine’s Kyle H. Vining and Hardik Makkar take a biomaterials approach to understanding periodontal disease, using a hydrogel system to investigate how the physical properties of the gum tissue impact inflammation.

3 min. read

2025 President’s Innovation Prize recipient: Sync Labs
The two members of Sync Labs working on a desktop computer.

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2025 President’s Innovation Prize recipient: Sync Labs

2025 President’s Innovation Prize recipients Melanie Herbert and Alexandra Popescu are leveraging AI and privacy-focused computing to address the crisis of an aging population and overburdened health care staff.

2 min. read