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When curved materials flatten, simple geometry can predict the wrinkle patterns that emerge
A circular cutout with wrinkles forming in many patterns.

A circular cutout of a thin spherical cap carefully deposited onto a pool of water. The sheet forms a complex pattern of wrinkles to accommodate the change in geometry from a sphere to a plane. (Image: Monica Ripp, Paulsen Lab, Syracuse University)

When curved materials flatten, simple geometry can predict the wrinkle patterns that emerge

The findings—from a collaboration between Penn, Syracuse, and the University of Illinois Chicago—have a range of implications, from how materials interact with moisture to the way flexible electronics bend.

Michele W. Berger

Undergraduates help songbird research project take flight
Three brown-headed cowbirds sit together in Penn's Smart Aviary

Through the Penn Undergraduate Research Mentoring program, undergraduates Julia Youngman and Eric Tao studied the mating songs of brown-headed cowbirds like those above in Penn’s “smart” aviary.

Undergraduates help songbird research project take flight

Through the PURM internship program, Julia Youngman and Eric Tao had the opportunity to work in neuroethologist Marc Schmidt’s lab studying the neural basis of courtship behaviors in songbirds.

Marilyn Perkins

Philip Gressman thinks mathematics can make for fairer elections
Voter redistricting map of North Charleston.

(Image: North Charleston via Flickr)

Philip Gressman thinks mathematics can make for fairer elections

The professor of mathematics wants to make elections fairer through the application of computational mathematics to redistricting maps.

From Omnia

Context-dependent behavior can make cooperation flourish
People work together to solve a puzzle

New investigations into cooperation by Penn researchers are illuminating the role that different social settings can have on the spread of prosocial behavior.

Context-dependent behavior can make cooperation flourish

Recent studies led by School of Arts & Sciences’ researchers show that changing social strategies between settings—for example, cooperating at home but not at work—can in fact lead to more cooperative behavior in a society.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Senior Erin Hayes named Gates Cambridge Scholar
student standing outside

Senior Erin Hayes has been named a 2022 Gates Cambridge Scholar. Hayes is graduating in May with her bachelor’s degree in astrophysics and master’s degree in physics in the School of Arts & Sciences.

Senior Erin Hayes named Gates Cambridge Scholar

Senior Erin Hayes, a Roy and Diana Vagelos Scholar in the Molecular Life Sciences, has been awarded a Gates Cambridge Scholarship to pursue a Ph.D. in astronomy at the University of Cambridge in England.
Math education and engagement in West Philadelphia
two people looking at a student who is pointing at a math equation on a white board

This fall, students in Math 123, one of Penn’s Academically Based Community Service (ABCS) courses, applied the skills they learned about math education and communication while working with tenth graders in West Philadelphia.

Math education and engagement in West Philadelphia

This fall, students in Math 123 applied the skills they learned about math education and communication while working with 10th graders at Paul Robeson High School.

Erica K. Brockmeier

A ‘vibrant nexus’ for research and discovery in the physical sciences
the exterior of the david rittenhouse laboratory

As part of a $750M investment in science, engineering, and medicine, Penn has committed to constructing a new Physical Sciences Building and updating the David Rittenhouse Laboratory.

A ‘vibrant nexus’ for research and discovery in the physical sciences

With the construction of a new Physical Sciences Building and updates to the David Rittenhouse Laboratory, Penn will create a modernized physical sciences quadrant that integrates state-of-the-art research in physics, mathematics, chemistry, and engineering.

Erica K. Brockmeier