News Archives

Take sustainability home with greening program

Bolstering the University’s commitment to sustainability, Penn has launched the Greening Penn at Home program, an initiative designed to educate faculty and staff about best practices for energy efficiency at home and to make it easier for the University community to implement energy efficient home improvements.

A Push From the Mississippi Kept Deepwater Horizon Oil Slick Off Shore, Penn Research Shows

PHILADELPHIA — When the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded April 20, 2010, residents feared that their Gulf of Mexico shores would be inundated with oil. And while many wetland habitats and wildlife were oiled during the three-month leak, the environmental damage to coastal Louisiana was less than many expected, in part because much of the crude never made it to the coast.

Jump start

Out & About: Chez Yasmine

Q&A with Amy Gutmann

In mid-summer of 2011, the rhetoric between Democrats and Republicans over raising the federal debt ceiling—which Congress had done without fanfare 70 times before—was heating up. Newsweek and Daily Beast senior columnist John Avlon described it this way: “A cataclysmic game of chicken. Negotiating with a gun to your head. A ‘Thelma & Louise’-style full throttle off a cliff.”

Honored scholar

On May 16, Columbia University will present Penn President Amy Gutmann with an honorary laws degree during its 258th commencement exercises in New York City. In announcing Gutmann as a 2012 honorary degree recipient, Columbia lauded her as “a national leader in facilitating greater access to higher education.”

At Commencement, it’s all hands on deck

Each year, Penn’s Commencement honors thousands of students and their families at Franklin Field in one of the University’s proudest and most elaborate celebrations. Penn’s 256th Commencement will be held on Monday, May 14. Like ceremonies before, it will almost assuredly proceed with nary a hitch, thanks to pristine planning, behind-the-scenes preparation, and hundreds of hours put in by dedicated members of the University community.

For the Record: Coming home to Penn

Alumni Weekend is an annual rite of spring on campus for Penn graduates, a time for them to renew their connections to the University and meet up with old friends. The weekend leads up to Commencement, when the University’s newest graduates attain their degrees and officially say farewell to campus life.

SEAS partnerships to increase STEM proficiency

Increasing the nation’s proficiency in STEM fields—science, technology, engineering and math—is one of President Obama’s top educational goals. He has made it clear that more bright young students should be entering the pipeline to become working scientists and engineers, and has called on educational institutions to help meet this challenge.    

Penn Astrophysicists Zero In on Gravity Theory

Most people take gravity for granted. But for University of Pennsylvania astrophysicist Bhuvnesh Jain, the nature of gravity is the question of a lifetime. As scientists have been able to see farther and deeper into the universe, the laws that govern its expansion have been revealed to be under the influence of an unexplained force.