News Archives

Steppin’ South Asian style

NSF grant to help West Philly kids do science

Math and science programs in West Philadelphia schools will get a $1.5 million boost thanks to a grant from the National Science Foundation. The grant, which is approximately $500,000 a year for three years, will fund Access Science, an academically-based community service project involving faculty, undergraduate and graduate students. Access Science both tutors students and helps teachers design hands-on learning activities.

The tax man giveth

What Uncle Sam takes away, he sometimes gives back. And boy there’s not a single one among you who don’t already have plans for your income tax return. Catching up on past due bills is the general trend although some have more lavish plans, like a trip to Mexico, for that shiny penny. Sharon Mulholland Program Coordinator, Office of the Vice Dean, Wharton Undergraduate Division “We don’t plan on spending the money. My husband has just retired, so he’s consolidating and regrouping.”

Detective Zuberi goes investigating history

Tukufu Zuberi already wears two hats at Penn: Professor of sociology and director of the Center for Africana Studies. Now he’s added a third hat—the detective’s fedora. Zuberi isn’t just any old detective, though. Starting in July, he and three comrades—Columbia Professor of Architecture Gwendolyn Wright and appraisers Wesley Cowan and Elyse Luray-Marx—will go sleuthing for the historical significance of artifacts, buildings and legends all across America in a new PBS series, “History Detectives.”

Andy McKeague

Staff Q&A: Elena DiLapi

30 years ago, 200 Penn women—faculty, staff and students—took over College Hall Room 200 and refused to budge. They had gathered in response to a series of sexual assaults on and around campus. Out of that four-day protest was born the Penn Women’s Center, one of the oldest university women’s centers in the nation. The Current sat down with Center Director Elena DiLapi (SW’77) to wish the organization happy anniversary and to reflect on how her concern for the individual has helped further women’s causes on a broader, more institutional level.

Scientists Pinpoint Stellar Production of Helium, Yielding New Insights into the Evolution of the Universe

PHILADELPHIA – Astrophysicists report in this week's issue of the journal Science that they have calculated the rate of helium production by stars in our universe with greater precision than ever before. This better understanding of stellar helium production brings new insights into the composition of the early universe and could help determine the exact nature of dark energy.

Penn Alumni Art to Be Exhibited in May

WHO: Alumni artists from the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Fine Arts WHAT: Juried exhibition of paintings, printmaking, photography and sculpture WHEN: May 8-30 Monday-Friday, 10 a.m-5 p.m.Alumni WeekendMay 17, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.May 18, noon-4 p.m. WHERE: The Kroiz Gallery Fisher Fine Arts Library 210 S. 34th St., Philadelphia

Chief of Navy Chaplains to Speak at Penn Baccalaureate

PHILADELPHIA  Rear Adm. Barry C. Black, chief of chaplains in the United States Navy, will be this years Baccalaureate speaker at the University of Pennsylvania. The Baccalaureate Ceremony will be held Sunday, May 18, in Irvine Auditorium, 3401 Spruce St., Philadelphia.

Alzheimer's Protein Jams Mitochondria of Affected Cells; Resulting ‘Energy Crisis' and Toxin Buildup Kills Neurons

PHILADELPHIA -- Opening a new front in the battle against Alzheimer's disease, scientists at the University of Pennsylvania have found that a protein long associated with the disease inflicts grave damage in a previously unimagined way: It seals off mitochondria in affected neurons, resulting in an "energy crisis" and buildup of toxins that causes cells to die. This pathway, the first specific biochemical explanation for pathologies associated with Alzheimer's, is detailed in the April 14 issue of the Journal of Cell Biology.