Andrew B. Rudczynski, B.Sc., Ph.D., MBA, was named Associate Vice President for Finance and Executive Director, Research Services. He will be responsible for managing administrative support for the growing number of research grants, which last year were in excess of $414 million. He previously worked in research administration for Rutgers and the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore, after a career as a research scientist.
Louis Berneman, managing director of the Center for Technology Transfer, was elected president of the Association of University Technology Managers. AUTM is a non-profit group of more than 2,100 professionals who obtain and manage intellectual property coming from research at universities, non-profit research institutes and teaching hospitals.
Vince Marrocco has been appointed Chief Horticulturist at the Morris Arboretum. A horticulturist there since 1993, is completing a management program at Wharton. His new duties include overseeing the arboretum's horticulturists and garden volunteers.
Larry Robbins
Larry Robbins, Ph.D, was named director of the newly created Center for Teaching and Learning in the School of Arts and Sciences (SAS). Robbins, who created programs to teach communications and improve teaching in the Wharton School, will be responsible for creating programs to improve teaching in SAS. Besides providing resources and programs to improve teaching, the Center will also provide confidential, individual assistance to faculty.
Andrew Nelson was named head coach of the women's soccer team. Nelson comes to Penn from Wellesley College, where he coached the team to a 67-25-8 record during his four years of coaching. Last year Wellesley advanced to the NCAA Division III quarterfinals. Nelson will begin working with the team in the spring.
The Polyhedral Structures Laboratory is housed at the Pennovation Center and brings together designers, engineers, and computer scientists to reimagine the built world. Using graphic statics, a method where forces are mapped as lines, they design forms that balance compression and tension. These result in structures that use far fewer materials while remaining strong and efficient.
From ancient tombs and tiny robots to personalized gene editing and AI weather models, Penn’s 2025 research portfolio showed how curiosity—paired with collaboration—moves knowledge into impact and stretches across disciplines and continents.
Centering joy in AI development and implementation
PIK Professor Desmond Upton Patton—of Annenberg and SP2—and collaborators introduce a joy-informed framework designed to initiate conversations among engineers, designers, and researchers.
Reflecting on Jane Austen, 250 years after her birth
English professors Michael Gamer and Barri Joyce Gold have been teaching courses specifically dedicated to Jane Austen for years. They spoke with Penn Today about their approach to teaching her novels, how they challenge common readings and myths, and what makes Austen’s work so enduring—and adaptable to the screen—more than two centuries later.
Electronic medical records help save lives of HIV patients
Wharton’s Leandro “Leo” Pongeluppe and colleagues found that HIV clinics in Malawi that switched from paper to electronic medical records saw an estimated 28% reduction in deaths in five years.
