Penn alum nominated as U.S. Representative to the United Nations
President Barack Obama has nominated Penn alumnus Joseph M. Torsella to be the Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations for U.N. Management and Reform, with the rank of Ambassador, pending Senate approval.
Torsella is currently Chairman of the Pennsylvania State Board of Education. He was formerly the founding President and CEO of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. Torsella also served in the mayoral administration of then Philadelphia Mayor and now Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell, becoming the youngest Deputy Mayor in City history.
A 1986 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the College with a degree in economics and history, Torsella also did graduate work as a Rhodes Scholar at New College, Oxford University following his years at Penn.
“I am delighted that Joe will have an opportunity to put his exceptional leadership skills to work on a global level,” says Penn President Amy Gutmann. “We congratulate him on his nomination.”
Novel plant-based approach to a better, cheaper GLP-1 delivery system
Research led by Penn Dental’s Henry Daniell investigates the use of a lettuce-based, plant-encapsulated delivery platform as a new oral delivery of two GLP-1 drugs previously approved by the FDA in injectable form.
No brain, no gain: Neuronal activity enhances benefits of exercise
Research led by Penn neuroscientist J. Nicholas Betley and collaborators finds that hypothalamic neurons are essential for translating physical exertion into endurance, potentially opening the door to exercise-mimicking therapies.
In honor of Valentine's Day, and as a way of fostering community in her Shakespeare in Love course, Becky Friedman took her students to the University Club for lunch one class period. They talked about the movie "Shakespeare in Love," as part of a broader conversation on how Shakespeare's works are adapted.
In Becky Friedman’s English course Shakespeare in Love, undergraduate students analyze language, genre, and adaptation in the Bard’s plays through the lens of love.
Beating the heat: Designing cooling for bodies in motion
Dorit Aviv, director of Weitzman’s Thermal Architecture Lab, studies how humans, technology, and design intersect, paving the way for the development of novel approaches to cooling people efficiently.
