Penn in the News

Maurice Schweitzer of the Wharton School is cited for a collaborative study that revealed that asking advice appears to enhance perceptions of intelligence.

Deborah Silverstein of the School of Veterinary Medicine talks about dogs infected with the canine influenza virus.

A bill introduced late last month in the North Carolina General Assembly has set faculties across the state abuzz with a bold suggestion: Require all professors in the University of North Carolina system to teach at least eight courses each academic year. Senate Bill 593 — titled "Improve Professor Quality/UNC System" — would reduce the salary of any professor who failed to hit that annual mark. Sen.

Mitesh Patel of the Perelman School of Medicine encourages healthy school lunches for students and says, “Adopting and maintaining … healthier habits is challenging, and new strategies are needed.”

Rebecca Bushnell and Michael Gamer of the School of Arts & Sciences comment on Shakespeare’s literature being offered in courses at Penn.

A freshman girl stumbles glassy-eyed at a crowded party, and a guy steps in, leading her upstairs to his room. Maybe a couple of people notice, and wonder: “Shouldn’t her friends, whoever they are, walk her home?” then turn back to their conversation. Soon, some students at Carnegie Mellon hope, bystanders will have an easy, anonymous way to ask her friends if everything is okay, and head off some bad situations.

A bill circulating in the Iowa State Senate offers a novel (and cutthroat) way to hold professors accountable: putting their fates into students’ hands, Survivor-style. Every year the professor most disliked by students would be voted off the campus. The bill, introduced by Sen.

Kathryn Schmitz of the Perelman School of Medicine talks about helping create an app called Share The Journey, one of the first of its kind that measures womens’ experiences after breast cancer.

Charles Kane and Eugene Mele of the School of Arts & Sciences are highlighted for their work with topological insulators.

Erin Kelley grew up poor with parents who never went to college, but she is about to do something only 11% of Americans like her do: earn a degree. The Boston College senior is the latest success story of Bottom Line, which counsels disadvantaged youth on how to get into college—and graduate. About 80% of the nonprofit’s clients earn a degree.