Heather Davis

Riding the zippy Segway Human Transporter across the stage of the Engineering School’s Wu & Chen Auditorium, inventor and physicist Dean Kamen urged a packed house to “find the Shaquille O’Neal of science and engineering.” The future, he said, depends upon it.

  Included in this special report: Penn's own environmental force of nature talks about preparing the next generation to save the planet

After conducting a nationwide search, the committee charged with finding a new dean for the School of Arts and Sciences realized the right candidate was already on campus. On January 1, Rebecca Bushnell will take over the role from Samuel Preston, who is stepping down after seven years to return to teaching and research.

Speaking in a rich, musical voice, Wole Soyinka urged the standing room-only crowd to preserve human rights, especially for those who cannot fight for their own protection.

Stay in school and get ahead. Go to college to get a good job. Be sure to learn some practical skills for the “new economy.”

As Board Chairman Emeritus of Pearl S. Buck International and author of the acclaimed book, “Pearl S. Buck: A Cultural Biography” (Cambridge, 1996), Interim Provost Peter Conn is the natural person to ask about Buck and her work.

If you’re interested in the history of footwear, you’ll find a good selection—from Egyptian burial sandals to the ’70s platforms Sally Struthers wore in “All in the Family”—at Philadelphia’s Shoe Museum. If history’s your thing, be sure to stop by the Declaration (Graff) House, a replica of the residence where Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence.

Immigrant enclaves have been part of U.S. cities for 200 years, changing the faces of neighborhoods from New York to Los Angeles. Today, U.S. cities continue to change, as American borders welcome 800,000 legal immigrants annually.

When the exit poll numbers began leaking out over the Internet on Election Day, Nov. 2, it seemed as though Senator John Kerry would eek out a victory. As the long election night wore on, though, it became clear that the exit polls were unreliable, and George W. Bush was elected to a second term.

On Ian Lustick’s computer screen, masses of tiny multicolored squares represent thousands of people with different beliefs, economic status and ethnic backgrounds. With a few deft keystrokes, Lustick makes events shift, causing the squares to change position. To the untrained eye, it looks like nothing more than green and red squares. It’s actually much more.