Four Penn affiliates each have been awarded a 2025 Knight-Hennessy Scholarship (clockwise from top left): fourth-year Aravind Krishnan; 2021 graduate Carson Eckhard; and 2020 graduates Meera Menon and Jun Hou Shin.
(Images: Courtesy of Knight-Hennessy Scholars / Carolyn Fong Photography)
Penn fourth-year and three recent alumni named 2025 Knight-Hennessy Scholars
Four Penn affiliates each have been awarded a 2025 Knight-Hennessy Scholarship, receiving financial support for as long as three years to pursue a graduate degree and global leadership training at Stanford University.
Performer, biomedical engineer, and soon-to-be graduate
A performer and dancer, fourth-year Jordyn Harris has been a work-study student for the Platt House and managed tech for myriad student shows, while also advising engineering first-years and working as a researcher at a hospital.
The 134-year-old building on College Green will continue to be open for use throughout construction.
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Exterior restoration of a landmark
Designed by world-famous Philadelphia architect Frank Furness, the iconic Anne and Jerome Fisher Fine Arts Library Building is undergoing a 20-month exterior renovation and restoration that will encase its red sandstone, terracotta, and brick exterior in scaffolding through the fall of 2026.
From Milton, Massachusetts, Reason is teaching Philadelphia public high school students an ethics curriculum he designed as a Philosopher in Residence.
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Philosopher in residence
William Reason, who earned his bachelor’s degree in philosophy in December and will complete his master’s in May, teaches ethics to Philadelphia public high school students via an ethics curriculum he designed as a Philosopher in Residence
Penn fourth-yearEric Tao(left) and Class of 2023 graduateSuraj Chandran each have been awarded a 2025 Hertz Fellowship in applied science, engineering, and mathematics.
(Images: Courtesy of the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships)
Penn fourth-year and recent alum named 2025 Hertz Fellows
Fourth-year Eric Tao and Class of 2023 graduate Suraj Chandran, both of the School of Arts & Sciences, have each been awarded a 2025 Hertz Fellowship in applied science, engineering, and mathematics by the Fannie and John Hertz Foundation.
Penn 2025 graduate awarded a Gates Cambridge Scholarship
Rameen Iftikhar, who completed a master’s degree in international education development from the Graduate School of Education in January, has been awarded a 2025 Gates Cambridge Scholarship, which covers the full cost of studying at University of Cambridge in England for as long as four years.
Architect Richard Garber created and teaches the graduate course Matter Making and Testing: Designing with Next Generation Precast Concrete.
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Concrete panels as teaching tools, materials testing, and outdoor sculptures
On view outside the Weitzman School of Design are three freestanding concrete panels designed and made by students in a unique graduate seminar that partners with a local concrete-fabrication plant
Fourth-years (from left) Inaya Zaman, Rashmi Acharya, and Imani Nkrumah Ardayfio created Nourish to Flourish, winner of a 2025 President’s Engagement Prize. The trio will work with community partners at the Benjamin B. Comegys School in West Philadelphia and use behavioral economics principals to encourage healthier food choices.
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Nourish to Flourish
Fourth-years Rashmi Acharya, Imani Nkrumah Ardayfio and Inaya Zaman created Nourish to Flourish, winner of a 2025 President’s Engagement Prize. The trio will work with community partners at the Benjamin B. Comegys School in West Philadelphia to encourage healthier food choices.
Penn facultymembersSean Burkholder of the Weitzman School of Design and Eva Del Soldato of the School of Arts & Sciences are among 35 recipients of the 2025-26 Rome Prize, awarded by the American Academy in Rome.
(Images: Courtesy of Sean Burkholder and Eva Del Soldato)
Sean Burkholder and Eva Del Soldato awarded the 2025-26 Rome Prize
Sean Burkholder of the Weitzman School of Design and Eva Del Soldato of the School of Arts & Sciences are among 35 recipients of the 2025-26 Rome Prize, awarded by the American Academy in Rome to support innovative fellows in the arts, humanities, and sciences.
A the remains of a burned Shakespeare Folio in a sealed glass case is part of the Penn Libraries collection.
(Image: Courtesy of the Penn Libraries)
An ‘archival discovery’ about a 17th-century Shakespeare Folio
In the Penn Libraries is a sealed glass box containing the charred pages of a 17th-century Folio, a collection of plays by William Shakespeare. An archival discovery by Penn faculty proves that it is from the Third Folio, not the First as it was previously identified.
