The Penn 2025 Goldwater Scholars are third-year students (left to right, top to bottom) Tristen Brisky, Caitlyn Chen, Kason Kunkelmann, Nayoon Justina Lee, and Colby Snyder.
(Images: Courtesy of the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships)
Five Penn third-year students are 2025 Goldwater Scholars
Five Penn third-year students have received 2025 Goldwater Scholarships, awarded to those planning research careers in mathematics, the natural sciences, or engineering.
Lena Blackburne’s legendary baseball rubbing mud has been a game-day staple for nearly a century, helping Major League pitchers achieve a better grip. Now, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have scientifically confirmed its friction-enhancing properties, revealing its significance not just in baseball, but also in the broader field of materials science.
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Baseball’s ‘magic mud’
Douglas Jerolmack and Paulo Arratia led research that could someday crack the code of the mud smeared on baseballs for nearly a century that pitchers profess provides a perfect grip.
(Clockwise from bottom left) M. Susan Lindee, Marlyse Baptista, Jinbo Chen, George Cotsarelis, and Christopher B. Murray were elected 2024 AAAS Fellows.
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Five from Penn elected 2024 AAAS Fellows
Professors from the School of Arts & Sciences, Perelman School of Medicine, and School of Engineering and Applied Science are among 471 scientists, engineers, and innovators being recognized by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
This year’s Women in STEM Symposium featured (left to right) Allyson Mackey of the School of Arts & Sciences, Melissa Kelly of Penn Center for Innovation, Ping Wang of the Perelman School of Medicine, and Vanessa Chan of the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
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Modeling careers in STEM
At Penn’s annual Women in STEM Symposium, Vanessa Chan, Allyson Mackey, Ping Wang, and Melissa Kelly shared lessons from their experiences.
Helen Jin, a doctoral student at Penn Engineering, is project lead for the Brachio Lab’s AI cyberbullying capability case study.
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Evaluating large language models for cyberbullying behavior
In the Brachio Lab, doctoral students at Penn Engineering probe AI models for signs of cyberbullying capabilities. This emerging problem with the rise of AI may pose challenges in areas like business, education, and public health.
Penn Arts & Sciences receives $8M commitment from The Robert K. Johnson Foundation
The gift will endow the Integrated Studies Program, which offers an immersive, interdisciplinary learning experience for Benjamin Franklin Scholars students pursuing degrees in the College of Arts and Sciences.
University of Pennsylvania Law School Class of 1883 group portrait on the steps of College Hall in 1883. Caroline Burnham Kilgore, the first female graduate of Penn Law is top row, center. The photo is a gift of Peter Conn of Penn’s School of Arts & Sciences.
(Image: Broadbent and Taylor, courtesy of the University of Pennsylvania Archives and Records Center)
From the Archives: Photograph of Penn’s first female law graduate
A photo in the University Archives pictures 43 members of the Penn Law School graduating class of 1883 on the steps of College Hall. Among them is Caroline Burnham Kilgore, the first woman to enter the law school, to receive a law degree, and to be admitted to the Pennsylvania bar.
“Our results showed that simple, low-cost nudges can help teachers support student progress in math,” says Penn psychology professor Angela Duckworth.
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A simple way to boost math progress
Researchers from Penn’s Behavior Change for Good Initiative and their collaborators conducted a megastudy to investigate whether low-cost nudges–informed by behavioral science–could help teachers accelerate student progress in math.
Integrating a sociology education and love of portrait photography
Fourth-year Théa Kerekes developed a passion for photography long before she decided to study sociology, but the major has shaped how she sees the world.
