School of Arts & Sciences

Two Yenching Scholars for Penn

Senior Patrick Beyrer and 2020 graduate Brook Jiang have been selected as 2021 Yenching Scholars, awarded full funding to pursue an interdisciplinary master’s degree in China studies at the Yenching Academy of Peking University in Beijing.

Louisa Shepard

Penn group wins EPA Campus RainWorks Challenge

The student-led project will reimagine the campus of West Philadelphia’s Andrew Hamilton School, including vegetable gardens, a food forest, and other green stormwater-management tools.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Penn senior named a 2021 Gates Cambridge Scholar

Senior Tathagat Bhatia has been awarded a Gates Cambridge Scholarship to pursue a master’s degree in the history and philosophy of science at the University of Cambridge in England. He is Penn’s 33rd Gates Scholar since the program started in 2001.

Louisa Shepard

Penn senior named Truman Scholar 

Senior Sakshi Sehgal, a philosophy major who has submatriculated into the philosophy master’s program, has received a merit-based Harry S. Truman Scholarship of as much as $30,000 for graduate or professional school to prepare for a career in public service.

Louisa Shepard

From ‘Indiana Jones’ to medieval robots

Historian of science Elly Truitt’s multidisciplinary investigations of the Middle Ages challenge assumptions about the period as a dark time in innovation and prompt a rethink of notions of ‘modern’ science.

Katherine Unger Baillie



In the News


Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Civil discourse: Tips for navigating potentially divisive discussions around the holiday table

Research co-authored by Matthew Levendusky of the School of Arts & Sciences found that political discussions between members of opposing voting parties helped reduce polarization and negative views of the other side.

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Associated Press

Archaeologists discover 4,000-year-old canals used to fish by predecessors of ancient Maya

Jeremy Sabloff of the School of Arts & Sciences and Penn Museum says that ancient fish-trapping canals show continuity in Maya culture.

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Philadelphia Inquirer

Penn student awarded Rhodes Scholarship to continue cancer research at Oxford University

College of Arts and Sciences fourth-year Om Gandhi from Barrington, Illinois, has been awarded a 2025 Rhodes Scholarship to continue his cancer research at Oxford University.

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Chicago Sun-Times

UChicago students, Barrington native among 2024 Rhodes Scholars heading to University of Oxford

College of Arts and Sciences fourth-year Om Gandhi from Barrington, Illinois, has been awarded a 2025 Rhodes Scholarship for graduate study at the University of Oxford.

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Philadelphia Inquirer

Penn has preserved a pair of gloves said to belong to Shakespeare. Did they?

Alicia Meyer and Tessa Gadomski of Penn Libraries are researching whether a pair of centuries-old gloves belonged to Shakespeare, with remarks from Zachary Lesser of the School of Arts & Sciences.

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