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Urban renewal, community activism, and green spaces in Historic Germantown
Leo Wagner on a city street

In addition to his interests in urban planning, Wagner, pictured in Prague in summer 2019, is also minoring in Spanish, French, and Latin American/Latino Studies

Urban renewal, community activism, and green spaces in Historic Germantown

As part of a Summer Humanities Internship, rising junior Leo Wagner conducted research on community responses to infrastructure projects in the mid-20th century and how the member sites are currently using their green spaces.

Erica K. Brockmeier

Identifying an elusive molecule key to combustion chemistry
a close-up of a blue flame of methane on a natural gas burner

Researchers at Penn and Argonne National Laboratory have made the most direct observation of a key intermediate, a carbon-centered radical, formed during the breakdown of hydrocarbons during combustion and in the atmosphere. This benchmark study could help researchers design fuels that burn more efficiently in the future.

Identifying an elusive molecule key to combustion chemistry

Researchers made the most direct observation of a key intermediate formed during the breakdown of hydrocarbons during combustion and in the atmosphere, results that could help in the future design of fuels that burn more efficiently.

Erica K. Brockmeier

Remote learning affected high schoolers’ social, emotional health
In the foreground, a blurred out student holding a pencil over a notebook watching a math lesson on a computer screen. In the background are blurred out plants, table and chairs.

Remote learning affected high schoolers’ social, emotional health

Research from Angela Duckworth and colleagues found that teenagers who attended school virtually fared worse than classmates who went in person, results that held even when accounting for variables like gender, race, and socioeconomic status.

Michele W. Berger

Accessing an artistic archive as an ICA summer intern
student standing outside with large sculpture behind

Rising senior Min Park, an art history major in the College of Arts and Sciences, is a curatorial intern at the Institute of Contemporary Art through Penn's Summer Humanities Internship Program. (Photo: Wendy Qian)

Accessing an artistic archive as an ICA summer intern

Rising senior Min Park, an art history major from South Korea, is organizing the book and image archives as the summer curatorial intern at the Institute of Contemporary Art, and helping plan a September reopening with two new exhibitions.
Support and inspiration for undergrads pursuing careers in health care
Student seated on a banquette works on a laptop

Rising senior Alejandra Bahena conceived of an event to bring together, educate, and inspire students planning for a career in health care. The resulting Pre-Health Conference is being held for the second year in a row beginning Aug. 4. (Image: Courtesy of Alejandra Bahena)

Support and inspiration for undergrads pursuing careers in health care

The three-day-long National Pre-Health Conference, the brainchild of rising senior Alejandra Bahena, begins Aug. 4.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Rewiring cell division to make eggs and sperm
Images of two cells undergoing division with purple and blue labels

New findings reveal the varied roles of a key protein in cell division. When the protein Meikin is not properly cleaved before meiosis II, chromosomes do not align properly, causing problems in cell division (bottom image). Chromosomes are in blue and the cellular machinery that pulls them to opposite sides of the cell is in purple. (Image: Jun Ma)

Rewiring cell division to make eggs and sperm

Research by the School of Arts & Sciences’ Michael Lampson and Jun Ma, collaborating with Whitehead Institute researchers, reveals how a key protein enables the process of meiosis to unfold.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Metal artifacts in Southeast Asia challenge long-held archaeological theory
A photo of a metal artifact in the shape of a spear on a black background. In the foreground is a scale that runs from 0 to 5 cm.

An individual can create a stone tool or a pot without assistance, but creating a metal tool like the spear here is a group endeavor—and a complex one. Artifacts like this found in Thailand showed that such metal technology could be developed and exchanged using an economic model based on communities making decisions about how to participate in regional exchange systems. (Image: The Ban Chiang Project)

  • Q&A

    • Metal artifacts in Southeast Asia challenge long-held archaeological theory

    According to the Penn Museum’s Joyce White and Elizabeth Hamilton, prehistoric communities, rather than the ruling elites, in Thailand were the deciders in how to use metal resources.

    Michele W. Berger

    Damian Pang may have discovered a new type of memory
    Damian Pang standing, smiling, in a suit.

    Damian Pang, Penn LPS Online Certificate in Neuroscience graduate. (Image: OMNIA)

    Damian Pang may have discovered a new type of memory

    The Penn LPS Online Certificate in Neuroscience let Pang gain additional knowledge and skills while still working full time as an airline pilot out of Hong Kong.

    From Omnia

    Rising sophomore Paola Camacho’s Hollywood summer
    Student standing outside on hill with Hollywood sign behind her

    Paola Camacho, in the Class of 2024 in the College of Arts and Sciences, was in Los Angeles this summer working with Hollywood writers and Penn alums David Stern and Stuart Gibbs through a RealArts@Penn internship. (Image: Courtesy of Paola Camacho)

    Rising sophomore Paola Camacho’s Hollywood summer

    Rising sophomore Paola Camacho is conducting research for Hollywood writers and Penn alums David Stern and Stuart Gibbs through a Real Arts@Penn internship in Los Angeles.