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Empowering refugee communities with access to clean water
Leah Voytovich and Martin Leet in front of college hall while wearing masks

Empowering refugee communities with access to clean water

With project Maji, seniors Martin Leet and Leah Voytovich will use their President’s Engagement Prize to install a solar-powered water tank and provide agricultural and first aid training for members of the Olua I community.

Erica K. Brockmeier

Biden’s big plans through the lens of history
Man in laborer clothes holds shovel, smokes a pipe and looks at his paycheck by a sign reading "USA Work Program WPA"

A Works Progress Administration worker receives his paycheck, 1939.

(Image: Courtesy of the National Archives)

Biden’s big plans through the lens of history

Historian Walter Licht shares his thoughts on the American Jobs Plan and how it compares to national projects of the past.

Kristen de Groot

Student-athletes for an anti-racist society
A composite of Michae Jones, left, and Jelani Williams right. Both are standing outside of the Palestra. Williams, wearing a red Penn hoodie, leans against a tree with his arms folded. Jones stands with her hands on her hips.

Student-athletes for an anti-racist society

Junior Jelani Williams of the men’s basketball team and senior Michae Jones of the women’s basketball team are leaders among Penn’s student-athlete community in the fight for social justice and racial equality.
A new theory for what’s happening in the brain when something looks familiar
A black-and-white illustration with many lines and circles and a person sitting in the middle.

How can the brain distinguish between something new and something familiar? Research from the Visual Memory Lab led by Nicole Rust has a new theory, replacing one long-held by the field. (Image: Julia Kuhl)

A new theory for what’s happening in the brain when something looks familiar

This novel concept from the lab of neuroscientist Nicole Rust brings the field one step closer to understanding how memory functions. Long-term, it could have implications for treating memory-impairing diseases like Alzheimer’s.

Michele W. Berger

‘A Revolution in Rhyme’
Professor Fatema Shams and book cover

Poet Fatemeh Shams, assistant professor in the Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Department, has published a new book in English about politics and poetry in modern Iran. She has rebuilt the Persian language and studies program during her four years at Penn. 

‘A Revolution in Rhyme’

While building the Persian language and studies program at Penn, Fatemeh Shams draws from the millennium-old Persian literary tradition to write a new book about poetry and politics in modern Iran. She will embark on her next book project during an upcoming fellowship in Berlin. 
Two Yenching Scholars for Penn
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Senior Patrick Beyrer (left) 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. 

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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.
Six from Penn elected to American Academy of Arts & Sciences
Headshots of six people, in a grid, two rows of three.

Six faculty from Penn were elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. The honorees include (clockwise from top left) Cristina Bicchieri, Michael Hanchard, Vijay Kumar, Kenneth Zaret, Sarah Tishkoff, and Stanley Plotkin. They join more than 250 honorees for 2021, recognized for their efforts to help solve some of the world’s most urgent challenges.

Six from Penn elected to American Academy of Arts & Sciences

Faculty from the School of Arts & Sciences, the School of Engineering and Applied Science, and the Perelman School of Medicine are honored for their efforts to help solve some of the world’s most urgent challenges.

Michele W. Berger

Penn group wins EPA Campus RainWorks Challenge
A sketch of adults and children looking over a lush rain garden

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

Insights into new ‘dials’ for controlling a material’s magnetism
a person wearing darkened glasses adjusting lenses on an optics table

Insights into new ‘dials’ for controlling a material’s magnetism

New research demonstrates how small amounts of strain can be used to control a material’s properties, with possible applications ranging from spintronic devices to faster hard drives.

Erica K. Brockmeier