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U.S.-Japan relations, past, present, and future
Two men in dark suits and dark face masks walk in the West Wing colonnade at the White House, past two sets of American and Japanese flags

Joseph R. Biden and Yoshihide Suga walking at the West Wing Colonnade, April 16, 2021. (Image: Meghan Hays)

U.S.-Japan relations, past, present, and future

A panel of experts shared their thoughts on the two nation’s historic relationship on the eve of the Biden-Suga summit.

Kristen de Groot

Penn Libraries receives gift of works by renowned photographer Arthur Tress
Arthur Tress with camera and one of his subjects

The Penn Libraries announced a gift of works by the  American contemporary photographer Arthur Tress given by an anonymous donor, which joins another recent gift of Tress photography by J. Patrick Kennedy and Patricia Kennedy for a combined 2,500 photographic prints. (Image left: Arthur Tress, self portrait, (2018). Image right: Arthur Tress, "Secret Conversation, NewYork"(1980), Facing Up series. Arthur Tress Photography Collection, University of Pennsylvania Libraries.)

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Penn Libraries receives gift of works by renowned photographer Arthur Tress

A gift of works by the renowned American contemporary photographer Arthur Tress to the Penn Libraries will join another recent gift of Tress photography for a combined 2,500 photographic prints, the largest collection of Tress photographic prints in the United States.
Penn senior named a 2021 Gates Cambridge Scholar
student outside in front of smooth stone wall

Senior Tathagat Bhatia has been awarded a Gates Cambridge Scholarship to pursue a master’s degree in history and philosophy of science at the University of Cambridge in England. Bhatia, from India, is majoring in science, technology and society in the College of Arts & Sciences.

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.
To improve climate models, an international team turns to archaeological data
map of the united states

The final classification employs an 8x8 kilometer grid scale, large from an archaeological perspective but which allows for consistency. The four maps here show the effect of grid size on data visibility. (Image: Chad Hill, published in PLOS ONE)

To improve climate models, an international team turns to archaeological data

The project, called LandCover6k, offers a new classification system that the researchers hope will improve predictions about the planet’s future and fill in gaps about its past.

Michele W. Berger

Penn senior named Truman Scholar 
Student standing outside

Senior Sakshi Sehgal has received a Harry S. Truman Scholarship, a merit-based award for graduate or professional school to prepare for a career in public service. From Atlanta, Sehgal is a philosophy major who has sub-matriculated into the philosophy master’s program. She is interested in medicine and public health, particularly the behavioral and mental health needs in lower-income populations.

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.
From ‘Indiana Jones’ to medieval robots
Professor Elly Truitt standing on Penn's campus

In her work and her teaching, historian of science Elly Truitt challenges assumptions. “The people who lived in the Middle Ages were definitely no less intelligent than we are, and they didn’t think they were living in the middle of anything,” she says. 

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

Beyond topological insulators
liang wu lab

Graduate student Xingyue Han works in the lab of Liang Wu on terahertz signals, submillimeter waves not visible to the naked eye, and uses magnetic topological materials to study interactions between matter and light. (Pre-pandemic image)

Beyond topological insulators

Charlie Kane and Eugene Mele’s groundbreaking theories on the existence of a new class of materials continues to inspire an upcoming generation of physics researchers.

Erica K. Brockmeier

In the U.S., COVID-19 wasn’t sole cause of excess deaths in 2020
A hospital room with all lights off but the fluorescent light above bed, which has a green blanket. Behind the bed is a hospital tray that swivels and a blue chair. On the yellow wall behind are about 8 outlets.

In the U.S., COVID-19 wasn’t sole cause of excess deaths in 2020

Comparing death rates in the United States with those of the five biggest European countries, Penn and Max Planck demographers found that significant excess mortality cost more lives annually than the epidemic itself.

Michele W. Berger