News from

School of Arts & Sciences

Visit the School's Site
Reset All Filters
3931 Results
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. 

Louisa Shepard

Two Yenching Scholars for Penn
portrits

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. 

c

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

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

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.)

nocred

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.