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School of Arts & Sciences
Paideia’s spring course offerings highlight wellness, service, and citizenship
The first four courses offered to Penn undergraduates as part of the new Stavros Niarchos Foundation Paideia Program will focus on passion, civility, effective communication, and a deep dive into American Chinatowns.
Decolonizing the syllabus
Faculty and graduate students in the History and Sociology of Science Department are reconsidering the way they teach, moving towards a more collaborative, innovative approach that incorporates a wide base of global sources.
Researchers create better light-trapping devices
A new study shows how the performance of optical resonators can be improved using topological physics, which can lead to more efficient lasers, sensors, and telecommunication devices.
The data at the heart of Green New Deal public housing legislation
Beyond improving living conditions, greening these spaces would reduce emissions and create 250,000 jobs annually, according to research from Penn and Data for Progress.
Russian interference and the West: Learning from ‘The Lands in Between’
In his new book, Mitchell Orenstein argues that politics in countries situated between Russia and the European Union can hold powerful lessons for Western countries affected by Russian interference.
A second life for leaves
Taking a scientific approach to managing campus land, Facilities and Real Estate Services is partnering with soil scientists and ecologists to study how mulching plots with leaves fares for soil health and biodiversity.
How does opioid exposure affect brain development in young children?
That’s the question Allyson Mackey and Dylan Tisdall hope to answer, through a new grant from an NIH initiative focused on addiction research.
Penn Museum’s transformation revealed
The main level reopens after a historic renovation featuring the relocated sphinx and completely reimagined Africa and Mexico/Central America galleries.
Memory recall and spatial navigation elicit similar electrical activity in brain
Penn neuroscientists show for the first time that low-frequency oscillations called theta waves appear in both cases, a finding that could eventually help diminish memory loss.
Japan ambassador speaks of ‘cornerstone’ relations with U.S.
In a lecture and conversation with the Penn community, Consul General and Ambassador of Japan Kanji Yamanouchi discussed the state of Japan’s relationship with the United States.
In the News
Suddenly there aren’t enough babies. The whole world is alarmed
Jesús Fernández-Villaverde of the School of Arts & Sciences estimates that global fertility last year fell to below global replacement for the first time in human history.
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The world’s oceans just broke an important climate change record
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences says that the warming of the oceans is helping to destabilize ice shelves and fuel more powerful hurricanes and tropical cyclones.
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Philadelphia’s Tyshawn Sorey wins Pulitzer Prize in music
Tyshawn Sorey of the School of Arts & Sciences has won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize in music for “Adagio (For Wadada Leo Smith),” a concerto for saxophone and orchestra.
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Jerome Rothenberg, who expanded the sphere of poetry, dies at 92
Charles Bernstein of the School of Arts & Sciences says that the late Jerome Rothenberg was the ultimate hyphenated person: a poet-critic-anthologist-translator.
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He started college in prison. Now, he is Rutgers-Camden’s first Truman scholar
Tej Patel, a third-year in the Wharton School and College of Arts and Sciences from Billeria, Massachusetts, was one of 60 college students nationwide chosen to be a Truman Scholar.
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