Virtual visitors at the Kelly Writers House Two of the three Kelly Writers House Fellows public conversations were held remotely this year, livestreamed online. April’s guests were Wesley Morris and Jenna Wortham (top row, left to right) who produce The New York Times podcast “Still Processing.” The question and answer session was managed by Penn’s Julia Bloch, Creative Writing Program Director, and Lily Applebaum of the Kelly Writers House (bottom row, left to right). Virtual visitors at the Kelly Writers House The Kelly Writers House Fellows course continued remotely this semester for the class sessions and public conversations. Last week’s guests were Wesley Morris and Jenna Wortham of The New York Times podcast “Still Processing.”
With support from parents, teens forge a path to handle social distancing With support from parents, teens forge a path to handle social distancing Adolescents need and value their friends, relationships challenged by COVID-19 restrictions. By having explicit conversations and facilitating remote access to peers, the adults in their lives can help.
A ‘Collective Climb’ to combat poverty From left to right: Hyungtae Kim, Mckayla Warwick, and Kwaku Owusu. A ‘Collective Climb’ to combat poverty With the President’s Engagement Prize, seniors Hyungtae Kim, Kwaku Owusu, and Mckayla Warwick will work to combat poverty in West Philadelphia through education, shared resources, and community collaboration.
Language in tweets offers insight into community-level well-being Lyle Ungar, a professor in the School of Engineering and Applied Science and one of the principal investigators of the World Well-Being Project, which has spent more than half a decade working on ways to grasp the emotional satisfaction and happiness of specific places. Q&A Language in tweets offers insight into community-level well-being In a Q&A, researcher Lyle Ungar discusses why counties that frequently use words like ‘love’ aren’t necessarily happier, plus how techniques from this work led to a real-time COVID-19 wellness map.
COVID-19 hackathon Participants presented their findings to judges in a virtual Zoom event. Pictured from top right down are Samantha Sangenito, Marc Trussler, Marc Meredith, Matthew Levendusky, and Rose Hoffman. (Image: Samantha Sangenito) COVID-19 hackathon Students tackle real-world, real-time data sets about the coronavirus at hackathon
Improv with an impact Seniors Philip Chen, left, and Meera Menon won the President’s Engagement Prize for The Unscripted Project, a nonprofit to bring improv classes to Philadelphia public schools in partnership with the Philly Improv Theater. Improv with an impact With their President’s Engagement Prize, Wharton School seniors Philip Chen and Meera Menon plan to create The Unscripted Project, a nonprofit that will run 10-week improv courses in Philadelphia public schools, partnering with the Philly Improv Theater.
Pandemics and presidential elections Q&A Pandemics and presidential elections The coronavirus outbreak has already caused disruptions in the 2020 election cycle. What if the nation is in the midst of another shutdown come Election Day in November?
Iran, sanctions, and coronavirus Q&A Iran, sanctions, and coronavirus The United States has faced pressure to ease sanctions to help Iran manage its coronavirus outbreak. Ciruce Movahedi-Lankarani, a doctoral candidate in the History Department, discusses how the sanctions have played into Iran’s energy development and complicated its management of the viral outbreak.
Four Penn faculty elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Four Penn faculty elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Guthrie Ramsey, Kathleen Stebe, Eve M. Troutt Powell, and Barbie Zelizer join a group recognized for their world-class leadership and expertise.
Continued CO2 emissions will impair cognition Continued CO2 emissions will impair cognition Rising CO2 causes more than a climate crisis, according to a study from Penn and CU Boulder. It may directly harm our ability to think.