School of Arts & Sciences

Penn senior Andrew Ravaschiere seated in a laboratory doing a procedure with a syringe

Cells and cinema

As a biology major, senior Andrew Ravaschiere spends much of his time in a laboratory conducting cellular research. But as a cinema and media studies minor, he got out of the lab and into the world of filmmaking during the summer, working as an intern for a documentary filmmaker.

How do individual decisions affect group decisions?

Postdoctoral fellow Colin Twomey looks to fish behavior to explore the dynamic between individual and group decision-making.

line drawing of two heads and lightbulbs implying intelligence

Bigger brains are smarter, but not by much

Using a large dataset and controlling for a variety of factors, including sex, age, height, socioeconomic status, and genetic ancestry, Gideon Nave of the Wharton School and Philipp Koellinger of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam found that people with larger brains rated higher on measures of intelligence, but only accounts for two percent of the variation in smarts.

Data from Planck Satellite mapping Ort Clouds.

Where do comets originate?

A new technique developed by team of Penn astronomers may allow the scientists to measure radiation from celestial bodies that are only theorized to exist.

Barbara, Kinji, and Zizhou holding awards from the language competition

Students take gold in Japanese language contest

In a Japanese-language speaking competition hosted at George Washington University, two Penn students won among university-level competitors from across the country.

Two from Penn named to new class of AAAS Fellows

Noted for their contributions to dental and biological sciences, respectively, Hyun (Michel) Koo of the School of Dental Medicine and Joshua Plotkin of the School of Arts and Sciences are part of the newest cohort of fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Eva Maria Lewis stands in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

Undergraduate leads NGO to change Chicago’s gun violence

Sophomore Eva Maria Lewis is tackling the root causes of Chicago’s gun violence crisis and working to create equitable communities.

Philadelphia skyline with view of the Schuylkill River

New fellowship offers undergrads unfiltered, frank access to city leaders

Through the program, offered by the Penn Institute for Urban Research, 14 students will meet with a former Philadelphia mayor, Philly’s current director of planning and development, and more.

Florian stands in front of tree with autumn leaves

Q&A

Becoming a mother reduces a woman’s earning potential by up to 10 percent per child

In a Q&A, Sandra Florian, a postdoctoral fellow in sociology and the Population Studies Center, discusses motherhood’s short- and long-term effects on a woman’s career.

From devastation, stories of hope and resilience

On a summer field trip, students assisted in the filming of virtual reality videos of artists in Puerto Rico reacting to Hurricane Maria.

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