School of Arts & Sciences

University of Pennsylvania student Courtney Bliler, a rising junior from Horseheads, N.Y., is among 10 students from universities across the United States selected to receive 2014 Cultural Vistas Fellowships to intern abroad in Asia, Europe and South America this summer.

The University of Pennsylvania’s Ruth Schwartz Cowan has been elected to the American Philosophical Society. She is professor emerita in the Department of History and Sociology of Science.

Stimulation of a certain population of neurons within the brain can alter the learning process, according to a team of neuroscientists and neurosurgeons at the University of Pennsylvania. A report in the Journal of Neuroscience describes for the first time that human learning can be modified by stimulation of dopamine-containing neurons in a deep brain structure known as the substantia nigra.

The body’s innate immune system is a first line of defense, intent on sensing invading pathogens and wiping them out before they can cause harm. It should not be surprising then that bacteria have evolved many ways to specifically evade and overcome this sentry system in order to spread infection.

The Center for the Advanced Study of India at the University of Pennsylvania has awarded its inaugural 2014-15 Sobti Family Fellowship to senior Vignesh Selvakumaran.

By Marjorie FerroneFrom Beauregard, Ala., to Washington, D.C., John “Trey” Smith III is invested in the success of America’s education system.

The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation has awarded a Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship to a University of Pennsylvania doctoral candidate and two alumnae.

Two University of Pennsylvania professors have been awarded Humboldt Research Awards to fund year-long collaborations with colleagues in Germany.

Seven University of Pennsylvania students have been awarded United States Department of State Critical Language Scholarships for study this summer.

Flowers aren’t just pretty to look at, they are how plants reproduce. In agricultural plants, the timing and regulation of flower formation has economic significance, affecting a crop’s yield.