School of Arts & Sciences

PHILADELPHIA — Pompeii-like, a 300-million-year-old tropical forest was preserved in ash when a volcano erupted in what is today northern China.

PHILADELPHIA -- Amy Gutmann, president of the University of Pennsylvania, has been re-appointed chair of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues by President Obama.  She has served in the position since first being appointed by Obama in 2009.

PHILADELPHIA – The posthumous recognition of W.E.B. Du Bois as Honorary Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania will be celebrated at a Feb.

PHILADELPHIA — At an age when “ba-ba” and “da-da” may be their only utterances, infants nevertheless comprehend words for many common objects, according to a new study.

PHILADELPHIA -- The Work and Family Researchers Network at the University of Pennsylvania has launched the Work and Family Commons, the first open access work and family subject matter repository.

PHILADELPHIA — Daniel Janzen of the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Biology is the recipient of the 2011 BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Ecology and Conservation Biology category.

PHILADELPHIA –- As part of its Year of Games, the University of Pennsylvania is among the 600-plus colleges and universities across the United States and Canada competing during the next eight weeks in RecycleMania 2012.

PHILADELPHIA — In a study of the harsh but beautiful White Sands National Monument in New Mexico, University of Pennsylvania researchers have uncovered a unifying mechanism to explain dune patterns.

PHILADELPHIA — Geological evidence of earthquakes and tsunamis aids in anticipating the timing and magnitude of future events. This natural warning system now influences building codes and planning in the United States, Canada and Japan, particularly where the geological record demonstrates prehistoric earthquakes larger than those known from written and instrumental records.

PHILADELPHIA – The Essay Film: From Montaigne, After Marker, by Timothy Corrigan, University of Pennsylvania English and cinema studies professor, has won the Society for Cinema and Media 2012 Kovács Book Award.  The award will be presented at the SCMS 2012 Conference in Boston on March 23.