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Two Penn alumni named 2025-26 Schwarzman Scholars
Chuanyuan (Suzanne) Liu and Habib Salim standing outside dressed in graduation gowns.

Two members of Penn’s Class of 2023, (from left) Chuanyuan (Suzanne) Liu and Habib Salim, have been named 2025-26 Schwarzman Scholars.

(Images: Courtesy of Chuanyuan (Suzanne) Liu and Habib Salim)

Two Penn alumni named 2025-26 Schwarzman Scholars

Two members of the Class of 2023, Chuanyuan (Suzanne) Liu and Habib Salim, have each received Schwarzman Scholarship funding for a one-year master’s degree in global affairs at Tsinghua University in Beijing.
Fruit fly development offers insights into condensed matter physics
A fruit fly sits on a piece of food

Drosophila melanogaster, the fruit fly, has long been a model species for biologists seeking to understand the molecular mechanisms of animal function and how novelty may arise in organisms. Theoretical physicist Andrea Liu of the School of Arts & Sciences is conducting research on the insect, along with biology and experimental biophysics collaborators at Duke University. Their research has opened the door to an approach that could offer not only a new understanding of how biological function emerges but also suggest a new class of systems in condensed matter physics.

(Image: iStock / nechaev-kon)

Fruit fly development offers insights into condensed matter physics

Penn Physicist Andrea Liu and collaborators modeled the behavior of tissue during a stage of fly development and found, surprisingly, it doesn’t fluidize as it shrinks but stays solid. Their approach could offer insights physical systems with complex functionality.
Through Literature of Care course, a curriculum of compassion
Aaron Levy and students gathered around a table filled with images.

Aaron Levy, center left, leads a Literature of Care seminar inside the gallery of Public Trust.

nocred

Through Literature of Care course, a curriculum of compassion

Literature of Care, a course offered every fall in the School of Arts & Sciences, explores medical humanities and the role storytelling plays in patient care.
Sourcing early American archives of rebellion
Spines of historic books.

Image: iStock/Gorlov

Sourcing early American archives of rebellion

In her research, Marley Lix-Jones, an Advisory Council Dissertation Fellow at the McNeil Center, finds histories of rebellion and social connections within enslaved communities.

From The McNeil Center for Early American Studies

The psychology behind the well-being benefits of libraries
New York Public Library

Researchers from the Humanities and Human Flourishing Project at the Positive Psychology Center helped the New York Public Library analyze results of a patron survey on the well-being benefits of libraries.

(Image: Courtesy of The New York Public Library)

  • By the Numbers

    • The psychology behind the well-being benefits of libraries

    Penn’s Humanities and Human Flourishing Project at the Positive Psychology Center helped the New York Public Library contextualize results of a patron survey on well-being.
    A seminar explores what history can be
    Archival images of Indigenous students at a boarding school.

    A photograph in the collection of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania shows students at a Native American boarding school.

    (Image: Courtesy of Omnia)

    A seminar explores what history can be

    Hardeep Dhillon, an assistant professor of history in Penn’s School of Arts & Sciences, teaches a first-year seminar that explores the history of children in America while equipping students with foundational analytical skills.

    From Omnia

    Jimmy Carter remembered
    In a black-and-white photo, Jimmy Carter stands close to the camera in front of a crowd. He is seen in profile and is smiling.

    Then-Presidential candidate Jimmy Carter prepares to give a speech to a crowd estimated at 35,000 in downtown Philadelphia in October 1976.

    (Image: AP Photo/File)

    Jimmy Carter remembered

    Penn faculty reflect on the legacy of the former president, who led America almost a half-century ago and whose post-presidency was defined by humanitarian work and service.

    Kristen de Groot

    A first-of-its-kind master’s program for police leaders
    Aerial view of College Hall and Penn’s campus.

    nocred

    A first-of-its-kind master’s program for police leaders

    The new graduate degree from the Department of Criminology and the College of Liberal & Professional Studies will begin next fall. It aims to teach evidence-based research to foster more equitable practices.

    From Omnia