News from

School of Arts & Sciences

Visit the School's Site
Reset All Filters
3838 Results
Penn’s Benjamin Nathans reflects on his work and Pulitzer Prize win
Benjamin Nathans sits at a table in his office.

Benjamin Nathans has been studying Soviet and Russian history for four decades.

nocred

Penn’s Benjamin Nathans reflects on his work and Pulitzer Prize win

Historian Benjamin Nathans’ huge volume on the stories and lives of Soviet dissidents has gotten renewed attention after winning the 2025 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction. Nathan’s research and insights span a four-decade-long career studying Russia and the USSR, modern Jewish history, and the history of human rights.

5 min. read

Three undergraduates map climate and health education opportunities across campus
Wendy Hernandez Higarede and Veronica Baladi look at glass case in Houston Hall.

Wendy Hernandez Higarede and Veronica Baladi made observations in Houston Hall as part of their fieldwork.

nocred

Three undergraduates map climate and health education opportunities across campus

For a Penn Undergraduate Research Mentoring Program project, Wendy Hernandez Higarede, Veronica Baladi, and Faith Amolo Owino are engaging with Penn’s Climate and Health Education Working Group and learning ethnographic methods.

2 min. read

Hunting for relics of a universe past
a spherical halo created by dark matter.

Image courtesy of ESO/L. Calçada

Hunting for relics of a universe past

In the lab of associate professor of physics and astronomy Robyn Sanderson, Alexandra DiMauro and Mariam Tskitishvili search for hints about dark matter and analyze data that could inform what is known about how stars form.

Laura Dattaro

2 min. read

Could exoplanets locked in eternal day and endless night support life?
Artist depiction of exoplanet LHS 3844 b.

Image: Courtesy of NASA

Could exoplanets locked in eternal day and endless night support life?

Ever so slightly bigger than Earth, the exoplanet LHS 3844b orbits its parent star, LHS 3884, a red dwarf 48.5 light-years away from our solar system, in such a way that the speed of its axial spin mirrors the speed of its orbit. The result? One side of LHS 3844b is perpetually bathed in scorching sunlight, locked into a never-ending, blistering hot day, while the other is forever shrouded in darkness so cold that particles are incapable of movement, a state known as absolute zero (zero Kelvin).

7 min. read

Penn powers up AI learning for faculty and staff
Campus overhead view featuring foliage and various campus buildings

nocred

Penn powers up AI learning for faculty and staff

AI Principles & Practices, a series of interactive sessions supported by a Draw Down the Lightning Grant, aims to enhance faculty and staff skills by introducing platforms and technologies supported at Penn.

2 min. read

Understanding how young children recognize emotions in music
Young child with headphones on.

Image: Uma Shankar sharma via Getty Images

Understanding how young children recognize emotions in music

Research from psychologists in the School of Arts & Sciences shows that children ages 3 to 5 can identify emotions in music, but that kids who show fewer signs of empathy or guilt demonstrate poorer emotion recognition. “We’re excited to continue to use music as a paradigm both to understand underlying mechanisms and as a treatment target,” Rebecca Waller says.

2 min. read

Merging academics with real-world, tangible experiences
Sarah Usandivaras Klaehn standing outside steps of Fisher Fine Arts building on campus

From Asunción, Paraguay, rising fourth-year Sarah Usandivaras Klaehn is a marketing and communications summer intern for the nonprofit Girls Inc. in Manhattan.

(Image: Courtesy of Sarah Usandivaras Klaehn)

Merging academics with real-world, tangible experiences

Adding to her experience working for nonprofits, rising fourth-year Sarah Usandivaras Klaehn is a marketing and communications intern for Girls Inc. in Manhattan this summer.

Louisa Shepard

4 min. read

Summer program for teens combines practical economics and college life
Students in the Economics Academy are seen along with a whiteboard with notes from an earlier project.

Economics Academy students work on a game theory project with notes from a previous international research project on the whiteboards.

nocred

Summer program for teens combines practical economics and college life

The Economics Academy introduces high school students to key principles and applications, learning while living on campus.

3 min. read