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Ezekiel Dixon-Román on the Facebook whistleblower
A white iphone bears a blue screen with the word "facebook" crossed out with a stylus

Frances Haugen’s testimony before the U.S. Senate, British Parliament, and European Union lawmakers may be the catalyst for additional regulation for internet platforms.

  • Q&A

    • Ezekiel Dixon-Román on the Facebook whistleblower

    The data analytics expert answers questions about Frances Haugen’s testimony and tech regulation, and why apps are so addictive.

    Kristina García

    Penn Engineering reveals new data science building will be named Amy Gutmann Hall
    Amy Gutmann stands with arms crossed by a sunlit window.

    Penn President Amy Gutmann, the eighth and longest-serving President in Penn’s history.

    Penn Engineering reveals new data science building will be named Amy Gutmann Hall

    The School of Engineering and Applied Science’s new data science building unveiled its new name, Amy Gutmann Hall, honoring Penn’s eight and longest-serving president.

    Ron Ozio , Evan Lerner

    Breaking ground at Penn’s cutting-edge data science hub
    vijay kumar, amy gutmann, Harlan Stone, and Rob Stavis with shovels digging into a trough of dirt on a stage with amy gutmann hall on a screen behind them

    Earlier this fall, (from left) School of Engineering and Applied Science Dean Vijay Kumar, President Amy Gutmann, naming donor Harlan Stone, and Penn Engineering Board Chair Rob Stavis broke ground on the new data science building on the northeast corner of 34th and Chestnut Streets. Stone also unveiled the building’s official name, Amy Gutmann Hall. 

    Breaking ground at Penn’s cutting-edge data science hub

    Amy Gutmann Hall, slated for completion in 2024, will centralize resources and support cross-disciplinary collaborations that harness expertise, research, and data across campus.

    Erica K. Brockmeier

    How data science can make Hollywood more diverse
    Digital clapperboard against a background of ones and zeros indicating big data.

    How data science can make Hollywood more diverse

    Wharton’s Kartik Hosanagar launched Jumpcut, a startup to help Hollywood create more inclusive content by relying on data to show industry leaders that audiences are hungry for a wider range of representation.

    From Knowledge at Wharton

    How has COVID-19 changed ‘superstar cities’?
    the philadelphia city skyline looking north on a sunny day

    How has COVID-19 changed ‘superstar cities’?

    A new analysis found that overall mobility in large U.S. cities has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels, and some are also experiencing changing segregation patterns, with potential implications that could last well beyond the pandemic.

    Erica K. Brockmeier

    Working at the intersection of data science and public policy
    an aerial view of city streets at night
  • Q&A

    • Working at the intersection of data science and public policy

    Ken Steif’s new book, “Public Policy Analytics: Code & Context for Data Science in Government,” available online and in print, provides guidance for how governments and policymakers can use data and algorithms to solve complex service-delivery problems.

    Erica K. Brockmeier

    How data science can win the debate on police reform
    Magnifying glass on a thumbprint that is comprised of zeros and ones on a graphic background.

    How data science can win the debate on police reform

    Wharton’s Dean Knox discusses his research on racial bias in policing, and how retrospective data analysis can help inform future practices.

    From Knowledge at Wharton

    The role of data in a world reshaped by COVID-19
    people six feet apart in a park

    The role of data in a world reshaped by COVID-19

    Experts across Penn share their insights on how data and data science affect their fields in the context of an ongoing pandemic.

    Katherine Unger Baillie, Michele W. Berger, Erica K. Brockmeier

  • Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences

    • Understanding poverty and data

    In the latest episode of Penn Today’s ‘Understand This …’ podcast series, Assistant Professor of Sociology Regina Smalls Baker and Assistant Professor Amy Castro Baker in the School of Social Policy & Practice discuss the use of data to understand poverty.
    A shiny dress shoe next to a ragged one

    Welcome to the fourth episode of “Understand This ...,” a Penn Today podcast. Designed as a journey to understand how to solve problems of the day—and of our time—by uniting minds from different disciplines, this episode explores the use of data to understand poverty, particularly in the unique moment of the COVID-19 pandemic. This podcast is in tandem with Penn Today’s "The role of data in a world reshaped by COVID-19” feature.

    Here, Regina Smalls Baker, assistant professor of sociology in the School of Arts & Sciences, and Amy Castro Baker, assistant professor in the School of Social Policy & Practice and director of the new Center for Guaranteed Income Research, talk about the use of data to inform recent economic relief bills, data gaps in assessing who is experiencing poverty, and the feasibility of solutions like universal basic income in alleviating poverty. 

    7:40: The state of poverty in the U.S.

    11:20: Housing’s role in developing wealth and perpetuating poverty.

    22:00: “You can’t resist and deconstruct what you can’t see,” says Castro Baker, explaining gaps in what big data shows about poverty.

    26:00: Smalls Baker discusses the changing economic experience of the middle class, especially during an economic recession and pandemic.

    41:00: How cash transfers like the one from this spring’s CARES Act affects the motivation of people to look for work. “People want to work,” Castro Baker explains.

    49:30: What gives them hope about the future in this moment. 

    Download the full podcast on Apple Music. 

    View Transcript

    Credits

  • Writers

    Brandon K. Baker

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  • Social Work
  • Understand This...
    • Crowd-sourcing optogenetics data to tackle neurological diseases
    Two people in front of two computer monitors. The person moving the mouse is sitting. The other person stands watching.

    Sébastien Tremblay (front), a postdoctoral fellow in the Platt Labs, works in a specialized field of neuroscience called optogenetics, which shows clinical promise for treating conditions like epilepsy. To foster the open exchange of information, Tremblay spearheaded a crowd-sourced, free database that includes data from 45 labs in nine countries. (Pre-pandemic image: Kevin Monko)

    Crowd-sourcing optogenetics data to tackle neurological diseases

    The specialized field of neuroscience, optogenetics, shows clinical promise for conditions like epilepsy and Parkinson’s. But before human trials can get fully underway, the field must better understand a crucial intermediate step, aided by 45 labs in nine countries sharing information.

    Michele W. Berger