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When it comes to coronavirus, air pollution may put marginalized communities in danger

When it comes to coronavirus, air pollution may put marginalized communities in danger

Anil Vachani of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about the combined effects of air pollution and coronavirus on marginalized communities. “We’re certainly recognizing that exposure to chronic air pollution results in a number of adverse health outcomes which are increasingly recognized. It may even contribute to a whole host of other illnesses that we’re now understanding the links to, to poor air quality and air pollution,” he said.

Ecuador’s vice president talks biodiversity protection
Two people sit in chairs on a stage. Ecuador's Vice President Otto Sonnenholzner speaks at Perry World House.

Ecuador’s vice president talks biodiversity protection

Vice President Otto Sonnenholzner spoke to a packed Perry World House about protecting the environment while balancing economic growth.

Kristen de Groot

The many lives of charcoal
Penn alumna Catherine Nabukalu examines a bag of charcoal as two people work in a field in the background

Environmental Studies master’s student Catherine Nabukalu worked with Professor Reto Gieré to study the charcoal supply chain. She visited and interviewed workers involved with its production and trade in a number of sites in Uganda. 

The many lives of charcoal

Catherine Nabukalu, an alumna of the Master in Environmental Studies program, worked with School of Arts and Sciences Professor Reto Gieré to track the charcoal supply chain through research in Nabukalu’s native Uganda.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Looking to mud to study how particles become sticky
Gif of water moving across a microscope plate, leaving behind several particles

Using a model system of glass particles, researchers from Penn found "solid bridges" formed by smaller-size particles between larger ones. The same bridges were present in suspensions of clay, a common component of natural soils. These structures provided stability, the team found, even when a moving channel of water threatened to wash the particle clumps away. (Video: Jerolmack laboratory)

Looking to mud to study how particles become sticky

A collaboration of geophysicists and fluid mechanics experts led to a fundamental new insight into how tiny ‘bridges’ help particles of all kinds form aggregates.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Philly water straight from the tap
Two smiling people with a pitcher of water stand next to a sign saying "Philly Water Bar"

As part of a partnership including Penn’s ImpactED and Water Center, trained neighborhood ambassadors shared the benefits of drinking tap water in their local communities, both at formal events and in informal interactions. (Image: Tiffany Ledesma for PWD) 

Philly water straight from the tap

A collaborative city-wide campaign that included ImpactED and the Water Center at Penn helped spread the word that Philadelphia tap water is safe and healthy to drink.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Coral reef resilience
Marine biologist Katie Barott with tanks containing corals in her lab at Penn

Marine biologist Katie Barott investigates the strategies  certain corals may use to tolerate the warmer temperatures and acidic waters that climate change is bringing to the world’s oceans.

Coral reef resilience

With coral reefs under threat from climate change, marine biologist Katie Barott studies how some corals may prove resilient to warming temperatures and acidifying oceans.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Side Gigs for Good, part three
Two people sitting on an L-shaped couch amidst four pillows. The one on the right is holding a clipboard.

Altagracia Felix (right) is a financial coordinator for the Annenberg School for Communication, but she also has a side gig as a money coach. Her aim is to help “disrupt the cycle of poverty and struggle,” she says. (Image: Courtesy of Altagracia Felix)

Side Gigs for Good, part three

The final 2019 installment in our series highlighting impactful work Penn faculty and staff do.

Katherine Unger Baillie , Michele W. Berger

A missing link in haze formation
A mountain foregrounds the Los Angeles skyline, shrouded in haze

A veil of haze shrouds the skyline of downtown Los Angeles. Research from Penn chemists provides new details about how this kind of particle pollution forms in the atmosphere (Image: Diliff/CC 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

A missing link in haze formation

Hazy days don’t just block the view; they mean the air contains particulate matter that can compromise human health. Chemists have discovered a way that alcohols can balance out the formation of new particles, a finding that could improve the accuracy of air-quality forecasts.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Immersive stories to spur action on climate
Person wearing a virtual reality headset looks to the side, standing next to a statue facing the same direction

In one of four virtual reality pop-up stations around campus this week, sophomore Katie Collier of Orlando takes in a vignette from “The Altering Shores,” which will premier at the PPEH Environmental Storytelling and Virtual Reality festival on Saturday. (Image: Roderick Coover)

Immersive stories to spur action on climate

Organized by the Penn Program in Environmental Humanities (PPEH), a two-day festival, “Environmental Storytelling and Virtual Reality” begins Friday, and will explore how virtual reality and other immersive storytelling might inspire action on climate change.

Katherine Unger Baillie

A second life for leaves
Two researchers stand in a roped-off area of land, backlit by the rising sun. A study site marked with pink flags is at their feet.

Eliza Nobles, a Morris Arboretum intern, and Jessie Buckner, an ecologist with Applied Ecological Services, set up the first plots at Penn Park on a sunny morning in October. Their study will examine how using leaf mulch or allowing fallen leaves to remain on a site impacts soil health and ecology.

A second life for leaves

Taking a scientific approach to managing campus land, Facilities and Real Estate Services is partnering with soil scientists and ecologists to study how mulching plots with leaves fares for soil health and biodiversity.

Katherine Unger Baillie