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Ocean microbes are a key to climate modeling
Researcher Xin Sun injects substance into glass vials.

Xin Sun prepares samples collected from the Eastern Tropical North Pacific aboard a research vessel. By adding stable isotope tracers to these vials, Sun and her team can track how different microbial groups convert nitrogen compounds into nitrous oxide, revealing how subtle shifts in oxygen and organic matter change the ocean’s chemistry.

 
 

(Image: Courtesy of Xin Sun)

Ocean microbes are a key to climate modeling

In the shadowy layers of the Pacific, microbes decide how much nitrous oxide—a potent greenhouse gas—rises skyward. New research from Penn’s Xin Sun offers an improved understanding of microbial ecology and geochemistry—key to forecasting global emissions in response to natural and man-made climate change.

3 min. read

Street lighting and public safety
People dining on a well-lit Philly sidewalk at night.

Image: benedek via Getty Images

Street lighting and public safety

Criminology researchers Aaron Chalfin and John MacDonald, and data scientist Brian Wade of Penn’s Crime and Justice Policy Lab, evaluate the effect of improved street lighting on crime rates.

Blake Cole

2 min. read

Helpline support eases stress for dementia caregivers
An elderly person on the phone.

Image: PIKSEL via Getty Images

Helpline support eases stress for dementia caregivers

Penn Nursing researchers and collaborators found that caregivers for family members with dementia who receive one or two consultations saw improvements in their ability to manage stress, and that people requesting more than one call reported lower baseline confidence in their ability to manage their emotions than those requesting only one call.

3 min. read

How DMV questions shape organ donor registration decisions

How DMV questions shape organ donor registration decisions

Wharton professor of business economics and public policy Judd Kessler explores whether rewording organ donor questions at the DMV can meaningfully increase registration rates.

History professor Marcy Norton awarded

History professor Marcy Norton awarded

Marcy Norton, professor of history in Penn’s School of Arts & Sciences, has received three awards for her new book, “The Tame and the Wild”: the Friedrich Katz Prize from the American Historical Association, the Elinor Melville Prize (biennial) from the Conference on Latin American History, and the María Elena Martínez Prize from the Conference on Latin American History.

Dogs with cancer are helping save lives—both canine and human
Nicola Mason, Antonia Rotolo, and Mary Beth Boland with Rex, first dog treated on metastatic osteosarcoma trial.

(Left to right) Nicola Mason, Mary Beth Boland, and Antonia Rotolo with Rex, the first dog treated in the metastatic osteosarcoma trial.

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Dogs with cancer are helping save lives—both canine and human

The Comparative Immunotherapy Program led by Penn Vet’s Nicola Mason is redefining how therapies are developed and tested—uniting human and veterinary medicine to move promising immunotherapies forward.

4 min. read

Penn Engineering’s Dohyung Kim named 2025 Packard Fellow for Science and Engineering

Penn Engineering’s Dohyung Kim named 2025 Packard Fellow for Science and Engineering

The assistant professor in chemical and biomolecular engineering has been named a 2025 Packard Fellow for Science and Engineering by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Kim leads the Kim Laboratory of Electrochemistry and Interfaces at the Nanoscale, which investigates how chemical reactions occur on the surfaces of solid catalysts—materials that drive processes central to energy production, fuel generation, and chemical manufacturing.

Two Penn faculty elected American Physical Society Fellows
Ritesh Agarwal and Doug Jerolmack.

Ritesh Agarwal (left), Srinivasa Ramanujan Distinguished Scholar in Materials Science and Engineering, and Douglas Jerolmack, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Endowed Term Professor of Earth and Environmental Science and professor of mechanical engineering and applied mechanics.

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Two Penn faculty elected American Physical Society Fellows

Ritesh Agarwal of the School of Engineering and Applied Science and Douglas Jerolmack of the School of Arts & Sciences and Penn Engineering have been elected by their peers in recognition of their contributions to the field.

2 min. read