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How ‘um’ and ‘uh’ shape impressions
Jonathan Lee.

Fourth-year linguistics Ph.D. student Jonathan Lee became curious about breaks in speech when he noticed they were missing from transcripts and subtitles.

(Image: Kevin Ren)

How ‘um’ and ‘uh’ shape impressions

Disfluency, or irregularities and breaks in speech, are part of life—but do they affect how we perceive each other? Fourth-year linguistics Ph.D. student Jonathan Lee is trying to find out.

2 min. read

How interdisciplinary teaching becomes climate action

How interdisciplinary teaching becomes climate action

Penn graduate students are learning that net zero is a systems challenge requiring fluency across disciplines, and why interdisciplinary teaching is climate action—including how it builds the human capital the clean energy transition demands.

From Kleinman Center for Energy Policy

2 min. read

Using law to support innovation

Using law to support innovation

From protecting artists to supporting emerging technologies, second- and third-year students working in Penn Carey Law’s Detkin Intellectual Property and Technology Legal Clinic provide free legal work to individuals and nonprofit and for-profit ventures in science, technology, business, and the arts.

From Penn Carey Law

2 min. read

Lifesaving breakthrough in bacterial behavior
Artist's rendering of bacteria moving through a nanofabricated tube.

(Pictured) An artist’s depiction of a single cell moving through the nanofabricated mictostrucures biophysicist Arnold Mathijssen’s team used to study E. coli.

(Image: Courtesy of Ruoshui Liu/Cylos Studio)

Lifesaving breakthrough in bacterial behavior

Bacteria can actively swim upstream, leading to severe infections in places like the urinary tract and respiratory system and contamination of medical devices like catheters. Biophysicist Arnold Mathijssen and colleagues have uncovered how and why this happens, revealing that E. coli actually “thrives under pressure.” Their findings point to new strategies for designing safer, more effective biomedical tools and treatments.

3 min. read

Penn Engineering launches new master’s in energy and sustainability

Penn Engineering launches new master’s in energy and sustainability

In December, Penn Engineering launched Master of Science in Engineering in Energy and Sustainability, a new graduate program designed to prepare engineers to lead the transition toward a more sustainable, resilient, and equitable energy future.

Two Penn students chosen as 2026 Marshall Scholars
Adelaide Lyall, left, Norah Rami, right

From left, Adelaide Lyall and Norah Rami are Penn's 2026 Marshall Scholars.

(Images: Courtesy of Adelaide Lyall and Norah Rami)

Two Penn students chosen as 2026 Marshall Scholars

Adelaide Lyall, a graduate student in the School of Social Policy & Practice, and Norah Rami, a fourth-year in the College of Arts & Sciences, will receive funding for as much as three years of graduate study in the United Kingdom.

2 min. read

Buddhism behind bars

Buddhism behind bars

Kirby Sokolow, a School of Arts & Sciences Ph.D. candidate in religious studies, wants to challenge stereotypes around incarceration and religion.

2 min. read

Bringing COP30 from Brazil into Penn classrooms
The exterior of the building for COP30.

Image: Courtesy of COP30

Bringing COP30 from Brazil into Penn classrooms

Penn Carey Law professors Bill Burke-White and Ken Kulak attended COP30, this year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference, and incorporated their experiences into their International Climate Change and Energy Law and Climate Change courses.

3 min. read

Analyzing feminism and traditional gender roles on social media

Analyzing feminism and traditional gender roles on social media

In a new paper, Annenberg School for Communication Dean Sarah Banet-Weiser and doctoral student Sara Reinis analyze popular “tradwife” social media accounts, which embrace traditional gender roles and the rejection of “the rejection of hustle culture.”

Hailey Reissman

2 min. read