Graduate Students

Minding the gap between mass transit and ride-hailing apps

With support from the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, doctoral students Caitlin Gorback and Summer Dong are researching how services like Uber and Lyft are changing our transport habits, cities, and environments.

Gina Vitale Michele W. Berger

Making insights into ancient marine ecosystems with 3D-printed shells

If you’re a snail hoping to survive an encounter with a hungry fish, it helps to have a strong shell. Paleoecology doctoral student Erynn Johnson is using 3D printing to understand how predator-prey interactions may have played out hundreds of millions of years ago.

Katherine Unger Baillie

A deep dive into digital humanities at Penn

The weeklong DReAM Lab, put on by the Price Lab for Digital Humanities and the Penn Libraries, offered participants the chance to study a range of subjects, from text analysis to augmented reality and Afrofuturism.

Michele W. Berger

Penn’s 263rd Commencement

The Class of 2019 took to Franklin Field on Monday, May 20, for Penn’s 263rd Commencement ceremony, where President Amy Gutmann urged graduates to “weave together a world better, freer, and more inclusive.”

Lauren Hertzler



In the News


Phys.org

Rising student absenteeism may be hurting teacher job satisfaction

A study by Michael Gottfried and Ph.D. student Colby Woods of the Graduate School of Education finds that student absences are linked to lower teacher job satisfaction, which could exacerbate growing teacher shortages.

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ScienceFriday.com

CAR-T cell therapies show promise for autoimmune diseases

Daniel Baker, a Ph.D. student in Carl June’s lab at the Perelman School of Medicine, discusses the results of a study on donor CAR-T cell therapy.

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The Conversation

Many wealthy members of Congress are descendants of rich slaveholders — new study demonstrates the enduring legacy of slavery

A co-authored study by Ph.D. student Neil Sehgal of the School of Engineering and Applied Science found that legislators who are descendants of slaveholders are significantly wealthier than members of Congress without slaveholder ancestry.

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KYW Newsradio (Philadelphia)

Penn analysis supports state commission’s recommendation for boost in Pa. education funding

An analysis by A. Brooks Bowden and doctoral candidates David Loeb and Katie Pullom of the Graduate School of Education outlines the measurable benefits of a $5.1 billion increase in Pennsylvania K-12 spending over seven years.

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Philadelphia Inquirer

A new idea for Market East: A ‘Welcoming District’ for immigrants who are driving population growth

Graduate students at the Weitzman School of Design are submitting speculative proposals for a Welcoming District near Philadelphia’s Fashion District that could replace or supplement the Sixers arena.

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Toronto Star

Few options available to Western leaders weighing response to Vladimir Putin critic Alexei Navalny’s death

Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon of the School of Arts & Sciences says that Western countries have little practical leverage to push Russia off its authoritarian path after Alexei Navalny’s death, given the economic and diplomatic sanctions already levied against Vladimir Putin.

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