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Penn fourth-year and graduate student named 2026 Knight-Hennessy Scholars
Naseebullah Andar and Brianna Leung

Fourth-year Naseebullah Andar and graduate student Brianna Leung are 2026 Knight-Hennessy Scholars.

(Image: Courtesy Stanford University)

Penn fourth-year and graduate student named 2026 Knight-Hennessy Scholars

The scholarship provides financial support for as long as three years to pursue a graduate degree and global leadership training at Stanford University.

2 min. read

Penn announces nine 2026 Thouron Scholars
Recipients of the 2026 Thouron awards are (left to right, top to bottom) Tristen Brisky, Charissa Howard, Jean Kim, Jordan Liu, Caroline Magdolen, Griffin Pitt, Andrew Schmidt, Sriya Teerdhala, and Megha Thomas.

Recipients of the 2026 Thouron awards are (left to right, top to bottom) Tristen Brisky, Charissa Howard, Jean Kim, Jordan Liu, Caroline Magdolen, Griffin Pitt, Andrew Schmidt, Sriya Teerdhala, and Megha Thomas.

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Penn announces nine 2026 Thouron Scholars

Six fourth-year students and three recent graduates will use the scholarship award to pursue graduate studies in the United Kingdom.

6 min. read

How to incentivize problem solving in groups
Artist rendering of several people conected with string stretch their connections to the limit, testing the strength of unity.

Image: Flavio Coelho via Getty Images

How to incentivize problem solving in groups

Why do some groups get smarter together while others collapse into groupthink? New research from theoretical biologist Joshua Plotkin and collaborators show that collective intelligence doesn’t emerge by rewarding the most accurate individuals but by rewarding those who improve the group’s prediction as a whole.

3 min. read

New book brings responsive math teaching to classrooms nationwide

New book brings responsive math teaching to classrooms nationwide

Following years of research in Philadelphia schools, the Graduate School of Education’s Responsive Math Teaching team is sharing the practical tools and guiding principles they identified in a new book to help educators make math more meaningful and equitable.

Making math add up for seventh graders
Cole DuHaime leans against a statue outside College Hall.

Image: Eric Sucar

Making math add up for seventh graders

Third-year Cole DuHaime taught math to seventh graders over the summer in a service opportunity made possible by Generation Teach and the Ben Franklin Scholars Program.

4 min. read

Students use machine learning to track and protect whale populations
Chinmay Govind writing equations on a chalkboard.

Chinmay Govind, a rising second-year in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, writes equations on a chalkboard in his team's research space at David Rittenhouse Laboratory. For his portion of the PURM project, Govind used AI to track and map whale locations.

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Students use machine learning to track and protect whale populations

For their Penn Undergraduate Research Mentoring Program project, Chinmay Govind and Nihar Ballamudi leveraged AI to locate and census whales. The study may inform policy measures that help to improve protections for whale populations worldwide.

5 min. read

Designing cleaner, greener concrete
Masoud Akbarzadeh holding up one of the fabricated materials.

The Polyhedral Structures Laboratory is housed at the Pennovation Center and brings together designers, engineers, and computer scientists to reimagine the built world. Using graphic statics, a method where forces are mapped as lines, they design forms that balance compression and tension. These result in structures that use far fewer materials while remaining strong and efficient.

(Image: Eric Sucar)

Designing cleaner, greener concrete

Penn engineers, materials scientists, and designers have developed a 3D-printed concrete solution based on diatomaceous earth that has enhanced carbon capture, is stronger, and uses fewer materials like cement.

6 min. read