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A deficit in Pennsylvania’s pretrial data
Leo Solga

Leo Solga is a fourth-year political science major in the School of Arts & Sciences.

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A deficit in Pennsylvania’s pretrial data

Arts & Sciences undergraduate Leo Solga has been studying what happens in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania before someone goes to trial. What he’s learned reveals just how little is understood.

From Omnia

2 min. read

Lauder internship funding powers student impact in startups and emerging markets

Lauder internship funding powers student impact in startups and emerging markets

Each year, The Lauder Institute Lauder Institute supports select students with funding for summer internships around the world through its Leadership Immersion Internship program. This summer, Dania Cortes Cervantes, Jhonny Georges, and Long Pham took on high-impact roles at organizations and startups Brazil, Venezuela, and the U.S.

Students use art to change how we communicate about research
Five ceramic art pieces on display.

Image: Courtesy of Penn Medicine News

Students use art to change how we communicate about research

Science is hard to explain. The Artist-in-Residence initiative at Penn’s Translational Research Immersion Program seeks to help by using art.

2 min. read

Where AI models fall short in mimicking the expressiveness of human speech
Ethan Yang, Jjianjing Kuang, Kevin Li, and Henry Huang.

Through the Penn Undergraduate Research Mentoring Program, students Ethan Yang, Kevin Li, and Henry Huang worked with linguistics professor Jianjing Kuang to study the ability of AI models to replicate the expressiveness of human speech.

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Where AI models fall short in mimicking the expressiveness of human speech

Undergraduates Kevin Li, Henry Huang, and Ethan Yang worked with linguistics professor Jianjing Kuang to compare speech production and perception by humans and AI—research that can help companies move closer to natural and expressive AI speech.

2 min. read

Diving into the causes of crime
Ella Vance stands in front of a staircase with her arms crossed.

Ella Vance says her psychology and criminology double-major meshes well with Paul Robinson’s research on the root causes of crime. Her summer work was supported by the Penn Undergraduate Research Mentoring Program.

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Diving into the causes of crime

Third-year Ella Vance spent the summer working with Penn Carey Law’s Paul Robinson exploring the potential roots of crime, including addiction and poverty. Her 10-week opportunity was supported by the Penn Undergraduate Research Mentoring Program.

2 min. read

Reshaping renewable energy education
Lorena Grundy and Ngaatendwe Manyike kneel beside a miniature wind turbine.

Third-year student in the School of Engineering and Applied Science Ngaatendwe Manyika (right) of Harare, Zimbabwe, spent the summer working with Penn Engineering’s Lorena Grundy (left) to develop a new class, the Renewable Energy Technologies Lab, coming to Penn next fall.

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Reshaping renewable energy education

Third-year mechanical engineering student Ngaatendwe Manyika spent the summer working with practice assistant professor at Penn Engineering Lorena Grundy developing a new class, the Renewable Energy Technologies Lab coming to Penn next fall.

3 min. read

At Convocation, first-years called on to ‘embrace the unexpected’
Franklin Field during Penn’s 2025 Convocation.

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At Convocation, first-years called on to ‘embrace the unexpected’

Penn’s 286th academic year formally began at Convocation, where President J. Larry Jameson drew lessons from nature by invoking fireflies—recognizing students’ brilliance, prescribing them to ‘“embrace the unexpected,” and reminding them, “Fireflies do not glow alone.”

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

New Student Orientation: A week in photos
Class of 2029 spelled out by the student body on Franklin Field.

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New Student Orientation: A week in photos

New and returning undergraduates arrived on campus last week, attending welcome events and receptions, including an introduction to the Libraries, the Class Photo on Franklin Field, and an evening at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Penn Today Staff

2 min. read