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Keeping rain out of the drain
A scientist kneeling on a lawn checks a well using electronic monitoring equipment

David Vann of the School of Arts and Sciences heads up the research efforts around Shoemaker Green’s stormwater management system. Using sensors placed around the site, he hopes to be able to closely monitor how much water drains out of the system, and how quickly. 

Keeping rain out of the drain

From cisterns beneath Shoemaker Green to the green roof on New College House, special features of campus buildings and landscapes are helping manage stormwater to keep rain from the sewer lines, and scholars are using the infrastructure as a research opportunity.

Katherine Unger Baillie

A sense of place on shifting shores
A colorful artist's rendering of a river with people fishing with a barge in the background and a drawing of an old map on the horizon

In works like “Memorial Day on the Delaware,” artist Roderick Coover blends natural, industrial, and historical imagery to convey a sense of place and experience. (Image: ©Roderick Coover)

A sense of place on shifting shores

Roderick Coover, whose work merges cinema, science, and history, is the 2019 Mellon Artist-in-Residence for the Penn Program in Environmental Humanities (PPEH). His recent film “Toxi-City: A Climate Change Narrative” screened at PPEH’s “Teaching and Learning with Rising Waters” event.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Putting mussels to the test
A student crouches in front of several aquariums full of water and collects a sample, surrounded by a park setting.

Senior Ahsen Kayani checks on the tanks, set up alongside the BioPond.

Putting mussels to the test

With a mussel hatchery in the future for the Schuylkill River, students in Byron Sherwood’s field biology course used scientific rigor to ask how effectively these filter feeders might render the water clean.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Supporting the Schuylkill
A crowd is seated on the walkway at the banks of the Schuylkill for a press conference.

Supporting the Schuylkill

Penn President Amy Gutmann joined city officials and local college leaders along Boathouse Row to announce support to fund the dredging of the Schuylkill River.

Penn Today Staff

The future of urban waters
Rising Waters fellows in Mumbai in January

Rising Waters fellows in Mumbai in January (Photo credit: Photography Promotion Trust)

The future of urban waters

Students and faculty of the Penn Program in Environmental Humanities’ Liquid Histories course study the impact of rising sea levels from the banks of Philadelphia and Mumbai.

Penn Today Staff

Navigating urban waters, with an interdisciplinary approach
PPEH Summer Research Group

Navigating urban waters, with an interdisciplinary approach

With independent research projects and immersive experiences on and near Philadelphia’s waterways, summer fellows with the Penn Program in the Environmental Humanities are collaborating to develop new ways of learning and sharing knowledge.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Leveraging Penn’s expertise to meet challenges in the water sector
Schuylkill Banks Boardwalk

Bridging the gap between researchers and practitioners, the Water Center aims to serve as a regional hub of water expertise.

Leveraging Penn’s expertise to meet challenges in the water sector

A conference on campus brings together The Water Center at Penn and city officials and community members across the country to find solutions for better water utilities and access.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Creating atomic water filters
Creating Atomic Water Filters

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Creating atomic water filters

A vast majority of the earth’s water is salty, making it unfit for people to drink. Researchers are working on a technology that could potentially offer a new method of desalinating water that would be both fast and scalable.

Ali Sundermier