4.23
Education, Business, & Law
Confronting inequities, sharing solutions
At the annual meeting of the Global Water Alliance, faculty, students, and practitioners shared solutions and challenges around the issues of water access, sanitation, and hygiene in the U.S. and around the world.
U.S. debt: Is it the calm before the storm?
The U.S. national debt has crossed $22 trillion. Wharton’s Kent Smetters and Joao Gomes discuss the nation’s long-term debt burden and what might be done about it.
The Ivy League’s first pre-professional LGBTQ club
Meet The Wharton Alliance, which, in its 16th year, continues its dual promise of cultivating a network of LGBTQ business students while considering the future of diversity in the workplace.
The math behind March Madness
A Q&A with statistician Shane Jensen, who discusses the math behind sports team rankings, why March Madness has so many underdog victories, and how technology might change how analysts study sports teams in the future.
Negotiating a truce in the war on drugs
A Penn Law symposium brought together experts from the legal, law enforcement, social work, and policy camps to discuss how to refocus the decades-long fight to be less punitive and more protective.
Wharton School establishes the Stevens Center for Innovation in Finance
The Wharton School announced the establishment of the Stevens Center for Innovation in Finance with the support and partnership of 1991 undergraduate alumnus Ross Stevens, founder and CEO of Stone Ridge Holdings Group.
Going plastic neutral
The winners of a 2018 Penn President’s Engagement Prize are launching a new venture to address the global problem of plastic waste.
Penn at SXSW
This is the third year the Penn Center for Innovation has led a group of University-affiliated startups to participate in South by Southwest’s innovative arm, SXSW Interactive.
Higher ed as ‘hubs for common ground’
At the Wharton Global Forum in Shanghai, Penn President Amy Gutmann said high-quality higher education has the potential to transform lives, communities, and the world.
Gaining momentum by the minute
Michael Wong, the student behind startup InstaHub, chats about his path to Penn, his passion for entrepreneurship, and his plans after graduation in May.
In the News
Philadelphia Inquirer
Trump-friendly Newsmax bundled into Comcast’s Xfinity service
The Annenberg School for Communication’s Victor Pickard discussed conservative news channel Newsmax and its recent deal with Comcast. If Comcast is “feeling the heat from the right, it will make sense to appease some of those critics,” said Pickard.
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Boston Globe
Boxes, pouches, cartons, and envelopes — oh my!
Eric Orts of the Wharton School spoke about the environmental impact of packaging waste. “Lots of it will still go into a landfill, for no really good reason,” said Orts. “If you look at something like the distribution system of Amazon, it doesn’t seem that hard to shift this.”
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NPR
What can a personality test tell us about who we are?
Adam Grant of the Wharton School spoke about his concerns with the Myers-Briggs test, when used by companies to make staffing decisions. “It’s a great way to weed out diversity,” Grant said.
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Associated Press
California eyes risk pool as it struggles with costly fires
The Wharton School’s Carolyn Kousky said California is at such high risk for wildfire that even risk pools and catastrophe bonds don’t appeal to investors.
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Bloomberg
Lyft’s tumbling stock is a worrying sign for other unicorns
When prices for Lyft’s stocks dropped on its second day of trading, the Wharton School’s David Erickson “was surprised that it blew through the IPO price so quickly. While there was a lot of enthusiasm on Friday, it’s obviously been dampened today, and it’s hard to recreate that moment once you lose it.”
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