11/15
Science & Technology
Two Penn faculty elected American Physical Society fellows
Two Penn faculty elected American Physical Society fellows
Paulo Arratia of the School of Engineering and Applied Science and Evelyn Thomson of the School of Arts & Sciences received the honor of being elected by their peers in recognition of their contributions to the field.
Demystifying grad school to enhance diversity in STEM
Demystifying grad school to enhance diversity in STEM
Earlier this month, 48 undergraduate students from around the country traveled to Penn for a three-day gathering full of workshops, lectures, networking opportunities, lab tours, Q & A sessions, and a resource fair.
NIH-funded canine immunotherapy data center charts a path toward transformative therapies
NIH-funded canine immunotherapy data center charts a path toward transformative therapies
With support recently granted for five more years, Nicola Mason of the School of Veterinary Medicine and Qi Long of the Perelman School of Medicine hope their work leads to new insights in cancer care for people as well as pets.
Making ‘true’ equine IVF a reproducible success
Making ‘true’ equine IVF a reproducible success
A new method developed by Katrin Hinrichs and colleagues in the School of Veterinary Medicine resulted in the birth of three healthy foals, opening the door to new insights in the basic biology of horse reproduction.
Rethinking the computer chip in the age of AI
Rethinking the computer chip in the age of AI
A team of researchers from the School of Engineering and Applied Science has introduced a computing architecture ideal for AI using an approach known as compute-in-memory.
Microbes that cause cavities can form superorganisms able to ‘crawl’ and spread on teeth
Microbes that cause cavities can form superorganisms able to ‘crawl’ and spread on teeth
These multicellular, cross-kingdom assemblages were more resistant to antimicrobials and removal and caused more extensive tooth decay than their single-species equivalents, according to research led by School of Dental Medicine scientists.
Defining neural ‘representation’
Defining neural ‘representation’
Neuroscientists frequently say that neural activity ‘represents’ certain phenomena, PIK Professor Konrad Kording and postdoc Ben Baker led a study that took a philosophical approach to tease out what the term means.
What it’s like to be stationed at a particle accelerator
What it’s like to be stationed at a particle accelerator
Gwen Gardner and Lauren Osojnak, Ph.D. candidates in physics, describe their work as part of the Penn ATLAS team at the Large Hadron Collider.
A robot made of sticks
A robot made of sticks
Devin Carroll, a doctoral candidate in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, is designing a modular robot called StickBot, which may be adapted for rehabilitation use in global public health settings.
Bolstering environmental education in Cobbs Creek
Bolstering environmental education in Cobbs Creek
Through a Projects for Progress award and other University support, students in West Philadelphia are gaining greater access to STEM learning resources at the Cobbs Creek Community Environmental Center.
In the News
Scientific American
Grumpy voters want better stories. Not statistics
In a Q&A, PIK Professor Duncan Watts says that U.S. voters ignored Democratic policy in favor of Republican storytelling.
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WHYY (Philadelphia)
Climate policy under a second Trump presidency
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences discusses how much a president can do or undo when it comes to environmental policy.
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Interesting Engineering
Superhuman vision lets robots see through walls, smoke with new LiDAR-like eyes
Mingmin Zhao of the School of Engineering and Applied Science and colleagues are using radio signals to allow robots to “see” beyond traditional sensor limits.
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Technical.ly Philly
A sneak peek inside Penn Engineering’s new $137.5M mass timber building
Amy Gutmann Hall aims to be Philadelphia’s next big hub for AI and innovation while setting a new standard for architectural sustainability.
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Salon.com
Exxon CEO wants Trump to stay in Paris climate accord
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences voices his concern about the possibility that the U.S. could become a petrostate.
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Associated Press
Amid Earth’s heat records, scientists report another bump upward in annual carbon emissions
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences says that total carbon emissions including fossil fuel pollution and land use changes such as deforestation are basically flat because land emissions are declining.
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The Wall Street Journal
How can we remove carbon from the air? Here are a few ideas
Jennifer Wilcox of the School of Engineering and Applied Science and Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the Weitzman School of Design says that the carbon-removal potential of forestation can’t always be reliably measured in terms of how much removal and for how long.
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Associated Press
California air regulators approve changes to climate program that could raise gas prices
Danny Cullenward of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the Weitzman School of Design says that many things being credited in California’s new climate program don’t help the climate.
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Times of India
Self shocks turn crystal to glass at ultralow power density: Study
A collaborative study by researchers from the School of Engineering and Applied Science has shed new light on amorphization, the transition from a crystalline to a glassy state at the nanoscale.
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Interesting Engineering
U.S. achieves billion-fold power-saving semiconductor tech; could challenge China
A collaborative effort by Ritesh Agarwal of the School of Engineering and Applied Science and colleagues has made phase-change memory more energy efficient and could unlock a future revolution in data storage.
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