Democracy Past, Present, and Future
Four Penn Arts & Sciences faculty offer ideas about democracy and its relationship to wealth, modern information environments, social identities, and shared norms.
Creating a Classroom Democracy
Through a Stavros Niarchos Foundation Paideia course, Assistant Professor of History Sarah Gronningsater and her students resuscitate early American history.
When Data Science and Social Good Intersect
Through a grant program and a new minor focused on data analytics, the Data Driven Discovery Initiative is using new tools and technologies to directly address societal challenges.
Lila Shermeta, C’25, has always been passionate about the connections between writing and art history. Her award-winning senior thesis on Brooks, an obscure late-19th and early-20th-century queer artist drawn to fascism, decisively unites the two fields.
The Poetry of Ancient Math
The methods and findings of pre-modern Indian mathematicians remain poorly understood. Priya Nambrath, a doctoral candidate in the Department of South Asia Studies, wants to change that.
Origin Story Rewind: Mark Trodden
Ten years ago, Trodden was the subject of our first-ever “Origin Story.” In honor of his new role as Dean of the School of Arts & Sciences, we’re bringing it back.
The Hidden History of Harriet Tubman’s Civil War Service
Edda Fields-Black, GR’01, who earned her PhD from the Department of History and is today a professor at Carnegie Mellon, recently won a Pulitzer Prize for her account of the Combahee River Raid, which she argues was the largest slave rebellion in U.S. history.
Bridging Medicine and Business
Arun Das, C’10, W’10, took a winding path to end up at Cabaletta Bio, a biotechnology company that wants to revolutionize autoimmune disease treatment.
Natural Science, Social Science
Training Tomorrow’s Data Scientists
The Data Driven Discovery Initiative has expanded its four-year-old postdoctoral fellow program to include researchers from Penn Engineering and Penn Medicine using cutting-edge techniques in data science and artificial intelligence.
Print Edition
Spring/Summer 2025
The issue dives deep into democracy, the importance of fundamental research, and many other challenges facing universities today. Plus, we’ve got baseball mud, a long-lost Chopin waltz, Titanic materials, and more.
Popular Stories
The Poetry of Ancient Math
The methods and findings of pre-modern Indian mathematicians remain poorly understood. Priya Nambrath, a doctoral candidate in the Department of South Asia Studies, wants to change that.
Democracy Past, Present, and Future
Four Penn Arts & Sciences faculty offer ideas about democracy and its relationship to wealth, modern information environments, social identities, and shared norms.
Creating a Classroom Democracy
Through a Stavros Niarchos Foundation Paideia course, Assistant Professor of History Sarah Gronningsater and her students resuscitate early American history.
Unpacking the Contradictions of Artist Romaine Brooks
Lila Shermeta, C’25, has always been passionate about the connections between writing and art history. Her award-winning senior thesis on Brooks, an obscure late-19th and early-20th-century queer artist drawn to fascism, decisively unites the two fields.
Penn Arts & Sciences in the News
AI Frontiers
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Is the Wrong Framework for AI Governance
June 27, 2025
In a piece for AI Frontiers, Professor of Political Science Michael Horowitz and a colleague from Georgetown University write about how placing AI in a nuclear framework “inflates expectations and distracts from practical, sector-specific governance.”
FOX News
Archaeologists Discover Untouched Tomb Linked to King Midas’ Dynasty: ‘High Level of Wealth’
June 23, 2025
Charles Brian Rose, James B. Pritchard Professor of Archaeology, uncovered a tomb in Turkey along with a team from the Penn Museum. Linked to the family of King Midas, the discovery attests to a “high level of wealth,” according to Rose.
Business Insider
Why AI Acts So Creepy When Faced With Being Shut Down
June 3, 2025
AI models imitate human behavior—including traits like manipulation. But Robert Ghrist, Andrea Mitchell University Professor, says that’s actually a good thing and helps to unearth hidden risks. “When a model is set up with an opportunity to fail and you see it fail, that's super useful information.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer
What is So Philly About the Philly Sound in Jazz?
May 30, 2025
Philly has a deep and unique jazz history. Guthrie Ramsey, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Term Professor of Music, says the sound of Philly jazz includes “a kind of expansive approach to sonic spirituality that is able to transcend demographics.”