Social Science

The Price of Parenthood

Research from Pilar Gonalons-Pons, Alber-Klingelhofer Presidential Associate Professor of Sociology, and Ioana Marinescu of Penn’s School of Social Policy and Practice, reveals how high childcare costs create family income inequality in the United States.

Office Artifacts: Megan Kassabaum

Kassabaum, Associate Professor of Anthropology, describes five meaningful objects that surround her as she works.

Penn Arts & Sciences Pathways: Daniel Shevchenko, C’25 (Video)

A study abroad experience in Spain and a course on language policy deepened Shevchenko's interest in linguistics and political science.

Centering Black History

Ahead of the upcoming 250th anniversary of the United States, the McNeil Center for Early American Studies, the Library Company, and 1838 Black Metropolis collaborated on a conference about Black Philadelphia in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Among the Elephants

Sixth-year Anthropology PhD student Rebecca Winkler has spent more than a decade documenting the lives of elephants and Indigenous people who co-exist in the forests of Thailand.

Perspectives on Heritage

Chrislyn Laurie Laurore, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Anthropology, is studying the public memory and history of slavery, particularly its curation in museums, monuments, memorials, and archaeological sites.

Winners of the Ninth Annual Penn Grad Talks (Video)

TED-style talks on crowdfunding in ancient Greece, gender gaps in political tolerance, shyness, opera singers and language, and how to know what you don’t know, took home the day’s top prizes.

Unearthing the Secrets of an Ancient Greek City

Classical archaeologist and architectural historian Mantha Zarmakoupi has spent the past four summers excavating the ruins of a city council building at the center of Teos in western Türkiye, in collaboration with the Teos Archaeological Project of Ankara University.

A Dialogue about the Past and Future of Democracy

Ben Talks NYC, which took place this year at the Times Center in front of a crowd of 270 people, featured Jeffrey Green and Michele Margolis of Political Science, Donovan Schaefer of Religious Studies, and Sophia Rosenfeld of History.

The Missing Data Link

Whether decoding medieval manuscripts or analyzing national polling numbers, Penn’s 100-plus data scientists have plenty to talk about, and Penn Arts & Sciences’ Data Driven Discovery Initiative is leading the charge in fostering collaboration.

India, Floods, and Learning Outcomes

Research from PhD student Nazar Khalid, Professors Emily Hannum and Jere Behrman, and Senior Lecturer Amrit Thapa investigates how more intensive and frequent flooding is affecting young students in the country’s rural north.

Research Roundup: Fruit Fly Mating, Airbnbs and Crime, and More

In the first 2025 edition of this series, we examine “wing spreading,” how a popular homestay accommodation increased robberies in London, how to reduce votes lost in the mail, and spending on home care.

2024 Year in Review

As the calendar flips to 2025, we look back at a few of the dozens of stories we had the privilege of sharing this past year.

Archaeological Science, Hands On

The Center for the Analysis of Archaeological Materials, a joint endeavor between Penn Arts & Sciences and the Penn Museum, celebrates 10 years of teaching students how to interpret the past in an interdisciplinary context.

A First-of-its-Kind Master’s Program for Police Leaders

The new graduate degree from the Department of Criminology and the College of Liberal & Professional Studies will begin next fall. It aims to teach evidence-based research to foster more equitable practices.