Virtual Events Recap

The inaugural Penn IDEAS: Innovation and Discovery in Engineering, Arts & Sciences events highlighted faculty experts from the two schools who examined the promise and perils of big data and technological innovations that may lead to sustainable energy. The event was hosted by University Trustee and Penn Arts & Sciences Advisor Ramanan Raghavendran, ENG’89, W’89, LPS’13.

The Stephen A. Levin Family Dean’s Forum, an annual event that presents leading intellectual figures who exemplify the richness of the liberal arts, featured a conversation between Angela Duckworth, Rosa Lee and Egbert Chang Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Wharton School and bestselling author of Grit, and David Epstein, a bestselling author and expert on the science of high performance, in a conversation about range versus grit.

The annual Penn Grad Talks (formerly known as Grad Ben Talks) feature TED Talk-style presentations by Penn Arts & Sciences graduate students. A team of judges made up of faculty, graduate students, and staff select winning talks. This year’s winners were:

Ashley Session, for “My Soul Is Anchored: How African American Women Have Carried Elections and the Political Movement Forward, and How We Can Take Our Power Back” (Professional Master’s category)

Sarah Carson, for “The New Girls’ Club: Political Party Culture and the Women Changing the Face of Politics” (Social Sciences category)

Sara Purinton, for “Medically Unexplained Symptoms (MUS): Challenges to Identity, Agency, and Belonging” (Humanities and Audience Choice categories)

Lisa Yankowitz, for “Goo Goo Ga Ga: Can Baby Sounds Help Improve Early Detection of Autism?” (Natural Sciences category)

The Penn Science Café and Lightbulb Café series put faculty in conversation with each other to share their expertise on pressing topics. Joseph Kable, Baird Term Professor of Psychology and Director of MindCORE, and Barbara Mellers, I. George Heyman University Professor in Psychology and Marketing, discussed decision-making, uncertainty, and COVID-19, while Josephine Nock-Hee Park, Professor of English and Director of the Asian American Studies Program, talked with Herman Beavers, Professor of English and Africana Studies, about teaching poetry and finding antiracist solidarity in poetic movements of the past and present.

The long-running 60-Second Lecture Series continued with talks on the science of visual memory, the relationship between science and warfare, the need for water policies to address climate change, and a comic about the experience of time that has taken new relevance in light of the pandemic.

To watch any of these talks and learn about future events, click here.