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Undergraduate Students

Going plastic neutral
A person reclines on a chair on a beach surrounded by plastic bottles

The twin aims of reBalance are to reduce plastic waste and create safer and more secure work conditions for waste workers. (Image courtesy: rePurpose)

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.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Shooting for the moon
Schuler in the classroom

Linguistics professor Kathryn Schuler (right) wanted her students to think big. Throughout the semester, they worked on passion projects, following a Google X model to allow for unconstrained ideas to solve grand problems.

Shooting for the moon

In her Language and the Brain course, linguistics professor Kathryn Schuler asked 30 undergrads to think big about big problems—and their solutions didn’t disappoint.

Michele W. Berger

Gaining momentum by the minute
michael wong

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.

Lauren Hertzler

From urban renewal to today, tracking the struggles of America’s cities
Penn history professor Brent Cebul working with students on wall maps.

With help from the Penn Libraries' staff, Cebul and his students worked with maps in an electronic classroom in Van Pelt-Dietrich Library. 

Image: Eric Sucar

From urban renewal to today, tracking the struggles of America’s cities

Equipped with SEPTA Key cards, Brent Cebul’s students are taking a deep dive into Philadelphia’s history, looking into the past and present challenges facing cities.

Gwyneth K. Shaw

How technology is making education more accessible
Amrou Ibrahim zooms in to a text using a CCTV tablet Amrou Ibrahim, assistive technology specialist at the Student Disabilities Services Office, uses a camera-equipped tablet to zoom in on a book.

How technology is making education more accessible

Text-to-speech technology, smart pens, and smart glasses are just some of the assistive technologies that the Office of Student Disabilities Services employ on campus to meet all students’ needs in their learning environments.
Penn sophomore wins an Oscar
Claire Sliney at the Academy Awards

Penn sophomore wins an Oscar

Claire Sliney is an executive producer of the short documentary “Period. End of Sentence.” that won an Academy Award on February 24.

Louisa Shepard

Hands-on learning in the greenhouse
Holding a broad tropical leaf, a person speaks to students holding papers in a greenhouse.

Showing off the broad, tropical leaf of a banana plant, Samara Gray (left), greenhouse coordinator, highlights the diverse collection of the middle room of the Biology Department’s facility. During the tours, Gray and other staff point out specialized adaptations of certain plants, such as the water-conserving features of succulents, or the unusual features of carnivorous plant species.

 

 

Hands-on learning in the greenhouse

A revamped lesson in plant diversity added a tour of the campus greenhouse for students in introductory biology courses. Greenhouse coordinator Samara Gray worked with Linda Robinson and Karl Siegert to enhance the curriculum, incorporating lessons about plant biology and taxonomy that rely on the wide range of specimens present.

Katherine Unger Baillie