The impact of innovative legal scholarship can be profound.Thoughtfully presented new ideas—especially those that transcend disciplinary boundaries—can serve as critical tools for advocates as they push our legal system forward toward amore just future.In the Psychology of Legal Decision-Making seminar,University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School students have the opportunity to dive right into this world.Under the guidance of co-lecturers William A.Schnader Professor of Law David Hoffman and Golkin Family Professor and professor of psychology Tess Wilkinson-Ryan,students interact with scholars from across the country who are working on cutting-edge interdisciplinary research.“The best version of what academics do is that they give each other constructive feedback and try to make each other’s intellectual projects more rich and more rigorous,”Hoffman says.“That’s what we encourage the students to do in this course.”Substantively,the course introduces students to several foundational topics in psychology that come up again and again in law,like social perception and loss aversion.But both Hoffman and Wilkinson-Ryan underscored that the point of the course is not just to teach legal psychology,but rather to use that substance as ameans of encouraging students to adeptly read legal scholarship and actively participate in the production of new knowledge.“Penn Carey Law graduates will have to read empirical work in parts of their professional lives,”Wilkinson-Ryan says.“This course is agreat way to develop the skill of reading empirical scholarship and thinking about what the purpose of the scholarship is.As attorneys and citizens,when they’re reading an article about the statistics of something in the world,they will have to ask,‘How did these statistics come about?How do we find them?Do Itrust them?’”Over the course of the semester,students get to meet and engage with scholars who are actively honing their research and ideas. 查看详细>>

Bringing the world to Penn and Penn to the world has been the mission of Penn Global since its establishment more than 10 years ago,and akey and meaningful way that happens each year is with the presence of international students on campus.“International students promote rich and diverse learning experiences for the entire campus community,”says Rodolfo“Rudie”Altamirano,executive director of International Student&Scholar Services(ISSS)and Immigration Services and Integration Programs.“This is the main reason why Penn Global and ISSS are highly committed to the successful integration of international students.This further enriches campus learning for both international and U.S.students.”After aslight downturn during the pandemic,the numbers of international students have more than rebounded.Nearly 7,000 international students from more than 130 countries enrolled at Penn for the 2022-23 academic year,and ISSS is committed to making sure each of them has asmooth transition to campus.From help with financial matters,academic life and housing to health care and immigration questions and resources for families,ISSS is the main stop for international students coming to Penn.Altamirano calls himself“a living example”of how the integration of international students on United States college campuses is significant.Arriving in the U.S.from the Philippines in 1983 to pursue his graduate degree,Altamirano became immersed firsthand in the challenges and benefits of being an international student.His experience continues to inform his approach to welcoming and integrating international students on campus.“It was arigorous experience trying to balance the life of astudent in aforeign country and adjusting to the parts of its culture which cannot be captured in typical classroom settings,”he says.“The exchange of knowledge and culture shaped my growth as aperson.The relationships and friendships that Iformed strengthened me as an intercultural being.The richness of experiences in my new environment shaped and molded me not just as an international student but as part of the bigger academic environment.”He says Penn’s ISSS program is dedicated to celebrating and including the diverse international community by developing programming and initiatives that enhance cross-cultural connections and reduce cultural gaps,increasing access of campus resources and opportunities for international students,bringing to the forefront the strengths of adiverse international student and scholar population,and building intercultural initiatives that grow Penn as an inclusive community.“We are here for international students every step of the way,”Altamirano says.In addition to supporting students,ISSS has set up anumber of groups in which international students can take the reins and advocate for themselves and their needs,pursue topics of interest,and make alasting impact at Penn.These include the International Student Advisory Board(ISAB),International Student Table for Advocacy&Relations(ISTAR),International Partners Outreach Group(IPOG)and the Intercultural Leadership Program(ILP),and more. 查看详细>>

rowing up,Jake Purnell,a nurse at the Penn Medicine Institute for Rehabilitation Medicine had never dreamed of having acareer as anurse,until he attended an event to support ahigh school classmate who had leukemia.Purnell decided to tag along with afriend to the fundraising event and curiosity caused him to stop in front of aBe The Match station.There,Purnell spoke with anurse who explained how the nonprofit helped patients with leukemia,lymphoma,and other diseases who need abone marrow or umbilical cord blood transplant through the Be The Match Registry—a listing of potential marrow donors and donated cord blood unit.The nurse discussed the process and the chances of actually becoming amatch to someone.The conversation inspired him and Purnell joined the registry with asimple saliva sample.Purnell soon forgot about the swab,thinking he wouldn’t be contacted.But one year later,he received aphone call from Be The Match telling him they thought he was apotential match for apediatric patient and asked him to do aseries of tests to confirm.One month later,as he was moving into his college housing,a coordinator called him with life-changing news—he matched with the pediatric patient in need of abone marrow transplant.Before Purnell could respond,the coordinator informed him the patient’s health was quickly declining and if Purnell wanted to proceed with the donation,they needed the transplant to happen in the next few days.“I was in the middle of unpacking my U-Haul and they told me they needed me now,”Purnell says.“I immediately said yes!”Purnell admitted that he felt scared as he waited outside the operating room.His parents were unable to go with him on such short notice which caused him to feel more anxious.But amoment with anurse anesthetist put him at ease.“The nurse anesthetist calmed my nerves and helped 查看详细>>

Senior Alex Ulin spent the past two summers working as an intern at the California Institute of Technology’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory(JPL).Inspired by her experience at the NASA-contracted field center,the physics major from Los Angeles is working towards acareer where she can lead teams of scientists and engineers and help them solve complex aerospace challenges.Nestled in the foothills of Southern California’s San Gabriel Mountains,JPL is a177-acre research campus dedicated to research and development projects for NASA,working on everything from microprocessors to the Mars Curiosity rover.Ulin was initially attracted to the internship program while looking for summer opportunities with space-based companies.She was encouraged to see that JPL was specifically looking for physics majors,one of the few companies to do so,and she joined the internship program at the end of her sophomore year.Ulin kicked off her JPL experience working on the Starshade project,an effort that is dedicated to helping researchers find planets beyond Earth’s solar system.The galaxy contains billions of stars,many of which might be orbited by exoplanets,but finding and studying these distant objects are difficult because they are so much fainter than the stars they orbit around. 查看详细>>

Imagine trying to study geometry without the sense of visual reference math so often asks of its scholars.For people who are blind or have low-vision,this challenge can be frustrating.Carlos Alfonso Garcia,a freshman from Milwaukee,Wisconsin,was diagnosed with retinoblastoma at 6months old.He is one of seven Penn students with low-vision who are aided by the University’s Office of Student Disabilities Services(SDS)to gain access to and support for assistive technology resources.For Garcia,who is studying economics and political science,the help from an assistive technology specialist in SDS to utilize technology-driven tools has quite literally meant the difference between being able to study math and not. 查看详细>>

new report from Penn GSE’s Center for Minority Serving Institutions examines how presidents of Minority Serving Institutions(MSIs)are using social media to interact with students,and what lessons leaders at all colleges could learn from them.In the report,the Presidential Engagement of Students at Minority Serving Institutions,the researchers find that social media can be an effective way for college leaders to connect with one of their most important,if elusive,audiences:their students.The report offers recommendations for leaders looking to improve their social media presence.“In many cases,this growing form of student engagement has been useful in humanizing presidents and allowing administration to connect with students in an unprecedented way.Of note,some MSI presidents have effectively used their Twitter accounts to show school spirit,share important institutional updates,and engage with students.” 查看详细>>