March|April 2015

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March|April 2015
Volume 113, No. 4


FEATURES

Elementary

Even in the era of Big Science, some of the greatest discoveries start with someone—Penn physics professor and Nobel contender Charles Kane, for instance—just sitting in a room and thinking. By Kevin Hartnett

 

The T-Cell Warriors

Four years after a tentative but tantalizing breakthrough against leukemia, Carl June and Bruce Levine have gone from the fringes of gene therapy to the center of a revolutionary approach to cancer treatment backed by Novartis and fast-tracked by the FDA. But first they had to run out of money, conquer skeptics, and turn a 12-year exile from cancer research into a pivotal advantage. By Trey Popp

 

Journey from the East

More than 80 years ago, the paths of two Penn students—one from China, the other from New Jersey—intersected. The resulting friendship changed their lives, and those of their families. By Christine Lutton Foster

 

Down by Law

Alice Goffman was a Penn undergraduate when she began doing the fieldwork for the project that became On the Run: Fugitive Life in an American City. It’s an important, unsettling exploration of a serious issue. Just try not to focus on her. By Samuel Hughes

 

Penn’s Ebola Fighters

They tend to be uncomfortable with terms like “fighter” and “hero,” but it’s hard to know what else to call these alumni and staff volunteers who’ve traveled to the heart of the epidemic to do whatever they can to help its victims. By Melissa Jacobs


DEPARTMENTS

From the Editor

From College Hall

Letters

 

First Person: Essays

NOTES FROM THE UNDERGRAD Full plate

ALUMNI VOICES Grief, and a gift

ELSEWHERE The only place to be

EXPERT OPINION “We can learn to use technologies more wisely.”

 

Gazetteer: News & Sports

Jonathan Moreno on “J.L.,” his psychodrama-founding father

Alternative Spring Break program celebrates 25 years of service

Conference tackles food waste (all 1.3 billion tons a year)

Who ya gonna call … to study the “sociological truth” of ghosts?

College senior Rutendo Chigora of Zimbabwe named a Rhodes Scholar

A close look at the Center for the Analysis of Archaeological Materials

Language on Twitter can predict heart-disease risk in a community

Matt Hanessian’s unlikely journey to—and from—varsity basketball

Findings

High expectations for baseball and men’s lacrosse

Scoreboard

 

Arts

ARCHITECTURE White Towers Revisited at Architectural Archives

BOOKS A sociologist’s self-examination. When Marx Mattered

Music Q&A with Ben Yagoda G’91 on his book, The B-Side

Exhibition Beneath the Surface at the Penn Museum

BRIEFLY NOTED

ARTS CALENDAR

 

Alumni: Profiles

CBS Sports’ “Madness” men Stephen Karasik C’95 and Tyler Hale C’96

Natalie Shieh EAS’02 LPS’08 GCP’09 is helping reshape 30th Street

Alumni who love baseball, numbers, and baseball numbers

Sheldon Posen Gr’78 curates Canadian culture, and celebrates it in song

Andy Toy C’80 G’81 got Chinatown’s community center off the ground

 

: Events

: Notes

: Obituaries

 

Window

 

 

 

 

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