The 2022 midterm elections took place on Tuesday, November 8th in the United States, and are still being decided in many parts of the country. Historically, the president’s party loses in the midterms. And yet this year, Democrats – the party of President Joe Biden – maintained their control of the Senate and may only lose their majority in the House of Representatives by a slim margin. So what happened? In this episode, we speak with political science professor, Daniel Hopkins, about why this year’s midterms were so different than the historical trend and what the next two years might look like in American political life.

Guest:

Daniel Hopkins, Professor of Political Science

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Produced, Narrated, and Edited by Alex Schein
Theme music by Nicholas Escobar, C'18
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
Illustration by Nick Matej
Podcast Logo by Hemani Kapoor

Visit our editorial magazine, Omnia, for more content from Penn Arts & Sciences faculty, students, and alumni: https://omnia.sas.upenn.edu

2022 Midterm Elections: What Happened?

This July, global temperatures soared to the warmest ever recorded. Ocean surface temperatures hit record highs. Extreme weather-related events are becoming ever more common, seen this spring and summer with the wildfires in Canada and Hawaii, flooding in Vermont, and a tropical storm in Los Angeles dumping almost three inches of rain in one day.

Renowned climate scientist Michael Mann, Presidential Distinguished Professor of Earth and Environmental Science and the Director of Penn’s Center for Science, Sustainability, and the Media, has been following the changing climate for decades, starting with his doctoral work, which focused largely on natural climate variability. In the ’90s, he and colleagues published the now iconic hockey-stick curve, an estimate of how temperatures varied in the past using natural sources like tree rings, corals, and ice cores. His new book, Our Fragile Moment: How Lessons from Earth’s Past Can Help Us Survive the Climate Crisis, publishes at the end of September.

OMNIA spoke with him about this summer’s weather events, how we can move forward in this climate reality, and why he still believes there’s still time for action.

***
Produced, Narrated, and Edited by Alex Schein
Theme music by Nicholas Escobar, C'18
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
Podcast Logo by Hemani Kapoor

Visit our editorial magazine, Omnia, for more content from Penn Arts & Sciences faculty, students, and alumni: https://omnia.sas.upenn.edu

We Haven't Passed the Climate Tipping Point...Yet

Many people know Philadelphia for the Declaration of Independence, Rocky, and cheesesteaks. Philly’s deep musical history is less familiar, but its influence continues to inspire audiences and artists across the globe. 

For Carol Muller’s graduate-level ethnomusicology field methods class, students focused on documenting the city’s Black music history, interviewing figures ranging from Grammy-award winning hip-hop producer Jahlil Beats to Mark Christman and Anthony Tidd of the Ars Nova Worskhop to radio icon Dyana Williams. The class also produced a podcast based on the book There’s that Beat Guide to The Philly Sound by Dave Moore. Each student created an episode based on a chapter of the book, including music samples to make the material more accessible to all audiences. 

The class was part of the Paideia program at Penn, which is focused on educating the whole student. Paideia funded some of the guests, and other research interviews were supported by a Klein Family Social Justice Grant. 

Muller, a professor of music, has been teaching the field methods class since 2001. Supported by the Penn Global program, she recently has spent time in Australia working with aboriginal leaders— an experience that she says has helped her re-think the focus of her field methods class. The course now centers around deep listening and working to understand the relationships between humans, non-human animals, and the environment. “To fully grasp human sound production, we need to expand how we see, hear, and know the world,” she wrote in the course description. 

Hear from Muller and graduate students Kwame Ocran and Yuri Seung about the experience, and listen to some of the material they created, in this episode of the Omnia podcast.

***
Produced, Narrated, and Edited by Alex Schein
Podcast Logo by Hemani Kapoor

Music excerpts by the O’Jays, Teddy Pendergrass, Meek Mill (Pr.  Jahlil Beats), Chris Brown and Tyra (Pr. Jahlil Beats), Big Pun (Pr. Minnesota), Bobby Byrd, Jay-Z (Pr. Just Blaze), Marian Anderson, James Mtume, Rasheed Ali Quintet, Mahal Richard Abrams, Allison Miller’s Boom Tic Boom, Soul Brothers Six, and Barbara Mason.

Additional Music by Blue Dot Sessions 

Visit our editorial magazine, Omnia, for more content from Penn Arts & Sciences faculty, students, and alumni: https://omnia.sas.upenn.edu

Deep Listening and The Philadelphia Sound

In this season of Democracy and Decision 2024, we take a close look at the state of U.S.  democracy in the context of the 2024 election. The fourth episode, “The Gears of Democracy,” features Marc Meredith, Professor of Political Science, in conversation with podcast host Stephanie Perry, Executive Director of the Penn Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies (PORES) and the Fox Leadership Program. Both Meredith and Perry are members of the NBC News Decision Desk Team.

The pair talked before Election Day, though the episode focuses on what will happen today at the polls. Plus they discuss why voting laws are so complicated, what has changed since the last election, voter turnout, mail-in ballots, poll workers, and why some races take longer to call than others. “We’re clearly going to be watching turnout really closely tonight,” Meredith says. “I think this is an election that could come down to which party does a better job of mobilizing its supporters to come to the polls.”

Listen to every episode of the Omnia Podcast: Democracy and Decision 2024: https://omnia.sas.upenn.edu/podcast

Democracy and Decision 2024 is a production of Penn Arts & Sciences in collaboration with the Penn Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies (PORES).

Learn more about PORES: https://www.pores.upenn.edu/

Hosted by Stephanie Perry
Produced and edited by Alex Schein 
Theme music by Nicholas Escobar, C'18
Artwork by Nick Matej

Democracy and Decision 2024 | The Gears of Democracy (Ep. 4)

The results of last week’s presidential election are in and Donald Trump will have a second term after earning 312 Electoral College votes and some 75 million votes overall. Republicans also re-gained a majority in the Senate and are poised to maintain control of the House of Representatives. In the fifth episode of Democracy and Decision 2024, the Omnia podcast that has been dissecting the state of U.S. democracy in the context of the election, PORES Executive Director Stephanie Perry spoke with John Lapinski, Robert A. Fox Leadership Professor of Political Science, PORES Director, and Director of Elections at NBC News. They offered some post-election analysis.

The pair talked about seeing Trump’s advantage early on at the NBC News Decision Desk. “What we started to see at a granular level was that Harris was under-performing in key places,” Lapinski says. They also discussed how the polls measured up to election night results, exit polling results—which showed the economy as the most important factor for many voters—and how polling can continue to improve in future election cycles.

Listen to every episode of the Omnia Podcast: Democracy and Decision 2024: https://omnia.sas.upenn.edu/podcast

Democracy and Decision 2024 is a production of Penn Arts & Sciences in collaboration with the Penn Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies (PORES).

Learn more about PORES: https://www.pores.upenn.edu/

Hosted by Stephanie Perry
Produced and edited by Alex Schein 
Theme music by Nicholas Escobar, C'18
Artwork by Nick Matej

Democracy and Decision 2024 | Post-Election Analysis (Ep. 5)

In the weeks since Election Night, the makeup of Donald Trump’s second Cabinet has started to emerge as the president-elect names people to fill those roles ahead of his administration’s January start. Of course, no one knows what exactly will come to pass during or resulting from the 47th presidency—in fact, this podcast episode was taped on November 20, just before former Representative Matt Gaetz withdrew his name for consideration as Attorney General. But it is possible to contextualize the reelection, as well as look at what predictions were right and wrong in the lead-up to November 5. 

Our final episode of this Omnia podcast season offers a conversation between Stephanie Perry, Executive Director of the Penn Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies, and Rogers M. Smith, Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Political Science. They discuss the implications of Trump’s second term as president, as well as what the future of democracy may look like in the United States and so much more.

Listen to every episode of the Omnia Podcast: Democracy and Decision 2024: omnia.sas.upenn.edu/podcast

Democracy and Decision 2024 is a production of Penn Arts & Sciences in collaboration with the Penn Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies (PORES).

Learn more about PORES: www.pores.upenn.edu

Hosted by Stephanie Perry
Produced and edited by Alex Schein
Theme music by Nicholas Escobar, C'18
Artwork by Nick Matej

Democracy and Decision 2024 | The Future of Democracy (Ep. 6)

Our new podcast series, Ampersand, features faculty from different disciplines discussing a topic they have in common. In our first episode, Sophia Rosenfeld, Walter H. Annenberg Professor of History, and Sudeep Bhatia, Associate Professor of Psychology, explore the ramifications of choice in everyday life and society as a whole.

Ampersand Podcast | Choice and Consequence

Join us for the launch of a special edition of the Ampersand podcast, featuring Mark Trodden, Dean of the School of Arts & Sciences and Thomas S. Gates, Jr. Professor of Physics & Astronomy in conversation with select faculty members across the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.

In this conversation, Trodden speaks with Peter Struck, Stephen A. Levin Family Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and Vartan Gregorian Professor of the Humanities, about the Roman roots of the liberal arts, how AI is changing the college experience, and charting curriculum for the 21st century.

Ampersand Podcast | Deans in Conversation

In this conversation, Dean Mark Trodden and historian Sophia Rosenfeld discuss the importance the humanities play in preserving culture, how the history of choice can help students think critically about the hidden assumptions that shape their worlds, and how democracies work best when they operate on shared commonalities that define perceptions of truth, law, and solidarity.

Ampersand is a new podcast series from Penn Arts & Sciences where faculty from different disciplines discuss a topic they have in common. As part of this series, we’re bringing you conversations with the new dean of Arts & Sciences, Mark Trodden, who will be speaking with faculty from a range of disciplines about their research and topical issues in their fields of study.

Ampersand Podcast | Humanities, Democracy, and the Future of Knowledge

We all have intuitions about why we are the way we are, says Associate Professor of Psychology Rebecca Waller. The connection between self and subject matter in psychology is especially close, she says. “That’s exciting because you have the potential to think about things you learned and apply them in your own life.”

In the third special edition of the Ampersand Podcast, Mark Trodden, Dean of Penn Arts & Sciences and Thomas S. Gates, Jr. Professor of Physics & Astronomy, speaks with Waller about her research on child development, antisocial behavior, and the ways in which scientific tools are transforming psychology and reshaping how we understand parenting, well-being, and education.

Ampersand Podcast | The Science of Us

What do fixing broken street lights, improving tree cover, and increasing a neighborhood’s public art all have to do with criminology? According to the data, they can move the needle on the prevalence of crime.

In the fourth special edition of the Ampersand Podcast, Mark Trodden, Dean of Penn Arts & Sciences and Thomas S. Gates, Jr. Professor of Physics & Astronomy, talks with John MacDonald, Professor of Criminology and Sociology, and Director of the Master of Science in Criminology, about crime prevention through design, big data and technology, a new program at Penn, and more.

Amperand Podcast | Fighting Crime Through Design

Mark Trodden, Dean of the School of Arts & Sciences and Thomas S. Gates, Jr. Professor of Physics & Astronomy, and Bhuvnesh Jain, Walter H. and Leonore C. Annenberg Professor in the Natural Sciences, are long-time colleagues who together co-directed Penn’s Center for Particle Cosmology. Jain continues to co-direct this center, along with Penn’s Data Driven Discovery Initiative.

In our latest Ampersand Podcast episode, Trodden and Jain discuss how advances in data science and artificial intelligence are transforming physics, teaching, and interdisciplinary research at Penn.

Ampersand Podcast | From Dark Energy to Data Science

On Dec. 20, 2005, Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District—the trial that set the stage for a national debate on the constitutionality of teaching intelligent design (ID) as an alternative to evolution—was decided. In the lead-up to the trial, Michael Weisberg, professor of philosophy and chair of the philosophy department, and Paul Sniegowski, professor of biology, co-authored a letter on behalf of their departments in support of the teachers who argued against the inclusion of ID in the curriculum.

We spoke with professors Michael Weisberg and Paul Sniegowski about their experience with the case—and whether public attitudes on evolution have changed—as well as lead counsel and Penn Law graduate Eric Rothschild and presiding judge John E. Jones III.

Produced by the School of Arts & Sciences, The University of Pennsylvania
• Interviews and narration by Blake Cole
 • Recorded and edited by Alex Schein  

Visit OMNIA online at: http://omnia.sas.upenn.edu

Intelligent Design in the Classroom: Kitzmiller v. Dover, 10 Years Later

The bill proposing Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was first introduced in the U.S. Congress four days after King’s assassination in 1968. It wasn't voted on until 1979, however, when it fell five votes short of the number needed for passage. After a grassroots campaign led to the largest petition to Congress in U.S. history, and icons like Stevie Wonder raised awareness in popular culture, the bill finally passed and was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1983. The holiday was first observed in 1986, though it would be the year 2000 before it was celebrated in all states.

We spoke with Camille Zubrinsky Charles, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Term Professor in the Social Sciences, professor of sociology, Africana Studies and education, and Director of the Center for Africana Studies, about the historical significance of the holiday and the progression of social movements like Black Lives Matter.

Produced by the The University of Pennsylvania School of Arts & Sciences
• Recorded and edited by Alex Schein 
• Interviews and script by Blake Cole 
• Narration by Lindsey Klinger-O'Donnell

Music: "When the Guests Have Left" by Blue Dot Sessions

Visit OMNIA online at: http://omnia.sas.upenn.edu


Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, 30 Years Later (1986-2016)

It was in 1992 when Dorothy Cheney, professor of biology, and Robert Seyfarth, professor of psychology, began their long-term study of free-ranging baboons in the Okavango Delta of Botswana. The wife-and-husband team spent the next decade and a half documenting the behavior, communication, and social cognition of these group-living primates. This work culminated in their highly influential 2007 book "Baboon Metaphysics". We spoke with the professors about their perspective on life-long work in the field.

Click link below for full article in OMNIA, Penn Arts & Sciences' online magazine:  bit.ly/1S4lJxT

Produced by the The University of Pennsylvania School of Arts & Sciences
• Recorded and edited by Alex Schein • Interviews and script by Blake Cole • Narration by Kristy Gingras

Music: "Denzel Sprak" by Blue Dot Sessions 

Visit OMNIA online at: http://omnia.sas.upenn.edu



Dorothy Cheney & Robert Seyfarth | Field Notes

Hilary Putnam (1926-2016)is considered to be one of the most influential minds of the 20th Century – making significant contributions to the fields of philosophy, mathematics, and computer science, among others. Putnam received his undergraduate degree from Penn in 1948 and received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the University in 1985.

Putnam was the Cogan University Professor Emeritus at Harvard University. He served as faculty in the Department of Philosophy starting in 1965. In this special OMNIA podcast, we speak with professors Gary Hatfield, Scott Weinstein, and Daniel Singer of Philosophy about Putnam’s legacy in their field and his unique connection with Penn as scholar and alumnus.

Produced by the School of Arts & Sciences, University of Pennsylvania Recorded, edited, and narrated by Alex Schein
 Music by Blue Dot Sessions

Visit OMNIA online at: http://omnia.sas.upenn.edu


Tribute to Hilary Putnam, C'48, HON'85

In this episode, we explore the fact, fiction, and future of artificial intelligence in the military. Depictions of so-called killer robots in films such as "The Terminator" continue to be a part of serious discussions about autonomous weapons. Should we fear the development of weapons that can make decisions? Or are these fears based more on science fiction than fact? 

We speak with Michael Horowitz, associate professor of political science and the associate director of Penn’s Perry World House. Horowitz first became interested in next-generation defense tools during a fellowship year at the Pentagon and has written and spoken extensively on military applications of AI. In 2015 he addressed a United Nations assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, dedicated to emerging issues related to autonomous weapons technologies.

Produced by Penn Arts & Sciences
Recorded and Edited by Alex Schein
Interviews by Alex Schein and Susan Alhborn

Music "Concentration" by Satori 
Illustration by Dušan Kostić

Subscribe to the OMNIA Podcast on iTunes: apple.co/29rg0EZ

Should We Fear the Robot Army? | Artificial Intelligence in the Military

This fall, the University of Pennsylvania hosted its very first Penn Honors Diversity(PHD)Symposium. Eight of the university's schools, including Penn Arts and Sciences, invited early and mid-stage undergraduates, particularly those from underrepresented groups, to learn about the value of a Ph.D.-level education. In this episode, we speak to some of the visiting students about their experience, along with faculty organizers who collaborated to create this unique event, which took place from September 29 - October 1, 2016.

Featuring:

Eve Trout-Powell
Associate Dean for Graduate Studies, Penn Arts and Sciences
Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of History and Africana Studies

Michael Nusbaum 
Associate Dean for Graduate Education, Perelman School of Medicine
Director, Biomedical Graduate Studies Program, Perelman School of Medicine
Professor of Neuroscience

Arnaldo J. Diaz Vazquez
Assistant Dean for Research Training Programs 
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Pharmacology

Patricia Rea
Associate Director for Admissions, Graduate Studies, Penn Arts and Sciences

Jasmine Wilson 
Howard University

Jahnn Drigo 
Morgan State University

Lerone Savage 
Hunter College

Adriana Vega 
Hunter College

Toe Aung 
Albright College

Participating schools in the Penn Honors Diversity Symposium included: Penn Arts and Sciences, Perelman School of Medicine, Annenberg School for Communication, Biomedical Graduate Studies, School of Design, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Graduate School of Education, School of Nursing, and the School of Social Policy and Practice.

To learn more about the Penn Honors Symposium, visit:
www.upenn.edu/pages/penn-honors-diversity

Produced by Penn Arts and Sciences
• Recorded, Edited, and Narrated by Alex Schein
• Music by Blue Dot Sessions

Subscribe to the OMNIA Podcast on iTunes: apple.co/29rg0EZ

Penn Honors Diversity Symposium

The politics of climate change and the politics of social inequality, such as the right to affordable housing, are usually examined as two separate issues. For Daniel Aldana Cohen, assistant professor of sociology, these two movements intersect when examining efforts to reduce carbon emissions in urban areas. Cohen has conducted research in cities such as São Paulo and New York and argues that to be effective, climate policy needs to be equitable.
 
Besides his work as an academic, Cohen is also the co-host of a podcast on the politics of climate change called “Hot and Bothered.” The show has featured prominent climate scientists, journalists, and activists such as Michael Mann, Naomi Klein, and Ken Henshaw.

"Hot and Bothered" podcast: https://www.dissentmagazine.org/tag/hot-bothered

Produced by Penn Arts and Sciences
Recorded, edited, and narrated by Alex Schein
Music by Blue Dot Sessions

Subscribe to the OMNIA Podcast on iTunes: apple.co/29rg0EZ

The Politics of Climate Change

On May 9th, 2017, President Trump fired then-FBI director James Comey. This decision has intensified the debate of whether the U.S. is in a “constitutional crisis” given the numerous controversies swirling around the Trump administration.

Rogers Smith, the Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Political Science and a presidential historian and constitutional scholar, offers his take on why the firing of James Comey, as well as Trump's use of executive action and social media, is challenging the balance of power in Washington.

Produced by Penn Arts and Sciences
• Recorded and edited by Alex Schein
• Interview by Blake Cole
• Narrated by Jane Carroll 
• Music by Blue Dot Sessions

Subscribe to the OMNIA Podcast on iTunes: apple.co/29rg0EZ

Constitutional Crisis?

Concerns over lead poisoning were heightened in the U.S. after the contamination of a city water supply in Flint, Michigan. In Philadelphia and southeastern Pennsylvania, rates of lead exposure in children are high—especially in low-income communities.

Thanks to a Making a Difference in Diverse Communities grant from Penn Arts and Sciences, a team of researchers and students led by Reto Gieré and Richard Pepino of Earth and Environmental Science is educating local communities about the dangers of lead poisoning, collecting important data necessary to inform remediation efforts, and working with the city and other partners to reduce lead exposure and address environmental justice issues. They discuss the project and offer their insights on the risks of lead exposure in Philadelphia and possible remediation efforts to reduce these risks. We also speak with Tabeen Hosain, C'17, a philosophy, politics and economics major, who is leading a team of students collecting data on lead levels in soil. They're also working with community organizations and schools to host Soil Kitchens, which let individuals test their soil and learn more about risks and best practices dealing with potential lead poisoning.

The Reducing Lead Exposure project is a collaboration between the Department of Earth and Environmental Science in Penn Arts and Sciences and the Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology (CEET) in the Perelman School of Medicine.

Produced by Penn Arts and Sciences
• Recorded and edited by Alex Schein
• Interview by Susan Ahlborn
• Narrated by Amber Grier 
• Music by Blue Dot Sessions

Subscribe to the OMNIA Podcast on iTunes: apple.co/29rg0EZ

Reducing Lead Exposure

Taije Silverman is an award-winning poet and faculty member in the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of English where she teaches classes on poetry, creative nonfiction, and translation. Before coming to Penn, she taught at the University of Bologna in Italy, where she was a Fulbright Scholar, and at Emory University, where she was the Creative Writing Fellow. She’s also received the Pushcart Prize and is on the editorial board of Alice James Books. 

Her poem “Where to Put It” was included in The Best American Poetry 2017, the second year in a row she had a poem in the collection.  In this OMNIA podcast, she reads “Where to Put It" and another poem, "Tiresisas Too," and shares their backstories.

Visit OMNIA for an extended Q&A with Taije Silverman:
http://omnia.sas.upenn.edu/story/omnia-podcast-poetry-and-pulse-life-audio

Produced by Penn Arts and Sciences
• Recorded, edited, and narrated by Alex Schein
• Music by Blue Dot Sessions

Subscribe to the OMNIA Podcast on iTunes: apple.co/29rg0EZ

Taije Silverman | Best American Poetry 2017

In December 2017, The New York Times revealed the existence of a Pentagon program investigating unidentified flying objects. For many people, the continued existence of such a program on UFOs came as a surprise, though the military has historically been known to conduct such studies. Most notably, the Air Force’s Project Blue Book investigated more than 12,000 claimed UFO sightings between 1952 and 1969.

Kate Dorsch, a doctoral candidate in the department of History and Sociology of Science, has been researching UFO encounters reported in Project Blue Book. Her dissertation covers the first “flying saucer” report in 1947 through the release of Steven Spielberg’s film Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and investigates the creation of scientific knowledge and how this knowledge is communicated to the public.

Produced by Penn Arts and Sciences
•Recorded and Edited by Alex Schein
•Music by Blue Dot Sessions and Yes

Subscribe to the OMNIA Podcast on iTunes: apple.co/29rg0EZ

UFOs and the Creation of Knowledge

In this episode, we explore a potential watershed moment in American politics: the unprecedented number of women running for office in 2018. Dawn Teele, Janice and Julian Bers Assistant Professor of Political Science, researches women and politics, voting rights reform, and candidate recruitment. Right now, she’s studying Emerge, the largest Democratic campaign training program in the United States. The program recruits, trains, and connects Democratic women who want to run for office.
 
We speak with Teele about the historical underrepresentation of women in politics and discuss some of the cultural narratives and structural factors—from fundraising trends to division of household labor—that potentially impact the success of female candidates in U.S. elections.

Produced by Penn Arts & Sciences
• Narrated, recorded, and edited by Anne Hoffman
• Music: "Wanderers" by Dana Boule and "Roundpine" by Blue Dot Sessions

Subscribe to the OMNIA Podcast by Penn Arts & Sciences on iTunes (apple.co/2XVWCbC) and Stitcher (bit.ly/2Lf2G9h)

The Rise of Women in Politics in 2018

Since 2003, the 60-Second Lecture Series has challenged Arts and Sciences faculty to distill a wealth of knowledge into a one-minute talk.

Every Wednesday in September and April sees Penn Arts and Sciences faculty members standing at a podium on College Green and lecturing on topics ranging from human history, to fractions, to fly fishing—all in under a minute. 

The latest OMNIA podcast recaps the fall 2018 lectures and highlights two old favorites. In this episode, you’ll learn about greening vacant lots and what that means for crime rates, little-known medieval words that accurately describe the 2018 midterm elections, interpreting the Constitution, the very nature of time, and the evolving cultural and political questions raised ever-improving technologies of speech recognition and information retrieval. 

Our dip into the archives features a 2009 talk titled “Why Achievement Isn’t Normal,” given by Angela Duckworth, Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Psychology, 2013 MacArthur Fellow, and New York Times best-selling author of Grit, and a 2015 lecture, “What Video Games Have Taught Me About Shakespeare,” by Rebecca Bushnell, School of Arts and Sciences Board of Overseers Professor of English, and former Dean of Penn Arts and Sciences. 

Many thanks to our fall 2018 lecturers:

John MacDonald, Professor of Criminology and Sociology and the Penny and Robert A. Fox Faculty Director at the Fels Institute of Government

Emily Steiner, Professor of English, and Aylin Malcolm, Ph.D. student in English 

Samuel Freeman, the Avalon Professor in the Humanities and Professor of Philosophy and Law

Jamal Elias, Walter H. Annenberg Professor in the Humanities and Professor of Religious Studies and South Asia Studies

Mark Liberman, Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Linguistics.

To view the complete archive of 60-Second Lectures featuring faculty, students, and alumni, visit the Penn Arts and Sciences Vimeo library: https://vimeo.com/channels/60seclec 

Produced by Penn Arts and Sciences
• Narrated and edited by Alex Derrick
• Music by Blue Dot Sessions, John Phillip Sousa, and Xylo-Ziko

Subscribe to the OMNIA Podcast by Penn Arts & Sciences on iTunes (apple.co/2XVWCbC) and Stitcher (bit.ly/2Lf2G9h)

60-Second Lectures | Fall 2018

In our new series, OMNIA 101, we talk to faculty members about integral aspects of their research, shedding light on their biggest challenges and their strategies for conquering them. 

Mark Trodden, Chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Fay R. and Eugene L. Langberg Professor of Physics, and Masao Sako, Associate Professor and Undergraduate Department Chair, have different approaches to exploring two of the greatest mysteries in their field: dark matter and dark energy. 

Trodden, a theoretical physicist, devises mathematical models in an effort to explain the cosmic data that observational astronomers like Sako obtain using telescopes and other tools. In this episode of the OMNIA podcast, we asked both of them to help us understand dark matter and dark energy.

Produced by Penn Arts and Sciences
• Narrated by Karen Brooks
• Recorded and edited by Alex Schein
• Music by Blue Dot Sessions

Subscribe to the OMNIA Podcast by Penn Arts & Sciences on iTunes (apple.co/2XVWCbC) and Stitcher (bit.ly/2Lf2G9h)

OMNIA 101: Dark Matter and Dark Energy

Quayshawn Spencer asks a simple question about race with a not-so-simple answer: what kind of thing is it? Spencer, the Robert S. Blank Presidential Associate Professor of Philosophy at Penn, poses the question to undergraduates in his Philosophy of Race course. As a specialist in the philosophies of science, biology, and race, his course examines the very nature and reality of race, beginning with early theories put out by European thinkers including Francois Bernier and Immanuel Kant. Kant’s 18th century essay, “Of the Different Human Races,” provided a scientific definition of race that would influence a long tradition of scholars using science to reinforce negative racial stereotypes—a tradition that Spencer’s course investigates alongside more contemporary philosophical, social, and political questions about race and racism.

Produced by Penn Arts and Sciences
• Narrated by Alex Schein
• Recorded and edited by Alex Schein
• Music by Blue Dot Sessions

Subscribe to the OMNIA Podcast by Penn Arts & Sciences on iTunes (apple.co/2XVWCbC) and Stitcher (bit.ly/2Lf2G9h)

Philosophy of Race

In this episode, we talk to Charles Bernstein, inventive poet, writer of libretti, translator, archivist, and, since 2003, a member of Penn's faculty. Bernstein is the Donald T. Regan Professor of English and Comparative Literature and co-director of PennSound. He retired from the Department of English at the end of the spring 2019 semester.

In 2019, Bernstein was awarded the Bollingen Prize for American Poetry awarded by Yale University. The Bollingen Prize is awarded biennially by the Yale University Library to an American poet for the best book published during the previous two years or for lifetime achievement in poetry.

Produced by Penn Arts & Sciences
• Narrated by Lauren Thacker
• Edited by Alex Schein
• Music by Blue Dot Sessions
• Allen Ginsberg "Howl" (Big Table Chicago Reading, 1959) and Robert Frost "Dust of Snow" (Readings at Columbia University, May 5, 1933) courtesy of PennSound: http://bit.ly/2VtVElp

Subscribe to the OMNIA Podcast by Penn Arts & Sciences on iTunes (apple.co/2XVWCbC) and Stitcher (bit.ly/2Lf2G9h)

You Can’t Hurt a Poem, and Other Lessons from Charles Bernstein

In this episode of the OMNIA Podcast, we recap the 60-Second lectures from the spring of 2019 and highlight two favorites from our archive. You’ll learn about race in the USA from a philosophical perspective, the psychology of why we quit, why truth matters to democracy, and new pedagogies for teaching in the age of climate change. 

Our dip into the archives features the 2016 60-Second SLAM winning talk, "The Other Opioid Crisis: How We Learned to Ignore Untreated Pain in Poor Countries," by then History and Sociology of Science Ph.D. candidate Luke Messac, and a 2006 talk, "Beyond the Founding Fathers," by Kathy Peiss, Roy F. and Jeannette P. Nichols Professor of American History. 

Many thanks to our spring 2019 lecturers: Quayshawn Spencer, Robert S. Blank Presidential Associate Professor of Philosophy; Joseph Kable, Baird Term Professor of Psychology and Associate Director of MindCORE; Sophia Rosenfeld, Walter H. Annenberg Professor of History; and Bethany Wiggin, Associate Professor of Germanic Languages and Literatures and Founding Director of the Penn Program in Environmental Humanities and her students, Tathagat Bhatia and Lucy Corlett from Penn and Claire Hampton from Bryn Mawr. 

Since 2003, the 60-Second Lecture Series has challenged Arts and Sciences faculty to distill a wealth of knowledge into a one-minute talk.

Every Wednesday in September and April sees Penn Arts and Sciences faculty members standing at a podium on College Green and lecturing on topics ranging from human history to fractions to fly fishing—all in under a minute. 

To view the complete archive of 60-Second Lectures featuring faculty, students, and alumni, visit the Penn Arts and Sciences Vimeo library: vimeo.com/channels/60seclec

Produced by Penn Arts and Sciences
• Narrated and edited by Camille Dibenedetto 
• Music by Blue Dot Sessions

Subscribe to the OMNIA Podcast by Penn Arts & Sciences on iTunes (https://apple.co/2XVWCbC) and Stitcher (http://bit.ly/2Lf2G9h)

60-Second Lectures | Spring 2019

OMNIA is a podcast dedicated to all things Penn Arts & Sciences. Listen to insights and perspectives from the home of the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences at The University of Pennsylvania. 

OMNIA | Penn Arts & Sciences

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