Penn Grad Talks is a day of TED Talk-style presentations by Penn Arts & Sciences graduate students representing the Humanities, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, and Professional Master’s programs as they compete for first place within their category.
2024 Penn Grad Talks Winners
Professional Master's
Andrés Oliveros González, Behavioral and Decision Sciences
Three Stories every Student Needs to Tell
Humanities
Rawad Wehbe, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations
All My Friends Are Dead: Time, Emotion, and Form in Early Islamic Poetry
Natural Sciences
Jessica Wojick, Biology
Pain in the Brain
Social Sciences
Maya Moritz, Criminology
A Picture Worth a Thousand Words: The Effect of Murals on Crime
Audience Choice Winner
Daniel Gomes, Physics and Astronomy
Planet X: Can Gravity Solve a Mystery of the Deep Solar System
2023 PENN GRAD TALKS WINNERS
Professional Master's
Edward Johnson, International Studies, The Lauder Institute
The Battle for Africa’s Sporting Heart: Can Basketball Overtake Football’s Popularity?
Social Sciences
Amber Mackey, Political Science
Racial Policy and Agenda Instability: Measuring Legislative Attention to Race
Natural Sciences
Mark Giovinazzi , Physics and Astronomy
From Zero to Five Thousand: The Current Census of Exoplanets
Humanities
Kyle West, Ancient History
Aging Virtuously: Cicero on Old Age, Disability, and Character
Audience Choice Winner
Valerie Averia, Applied Positive Psychology
Savoring the Shared Life: Strengthening Marriages Through Collaborative Legacy Writing
2022 PENN GRAD TALKS WINNERS
Professional Master's
Yansong Li, Environmental Studies
Witnessing Circularity: Circular Economy Lessons from Amsterdam (video)
Social Sciences
Charlotte Williams, Anthropology
Harvesting Heritage: The United Fruit Company and Corporate Labor in 20th-Century Archaeological Science (video)
Humanities
Kimberly St. Julian Varnon, History
Black Like Us: African American Encounters With Soviet Central Asia (video)
Natural Sciences
Luella Allen-Waller, Biology
Deadbeat Dinoflagellates: Symbiotic Cooperation Breaks Down After Coral Bleaching (video)
Audience Choice
Chad Payne, Lauder Institute
Web 3.0: Embracing the Future of Internet Technologies on the African Continent (video)
2021 PENN GRAD TALKS WINNERS
Professional Master's
Ashley Session, Public Administration
My Soul Is Anchored: How African American Women Have Carried Elections and the Political Movement Forward, and How We Can Take Our Power Back (video)
Social Sciences
Sarah Carson, Anthropology
The New Girls' Club: Political Party Culture and the Women Changing the Face of Politics (video)
Humanities
Sara Purinton, Philosophy
Medically Unexplained Symptoms (MUS): Challenges to Identity, Agency, and Belonging (video)
Natural Sciences
Lisa Yankowitz, Psychology
Goo Goo Ga Ga: Can Baby Sounds Help Improve Early Detection of Autism? (video)
Audience Choice
Sara Purinton, Philosophy
Medically Unexplained Symptoms (MUS): Challenges to Identity, Agency, and Belonging (video)
2020 PENN GRAD TALKS WINNERS
Group Presentations
Cameo Hazlewood and Justin Thompson, Behavioral and Decision Sciences
Leveraging Behavioral Economics to Increase Concussion Symptom Reporting Among High School Athletes (video)
Professional Master's
Darlene Marshall, Master of Applied Positive Psychology
Building the Self So You Can Give It Away - The Upward Cycle of Self-Improvement (video)
Social Sciences
Nicole Welk-Joerger, History and Sociology of Science
It's Not Easy Eating Green (video)
Humanities
Johanna Kaiser, Classical Studies
Making Scents of Ancient Rome in the Epigrams of Martial (video)
Natural Sciences
Michael O'Shea, Earth & Environmental Science
Urban Road Dust: Investigating Philly's Street Gunk as Both Source and Sink for Pollutants (video)
Audience Choice
Darlene Marshall, Master of Applied Positive Psychology
Building the Self So You Can Give It Away - The Upward Cycle of Self-Improvement (video)
2019 PENN GRAD TALKS WINNERS
Professional Master's
Connor Joyce, Behavioral and Decision Sciences
To Fear or Not To Fear Automation: A Review of Research Covering Artificial Intelligence's Effect on Work (video)
Social Sciences
Yun Cha, Sociology
Who Do Graduate Degree Holders Marry? How the Separation of Advanced Degrees Affects Our Understanding of Trends in Educational Homogamy (video)
Humanities
Gregory Callaghan, Ancient History
If You Can't Walk the Walk, Then Talk the Talk: Status and International Relations in the Hellenistic World (video)
Natural Sciences
Paul Masih Das, Physics and Astronomy
Quantum Materials: Making Smartphones "Cool" Again (video)
Audience Choice
Lorena Levano, Behavioral and Decision Sciences
Sexual Harassment in High Schools From a Social Norms Perspective (video)
2018 PENN GRAD TALKS WINNERS
Professional Master's
Patrick Osei, Master of Applied Geosciences
Groundwater Contamination on Obuasi, Ghana (video)
Social Sciences
Rebecca Umbach, Criminology
Aggression and Sleep: A Daylight Saving Time Quasi-Experiment (video)
Humanities
Kendra Grimmett, History of Art
Looking at Art with Your Body in Mind (video)
Natural Sciences
Kieran Dunne
Mud and the Shape of Rivers (video)
Audience Choice
Garrett Meccariello and Tobias Nasgarde, Master of Behavioral and Decision Sciences
The Marketer's Antagonist: Leveraging Behavioral Science to Reduce Unnecessary Spending Behavior in Cashless Environments (video)
2017 PENN GRAD TALKS WINNERS
Humanities
Mary Zaborkis
Age Drag (video)
Natural Sciences
Jonathan Johnnidis
Stem Cells Lead the Way to More Graceful Aging (video)
Professional Master's/Other Category
Bryan Currinder
Conserving Freshwater Systems in Bangladesh and Bhutan through Biomonitoring (video)
Social Sciences and Audience Choice Award
Haley Pilgrim
Accidentally Passing: The Identity Choices of Phenotypically White-Black Multiracials (video)