Rodin Legacy >

Penn’s reputation as a research institution is grounded in the high degree of interdisciplinary cooperation among its 12 schools. New cross-disciplinary programs created in the last decade, like the Vagelos molecular life science scholars, and Digital Media Design, have forged new paths for exploration in the sciences and the humanities. This growth is supported by the construction of new research facilities, such as the Leonard and Madlyn Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute, the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, the Center for Bioinformatics, and the University-wide Genomics Institute.

Penn has more than doubled its federally-sponsored research grants during the last decade, to $570 million. Penn has experienced an annual growth rate in external research funding of nearly 11 percent during the past five years. The University is recognized as a leader in the fields of cardiobiology, AIDS and HIV research, and cancer research. In the field of medicine overall, Penn is recognized as a research leader, ranking second nationally in the amount of National Institutes of Health funding received.

• New scientific centers include the Leonard and Madlyn Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute, the Center for Clinical and Epidemiology and Biostastics, the Center for Bioethics, the Human Genetics Center; the Center for Experimental Therapeutics, the Institute for Medicine and Engineering; the Center for Research on Reproduction and Woman’s Health; the AIDS and HIV Research Center, the Center for Developmental Biology and the Center for Science and Engineering of Nanoscale Systems..

• The University was selected as a training site for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars program and Penn’s Health and Society Scholars Program was one of only six in the nation to win a five-year grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to train post-doctoral fellows in developing this new field.

• The School of Medicine has ranked second five years in a row in the annual ranking of research funding granted to American medical schools from the National Institutes of Health.

• The University places among the nation’s top 10 universities in faculty awards and honors.

• Sponsored research has more than doubled from 1994 funding levels.

• Penn was selected by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to lead the Regional Nanotechnology Center.

• New space for scholarship and teaching has been constructed, including Jon M. Huntsman Hall, Silverman Hall, Charles Addams Fine Arts Hall, Robert Schattner Center, and the Mainwaring Wing of the University Museum.

• The Law School rapidly expanded its international graduate law program and created an exchange program with foreign law schools.

• The School of Veterinary Medicine’s two hospitals are ranked among the best in the world.

• The School of Social Work and Law School were ranked in the top 10 in the nation in faculty publications and citations.

• Penn experienced the largest capital construction for research facilities in its history.

• The Annenberg School launched a Washington Public Policy Center Program in the National Press Club and one in Philadelphia.

• A new computer and information science building for the School of Engineering and Applied Science, the Melvin J. and Claire Levine Hall, opened in April.

• Penn's Institute for Strategic Threat Analysis and Research (ISTAR), established in 2002, brings together faculty from all 12 schools of the University to examine threats to worldwide stability and security.