The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching studied 40 U.S. engineering schools last month and found that most schools heavily emphasize textbook learning rather than hands-on experience, leaving students unprepared for the real world. But while some School of Engineering and Applied Sciences students say this is the case, others say they are happy with their courses' practicability.

Daniel Schwartz is a College junior from Decatur, Ga. His e-mail address is schwartz@dailypennsylvanian.com.

When the final seconds expired in the Penn men's basketball team's 83-58 loss to Cornell in Ithaca, N.Y., tonight, the Ivy League had its 2009 champion. Thanks to a Princeton loss at Columbia, the Big Red's win gave them the outright Ivy League crown and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Wharton dropped to third place in the Business Week Undergraduate Business School rankings, released last week, after commanding the top spot for three years.

North Carolina has the speed, Boston University wants revenge and Yale is a whole new team. As the rest of Penn heads off to spring break, the women's lacrosse team looks forward to a set of tough games against a myriad of opponents. Today the No. 6 Quakers will play the No.

Sophomore Harrison Gaines has filed papers to transfer away from the Penn men's basketball team, his father, Harry Gaines, wrote in a press release. According to the press release Penn "wasn't a good fit ... I believe my long-term satisfaction lies in joining another university team.

College sports are all about recruiting. Coaches need to plan for the future and build their teams on a strong foundation of young talent. And that's exactly what Penn swimming coach Mike Schnur has done. The Quakers showcased their freshman talent yesterday during the first day of the Ivy League Championships in Princeton, N.

Updated March 9, 5 p.m. Only one Quakers wrestler, Rollie Peterkin at 125 pounds, was able to reach the finals of this weekend's Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Associatoin Tournament as the Penn wrestling team finished in a disappointing tie for third with Bucknell, despite the Palestra hosting the event.

The Quakers fell to the Tigers, 59-56, at the Palestra in the last game of the season. Despite outrebounding Princeton 20-9 in the first half, the Quakers trailed, 27-25, at the break. The second frame was no better for the Quakers, who fell to 6-8 in Ivy League and 10-18 overall at season's end.

Far from any tropical beach, the men's lacrosse team still has the chance to make waves this spring break. With two home games on the docket in between classes, Penn has an opportunity this afternoon to knock off a top-20 team in No. 18 Denver (3-1) and win its first league contest next Saturday against Yale (1-2, 0-0 Ivy).

Penn will initiate a four-year study with $5.5 million to find out more about prevention of staph infections. A Penn study will receive part of the annual Pennsylvania share of the national tobacco settlement funds this year, Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Health Everette James announced last month.

Updated March 8, 5:20 p.m. NEW YORK -- The Quakers had never even seen this play before, let alone practiced it. But trailing by two with 1.9 seconds remaining, Glen Miller and his coaching staff whipped out a dry-erase clipboard and crafted a setup to down Columbia.

Although the men's tennis team is traveling to the West Coast next week, it will not be spending the time wandering on the beach, watching the sun set and relaxing before the upcoming Ivy League season. The Quakers (5-4) will have to leave the comforts of Levy Pavilion - where they remain undefeated so far this season - to take on four competitive California squads, two of which are nationally ranked.

Updated March 16, 11:35 a.m. The undergraduate student hospitalized with meningococcal infection March 7 remains in critical condition but is stable and improving, according to University spokeswoman Phyllis Holtzman on Monday. The student was infected with strain B, the strain for which there is no vaccine, according to Holtzman.

Many at Penn praise Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) for his instrumental work to increase the National Institutes of Health's budget by 34 percent in the stimulus package President Barack Obama signed Feb 17. Yet the unclear time frame for and method of distributing stimulus funding has caused much anticipation.

"Come, whoever you are, come." This quote by Jalalud'din Rumi, a 13th-century Muslim poet, was the message extended to those invited to the panel discussion last night, "Do religions oppress women?" Women and men of all faiths flocked to the Hall of Flags in Houston Hall for the conversation in recognition of International Women's Day, which this year will take place on March 8.

During her two years living in Penn college houses, College sophomore Jessica Renny has never used a landline phone. "I've never plugged it in, and I don't even know the number," she said. Although every room in college houses and University-owned Greek houses is supposed to come with a landline phone and jack, it appears that fewer students are making use of the provided service - and the shift away from landlines is taking place across the country, too.