Modern inventions aren't all about robots and moving sidewalks - Penn students' creative ideas may now include a social impact component, too. PennVention - the annual student-run innovation competition organized by the Weiss Tech House - recently announced the Meltwater Social Impact Award, which aims "to support a student team that has an idea for a product or service that can help the local or global community," said Wharton and Engineering junior Matthew Owens, the PennVention co-chair.

Services like Net Flix and On-Demand might be the most convenient options for movie-viewers, but the Independent Video Library's new owner aims to add some local flavor to the movie experience. Oliver Assiran, who recently bought the video store located at 40th and Locust streets, has begun a series of changes designed to turn the business into more than just a video store.

It's time to throw on those party shoes, tune up the vocal chords and belt out some tunes. What song? Marilyn Monroe's "Happy birthday Mr. President," of course. Luckily, for those who can't carry a tune in a bucket, there's another way to celebrate this President's Day weekend.

A central component of University President Amy Gutmann's Penn Compact is engaging globally. Now, a former U.S. President wants to help colleges to do just that. Next month in New Orleans, Bill Clinton will launch the Clinton Global Initiative University, or CGI U, a project aimed at bringing students, faculty and global leaders together "to discuss [global] problems and take action," he announced in a conference call yesterday.

Today is the day to think about love. But this Valentine's Day, some social scholars are taking a new perspective: they want to know what love means and where traditional notions of it have gone, especially on college campuses. What is love at Penn? Hard to define, if anything.

The School of Arts and Sciences received a $15 million donation this month from alumnus Christopher Browne to establish five endowed professorships across the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences. "I'm completely delighted," SAS Dean Rebecca Bushnell said.

Grand Text Auto is a blog, but it's also at the forefront of a new method of editing print publications. University of California at San Diego communications professor Noah Wardrip-Fruin is publishing his in-progress manuscript on the blog - which he helps run - in addition to submitting it through the traditional peer review system at MIT Press.

"We're not like those anti-rape guys on campus. We want to be the pro-women guys." So declared College freshman and Phi Kappa Sigma member Matt Amalfitano. He is an active member of One in Four, a national organization that aims to reduce sexual assault by empowering both men and women.

A haven for wordsmiths, the Kelly Writers House last night shared its spotlight with music lovers as well. A crowd of 40 gathered in Penn's Kelly Writers House last night to hear a presentation by Ben Ratliff, a New York Times jazz critic. Ratliff signed copies of his new book, Coltrane: The Story of a Sound.

Legal proceedings against Wharton junior Felix Qu are continuing, as a trial date has been set for this spring. Qu was arrested and charged with simple assault and reckless endangerment of another person after an argument with his girlfriend over winter break allegedly turned violent.

Penn plans to work with interest groups in order to modify the Higher Education Act so the legislation corresponds with the University's interests, according to Bill Andresen, head of Penn's office in Washington. The Higher Education Act was renewed by the U.

Wharton senior Lisa Jiang wanted to take her business education outside of Huntsman Hall and into Philadelphia. Jiang and four other classmates founded the Social Impact Consulting Group, an organization that offers free consulting services to local non-profit organizations, which include conducting cost analyses and coming up with marketing strategies.

Area residents are still up in arms about a proposed hotel at 40th and Pine streets - and they don't seem to be backing down. At a zoning committee meeting of the Spruce Hill Community Association, developers presented their proposal for an 11-story extended-stay hotel that would be located at 40th and Pine streets.

Former Neurosurgery professor Tracy McIntosh was sentenced to 3 1/2 to seven years in prison yesterday for the 2002 sexual assault of his college roommate’s niece.

When times are hard and the fear of unemployment looms above, what do people do? Go back to school and get an MBA. According to an article in the Financial Times, deans and admissions officials at business schools say that MBA applications increase during or just before an economic downturn, such as the one facing the U.

Robbery Feb. 7 - Kumasi MkWelli, 60, of the 7800 block of Mercury Ave., was arrested by Penn Police for allegedly attempting to leave CVS, located at 3409 Walnut St., without rendering payment for items at about 7:15 p.m. Assault Feb. 6 - Michael Joyner, 31, of the 200 block of N.

When College alum Philip Rosen graduated last year, he started working in July but found that his job would not provide him with health insurance until October. That left him in a predicament few students anticipate: how to obtain decent health insurance promptly after graduation.