Electrical and Systems Engineering professor Nader Engheta was named one of Scientific American's top-fifty leaders in science and technology in the magazine's December issue. Engheta - who earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Tehran and his Ph.

Perceptions about body weight don't stop at the scales anymore. "Fat studies" is a growing interdisciplinary area of study at universities across the country, devoted to examining discrimination and stereotypes against the fat body and studying the collective experience of fat people in society.

Desperate students trying to cram in an extra hour of studying this week will now be able to do it in Van Pelt Library. At the request of the Undergraduate Assembly, Carton Rogers - who runs Penn's libraries - decided to keep Van Pelt open until 2 a.m. from yesterday through the end of exams.

Visit the University of Delaware's Web site, and you'll find the smiling face of Wharton Dean Patrick Harker displayed above the celebratory headline "Presidential Search Completed."

The Penn Police department will begin its re-accreditation process next weekend. A team of assessors from a national accreditation agency will come to campus to examine the department, which is currently responsible for 116 fully-sworn police officers headed by a chief of police.

They may not be industry moguls or top executives, but Penn professors are certainly willing to shell out money in support of their favorite political candidates. Penn ranked fourth in a study measuring the sum of education-industry employee donations to federal campaigns this election cycle.

Wearing a T-shirt with the slogan "Stop Medical Apartheid, AIDS Drugs Now," Kaytee Riek stood on a bench on College Green last Friday and led a group of demonstrating students and activists in a chant.

You may not be able to put your finger on it, but there's something whimsical about the artistic style of Sibylla Benatova. Come March, that style will be showcased in the Penn Rare Book and Manuscript Library employee's illustrated children's book, The Magic Raincoat.

Temperatures were expected to drop to 40 degrees at night, and there was a strong chance of rain. But the spirits of Penn Outdoors members were not at all dampened as they stood amid their urban campground. The club set up tents on College Green last Thursday and Friday for its 24-hour camp-out and fundraiser.

A 3,000-year-old king's treasures are coming to the East Coast after 30 years. This February, the Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia will display artifacts from the tomb of King Tutankhamun, who ascended the throne, ruled Egypt and died - all before his 21st birthday.

Wharton Dean Patrick Harker has been named the University of Delaware's next president, Delaware officials announced Friday.

Once considered a top contender in the upcoming Philadelphia mayoral election, former City Controller Jonathan Saidel announced yesterday that he is abandoning his bid to become the city's next mayor. "As I thought about the race, what it would take to win and the impact it would have on my ability to earn a living and take care of my family, I realized that I could not be as committed to the race as I would need to be," Saidel said in a statement released to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Move over, Mark Zuckerberg. There's a new Web site in town, and it promises all the discussion about sex, drugs and procrastination a student could ever want.

A Penn project to build houses may build bridges, as well. Last year, 18 Architecture students participated in a studio design class led by Architecture professors Richard Wesley and Ali Malkawi in which they designed residential units for six formerly homeless women and their families as part of the Bernice Elza Homes project.

Philadelphia newspaper racks will remain full, at least for a bit longer. The Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News's largest union threatened to strike after midnight Friday, but management and union representatives continued contract negotiations through yesterday.

The two main graduate student groups on campus recently announced a plan to radically restructure their organizations - and incensed many of their own constituents in the process.

Mixing dark humor with what organizers called a "delightfully strange" plot, Richard Burgin entertained an audience of about 30 with a reading from his latest work Wednesday evening. Burgin, a composer, professor at Saint Louis University and award-winning fiction writer, came to the Kelly Writers House to give the first-ever reading of the title work in his new collection of short stories, The Conference on Beautiful Moments.