Thirty years ago, an openly gay student arriving at Penn would have found few — if any at all — LGBT support services from the University. INTERACTIVE: LGBT resources across the Ivies

The Power Down Challenge, which began at the beginning of this week, is an annual competition between college houses and campus buildings designed to lower energy usage over the span of three weeks. Awards are given to the college house and campus building that lowers its energy consumption the most.

The former Pennsylvania representative and 1963 College graduate currently co-teaches the “Conventions, Debates and Campaigns” class at the Fels Institute of Government.

PoCo, an umbrella group of 10 member organizations, originally scheduled the week to start on Monday, but all of that night’s and Tuesday’s events were canceled or rescheduled due to Hurricane Sandy. The week now includes 10 events that aim to discuss key policy issues in this year’s presidential election.

Though Schmerin worked in at least five different government positions since he graduated, his interests have remained the same as they were at Penn, where he received the Norman D. Palmer Prize for the best senior thesis in international relations. He currently works at Fairholme Capital Management, where he conducts investment research.

The Center for Undergraduate Research and the Joseph Wharton Scholars Senior Research Seminar organize presentations to pique students’ interest in research and a potential career in academia later on.

On Friday, the library, which was constructed on Oct. 22, 1962, hosted a commemoration for its 50th birthday. The event looked at past and present innovations in the building, including the ongoing revamping of the Special Collections Center.

Though Hurricane Sandy put a halt to classes and operations at Penn over the past two days, University officials acknowledged that the storm — which caused massive power outages, flooding and at least 48 deaths up and down the Eastern Seaboard — largely spared the campus community.

Despite being stuck inside for most of Monday and Tuesday, students passed the time in a variety of ways — some more unconventional than others.

On Monday night, as Hurricane Sandy ravaged the mid-Atlantic coast, 2010 College graduate Jessie Streich-Kest was killed by a falling tree near her home in Brooklyn, N.Y. She was 24.

On Monday morning, members of the Division of Public Safety gathered in the Emergency Operations Center to anticipate the potentially disastrous effects of Hurricane Sandy.

Campus and the city of Philadelphia alike have been preparing for the arrival of Hurricane Sandy since Sunday night. VIDEO: Preparing for Hurricane Sandy PHOTO GALLERY: Hurricane Sandy PreparationPHOTO GALLERY: Hurricane Sandy at Penn

While campus is waiting for Hurricane Sandy to arrive in full force, college house staff are trying to promote safety while finding creative ways to keep their residents entertained.

2004 College graduate Carlos Gomez was leaving his apartment in a rush one day, late for a meeting. While exiting his apartment building, he saw a black man on the other side of the door and unwittingly jumped back.

It’s around 4 p.m. Sunday afternoon, and the doors of West Philadelphia High School still don’t appear to be open.

“We wanted to provide an opportunity for as many people on campus as possible … [to] engage themselves [and] immerse themselves in the musical opportunities at Penn,” Mitchell Blutt, the patron of this event, said.

The team’s research was groundbreaking in the field. Whereas most current therapies rely on either spatial or cellular targeting in order to affect change in a living system, Penn iGEM’s research combined the two existing models.