Members of the Penn Democrats are looking west of campus to encourage civic engagement in high-school students. The group is two weeks into a pilot program that delivers interactive civics workshops in an after-school program at West Philadelphia's Sayre High School.

By JIN PYUO LEE Staff Writer lee@dailypennsylvanian.com With funding from the National Institute on Aging, Penn's School of Medicine launched a new study that aims to to identify genes that influence the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. The National Institute on Aging, a division of the National Institutes of Health, will provide $18.

Andrew Shatte wants to turn the fight against global warming into a war.

According to a recent report by Pew Research Center, Philadelphians are more optimistic than the rest of the country - even though they consume a record high of cigarettes and have dismal job prospects. At a time when only 20 percent of the U.S. population answered that the country is headed in the right direction, 46 percent of Philadelphians look forward to the city's future.

Violent crime has dropped significantly since Drexel University unveiled its new police department, according to Drexel's Senior Associate Vice President for Public Safety Domenic Ceccanecchio. After being officially recognized as a law enforcement agency by the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office in June 2008, the department has been operational since March 15.

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A 30-year-old man affiliated with the University was hit by a car near 38th and Walnut streets on Friday night, according to Division of Public Safety spokeswoman Stef Cella. Cella was unable to confirm the man's condition, since the investigation is being handled by the Philadelphia Police.

Despite significant increases in the numbers of applicants to Penn's Ph.D. programs, the number of acceptances at most schools will remain relatively similar to past years.=Only 10 of Penn's 12 graduate schools offer Ph.D. programs - the School of Law and the School of Dental Medicine do not.

Penn's reputation as "the social Ivy" is well-known among the Ancient Eight, and apparently among the prospective class of 2013 as well. "I'm really impressed by the Greek life at Penn," Monica Lindrooth, a high-school senior from New York City, said during Penn Previews last week.

As high-school seniors choose between colleges this month, accepted students' days have played a major role in the decision-making process. Dean of Admissions Eric Furda described Penn Previews as "an anchor" in the admissions recruiting program because it is the University's main way of attracting accepted seniors to Penn.

Guster and Akon may have shared the stage Friday night but many students expressed more excitement about Akon. The Social Planning and Events Committee brought together musicians Akon and Guster in what many students considered an unusual mix for Friday's Spring Fling Concert.

Over 70 degrees and sunny - students could not have asked for better weather as they celebrated this year's Spring Fling. The beautiful weather helped make Spring Fling a success, as students gravitated to the open-air festivities in the Quadrangle, the Fling concert Friday night and the Carnival on College Green Saturday night.

Because positions at large financial firms and corporations are more competitive in the present economy, many students are seeking positions at smaller businesses. "The economy is challenging for internships," Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs Managing Director Emily Cieri said.

By JARED MCDONALD Staff Writer mcdonald@dailypennsylvanian.com Two weeks ago, the Undergraduate Assembly passed a resolution calling on the school to "condense and clarify" its policy on the intellectual property rights of students. "The material is out there, but it's just really confusing for students to go through," said UA member and College freshman Cornelius Range, the proposal's main author, who estimated he spent upwards of 10 hours going through the University's IP policy in the course of writing the proposal.

Minutes before he was to appear on stage at Franklin Field, Akon was the calm eye of his own brand's storm. Security guards, assistants and Benny-D, the tour's DJ, rushed around the dressing room, making sure the 7,500 students and community members outside would enjoy the Konvict Muzik experience.

College senior Kojo Minta is struggling to figure out whether to enter academia or the nonprofit sector after graduation. A history major studying 17th-century Puritanism, he finds it hard to reconcile historical interests with concerns about current issues, like poverty and political turmoil.

The Pennsylvania Innocence Project - Pennsylvania's first legal center dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted inmates - started accepting applications earlier this month. And in only three weeks, the project has already received more than 87 applications from inmates who believe they were convicted of crimes they did not commit.