The first time Bryan Wolf went out to lunch with his newest lab research assistant, then-College freshman Joshua Cook, he was struck by Cook's discourse about the plant on their table at the White Dog Cafe. "The first impression you got was that he is very driven and very excited about science," said Wolf, Medical School professor and Pathologist-in-Chief at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton will speak in Irvine Auditorium on Feb. 28 at 11 a.m., the University announced in a press release yesterday. His address will open the "Kerner Plus 40" Symposium, an event sponsored by the Penn Africana Studies Department, Annenberg School for Communication and the Institute for Advanced Journalism Studies at North Carolina A&T; State University.

A gunman killed five people and injured 16 before taking his own life during a "suicidal rampage" at Northern Illinois University on Thursday, according to the Associated Press. The shooter, 27-year old Stephen Kazmierczak was a former student of the university who had no prior arrest record.

When it comes to senior-level administrations across the nation and at Penn, women may have broken the glass ceiling, but minorities may still have a few punches to go. Across higher education, 45 percent of senior-level administrators are female but only 16 percent are minorities, according to a survey conducted earlier this month by the American Council on Education.

e discussed recommendations on streamlining the visa process for foreign students last week, a move that comes as the number of foreign scholars in the United States is rising. At Penn, the international-student population jumped by about 800 students last year compared to the year before, said Rodolfo Altamirano, Director of the Office of International Programs, and some foreign students said they welcomed efforts to ease the visa process.

Feeling crappy? You're not the only one. Universities around the country have been experiencing recent outbreaks of influenza. At Penn, the trend is the same. Student Health is trying to manage this year's increased number of flu cases, however, this flu season is not atypical, said Evelyn Wiener, director of Student Health Service.

Penn is granting graduate students higher stipends to keep its programs competitive and to increase access and aid. The University announced yesterday that the minimum stipend for Ph.D students who receive nine-month fellowships will increase by 6.7 percent to $19,200 starting this September.

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.