By the Numbers: Undergraduates share their research

Setting new participation records, 436 undergraduates presented their research during the Fall Research Expo, this year expanding to three floors of historic Houston Hall.

Sponsored by the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships (CURF), the Expo featured 381 posters highlighting student research projects involving faculty from all 12 of Penn’s Schools. The event, which started in 2007 with 18 posters, is open to all Penn undergraduates who want to share their research with their peers and the Penn community.

Houston Hall was filled with animated conversations during the Sept. 18 event, as student researchers stood by their posters and answered questions posed by some of the 1,000 attendees.

“These students have been given the opportunity to work with world-class faculty to address some of the biggest, most important crises and challenges we're facing in the world today, and to make real headway in solving those problems,” says Ann Vernon-Grey, CURF’s senior associate director for undergraduate research. “When you step into the room you can feel the excitement and, frankly, hope for being able to effect change. It’s exhilarating and inspirational.”

In addition to the in-person event, an online archive of each research project, including the students’ posters and summaries, is available on the CURF website Penn Presents.

Sam Charney, a fourth-year in the College, explains research on galaxy cluster shocks to Provost John L. Jackson Jr.

Vernon Wells, a fourth-year in the College, presented his research and summer fieldwork with the Indigenous Ayta Magbukun tribe in the Philippines.

For the first time since the Expo started in 2007, the posters were on three floors of Houston Hall, including the Class of 1949 Auditorium on the second floor.

Students stood by their posters during the event and answered questions posed by visitors.

Jason Liu, a second-year in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, presented research on applications of a relational neurosymbolic programming language on foundation AI models.

Many of the students presented their posters in the Hall of Flags, both on the floor and around the balcony.

Alexandra Piven, a second year in the College, explains research on the impact of heat stress on coral to Provost John L. Jackson Jr.