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School of Engineering & Applied Science
Penn Engineering Course Gives Students a Global Perspective
Over spring break, 13 students in the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Science travelled to Beijing and Shanghai to learn more about engineering and technology innovations happening in China. They went as part of a new semester-long global immersion class launched this spring.[flickr]72157682064286286[/flickr]
Abundance of A Cappella at Penn Strikes Harmony and ‘Dischord’
A cappella is in the midst of a renaissance at the University of Pennsylvania. With 17 individual, student-run organizations, 14 of which make up the A Cappella Council, known by the more tonal acronym “ACK,” the genre is thriving at Penn.
2017 President’s Engagement and Innovation Prize Winners Announced at Penn
University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann announced today the selection of eight undergraduates as recipients of the 2017 President’s Engagement and Innovation Prizes. Awarded annually, the President’s Engagement and Innovation Prizes provide $100,000 in funding for Penn seniors
Penn Engineers’ ‘Photonic Doping’ Makes Class of Metamaterials Easier to Fabricate
The field of metamaterials, an intersection of materials science, physics, nanotechnology and electrical engineering, aims to produce structures with unusual electromagnetic properties. Through the careful combination of multiple materials in a precise periodic arrangement, the resulting metamaterials exhibit properties that otherwise couldn’t exist, such as a negative index of refraction.
Penn Engineering Offers an Online MicroMasters in Robotics
Beginning in April, Penn Engineering and the GRASP Laboratory will offer a new series of online courses in robotics as part of edX’s “MicroMasters” program.
Researchers Gain Insight Into a Physical Phenomenon That Leads to Earthquakes
Scientists have gotten better at predicting where earthquakes will occur, but they’re still in the dark about when they will strike and how devastating they will be.
Penn Engineers Overcome a Hurdle in Growing a Revolutionary Optical Metamaterial
When John Crocker, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering in the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Science was a graduate student, his advisor gathered together everyone in his lab to “throw down the gauntlet” on a new challenge in the field.
Penn/Wistar Study Finds ‘Sweet Spot’ Where Tissue Stiffness Drives Cancer’s Spread
In order for cancer to spread, malignant cells must break away from a tumor and through the tough netting of extracellular matrix, or ECM, that surrounds it. To fit through the holes in this net, those cancerous cells must elongate into a torpedo-like shape.
Using nanotechnology to expand health care access
A team is using commercially available nanotechnology to develop a low-cost, handheld diagnostic device that can monitor HIV. This device would increase access to high-quality treatment of HIV in developing countries and lower the cost of health care in the U.S.
Penn Researchers Are Among the First to Grow a Versatile Two-dimensional Material
University of Pennsylvania researchers are now among the first to produce a single, three-atom-thick layer of a unique two-dimensional material called tungsten ditelluride. Their findings have been published in 2-D Materials.
In the News
Newsweek
Man does DNA test, not prepared for what comes back ‘unusually high’
César de la Fuente of the School of Engineering and Applied Science and Perelman School of Medicine says that Neanderthal DNA provides insights into human evolution, population dynamics, and genetic adaptations, including correlations with traits such as immunity and susceptibility to diseases.
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Technical.ly Philly
Penn professor on gen AI’s rapacious use of energy: ‘One of the defining challenges of my career’
Benjamin Lee of the School of Engineering and Applied Science says that hardware and infrastructure costs are growing at high rates for generative AI.
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Philadelphia Inquirer
Comcast’s Sports Complex plan for South Philly would make our city less livable
In an Op-Ed, Vukan R. Vuchic of the School of Engineering and Applied Science says that Philadelphia should make transit more accessible rather than striving to accommodate more cars.
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Big Think
Can we stop AI hallucinations? And do we even want to?
Chris Callison-Burch of the School of Engineering and Applied Science says that auto-regressive generation can make it difficult for language learning models to perform fact-based or symbolic reasoning.
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CNET
How the solar eclipse will affect solar panels and the grid
Benjamin Lee of the School of Engineering and Applied Science says that the electrical grid will have to figure out how to match supply and demand during brief windows where the energy source goes away.
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