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Mechanical Engineering
Solving complex problems with purpose
Senior Angelica Padilla, who recently completed research through the Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter undergraduate summer program, shares her passion for fluid mechanics.
Blinking eye-on-a-chip used for disease modeling and drug testing
Penn Engineering’s Dan Huh and Jeongyun Seo built an eye model that could imitate a healthy eye and an eye with dry eye disease, allowing them to test an experimental drug without risk of human harm.
Iron Man: The engineer who became a superhero
A Q&A with Marc Miskin and James Pikul about the real-world tech and practical limitations that underly Tony Stark’s superpowered suit.
Remembering the past while looking forward
As the nation celebrates the Apollo 11 mission, a look at Penn’s connection to the historic event and how the Moon impacts science, politics, and culture.
‘Robotic blood’ powers and propels synthetic lionfish
Combining different functional components that are normally compartmentalized can lead to both powerful and lightweight future robots. A new paper by James Pikul highlights the success of a robotic lionfish that combines energy storage and movement through the use of a hydraulic liquid referred to as “robotic blood.”
A new way to fly, built up from the nanoscale
Super-thin “nanocardboard” can levitate using only the power of light, opening the door to tiny flying machines with no moving parts.
For Philly Tech Week, a showcase for cutting-edge robots
Penn students, faculty, and affiliated entrepreneurs showed off their latest legged robots, drones, automated driving systems, and more at the Pennovation Center as part of the annual celebration of the tech industry in Philadelphia.
At Weiss Tech House, a race from idea to prototype in one semester
The student-run incubator hosted its first hardware accelerator this spring, offering cash, mentoring, and access to specialized equipment to four teams.
Applying machine learning to materials science
Machine learning and artificial intelligence are applied to an increasing number of tasks, But using machine learning in materials science, which attempts to design and make materials for use in future technologies, has proven to be more difficult.
‘Metallic wood’ has the strength of titanium and the density of water
In a study published in Nature Scientific Reports, researchers at the School of Engineering and Applied Science, the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, and the University of Cambridge have built a sheet of nickel with nanoscale pores that make it as strong as titanium, but four to five times lighter.
In the News
Students can soon major in AI at this Ivy League university—it’ll prepare them for ‘jobs that don’t yet exist’
The Raj and Neera Singh Program in Artificial Intelligence at Penn will be the first AI undergraduate engineering major at an Ivy League school, led by George Pappas of the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
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What’s so ‘magic’ about the secret South Jersey mud rubbed on baseballs? These Penn researchers think they know why
Doug Jerolmack of the School of Arts & Sciences, Paulo Arratia of the School of Engineering and Applied Science, and colleagues are researching the chemical properties of baseball’s “magic mud” for use in applications beyond sports.
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University of Pennsylvania pledges to bolster relations with India at "Penn India Engagement Forum"
PIK Professor Ezekiel J. Emanuel, Dean Erika H. James of the Wharton School, and Dean Vijay Kumar of the School of Engineering and Applied Science are quoted on the forum to support India's exceptional growth and specific health care needs.
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Tackling threat of mudslides in soaked California
Douglas Jerolmack of the School of Arts & Sciences says that debris basins can be costly, becoming overwhelmed by new landslides or mudslides that have been worsened by climate change.
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Artists and Penn Ph.D.s collabed to explore the intersection of art and engineering. Check out their exhibit
In the culminating project of Penn’s Robotics Art Residency, three artists hosted at the Pennovation Center developed collaborative exhibits with Ph.D. students at the GRASP Lab of the School of Engineering and Applied Science and the Weitzman School of Design.
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Liquid crystals bring robotics to the microscale
In collaboration with the University of Ljubljana, Kathleen Stebe of the School of Engineering and Applied Science has built a swimming microrobot that paddles by rotating liquid crystal molecules.
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