Penn President Amy Gutmann recently announced winners of the 2016 President’s Engagement Prizes and the inaugural President’s Innovation Prizes. The President’s Engagement Prizes, first given last year, are awarded to Penn seniors to design and undertake local, national, or global engagement projects during the first year after they graduate. The President’s Innovation Prizes are the commercial analogue to the President’s Engagement Prizes, and strengthen Penn’s commitment to innovation both inside and outside the classroom.
Seniors Vaishak Kumar, Melanie Mariano, and Kriya Patel have been named recipients of the President’s Engagement Prizes. Kumar will utilize cost-efficient technology and novel research to help farmers in India boost their productivity; Mariano will partner with the Free Library of Philadelphia to assist library patrons in obtaining health information, medical counseling, and preventive health services; and Patel will help women about to be released from the all-female Riverside Correctional Facility in Philadelphia apply for and secure health insurance and identification prior to release.
President’s Innovation Prizes were awarded to two teams: one comprised of seniors Sade Oba and Alfredo Muniz for XEED, a network of wearable devices for Parkinson’s patients that tracks the movements of limbs, syncs the data to a smart phone, and compares the results to benchmarks set by therapists; and another of William Duckworth and Aaron Goldstein for Fever Smart, a medical device and cloud information system that addresses a problem faced in many areas of medicine: monitoring core body temperature over time.
Each President’s Engagement Prize recipient will receive as much as $100,000 for project implementation expenses and $50,000 for living expenses. Each of the President’s Innovation Prize teams will receive $100,000 to implement their projects, a $50,000 living stipend per team member, as well as dedicated space at the Pennovation Center, and continued mentorship from the Penn Center for Innovation.
In Senegal, the ambitious Dakar Greenbelt project seeks to create an extensive network of ecological infrastructure in and around the city to sustainably address environmental concerns and enhance urban life. With support from David Gouverneur and Ellen Neises, Ph.D. candidate Rob Levinthal in the Weitzman School of Design led two courses that included a field trip to Dakar, that culminated in students presenting their visions for parts of the Greenbelt.
From a desert to an oasis: Penn engages in ambitious greening effort in the Sahel
Students from the Weitzman School of Design journeyed to Senegal to help with a massive ecological and infrastructural greening effort as part of their coursework. The Dakar Greenbelt aims to combat desertification and promote sustainable urban growth.
As part of an undergraduate course, Penn faculty and students curated an Arthur Ross Gallery exhibition of works from the Neumann family’s extensive collection of modern and contemporary art.
The University’s nexus for technology transfer supports researchers in their innovative efforts, from CAR T to mRNA advancements that have dramatically reshaped the world.
