At the DumoLab, research associate Yasaman Amirzehni is working to develop a biocomposite suitable for indoor and outdoor cladding applications, which could eventually serve as true structural components like load-bearing columns.
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Turning peels into pavers: How Penn designers turn food scraps into biodegradable building materials
The Weitzman School’s Laia Mogas-Soldevila and Yasaman Amirzehni transform unavoidable food waste—like fruit peels and eggshells, which account for 14.8% of post-consumer restaurant food waste—into durable, biodegradable building materials in collaboration with Penn Dining.
Students in the Performance, Analysis, History class explore and perform on piano the work of Johann Sebastian Bach, regarded among history’s greatest composers. Taught by Jamuna Samuel and Yu Xi Wang, the class contextualizes and demystifies Bach through a historical and geographical lens.
César de la Fuente leverages machine learning to accelerate the discovery of lifesaving drugs and help reduce antibiotic resistance, a rising global health problem.
Applying design to agriculture for a new approach to agroforestry
Penn researchers are leading a multidisciplinary land-use project that blends trees, livestock, and streamside buffers to turn New Bolton Center into a living lab for stewardship agriculture.
At Convocation, first-years called on to ‘embrace the unexpected’
Penn’s 286th academic year formally began at Convocation, where President J. Larry Jameson drew lessons from nature by invoking fireflies—recognizing students’ brilliance, prescribing them to ‘“embrace the unexpected,” and reminding them, “Fireflies do not glow alone.”
Penn Today’s visual review of the 2024-25 academic year highlights the innovation, community outreach, individual milestones, and collective celebration.
The Polyhedral Structures Laboratory is housed at the Pennovation Center and brings together designers, engineers, and computer scientists to reimagine the built world. Using graphic statics, a method where forces are mapped as lines, they design forms that balance compression and tension. These result in structures that use far fewer materials while remaining strong and efficient.
(Image: Eric Sucar)
Designing cleaner, greener concrete
Penn engineers, materials scientists, and designers have developed a 3D-printed concrete solution based on diatomaceous earth that has enhanced carbon capture, is stronger, and uses fewer materials like cement.
As part of the Pennsylvania Animal Diagnostic Laboratory System (PADLS), Penn Vet’s New Bolton Center helps to protect animals and humans from health threats and minimize agricultural economic loss.
Penn salutes graduates at University’s 269th Commencement
Actor, director, producer, and Penn alumna Elizabeth Banks delivered the Commencement address to around 6,000 graduates on Monday, May 19, at Franklin Field.
