Housed in Meyerson Hall, the Penn Institute for Urban Research (IUR) is a campus-wide enterprise that draws from the collective wisdom of experts around the Penn and beyond to inform urban development and actions on public policy to support the sustainable growth of metros. Now entering its third decade, President Emerita Judith Rodin and Penn IUR co-directors Eugénie Birch and Susan Wachter reflect on the Institute’s history and impact.
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Penn IUR enters its third decade
The Penn Institute for Urban Research enters its second decade. President emerita Judith Rodin and co-directors Eugénie Birch and Susan Wachter reflect on the Institute’s history and impact.
Researchers from Penn have found new cost-effective ways to make a great cup of pour-over coffee using fewer beans. Their findings could potentially provide insights into similar systems such as waterfalls and surface erosion.
Penn Electric Racing, the student-led Formula Society of Automotive Engineers electric team, debuted its latest electric race car, REVX, on College Green on March 28. This marks the team's 10th custom-designed car since its founding in 2013 and its most sophisticated to date.
Penn Engineering will host the second annual AI Month from April 1 to May 1.
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AI Month at Penn
The School of Engineering and Applied Science is hosting 2025 AI Month at Penn, a monthlong series of events throughout April dedicated to the theme “AI and Human Well-Being.”
Lena Blackburne’s legendary baseball rubbing mud has been a game-day staple for nearly a century, helping Major League pitchers achieve a better grip. Now, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have scientifically confirmed its friction-enhancing properties, revealing its significance not just in baseball, but also in the broader field of materials science.
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Baseball’s ‘magic mud’
Douglas Jerolmack and Paulo Arratia led research that could someday crack the code of the mud smeared on baseballs for nearly a century that pitchers profess provides a perfect grip.
For more than a decade, Penn students have been building and competing with unmanned aerial vehicles. They unveil their latest creations, an autonomous drone-like tilt-rotor aircraft and a model plane, before they head to an international competition in Los Angeles this spring.
New high-definition pictures of the early universe
Research by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope collaboration has led to the clearest and most precise images yet of the universe’s infancy—the cosmic microwave background radiation that was visible only 380,000 years after the Big Bang.
Nearly a year after being awarded the 2024 President’s Engagement Prize and President’s Innovation Prize, the recipients—now alumni—provide updates on their projects.
(On homepage) A global view of Jupiter’s moon Europa displaying extensive surface fractures—long, curving lines carved into the ice by tidal forces from Jupiter. These cracks hint at dynamic activity beneath Europa’s frozen shell and may provide clues about the moon’s potentially habitable subsurface ocean.
(Image: Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Can surface fractures on Earth, Mars, and Europa predict habitability on other planets?
Geophysicist Douglas Jerolmack has used the mathematical framework developed for understanding fracture patterns on Earth to survey two-dimensional fracture networks across the solar system, which could offer insights into detecting potentially habitable environments on other planets.
Architect Masoud Akbarzadeh and research assistant Boyu Xiao of the Weitzman School of Design, along with collaborators including Yao Lu of Jefferson University, defied conventional engineering by constructing a 30-foot-long bridge entirely from 16 millimeter hollow glass units. Their effort is now showcased at the Corning Museum of Glass.
(Image: Courtesy of the Corning Museum of Glass)
Building bridges: A feat of engineering and artistry
At the Corning Museum of Glass, professor of architecture Masoud Akbarzadeh and his team have turned fragility into strength with a 30-foot-long span of shimmering glass, blending ancient wisdom with cutting-edge design to redefine the future of structural engineering and architecture.
