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School of Engineering & Applied Science
A new metric for designing safer streets
A new metric for designing safer streets
Penn researchers demonstrate how biometric data can help city planners more proactively design and evaluate the safety of urban infrastructure for bicyclists and pedestrians.
The pioneering career of Norman Badler
The pioneering career of Norman Badler
The computer and information sciences professor retired in June. He chats about his recent ACM SIGGRAPH election and his expansive computer graphics path.
New grant aims to broaden participation in cutting-edge materials research
New grant aims to broaden participation in cutting-edge materials research
As one of eight teams to be awarded National Science Foundation funding, a partnership between Penn and the University of Puerto Rico will continue its long-running collaboration focused on innovative research and STEM career pathway support.
Simulation of glacial calving and tsunami waves predicts climate change consequences
Simulation of glacial calving and tsunami waves predicts climate change consequences
Researchers at the School of Engineering and Applied Science have created a computer model that can accurately simulate tsunamis caused by glacial calving, critical to hazard assessments and mitigation measures in coastal regions regarding climate change.
Latest ‘organ-on-a-chip’ is a new way to study cancer-related muscle wasting
Latest ‘organ-on-a-chip’ is a new way to study cancer-related muscle wasting
New “muscle-on-a-chip” technology allows for drug testing on human muscles outside the body while capturing the complexity of human physiology.
New microfluidic device delivers mRNA nanoparticles a hundred times faster
New microfluidic device delivers mRNA nanoparticles a hundred times faster
With a “liquid assembly line,” Penn researchers have produced mRNA-delivering-nanoparticles significantly faster than standard microfluidic technologies.
Growing ‘metallic wood’ to new heights
Growing ‘metallic wood’ to new heights
“Metallic wood” is full of regularly spaced cell-sized pores that radically decrease its density without sacrificing the material’s strength, which not only gives metallic wood the strength of titanium at a fraction of the weight, but unique optical properties.
‘I Look Like an Engineer’
‘I Look Like an Engineer’
For the third year in a row, Penn Engineering’s Advancing Women in Engineering program, dedicated to recruiting, retaining and promoting all female-identified students in the School, participated in the “I Look Like an Engineer” social media movement.
Shifting sands, creeping soils, and a new understanding of landscape evolution
Shifting sands, creeping soils, and a new understanding of landscape evolution
New experiments show that, even when undisturbed, piles of sand grains are in constant motion, challenging theories of how soils and other types of disordered materials behave.
Jake Cousins is Penn’s first big league pitcher in 30 years
Jake Cousins is Penn’s first big league pitcher in 30 years
The 2017 alumnus made his MLB debut for the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
In the News
MIT Technology Review
These creepy fake humans herald a new age in AI
Aaron Roth of the School of Engineering and Applied Science spoke about synthetic data and privacy concerns. “Just because the data is ‘synthetic’ and does not directly correspond to real user data does not mean that it does not encode sensitive information about real people,” he said.
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6ABC.com
UPenn working on rapid COVID test that delivers results within minutes
César de la Fuente of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about the rapid COVID-19 diagnostic test he and his team are developing. "This particular one is made out of cardboard, so it's recyclable and low cost," he said.
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Philadelphia Inquirer
No battery? No problem. At Penn, a mini electric car draws energy from its surroundings
Min Wang and James Pikul of the School of Engineering and Applied Science discuss their work on a car that eats metal and breathes air. The technology also could run a generator during a power outage, with no noise or fumes.
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WHYY (Philadelphia)
Science vs science: The contradictory fight over whether electromagnetic hypersensitivity is real
Electromagnetic fields are everywhere, and especially so in recent years. To most of us, those fields are undetectable. But a small number of people believe they have an actual allergy to electromagnetic fields. Ken Foster, a professor emeritus of bioengineering, has heard these arguments before. “Activists would point to all these biological effects studies and say, ‘There must be some hazard’; health agencies would have meticulous reviews of literature and not see much of a problem.”
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MIT Technology Review
Keeping COVID vaccines cold isn’t easy. These ideas could help
Drew Weissman of the Perelman School of Medicine and Michael Mitchell of the School of Engineering and Applied Science spoke about efforts to develop new ways to keep temperature-sensitive COVID-19 vaccines cold during shipment.
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