School of Engineering & Applied Science

Penn faculty Vijay Kumar, Katalin Kariko, and Drew Weissman

For ‘spirit of innovation,’ three from Penn named National Academy of Inventors Fellows

Vijay Kumar of the School of Engineering and Applied Science and Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman of the Perelman School of Medicine were honored with the recognition.

A robotic arm holding the hand of a mannequin.

Soft robots gain new strength

Penn Engineers have developed a clutch 63 times stronger than current electroadhesive clutches, making soft robots stronger and safer and making virtual reality gloves feel more real.

Top row, left to right: Chin Chin Choi, Aaron Guo, and Jiaqi Liu. Bottom row, left to right: Moksh Jawa and Edward Zhi En Tan.

Penn senior and four alumni have received Schwarzman Scholarships

The Scholarships fund a one-year master’s degree in global affairs at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

People and places at Penn: Research

From Charles Addams Fine Arts Hall to the Schuylkill River, four researchers share their science and their spaces.

Students in an auditorium working on their laptops

Penn awarded grant to promote inclusive excellence in STEM teaching and learning

With support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Penn is embarking on a six-year effort to enhance inclusivity and belonging in undergraduate STEM education.

Tiny swimming robots can restructure materials on a microscopic level

Penn Engineers are working to make controlling microscopic processes, such as transporting drugs to tumors for precise therapies, faster, safer, and more reliable through the use of microrobots.

Q&A

At PCI, new discoveries for societal benefit

John Swartley, managing director of the Penn Center for Innovation, talks about the Center’s success.

Novel ‘tunneling’ design for energy-efficient chips

Experts have been experimenting with field-effect transistor technology (FET) for decades, but have been hindered by insurmountable tradeoffs in power and performance. Penn engineers have redesigned FETs with energy efficiency in mind.

Rendering of layers of a helmet illustrating the shift from 2D to 3D materials.

Algorithm for 2D-to-3D engineering integrates art, nature, and science

Penn Engineering’s Shu Yang and researchers have developed a universal algorithm that allows 2D materials to remain lightweight and durable when converted to 3D structures.

A few people walk along a mountainside as some vegetation regrows after a wildfire

Physics of disaster: How mudslides move

Researchers led by Douglas Jerolmack and Paulo Arratia used samples from the deadly 2018 Montecito mudslides to understand the complex forces at work in these disasters.

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