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Discovering new ways to control light
Microscopic view of iron phosphorous trisulfide.

The different colors in this sample of iron phosphorous trisulfide (FePS3) correspond to regions with varying thicknesses, which form different “cavity” modes at different wavelengths. (Image: Penn Engineering Today)

Discovering new ways to control light

Researchers found a magnetic property in a class of materials that enables light manipulation on the nanoscale, with implications for applications such as information storage and energy harvesting.

From Penn Engineering Today

Talking energy at Penn
Wind turbines in water, with a sunset in the background.

Talking energy at Penn

Energy Week 2022, hosted by the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy and the Vagelos Institute for Energy Science and Technology, runs April 4-8. It includes student presentations, along with conversations about renewables, energy and the war in Ukraine, and much more.

Michele W. Berger, Lindsey Samahon

Penn Electric Racing unveils new REV7 race car despite pandemic setbacks
Members of the Penn Electric Racing team showing the new racecar, REV7, on College Green to a crowd of students.

Penn Electric Racing introduced their new race car, REV7, at the official unveiling on March 18.

Penn Electric Racing unveils new REV7 race car despite pandemic setbacks

During the pandemic, Penn Electric Racing virtually designed the REV7, an almost entirely new design from REV6. The team is slated to bring the REV7 to this year’s FSAE Michigan competition in May.

From Penn Engineering Today

Five Penn students are 2022 Goldwater Scholars
five students

Five undergraduates have received 2022 Goldwater Scholarships, awarded to sophomores or juniors planning research careers in mathematics, the natural sciences, or engineering. Penn’s newest Goldwater Scholars are (from left) juniors Joshua Chen, Allison Chou, Shriya Karam, Laila Barakat Norford, and Andrew Sontag.

Five Penn students are 2022 Goldwater Scholars

Five juniors have received 2022 Goldwater Scholarships to pursue research careers in mathematics, the natural sciences, or engineering. Penn's newest Goldwater Scholars are Joshua Chen, Allison Chou, Shriya Karam, Laila Barakat Norford, and Andrew Sontag.
A new class of materials for nanoscale patterning
Three shapes indicating nanomaterial patterns.

The researchers developed a way of alternating between “blocks” of two types of polymer with precise lengths. These “multiblock copolymers” spontaneously form layered and cylindrical structures, which could be used for nanopatterning, a way of manufacturing microscopic components. The researchers also demonstrated a “double gyroid” structure which could be used for more complicated nanopatterning templates. (Image: Penn Engineering Today)

A new class of materials for nanoscale patterning

Recent research demonstrates how a new class of polymers can produce small, precise patterns on the nanometer scale, with future implications for large-scale computer chip fabrication.

Evan Lerner

From a pandemic, scientific insights poised to impact more than just COVID-19
emulsions of oil and water separated by a layer of nanoparticles.

Bijels, or bicontinuous interfacially jammed emulsion gels, are structured emulsions of oil and water that are kept separated by a layer of nanoparticles. Penn Engineering researchers will develop a way of using them to manufacture mRNA-based therapeutics. (Image: Penn Engineering Today)

From a pandemic, scientific insights poised to impact more than just COVID-19

Pivoting to study SARS-CoV-2, many scientists on campus have launched new research projects that address the challenges of the pandemic but also prepare us to confront future challenges.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Decoding a material’s ‘memory’
particles shown as gray dots with arrows and colored lines indicating their direction of movement

A suspension of particles of different sizes during shearing experiments conducted in the lab of Paulo Arratia, with arrows indicating particle “flow” and trajectories. In a new study published in Nature Physics, researchers detail the relationship between a disordered material’s individual particle arrangement and how it reacts to external stressors. The study also found that these materials have “memory” that can be used to predict how and when they will flow. (Image: Arratia lab)

Decoding a material’s ‘memory’

A new study details the relationship between particle structure and flow in disordered materials, insights that can be used to understand systems ranging from mudslides to biofilms.

Erica K. Brockmeier

Sophie Bowe: Engineering undergrad and future ‘imagineer’
Sophie Bowe standing in front of a hand-drawn map of Penn with time stamps showing where she visits throughout the day.

A day in the life of engineering undergrad Sophie Bowe takes her all around Penn’s campus. (Image: Penn Engineering Today)

Sophie Bowe: Engineering undergrad and future ‘imagineer’

The senior in the School of Engineering and Applied Science took a natural curiosity in the mechanics of a Disney ride as a child and applies it to her current work as a teaching assistant in mechanical design and lab assistant in Penn’s Precision Machining Laboratory.

A charter bus to Chinatown
An image of the "Friendship Gate," with people walking by on a winter day

The iconic “Frienship Gate” at 10th and Arch St. marks the entrance to Philadelphia’s historic Chinatown.

A charter bus to Chinatown

Launched in 2021 by a student-led initiative, the biweekly bus service connects students with local businesses in Philadelphia’s Chinatown.

Kristina García

How to design a sail that won’t tear or melt on an interstellar voyage
Artist rendering of the Starshot Lightsail spacecraft during acceleration by a ground-based laser array.

Artist rendering of the Starshot Lightsail spacecraft during acceleration by a ground-based laser array. Previous conceptions of lightsails have imagined them being passively pushed by light from the sun, but Starshot’s laser-based approach requires rethinking the sail’s shape and composition so it won’t melt or tear during acceleration. (Image: Masumi Shibata, courtesy of Breakthrough Initiatives)

How to design a sail that won’t tear or melt on an interstellar voyage

The Breakthrough Starshot Initiative’s laser-based approach requires rethinking a sail’s shape and composition so it won’t melt or tear during acceleration and pushed by wind, not light.

Evan Lerner