School of Engineering & Applied Science

Person wearing a virtual reality headset looks to the side, standing next to a statue facing the same direction

Immersive stories to spur action on climate

Organized by the Penn Program in Environmental Humanities (PPEH), a two-day festival, “Environmental Storytelling and Virtual Reality” begins Friday, and will explore how virtual reality and other immersive storytelling might inspire action on climate change.

President Amy Gutmann, alum Harlan M. Stone, and Penn Engineering Nemirovsky Family Dean Vijay Kumar (left to right) at the gift agreement signing to support the construction of a new Data Science Building. Photo by Eric Sucar, University Communications.

University of Pennsylvania receives $25 million gift to create data science building

The largest gift in Penn Engineering’s history—a $25 million commitment from alumnus Harlan M. Stone to support the construction of a new Data Science Building—will serve as a hub for cross-disciplinary collaborations that harness expertise, research, and data across Penn’s 12 schools and numerous academic centers.

A figure stands at the entrance of a large human-scale maze, indicating memory and spatial navigation

Memory recall and spatial navigation elicit similar electrical activity in brain

Penn neuroscientists show for the first time that low-frequency oscillations called theta waves appear in both cases, a finding that could eventually help diminish memory loss.

michael kearns and aaron roth sitting at a table in front of a chalk board

To improve algorithms, embed human principles into code

“The Ethical Algorithm” describes how algorithms can inadvertently share private information or perpetuate racial and gender biases, and offers principled solutions that can help researchers design the next generation of socially-aware algorithms.

Three students stand next to a poster entitled "Cleaning Up Philly's Streets" which describes their project

Helping Philadelphia tackle trash with technology

Last fall, a team of undergraduates developed a high-tech solution to help the city target one of its persistent problems: the illegal dumping of construction and trash debris.

rendering of an antibody about to go through the membrane of a cell

An easier way of sneaking antibodies into cells

Penn Engineers have found a plug-and-play solution that makes antibodies compatible with the delivery vehicles commonly used to ferry nucleic acids through the membrane of a cell without damaging either.

a legged robot walks down a mine past a dummy wearing a yellow vest and a red backpack that is hanging from a metal fence nearby

Robots to the rescue

Penn researchers created a fleet of robots to navigate unknown underground environments as part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Subterranean Challenge.

After President’s Innovation Prize, InstaHub has even more spark

Since earning the award in April, Michael Wong hasn’t looked back. Each day he’s growing his startup to promote a greener tomorrow.

Engineers solve the paradox of why tissue gets stiffer when compressed

Tissue gets stiffer when it’s compressed. That stiffening response is a long-standing biomedical paradox, as common sense dictates that when you push the ends of a string together, it loosens tension, rather than increasing it. New research explains the mechanical interplay between that fiber network and the cells it contains.

a person sitting at a microscope looking at a computer screen surrounded by pipet boxes, chemicals, and cabinetry

From the classroom to the lab and back again

Senior Adithya Sriram is busy earning two degrees, researching new applications for graphene, and preparing physics courses for students in West Philadelphia.

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