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Chemical Engineering

New class of materials passively harvest water from air
A water droplet reflecting the color spectrum.

Image: MamiGibbs via Getty Images

New class of materials passively harvest water from air

Researchers at Penn Engineering have discovered a new class of nanostructured materials that can pull water from the air, which could enable new ways to collect water in arid regions and devices that cool electronics or buildings using the power of evaporation.

Melissa Pappas

2 min. read

Scientists unlock frogs’ antibacterial secrets to combat superbugs
A tree frog in Thailand.

The researchers theorized that frogs must have developed antibiotics to survive in their challenging environment.

Image: Michael Edward via Getty Images

Scientists unlock frogs’ antibacterial secrets to combat superbugs

The lab of César de la Fuente has created synthetic peptides, a class of antibiotics, derived from the secretions of a frog commonly found in South Asia.

Ian Scheffler

2 min. read

New quantum sensing technology reveals subatomic signals
The minute nucleic differences detectable using the form of nuclear quadrupolar resonance.

A rendering of the minute nucleic differences detectable using the form of nuclear quadrupolar resonance.

(Image: Mathieu Ouellet)

New quantum sensing technology reveals subatomic signals

Penn Engineers have created a novel approach to detect tiny variations in individual atoms, enabling protein research in drug development.

Ian Scheffler

Preparing the next generation of engineers to solve the world’s energy and sustainability problems
Lorena Grundy “Teaching with impact”

Lorena Grundy is Penn Engineering’s new practice assistant professor in chemical and biomolecular engineering.

(Image: Courtesy of Penn Engineering Today)

Preparing the next generation of engineers to solve the world’s energy and sustainability problems

Lorena Grundy is Penn Engineering’s new practice assistant professor in chemical and biomolecular engineering.

Melissa Pappas

A climate expert’s return to Penn
Portrait of Jen Wilcox

Jen Wilcox has returned to the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the Stuart Weitzman School of Design and to the School of Engineering and Applied Science following three years in at the U.S. Department of Energy, where she served in the Biden Administration as the principal deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management.

(Image: Courtesy of Jen Wilcox)

A climate expert’s return to Penn

Jen Wilcox, an expert on direct-air capture, is the inaugural faculty appointment in the Kleinman Center and served for three years as principal deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Fossil Energy in the U.S. Department of Energy. She discusses her time away and her return to Penn.
Soft materials, sustainability, and the environment
Chinedum Osuji.

Chinedum Osuji, a faculty fellow of the Environmental Innovations Initiative and the Eduardo D. Glandt Chair and a professor in the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

(Image: Courtesy of Environmental Innovations Initiative)

Soft materials, sustainability, and the environment

Chinedum Osuji, a faculty fellow of the Environmental Innovations Initiative, discusses his research and its connections to sustainability and the environment, and how industry and researchers can work better together.

From the Environmental Innovations Initiative