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Music-making and the flow of aerosols
Person playing a tuba in a dark room with a green laser shedding light on water mist

Members of The Philadelphia Orchestra, including Carol Jantsch, principal tuba player, took part in a study led by Penn scientists Paulo Arratia and Douglas Jerolmack. Their investigation examined the aerosols professional musicians generate as they play. (Image: Courtesy of Paulo Arratia)

Music-making and the flow of aerosols

If simply breathing can spread the SARS-CoV-2 virus to others nearby, what about blowing into a tuba? Researchers from the School of Engineering the School of Arts & Sciences used fluid mechanics to study the movement of aerosols generated by musicians.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Center for Engineering Mechanobiology 2.0: Developing ‘mechanointelligence’
Microscopic view of an individual cell illuminated in bright colors.

The dynamics governing mechanointelligence vary greatly along time- and length-scales, so detailed models of individual cells and their components are necessary to connect the effects of their physical environments to the downstream effects those forces have on biological processes. (Image: Penn Engineering Today)

Center for Engineering Mechanobiology 2.0: Developing ‘mechanointelligence’

The new interdisciplinary Center for Engineering Mechanobiology brings together researchers from the School of Engineering and Applied Science and the Perelman School of Medicine together with those from across campus and beyond around the concept of “mechanointelligence.”

Evan Lerner

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.
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.

Celebrating five years of innovation, entrepreneurship, and creativity
pennovation center at night

Pennovation Center has been recognized with numerous design awards and was also awarded Gold LEED status for its adaptive reuse and energy-conscious environmental design. (Image: Michael Moran/OTTO)

Celebrating five years of innovation, entrepreneurship, and creativity

Penn Today marks the anniversary of Pennovation Works, the University’s business incubator and laboratory space, with a look at the evolution of the site, its research and commercialization achievements, and a glimpse into the future.

Erica K. Brockmeier

A microscopic worm may shed light on how we perceive gravity
Micrsoscopic view of Caenorhabditis elegans, a free-living transparent nematode, about 1 mm in length

Caenorhabditis elegans, a free-living transparent roundworm, about 1 mm in length.

A microscopic worm may shed light on how we perceive gravity

C. elegans shares more than half of its genes with humans, allowing genetic studies to give insight into which genes are responsible for similar traits in humans, such as pinpointing molecular pathways responsible for gravitaxis, the ability to move in response to gravity.

From Penn Engineering Today

Packaging-free design quadruples microbatteries’ energy density
Dandelion head for scale with a tiny microbattery resting on top of it.

Weighing about as much as two grains of rice but with the energy density of a much larger, heavier battery, the researchers’ packing-free design could enable a host of otherwise impossible electronics. (Image: Penn Engineering Today)

Packaging-free design quadruples microbatteries’ energy density

New research from the School of Engineering and Applied Science shows a new way to build and package microbatteries that maximizes energy density even at the smallest sizes.

Evan Lerner

Simulation of glacial calving and tsunami waves predicts climate change consequences
Computer simulation of a sheet of glacial ice breaking apart.

The researchers’ model is capable of accurately describing glacial calving and resulting tsunami waves. (Image: Penn Engineering Today)

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.

From Penn Engineering Today

‘I Look Like an Engineer’
clockwise) Nyasha Zimunhu, Fahmida Lubna, Celestina Saven, Sanjana Hemdev, Sabrina Green and Sydney Kariuki

Penn Engineering students (clockwise) Nyasha Zimunhu, Fahmida Lubna, Celestina Saven, Sanjana Hemdev, Sabrina Green and Sydney Kariuki all participated in the “I Look Like an Engineer” campaign, locally organized by AWE. (Image: Penn Engineering Today)

‘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.

From Penn Engineering Today