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President's Innovation Prize

Class of 2026 President’s Engagement and Innovation Prize winners announced
(Top left) Connie Ni, Darlene Leohansson, and Chloe Chang, Darlene Leohansson. (Top right) Justin Wang, Janine Haros, and Eric Lee. (Bottom left) Margaret Zhu; (bottom right) Nhlanhla Mavuso.

The recipients of the 2026 President’s Engagement and Innovation Prizes: (Top left) Connie Ni, Darlene Leohansson, and Chloe Chang. (Top right) Justin Wang, Janine Haros, and Eric Lee. (Bottom left) Margaret Zhu; (bottom right) Nhlanhla Mavuso.

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Class of 2026 President’s Engagement and Innovation Prize winners announced

Four prize-winning teams will design and implement post-graduation projects that make a positive, lasting difference here in Philadelphia and beyond.
2025 PEP, PIP, and PSP winners: Where are they now?
nirby pip prize winner working on a laptop in a field

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2025 PEP, PIP, and PSP winners: Where are they now?

Nearly a year after being awarded the 2025 President’s Engagement Prize, President’s Innovation Prize, and President’s Sustainability Prize, the recipients—now alumni—provide updates on their projects.

3 min. read

2025 President’s Innovation Prize recipient: Sync Labs
The two members of Sync Labs working on a desktop computer.

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2025 President’s Innovation Prize recipient: Sync Labs

2025 President’s Innovation Prize recipients Melanie Herbert and Alexandra Popescu are leveraging AI and privacy-focused computing to address the crisis of an aging population and overburdened health care staff.

2 min. read

The small, high-tech beanie protecting premature babies
Pamela Collins holding her baby son.

Pamela Collins holds her son, John, who is wearing the Sonura Beanie. 

 

(Image: Courtesy of Penn Medicine News)

The small, high-tech beanie protecting premature babies

The Sonura Beanie, designed by Penn Engineering alums, is calming babies in the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania’s intensive care nursery.

Alex Gardner

2 min. read

Penn students develop AI-driven solution to transform senior care
Nami Lindquist, Melanie Herbert, and Alex Popescu

Melanie Herbert (center), a fourth-year in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, created Sync Labs—an innovative AI solution that addresses caregiving in senior care. Joined by Nami Lindquist (left) of the Wharton School and Penn Engineering and Alex Popescu of Penn Engineering (right) their technology, which has earned them the 2025 President’s Innovation Prize, allows caregivers to see three times more seniors while providing more personalized care.

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Penn students develop AI-driven solution to transform senior care

Fourth-year students Melanie Herbert, Nami Lindquist, and Alexandra Popescu were awarded the President’s Innovation Prize for Sync Labs, a privacy-centered AI system to address the growing caregiving gap in senior care

8 min. read

Class of 2025 President’s Engagement, Innovation, and Sustainability Prize winners announced
Top left: Team PIXEL: Ejun Mary Hong and Jack Roney; top right: The Nourish to Flourish team: Rashmi Acharya, Imani Nkrumah Ardayfio, and Inaya Zaman; bottom left: Sync Labs: Melanie Herbert, Nami Lindquist, and Alexandra Popescu; bottom right: Piotr Lazarek for Nirby.

(Top left) Team PIXEL: Ejun Mary Hong and Jack Roney; (top right) The Nourish to Flourish team: Inaya Zaman, Rashmi Acharya, and Imani Nkrumah Ardayfio. (Bottom left) For Sync Labs, Melanie Herbert, Nami Lindquist, and Alexandra Popescu; (bottom right) Piotr Lazarek for Nirby.

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Class of 2025 President’s Engagement, Innovation, and Sustainability Prize winners announced

Four prize-winning teams will design and undertake post-graduation projects that make a positive, lasting difference in the world.

4 min. read

2024 PEP and PIP winners: Where are they now?
penn pep pip winners

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2024 PEP and PIP winners: Where are they now?

Nearly a year after being awarded the 2024 President’s Engagement Prize and President’s Innovation Prize, the recipients—now alumni—provide updates on their projects.

5 min. read

Celebrating ‘excellence and service in combination’ at PIP/PEP luncheon
pep and pip winners at luncheon

The 2024 President’s Engagement and Innovation Prize winners are (from left to right): Simran Rajpal and Gauthami Moorkanat for Educate to Empower; Catherine Hood, Brianna Aguilar, and Anooshey Ikhlas for Presby Addiction Care Program; and Rahul Nambiar and Yash Dhir of Jochi.

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Celebrating ‘excellence and service in combination’ at PIP/PEP luncheon

Seven graduating students were recognized at an annual luncheon for the President’s Engagement and Innovation prizes.
Making life easier for students with learning differences
Yash Dhir and Rahul Nambiar.

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Making life easier for students with learning differences

Fourth-year students Yash Dhir and Rahul Nambiar were awarded the President’s Innovation Prize for their web-based education management tool, Jochi, to help middle and high school students.

Louisa Shepard