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In school and in practice, mass timber gains ground

In school and in practice, mass timber gains ground

Weitzman School of Design faculty and alumni are helping to update building code guidelines to highlight the safety and sustainability of mass timber over steel and concrete as go-to building materials in cities around the world.

Turning peels into pavers: How Penn designers turn food scraps into biodegradable building materials
Two students working with biodegradable food waste specimens.

At the DumoLab, research associate Yasaman Amirzehni is working to develop a biocomposite suitable for indoor and outdoor cladding applications, which could eventually serve as true structural components like load-bearing columns.

nocred

Turning peels into pavers: How Penn designers turn food scraps into biodegradable building materials

The Weitzman School’s Laia Mogas-Soldevila and Yasaman Amirzehni transform unavoidable food waste—like fruit peels and eggshells, which account for 14.8% of post-consumer restaurant food waste—into durable, biodegradable building materials in collaboration with Penn Dining.

4 min. read

Major renovation of historic College Hall results in LEED Gold Certification

Major renovation of historic College Hall results in LEED Gold Certification

College Hall, the first building constructed on Penn’s West Philadelphia campus in 1871, earned high marks for sustainability through a combination of energy‑saving systems, waste reduction, and healthy interior design following the completion of its renovation in 2025.

Solar solutions for farmers in The Gambia
A group photo in front of a borehole drilling machine at Alna Farms in Gambia.

Students visited Alna Farms and posed for a picture in front of a borehole drilling machine.

nocred

Solar solutions for farmers in The Gambia

For students in Engineers Without Borders at Penn, collaborating with Gambian farmers to design an irrigation system is a way to both address food insecurity in the smallest country in mainland Africa and apply their knowledge from the classroom in the real world.

4 min. read

Green Lab’s Freezer Inventory Project: Turning a ripple of change into a wave
Srishti Jainapur recording the temperature on a freezer.

2025 graduate Srishti Jainapur recording the temperature on a freezer.

(Image: Courtesy of Penn Climate)

Green Lab’s Freezer Inventory Project: Turning a ripple of change into a wave

The Freezer Inventory Project, launched in late 2023, aims to improve the efficiency of a major energy strain: ultra-low temperature freezers.

From Penn Climate

2 min. read

Weighing sustainability of real vs. fake Christmas trees
A person putting ornaments on an artificial Christmas tree.

Image: Dmytro Betsenko via Getty Images

Weighing sustainability of real vs. fake Christmas trees

Engineering professor Lorena Grundy says people looking to make a sustainable decision should consider how many years they would use an artificial tree, how they plan to dispose of a real tree, and how the tree was transported.

2 min. read

Penn Engineering launches new master’s in energy and sustainability

Penn Engineering launches new master’s in energy and sustainability

In December, Penn Engineering launched Master of Science in Engineering in Energy and Sustainability, a new graduate program designed to prepare engineers to lead the transition toward a more sustainable, resilient, and equitable energy future.