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What stiffening lung tissue reveals about the earliest stages of fibrosis
Donia Ahmed prepares tissue for imaging.

Image: Courtesy of Penn Engineering Today

What stiffening lung tissue reveals about the earliest stages of fibrosis

A Penn Engineering team has targeted the lung’s extracellular matrix to better understand early fibrosis by triggering the formation of special chemical bonds that increase tissue stiffness in specific locations, mimicking the first physical changes that may lead to lung fibrosis.

Melissa Pappas

2 min. read

Joseph Francisco awarded 2025 Pauling Medal

Joseph Francisco awarded 2025 Pauling Medal

Joseph Francisco, President’s Distinguished Professor of Earth and Environmental Science, is awarded the Pauling Medal in honor of his work into the chemistry of Earth’s atmosphere by the American Chemical Society Puget Sound Section.

Guiding light towards smarter technology
Bo Zhen and He Li power a series of lasers atop a table.

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Guiding light towards smarter technology

Penn researchers developed a system that allows light to be guided through a tiny crystal, undeterred by bumps, bends, and back-reflections. Their findings pave the way for robust, controllable light-based chips, smarter routing for data links, and more stable lasers.

3 min. read

Working towards new materials for next-generation electronic devices
Researchers stand next to s microscope.

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Working towards new materials for next-generation electronic devices

A Penn team has developed insight into the chemical and geometric mechanisms underlying the synthesis of new 2D materials, paving the way for next-gen devices, biomedical applications, and cleaner, quicker energy conversion and storage.

5 min. read

Charles Kane to receive Lorentz Medal
Charles Kane

Charles Kane, Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Physics at Penn’s School of Arts & Sciences.

(Image: Brooke Sietinsons)

Charles Kane to receive Lorentz Medal

Awarded every four years by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, the medal honors Kane’s pioneering research on topological insulators.

3 min. read

Foraging patterns and preferences of local honeybees
A person in a beekeeper suit holding a panel covered in bees and honeycomb.

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Foraging patterns and preferences of local honeybees

A new Penn Vet study aims to shed light on honeybees’ foraging habits, with an eye toward aiding their survival.

From Penn Vet

4 min. read

AI uncovers new antibiotics in ancient microbes
Cesar de la Fuente in his lab.

César de la Fuente (pictured) and his team used AI to study the proteins of hundreds of ancient microbes, searching for new antibiotic candidates.

(Image: Jianing Bai)

AI uncovers new antibiotics in ancient microbes

César de la Fuente uses AI to hunt for new antibiotic candidates in unlikely places, from the DNA of extinct organisms to the proteins of ancient microbes.

Ian Scheffler

2 min. read

How to enable public policy climate solutions

How to enable public policy climate solutions

When it comes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, enhancing carbon sinks, and promoting adaptation to a changing climate, solutions abound. Implementing these solutions through policy, however, is anything but simple.

From the Environmental Innovations Initiative

2 min. read

Reshaping renewable energy education
Lorena Grundy and Ngaatendwe Manyike kneel beside a miniature wind turbine.

Third-year student in the School of Engineering and Applied Science Ngaatendwe Manyika (right) of Harare, Zimbabwe, spent the summer working with Penn Engineering’s Lorena Grundy (left) to develop a new class, the Renewable Energy Technologies Lab, coming to Penn next fall.

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Reshaping renewable energy education

Third-year mechanical engineering student Ngaatendwe Manyika spent the summer working with practice assistant professor at Penn Engineering Lorena Grundy developing a new class, the Renewable Energy Technologies Lab coming to Penn next fall.

3 min. read

Students use machine learning to track and protect whale populations
Chinmay Govind writing equations on a chalkboard.

Chinmay Govind, a rising second-year in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, writes equations on a chalkboard in his team's research space at David Rittenhouse Laboratory. For his portion of the PURM project, Govind used AI to track and map whale locations.

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Students use machine learning to track and protect whale populations

For their Penn Undergraduate Research Mentoring Program project, Chinmay Govind and Nihar Ballamudi leveraged AI to locate and census whales. The study may inform policy measures that help to improve protections for whale populations worldwide.

5 min. read