11/15
Science & Technology
At Weiss Tech House, a race from idea to prototype in one semester
At Weiss Tech House, a race from idea to prototype in one semester
The student-run incubator hosted its first hardware accelerator this spring, offering cash, mentoring, and access to specialized equipment to four teams.
Cohort of PIP/PEP winners celebrate at luncheon
Cohort of PIP/PEP winners celebrate at luncheon
Nine students received handcrafted certificates at the annual luncheon, held May 3, that recognizes the work of graduating seniors awarded the President’s Engagement and Innovation prizes.
Two Penn faculty elected to the National Academy of Sciences
Two Penn faculty elected to the National Academy of Sciences
Eugene Mele of the School of Arts and Sciences and Nancy Speck of the Perelman School of Medicine are welcomed into the Academy for their “distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.”
Applying machine learning to materials science
Applying machine learning to materials science
Machine learning and artificial intelligence are applied to an increasing number of tasks, But using machine learning in materials science, which attempts to design and make materials for use in future technologies, has proven to be more difficult.
Four Penn undergraduates receive Goldwater Scholarships
Four Penn undergraduates receive Goldwater Scholarships
Four Penn undergraduates have been awarded Goldwater Scholarships to pursue research careers in mathematics, the natural sciences, or engineering. Sophomore Chloe Cho and juniors Lauren Duhamel, Srinivas Mandyam and Abigail Poteshman.
Lightbulb moment: A snap-on solution for energy conservation
Lightbulb moment: A snap-on solution for energy conservation
Senior Wharton student Michael Wong won a President’s Innovation Prize for his startup InstaHub.
Making sense of string theory
Making sense of string theory
A Q&A with theoretical physicists Mirjam Cvetic and Ling Lin about what string theory is and how their recent discovery of a “quadrillion solutions” might change the course of the field.
An army of microrobots can wipe out dental plaque
An army of microrobots can wipe out dental plaque
A swarm of microrobots, directed by magnets, can break apart and remove dental biofilm, or plaque, from a tooth, thanks to a partnership led by Dental Medicine’s Hyun (Michel) Koo and Engineering’s Edward Steager.
Philadelphia: The new city of science
Philadelphia: The new city of science
Penn researchers will be involved in a weeklong series of interactive activities and events across the city as part of the Philadelphia Science Festival.
Expanding opportunities to leverage science in the clinic
Expanding opportunities to leverage science in the clinic
Patricia Corby, who recently joined the School of Dental Medicine as associate dean for translational research, is bringing her research to bear for cancer patients undergoing radiation, while looking to advance clinical research School-wide.
In the News
Scientific American
Grumpy voters want better stories. Not statistics
In a Q&A, PIK Professor Duncan Watts says that U.S. voters ignored Democratic policy in favor of Republican storytelling.
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WHYY (Philadelphia)
Climate policy under a second Trump presidency
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences discusses how much a president can do or undo when it comes to environmental policy.
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Interesting Engineering
Superhuman vision lets robots see through walls, smoke with new LiDAR-like eyes
Mingmin Zhao of the School of Engineering and Applied Science and colleagues are using radio signals to allow robots to “see” beyond traditional sensor limits.
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Technical.ly Philly
A sneak peek inside Penn Engineering’s new $137.5M mass timber building
Amy Gutmann Hall aims to be Philadelphia’s next big hub for AI and innovation while setting a new standard for architectural sustainability.
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Salon.com
Exxon CEO wants Trump to stay in Paris climate accord
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences voices his concern about the possibility that the U.S. could become a petrostate.
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Associated Press
Amid Earth’s heat records, scientists report another bump upward in annual carbon emissions
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences says that total carbon emissions including fossil fuel pollution and land use changes such as deforestation are basically flat because land emissions are declining.
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The Wall Street Journal
How can we remove carbon from the air? Here are a few ideas
Jennifer Wilcox of the School of Engineering and Applied Science and Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the Weitzman School of Design says that the carbon-removal potential of forestation can’t always be reliably measured in terms of how much removal and for how long.
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Associated Press
California air regulators approve changes to climate program that could raise gas prices
Danny Cullenward of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the Weitzman School of Design says that many things being credited in California’s new climate program don’t help the climate.
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Times of India
Self shocks turn crystal to glass at ultralow power density: Study
A collaborative study by researchers from the School of Engineering and Applied Science has shed new light on amorphization, the transition from a crystalline to a glassy state at the nanoscale.
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Interesting Engineering
U.S. achieves billion-fold power-saving semiconductor tech; could challenge China
A collaborative effort by Ritesh Agarwal of the School of Engineering and Applied Science and colleagues has made phase-change memory more energy efficient and could unlock a future revolution in data storage.
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