Self-Reflected: Bringing the Conscious Brain to Life
If you’re lucky enough to wander into the Your Brain exhibit at The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, you’re in for a mesmerizing treat — a portrait of the brain, ironically, as it views a work of art. The stunning display, appropriately called Self Reflected, depicts a thin slice of the human brain scaled up by a factor […]
Vivek Shenoy: Mathematical Models for the Mechanical Body
While they can seem imperfect on the surface, our bodies are in fact finely tuned machines. Joint surfaces glide effortlessly across one another. Tendons and muscles work together to control our movements, letting us run laps, hold conversations, scarf down cheesesteaks and play piano. This complex collection of biological levers, springs and pulleys is enough […]
Inventing the Interconnected Future
Anesthesiologists carefully monitor an infant during surgery to assure she receives a steady flow of oxygen. Yet should anything go awry, by the time the pulse oximeter on her finger indicates a falling oxygen level, she may already be in danger. To develop a more protective earlier warning system, engineers with Penn Research in Embedded […]
Play Hard, Work Harder: Taking it to the Edge on the Court and in the Classroom
From mid-August to late November, even as they face down the inevitable intellectual challenges of a new academic year, the women of Penn Volleyball practice their sport three hours a day, four days a week. Add to this their all-important Division I competitions, with many players spending additional hours on the road traveling to games […]
Engineers As Artists
If Penn students were asked in a random campus survey to describe their individual skillsets and learning styles as either “left brain” (analytical, qualitative) or “right brain” (artistic, intuitive), the majority would most likely answer by naming one cerebral hemisphere or the other. An exceptional and talented few would be able to reply, “both.”
Karen Winey: At the Helm of Materials Science
To excel in materials science research, you need curiosity about the microscopic building blocks of matter, and the creativity to design radical new properties on which to build the next technologies. Fortuitously, Karen Winey, TowerBrook Foundation Faculty Fellow in Penn Engineering’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE), has a long-proven career in doing both. […]
On and Off the Mat With Scholar-Athlete Mike Steltenkamp
“Once you have wrestled, everything else in life is easy,” or so said legendary Olympic gold medalist and Iowa University wrestling coach, Dan Gable. Does this include working toward a degree in Mechanical Engineering at Penn? Mike Steltenkamp, a Penn Engineering senior and Penn wrestler, recently considered the quote and found a good deal of […]
Teaching Discovery Through Smart Experimentation
John Crocker studies “squishy stuff.” A researcher at the nexus of soft-matter physics and cell biology, Crocker employs various methods to develop new materials, to determine how soft (or squishy) a material is, and in the case of living cells, to learn how they determine the squishiness of their own surroundings. As an associate professor […]
Soul of Invention: Brian Litt’s Quest to Bring Moore’s Law to Therapeutic Devices
Though his work promises to transform medical care for the brain and heart, Brian Litt is motivated by a less scientific realm: his soul. Memories of patients with epilepsy whose lives were tragically altered by uncontrollable and unpredictable seizures drive Litt’s determination to find new therapeutics. Recalling, for example, the mother who drowned in the […]