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 […]
Living in a Material World
On Feb. 3, hundreds of elementary and middle-school aged students and their families gathered around tables for hands-on demonstrations and workshops with themes ranging from “bouncy balls and borax” to “muggle magic.” The demonstrations were part of the eighth annual Philly Materials Science and Engineering Day, a daylong festival hosted this year by Penn’s Laboratory […]
Shu Yang Named 2018 American Chemical Society Division of Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering Fellow
The American Chemical Society Division of Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering (PMSE) has selected a new class of PMSE Fellows for 2018. The following distinguished PMSE members have been chosen:
Penn Engineering Research Gives Optical Switches the ‘Contrast’ of Electronic Transistors
Current computer systems represent bits of information — the 1’s and 0’s of binary code — with electricity. Circuit elements, such as transistors, operate on these electric signals, producing outputs that are dependent on their inputs. As fast and powerful as computers have become, Ritesh Agarwal, professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in the University of […]
Nadia Krook: Building Opportunities for the Future
Nadia Krook is a fourth-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and is co-advised by professors Russell Composto and Christopher Murray. She is part of a wide-ranging research project to develop materials for multifunctional coatings on emergency tents. The goal: enabling the tents to manage water, prevent the spread of bacteria […]
Y-Prize Startup VisiPlate is Opening Eyes and Attracting Funding
VisiPlate, a nanotechnology-based medical device for glaucoma patients, got its start as the winner of the 2017 Y-Prize. The competition tasks students with transforming early-stage Penn Engineering technologies into viable businesses. Team VisiPlate selected the nanoscopically thin plates developed by Igor Bargatin, Class of 1965 Term Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, and […]
Penn Researchers Establish Universal Signature Fundamental to How Glassy Materials Fail
Dropping a smartphone on its glass screen, which is made of atoms jammed together with no discernible order, could result in it shattering. Unlike metals and other crystalline materials, glass and many other disordered solids cannot be deformed significantly before failing and, because of their lack of crystalline order, it is difficult to predict which […]
Penn Researchers Working to Mimic Giant Clams to Enhance the Production of Biofuel
Alison Sweeney of the University of Pennsylvania has been studying giant clams since she was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Sweeney, an assistant professor of physics in the Penn School of Arts and Sciences, and her collaborator Shu Yang, a professor of materials science and engineering in the School of […]
Penn Collaboration Produces Surprising Insights Into the White Spots on Butterfly Wings
A collaboration between biologists and materials scientists at the University of Pennsylvania is yielding new insights into the wings of the “skipper butterfly” in the Costa Rican rainforest. What they learn could lead to technological advancements in systems ranging from power-efficient computer displays to sensors to energy efficient buildings, windows and vehicles.
Shu Yang Elected Royal Society of Chemistry Fellow
Shu Yang, Ph.D., Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, has been admitted as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), a professional society based in the United Kingdom with over 50,000 members worldwide. Founded in 1841, RSC is the largest organization in Europe for advancing the chemical sciences. […]