Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics

The Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics undergraduate curriculum gives our students hands-on, real world lab work in addition to a strong background in theoretical knowledge. The addition of interactive, design-centered assignments is creating educational experiences that are preparing Penn’s mechanical engineers for the problems they will solve in industry and research.

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Featured News

Penn Electric Racing Unveils New REV7 Racecar Despite Pandemic Setbacks

After a two-year hiatus, Penn Electric Racing – the University of Pennsylvania’s Formula Society of Automotive Engineers (FSAE) racecar-building team – has unveiled their latest creation: the REV7. The team, who has earned 39 trophies during their eight years of competing, is slated to bring the REV7 to this year’s FSAE Michigan competition in Brooklyn, Michigan in May. READ MORE 

Ossum Technologies Wins 2022 Y-Prize with Tool for Stabilizing Fractures

This year’s winning team was Ossum Technologies, composed of Ananya Dewan, Hoang Le, Shiva Teerdhala, all students in the Vagelos Life Sciences and Management Program, Bioengineering major Karan Shah and Savan Patel, a student in the Jerome Fisher Program for Management & Technology. The team utilized the steerable needle technology developed by Mark Yim, Asa Whitney Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, and colleagues. Yim’s device is a flexible needle that can be guided through soft materials with simple handheld controls, enabling users to pinpoint hard-to-reach areas that might otherwise require more complicated tools or robotic assistance. READ MORE

How to Design a Sail that Won’t Tear or Melt on an Interstellar Voyage

Astronomers have been waiting decades for the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, which promises to peer farther into space than ever before. But if humans want to actually reach our nearest stellar neighbor, they will need to wait quite a bit longer: a probe sent to Alpha Centauri with a rocket would need roughly 80,000 years to make the trip. Igor Bargatin, Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, is trying to solve this futuristic problem with ideas taken from one of humanity’s oldest transportation technologies: the sail. READ MORE

MEAM News

Tiny Swimming Robots Can Restructure Materials on a Microscopic Level

11.16.2022 | Read More

Physics of Disaster: How Mudslides Move

11.02.2022 | Read More

Toothbrushing Microbots on Walter Isaacson’s ‘Trailblazers’ Podcast

10.26.2022 | Read More

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MEAM Events

MEAM Seminar: “The Challenges and Opportunities of Battery-Powered Flight”

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PICS Seminar: “A Non-local Plasticity Model for Porous Metals with Deformation-induced Anisotropy: Mathematical and Computational Issues”

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MEAM Seminar: “Nonlinear Mechanical Behavior of Kirigami-inspired Architected Materials”

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Announcement

Maddie Magee Award for Undergraduate Excellence

The Penn Engineering community is heartbroken by the unexpected passing of Madison “Maddie” N. Magee (MEAM BS '21, BE MS '21) on May 28, 2022. Maddie was full of life and promise and brought unmatched enthusiasm and energy to everything she did. She carved her own path as a student at Penn and had a profound and lasting impact on many students, faculty, and staff. To remember and celebrate Maddie, we are establishing the Maddie Magee Award for Undergraduate Excellence. The award will be given annually to a Penn Engineering senior who best exemplifies the energy, enthusiasm, and excellence that was Maddie. The size and term of the award will depend on the contributions received. Our goal is to raise sufficient funds to permanently endow the award.

Update: We are happy to share with you that as of mid-September, we have successfully raised $42,229 for the award. If we are able to reach $50,000, we can endow the Maddie Magee Award in perpetuity. Please help us reach this goal!

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Penn Engineering COVID-19 Information

Visit this page to get information for visitors, students, faculty and staff related to Penn Engineering's response to the coronavirus pandemic.

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MEAM Department Newsletter | November 2022

Visit this page to read the November 2022 Edition of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics Newsletter. This month highlights the Y-Prize, faculty and student awards, and a new publication.

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Welcome!

Welcome to Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics (MEAM) at Penn! We are a vibrant, dynamic, diverse, and interactive community. We focus on our high-caliber undergraduate and graduate programs, which combine rigorous education in the fundamentals with hands-on projects and research into novel problems and advanced applications.


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