STLE Scholarships Fuel Nanocoating and Nanogrease Innovations News / October 10, 2025 Two Ph.D. students in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics working with Robert Carpick, John Henry Towne Professor, have been recognized with scholarships from the Tribology and Lubrication Engineering Society (STLE). These awards recognize promising research that is driving next-generation lubrication technologies. Pezhman Palahang: Pioneering In Situ BaTiO₃ Tribocoatings L to R:... Read More
Yasaman Moharrer Defends Dissertation on How YAP & TAZ Drive Load-Induced Bone Adaptation News / October 6, 2025 Yasaman Moharrer has successfully defended her doctoral dissertation, “The Role of YAP and TAZ in Regulating Load-induced Bone Adaptation and Osteocyte Mechanosensing,” under the guidance of Joel Boerckel, Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and MEAM Graduate Group member. Moharrer’s research represents an advance in our understanding of skeletal mechanoadaptation. By combining... Read More
Gulzhan Aldan Awarded Spring 2025 Outstanding TA Award News / September 26, 2025 Gulzhan Aldan, a MEAM Ph.D. Candidate in the Bargatin Group, was awarded the Spring 2025 Outstanding Teaching Assistant (TA) Award in Mechanical Engineering in recognition of her contributions to instruction in MEAM 2030: Thermodynamics, a core course in the MEAM undergraduate curriculum. This award recognizes a graduate student whose dedication, initiative,... Read More
Gregory Campbell Defends Dissertation on Elastomeric Strain Limitation for Design of Soft Pneumatic Actuators News / July 2, 2025 Gregory Campbell has succesfully defended his doctoral dissertation, “Elastomeric Strain Limitation for Design of Soft Pneumatic Actuators” under the guidance of Mark Yim, Asa Whitney Professor of Mechanical Engineering. Campbell’s research represents an exciting step forward in the development of human-safe soft pneumatic actuators, focusing on the design, modeling, and strain-based control of... Read More
Celebrating Graduate Excellence (2025) News / May 15, 2025 At this year’s Graduate Awards Ceremony, six MEAM graduate students were celebrated for their contributions to the Penn Engineering community through service, teaching, and academics. Master’s Student Awards Nina Gao ’25 was the recipient of the School of Engineering and Applied Science’s (SEAS) Outstanding Teaching Award for significant contributions as a teaching assistant... Read More
Brian Acosta Defends Dissertation on Real-Time Locomotion Control for Bipedal Robotsosta Defends Dissertation News / May 12, 2025 Acosta defended his doctoral dissertation, “Real-Time Perception and Mixed-Integer Footstep Control for Underactuated Bipedal Walking on Rough Terrain” under the guidance of Michael Posa, Assistant Professor. Read More
Knowing When to Bend or Break: Penn Engineers Examine the Fracture Mechanics of 3D Graphene Structures News / May 7, 2025 When do materials bend and when do they break? For Ottman Tertuliano, AMA Family Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics (MEAM), this question is one he normally investigates in human bones. But in a new study with Robert Carpick, John Henry Towne Professor in MEAM, Tertuliano turns to graphene, a tough, flexible... Read More
Victoria Edwards Defends Dissertation on Multi Robot Task Assignment in Dynamic Environments News / April 29, 2025 Victoria “Torrie” Edwards has successfully defended her doctoral dissertation, “Macroscopic Ensemble Methods for Multi Robot Task Assignment in Dynamic Environments” under the guidance of M. Ani Hsieh, Associate Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics (MEAM) and Deputy Director of the General Robotics, Automation, Sensing & Perception (GRASP) Lab. Edwards’ research... Read More
John A. Goff Prize Recipients (2025) News / April 21, 2025 The annual John A. Goff Prize recognizes outstanding graduate students in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics (MEAM), chosen by faculty based on their scholarship, resourcefulness, and leadership. This year, MEAM proudly celebrates two recipients: Elizabeth “Bibit” Bianchini and Victoria “Torrie” Edwards. Bianchini is a fifth-year Ph.D. student in the Dynamic Autonomy and... Read More
Gabriel Unger Awarded Fall 2024 Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award News / April 3, 2025 Gabriel “Gabe” Unger, a MEAM PhD student working in the Sung Robotics Lab, received the Outstanding Teaching Assistant (TA) Award in Mechanical Engineering for the Fall 2024 semester in recognition of his contributions to instruction in MEAM 2100: Statics and Strength of Materials. Before celebrating the class’s success in Fall 2024,... Read More
