Artificial Versus Real Grass: How the Difference Changes the Game

News / June 11, 2026

In conversation with Penn Today, Paulo Arratia discusses what separates natural grass from synthetic turf, and, ultimately, why that difference matters to players and fans.

Dancing Through Life: From Origami Robotics to Sculptural Art

News / June 2, 2026

An artist-in-residence collaboration between Penn’s Sung Robotics Lab and The Arts League of Philadelphia shows how origami-inspired robotics can transform contemporary art, resulting in kinetic sculptures that blur the boundaries between engineering, creativity, and public engagement.

Ottman Tertuliano Named 2026 CIFAR Global Scholar

News / May 21, 2026

The 2026 CIFAR Global Scholars program is an international initiative that supports early-career researchers pursuing interdisciplinary, high-impact research.

When Bone Behaves Like a Sponge: A New Platform for Observing How Cells Feel Force

News / March 2, 2026

Penn engineers developed a nanoengineered, 3D-printed scaffold that recreates the complex forces experienced inside bone, giving researchers a new way to observe how living cells respond to mechanical stress.

Shujie Yang Harnesses Sound to Build Microrobotic Medicine

News / March 2, 2026

Assistant Professor Shujie Yang is pioneering ultrasound-powered microrobotic tools that can manipulate cells without physical contact, advancing new approaches to disease diagnostics, immune system research and highly targeted cancer therapies.

Powering AI from Space, at Scale

News / January 29, 2026

Penn Engineers have proposed a scalable, solar-powered orbital data center design that passively maintains orientation using tethers and sunlight, offering a feasible path to meet growing AI computing demands while reducing the environmental impact of terrestrial data centers.

Why are Icy Surfaces Slippery?

News / January 28, 2026

Robert W. Carpick joins Science Friday host Ira Flatow to explain why ice is slippery, drawing on his research in tribology, the study of friction and surface interactions.

Douglas Jerolmack Elected American Physical Society Fellow

News / January 8, 2026

Jerolmack is recognized for pioneering investigations into the universal behaviors governing the formation, failure, and flow of soft earth materials, and for outstanding leadership in building a soft earth geophysics community.

An individual in a button-up short sleeve, smiling at the camera with greenery in the background.

Nadia Figueroa Receives 2025 CAREER Award

News / January 8, 2026

Her award-winning project, “Constraint-Aware Estimation, Learning and Control for Fluid Physical Human-Robot Collaboration,” aims to fundamentally expand how robots sense, predict and physically interact with people in dynamic, real-world environments.

Haim H. Bau Named 2025 National Academy of Inventors Fellow

News / December 12, 2025

With more than 2,000 Fellows across over 300 universities and research institutes worldwide, the NAI community collectively holds tens of thousands of issued U.S. patents, which have enabled thousands of licensed technologies and companies and created millions of jobs. The NAI Fellows Program recognizes academic inventors whose work has led to outstanding...