Artificial Versus Real Grass: How the Difference Changes the Game News / June 11, 2026 As the summer sports season comes into full swing this month, millions of fans worldwide will spend time seeing green. From stadium seats to living room couches, fans will watch their favorite players run, cut, slide, and land on blades of grass. “But not all grass is created equal,” says... Read More
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. Read More
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. Read More
Why are Icy Surfaces Slippery? News / January 29, 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. Read More
Cynthia Sung On How We Can Increase Girls’ Participation in Engineering and Robotics News / June 4, 2024 Despite the growing importance of engineering and robotics in shaping our future, women remain significantly underrepresented in these fields. This series aims to explore and address the barriers that discourage girls from pursuing careers in engineering and robotics. We are talking to educators, industry leaders, pioneering women engineers, and robotics... Read More
Carpick Research Group Contributes to Pixelligent Success Story News / May 20, 2024 Penn Engineering faculty bring the spirit of entrepreneurship to life through their collaborations in a wide range of startups, products and external partnerships each year. The research group led by Rob Carpick, John Henry Towne Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics and in Material Science and Engineering, has long-supported the... Read More
Teaching Doglike Robots to Walk on the Moon’s Dusty, Icy Surface News / April 18, 2024 At an elevation of around 6,000 feet near Mount Hood, located roughly 70 miles east of Portland, an interdisciplinary team comprising members from the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California, Texas A&M University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Oregon State University, Temple University, and NASA, embarked on a field mission. The group of engineers, cognitive... Read More
Understanding the Northeast Earthquake News / April 8, 2024 Last week, people in the Northeast, including many at Penn, experienced an unusual disruption to their day as the ground beneath and walls around started to shake for about half a minute. The magnitude 4.8 earthquake was, for some, a once in a lifetime occurrence. Centered in New Jersey, the... Read More
At Ben Talks NYC, A Journey from Ocean Depths to Outer Space News / March 5, 2024 On a brisk night in January overlooking the skating rink in New York’s Bryant Park, alumni took a journey from the depths of the sea to the outer reaches of space, as part of the annual Ben Talks NYC, a series that began nearly a decade ago. This year’s event... Read More
Engineering the Future of Farming News / January 10, 2024 Over the next 25 years, the world’s population, currently hovering around 7.8 billion, is expected to grow by nearly 25% to 9.7 billion people. This means that existing global problems such as food, energy and water security are only going to become more acute. “Just consider water alone. Agriculture accounts... Read More
