From Senior Design to Startup: Orble Brings Boba to Towne News / April 6, 2026 Late nights in Towne just got a little sweeter. Orble, a student-founded startup that began as a 2023 senior design project, has launched its first boba tea vending machine on Penn’s campus in the Towne building. What started as a classroom idea has evolved into a fully operational pilot, bringing... Read More
Pedaling Toward a Sustainable Future News / November 12, 2025 A popular course taught by Dustyn Roberts, Practice Associate Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics (MEAM), is garnering attention for its innovative approach to teaching engineering through the lens of sustainability. Roberts and her course, Bicycles: The Mechanical Advantage, were recently featured in PRISM, a members only publication of the American Society... Read More
McBride and Wei Named Environmental Innovations Initiative Faculty Fellows News / July 31, 2025 Two Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics (MEAM) faculty — Samantha McBride, William K. Gemmill Term Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and Nathan Wei, Assistant Professor — have been named Environmental Innovations Initiative (EII) faculty fellows. They join the Initiative’s second cohort for a two-year term focused on tackling the climate, biodiversity, and pollution crises... Read More
Restoring the Historic Springfield Mills News / March 20, 2025 MEAM technicians are restoring Springfield Mills by reviving its original power system, replacing a faulty electric motor with a sophisticated sprocket and chain design to preserve the mill's historical functionality. Read More
Stentix Wins 2025 Y-Prize Competition News / February 26, 2025 This year’s Y-Prize competition winner is an ambitious team of undergraduates aiming to bring Penn-developed technology to patients suffering with bile duct obstructions. Their proposed product, Stentix, has been awarded $10,000 to get this work off the ground with preliminary research and prototype design throughout the next five years. The Y-Prize, a... Read More
Penn Researchers Discuss Their Solutions to the Climate Crisis News / October 21, 2024 As society grapples with the impacts of a worsening climate—from the increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events to rising sea levels and deadly heat waves—the need for actionable solutions has never been greater, Penn researchers say. At a Climate Week event, Penn’s Climate Solutions Showcase, faculty and researchers from the School... Read More
Y-Prize Technologies 2024-25 News / September 24, 2024 The Y-Prize Competition kicked off on Monday, September 23, offering students the chance to transform Penn Engineering innovations into business ideas—and compete for a $10,000 prize. This year’s competition includes two technologies from Penn’s Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics (MEAM). This Year’s Technologies MORF: Magnetic Origami Reprogramming and... Read More
Penn4C Announces Awardees for Community-led Partnership Grant News / February 29, 2024 The Penn Community Collaboratory for Co-Creation (Penn4C), an initiative led jointly by the Welcome to Penn Nursing (upenn.edu) (Penn Nursing) and the School of Engineering and Applied Science (Penn Engineering), has awarded funding to five new research projects that address social justice through designing and implementing solutions to improve health, well-being and safety. In... Read More
