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UPENN.Edu

The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1740, it is one of the nine colonial colleges founded prior to the Declaration of Independence and the first institution of higher learning in the United States to refer to itself as a university. Benjamin Franklin, Penn's founder and first president, advocated an educational program that trained leaders in commerce, government, and public service, similar to a modern liberal arts curriculum. The university has four undergraduate schools as well as twelve graduate and professional schools. Among the university's professional and graduate schools are the first school of medicine in North America (Perelman School of Medicine, 1765), the first collegiate business school (Wharton School, 1881) and the first "student union" building and organization (Houston Hall, 1896). In 2018, the university had an endowment of $13.8 billion, the seventh largest endowment of all colleges in the United States, as well as an academic research budget of $966 million.

SCALAR: A microchip designed to transform the production of mRNA therapeutics and vaccines

“Researchers from Penn have developed a scalable microfluidics platform that could transform RNA therapeutic and vaccine production. Following the global COVID-19 pandemic, the development and rapid deployment of mRNA vaccines highlighted the critical role of lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) in …

A Ferroelectric Transistor That Stores and Computes at Scale

“The Big Data revolution has strained the capabilities of state-of-the-art electronic hardware, challenging engineers to rethink almost every aspect of the microchip. With ever more enormous data sets to store, search and analyze at increasing levels of complexity, these devices …

Lithography-Free Photonic Chip Offers Speed and Accuracy for Artificial Intelligence

“Photonic chips have revolutionized data-heavy technologies. On their own or in concert with traditional electronic circuits, these laser-powered devices send and process information at the speed of light, making them a promising solution for artificial intelligence’s data-hungry applications. In …

Microlaser Chip Adds New Dimensions to Quantum Communication

“Researchers at Penn Engineering have created a chip that outstrips the security and robustness of existing quantum communications hardware. Their technology communicates in “qudits,” doubling the quantum information space of any previous on-chip laser. Liang Feng, Professor in the Departments …

A robot made of sticks

“Devin Carroll, a doctoral candidate in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, is designing a modular robot called StickBot, which may be adapted for rehabilitation use in global public health settings. In late summer, just as the leaves were …

Penn Engineers Create Chip That Can Process and Classify Nearly Two Billion Images per Second

“Artificial intelligence (AI) plays an important role in many systems, from predictive text to medical diagnoses. Inspired by the human brain, many AI systems are implemented based on artificial neural networks, where electrical equivalents of biological neurons are interconnected, trained …

Uncovering unexpected properties in a complex quantum material

“Using a novel technique developed at Penn, researchers gained new insights into the properties of a proposed excitonic insulator known as Ta2NiSe5, with implications for future quantum devices. Anew study describes previously unexpected properties in a complex quantum material known …

New atomically-thin material could improve efficiency of light-based tech

“Solar panels, cameras, biosensors and fiber optics are technologies that rely on photodetectors, or sensors that convert light into electricity. Photodetectors are becoming more efficient and affordable, with their component semiconductor chips decreasing in size. However, this miniaturization is pushing …

Growing ‘Metallic Wood’ to New Heights

“Natural wood remains a ubiquitous building material because of its high strength-to-density ratio; trees are strong enough to grow hundreds of feet tall but remain light enough to float down a river after being logged. For the past three years …

New strategies for designing electroluminescent materials

“A collaborative team of materials scientists and theoretical chemists provide hybrid perovskite nanoparticles that are high-efficiency light emitters by using a comprehensive defect-suppression strategy. New research details how a class of electroluminescent materials, key components of devices such as LED …