A Call to Action

At Penn Engineering, we are writing the next chapter of a story that stretches from the dawn of the digital age to the era of artificial intelligence. This is a pivotal moment, not just for our School, but for society, and we are leveraging this opportunity to build the kind of engineering school the world will need for the age of AI and beyond.

Penn Engineering 2030, our new strategic plan, provides the outline for this new chapter. It reflects both our deep scientific expertise and our commitment to preparing engineers who can lead in a rapidly changing world. I encourage you to learn more about our plan, which will form the basis of our faculty’s scientific breakthroughs, our student excellence and the creation of leading-edge facilities that will empower discovery for decades to come.

It is my hope that this plan will also be informed by the experiences and insights of our alumni and partners across the globe: Your voices are essential in helping us understand what society needs from its engineers.

The pages that follow also show the breadth of our impact, reflected in stories like that of alumna Kristin Houston (ENG’01), whose leadership exemplifies how Penn Engineers bring innovation to industry. Our commitment to teaching for sustainability, shown in the work of Lorena Grundy, and producing tomorrow’s entrepreneurial leaders through programs like the Widjaja Fellows, demonstrate how we are aligning engineering education with society’s needs.

Philanthropy remains the foundation that allows us to take bold steps. Each time we embark on something new, roughly half the funding comes from philanthropic investment. In a time of funding uncertainty, that support has never been more vital. To this end, I’m delighted to welcome Vanessa White, our new Vice Dean of Development and Alumni Relations, to Penn Engineering. Vanessa will build upon the excellent foundation created by Ellie Davis, who celebrated her retirement earlier this year after 20 years with the School.

As we embark on this new era together, we can ensure that Penn Engineering continues to be the place where vision meets reality, and where engineers build a future that delivers on the promise of technological innovation for all.

Vijay Kumar
Nemirovsky Family Dean