The Vagelos Laboratory for Energy Science and Technology (VLEST), located on Walnut Street across from the Singh Center for Nanotechnology, is the University’s new home for energy and sustainability research and education. This 111,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility is a collaboration between Penn Arts & Sciences and Penn Engineering, housing faculty labs from both schools, the Vagelos Institute for Energy Science and Technology (VIEST) and the Vagelos Integrated Program in Energy Research (VIPER), an undergraduate dual-degree program in science and engineering. VLEST has seven floors of flexible and efficient lab spaces, including core instrumentation facilities that house multi-user major scientific instrumentation.

The lab of Cherie Kagan, Stephen J. Angello Professor in Electrical and Systems Engineering, explores nanostructures and organic materials, creating smarter materials and systems that use less power, waste fewer resources, and enable cleaner ways to generate and manage energy.

The design of VLEST, which earned the prestigious LEED Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, includes a high-efficiency facade and exterior shading, which allow for radiant cooling and heating while maximizing available daylight indoors.

Photography by Brad Feinknopf/Behnisch Architekten