Surbhi Goel Named 2025 Schmidt Sciences AI2050 Early Career Fellow
Surbhi Goel, Magerman Term Assistant Professor in Computer and Information Science, has been named a 2025 Schmidt Sciences AI2050 Early Career Fellow. As a Fellow, Goel, whose research tackles the “trust deficit” in modern AI, will receive funding to pursue research that explores AI’s potential to create a healthier, more resilient and more secure world.
Two Penn Engineers Named Penn Vice Provosts
Two Penn Engineers have assumed University leadership roles, with Russ Composto, Henry Robinson Towne Professor in Materials Science and Engineering, named Penn’s Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, and David Meaney, Solomon R. Pollack Professor in Bioengineering, assuming the role of Vice Provost for Research at Penn.
Advancing the Quantum Frontier: Penn FoQuS 2025
In May, the Penn Forum on Quantum Systems (Penn FoQuS 2025), an event organized by the Penn Center for Quantum Information, Engineering, Science and Technology (QUIEST), welcomed over 100 students, 30 faculty and 13 scientists and industry professionals to Penn to explore topics in quantum sensing, photonics, materials, chemistry and education.
Vijay Kumar Honored With John Scott Award for Robotics Advances
Vijay Kumar, Nemirovsky Family Dean of Penn Engineering and Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, received the 2024 John Scott Award in recognition of his groundbreaking advances in robotics, including innovations that have enabled cooperative aerial robots for applications in agriculture, manufacturing and logistics. The Award, which honors inventions that “contribute to the comfort, welfare, and happiness of mankind,” has a storied history dating to 1815.
Discher and Kagan Elected to the AAAS
Two Penn Engineers, Dennis Discher and Cherie Kagan, were elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2025. Discher, Robert D. Bent Professor in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, researches how physical forces influence stem cells, tumors and nanoparticle-based therapies. Kagan, Stephen J. Angello Professor in Electrical and Systems Engineering, is known for her work in nanostructured materials and their integration in electronics, photonics and sensing.
$3M for New Graduate Program in Engineering and Architecture
A new NSF-funded initiative called CLIMATE-CARE, backed by a $3 million Research Traineeship award, will establish Penn’s first formal joint graduate program bridging engineering and architecture, training 56 students over five years in climate-resilient design and technology.
AI Month at Penn 2025
April’s AI Month at Penn featured more than two dozen cross-disciplinary events exploring “AI and Human Well-Being.” Highlights included guest speakers like Meta’s Yann LeCun and NVIDIA’s Bill Dally, along with alumnus Rajeev Misra (ENG’85, GEng’86) of One Investment Management, and panels, workshops and talks linking AI research, ethics and society.
Agarwal and Jerolmack Named APS Fellows
Ritesh Agarwal, Professor and Srinivasa Ramanujan Distinguished Scholar in Materials Science and Engineering, and Douglas Jerolmack, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Endowed Term Professor of Earth and Environmental Science with a secondary appointment in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, have been elected to the 2025 class of American Physical Society (APS) Fellows. Agarwal is recognized for “pioneering contributions to materials science by engineering novel electronic and photonic materials,” while Jerolmack is recognized for “pioneering investigations into the universal behaviors governing the formation, failure, and flow of soft earth materials.”
César de la Fuente Named Sloan Research Fellow
César de la Fuente, Presidential Associate Professor with appointments in Bioengineering and in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering in Penn Engineering as well as in Microbiology, Psychiatry and Chemistry, was named a 2025 Sloan Research Fellow in recognition of his groundbreaking work in AI-driven antibiotic discovery. His lab developed the first AI-designed antibiotic with in vivo efficacy and has identified over a million new antimicrobial compounds. The prestigious Sloan Fellowship honors early-career scientists for their creativity and potential to become leaders in their fields.
Penn Engineering Hosts 30th NAE Frontiers of Engineering Conference
Seventy-four early-career engineers convened at Penn Engineering for the 30th anniversary of the National Academy of Engineering’s Frontiers of Engineering Symposium, engaging in interdisciplinary discussions on neural engineering, AI, quantum technologies, robotics, sustainability and emerging collaboration across disciplines.
Exploring Engineering’s Role in Precision Medicine
The Center for Precision Engineering for Health hosted its inaugural symposium, which featured 17 speakers from Penn, Northwestern, Duke and the University of Washington, highlighting interdisciplinary research in tissue engineering, protein design and diagnostic technologies, and creating a collaborative discussion around the future of personalized medicine.
Clark Foundation Invests $11 Million in the Next Generation of Penn Engineers
With an $11 million investment from the Clark Foundation, Penn Engineering will enhance the School’s Clark Scholars Program, which combines financial aid, mentorship and service learning. Of that total, $10 million will strengthen the Program’s scholarship endowment, building on the 2017 commitment of $15 million that established it, and $1 million will launch a Philanthropy Challenge, in which Clark Scholars develop hands-on expertise in philanthropy, with a focus on Philadelphia.
Om Gandhi Receives 2025 Rhodes Scholarship
Om Gandhi (C’25, GEng’25) was awarded a 2025 Rhodes Scholarship, enabling graduate study at the University of Oxford. After completing his master’s in Bioengineering at Penn Engineering in the spring, Gandhi is now pursuing doctoral work intersecting bioengineering, neuroscience and cancer research at Oxford.
Cherie Kagan Receives Heilmeier Award
Cherie Kagan, Stephen J. Angello Professor in Electrical and Systems Engineering, is the recipient of the 2024–25 George H. Heilmeier Faculty Award for Excellence in Research “for fundamental contributions to colloidal nanocrystal materials and their use in electronic and optical devices.” The Heilmeier Award, named for the late George H. Heilmeier, a Penn Engineering alumnus and member of the School’s Board of Advisors, honors a Penn Engineering faculty member whose work is scientifically meritorious.
$7M for Research on AI in Breast Cancer Care and More
Researchers in Penn Engineering and Penn Medicine secured a $7 million, four-year ARPA-H grant to develop AI tools for breast cancer, sepsis and heart attack care, with the goal of building transparent, trustworthy AI systems that help clinicians predict patient responses to treatments.
Christopher Murray Elected NAI Fellow and AAAS Fellow
In the last year, Christopher Murray, Richard Perry University Professor in Materials Science and Engineering in Penn Engineering and in Chemistry in Penn Arts & Sciences, was elected as both a National Academy of Inventors (NAI) Fellow for “prolific nanoscale inventions and translation of research to real-world impact,” and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in recognition of his “distinguished service to the field of nanochemistry.”
