A Culture of Innovation

Penn Engineers play a critical role in posing and answering the questions that will improve lives and transform our world. Our students are taught to think like engineers through opportunities to approach and solve relevant challenges in new and unique ways. Our world-acclaimed faculty, state-of-the-art research laboratories and highly interdisciplinary curricula offer an experience that is unparalleled. Innovation and technology drive our every program and transform the fundamentals of what future engineers are learning. For over 150 years, engineering has been a vibrant and collaborative community of innovation at Penn.

Ivy League Tradition and History

More than 250 years ago, America’s “first engineer,” Benjamin Franklin, had his best idea: a university that would put knowledge to use in the service of “Mankind, one’s Country, Friends, and Family.” The result of his innovative thinking was the University of Pennsylvania. At the time, other colonial colleges concentrated on educating clerics and gentlemen, but Penn was different. Even two centuries ago, the University was grounded in the idea of joining education and research for a practical purpose.

From the time ENIAC, the world’s first computer, was developed and introduced on campus in 1946, Penn Engineering has continued a tradition of leadership and cutting-edge research in fields including autonomous robots, computer vision, cybersecurity, embedded systems and IoT, mechanobiology and the physics of cancer, metamaterials, network neuroscience, photonic computing, privacy algorithms, self-assembling nanomaterials and tribology. As a result of Penn Engineering’s expertise and unique network of collaborations, our students have had opportunities to conduct research and intern with Microsoft, Intel, Disney, Comcast, Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon.

Vibrant Urban Location

Penn Engineering students have access to all that the University of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia have to offer. Penn’s lush campus provides easy walking access to the twelve schools that make up the University, including medicine, law, business, and design. This close proximity enables and promotes interdisciplinary collaboration. Philadelphia, itself a multicultural, thriving hub of innovation and commerce, also provides students easy access to surrounding cities such as New York City, Boston and Washington, D.C.

Foundation for the Future

Penn Engineering encourages diversity of representation, thought, and experience with the belief that diversity fosters critical thinking and innovation. The School has a proven record of developing leaders in the fields of Bioengineering, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Computer and Information Science, Electrical and Systems Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics. Our graduates leverage their interdisciplinary education to shape the future in engineering, industry, and commerce worldwide. Penn Engineering graduates join an elite network of active University alumni, enabling mentorship and access to opportunities years after students leave campus.