Inventing the Future
Penn Electric Racing Unveils New REV7 Racecar Despite Pandemic Setbacks
After a two-year hiatus, Penn Electric Racing – the University of Pennsylvania’s Formula Society of Automotive Engineers (FSAE) racecar-building team – has unveiled their latest creation: the REV7. The team, who has earned 39 trophies during their eight years of competing, is slated to bring the REV7 to this year’s FSAE Michigan competition in Brooklyn, Michigan in May. Key changes to the design include the switch from REV6’s four-wheel drive to REV7’s two-wheel drive, and the implementation of the team’s first pullrod suspension system. They also made the critical decision to change this year’s design to a rear wheel drive “to ensure that current team members designed every system on REV7 and had a full understanding of how they work”, said Leslie Lytle, the team’s Accumulator and Operations Lead.
How to Design a Sail that Won’t Tear or Melt on an Interstellar Voyage
A team led by Penn Engineering researchers, including Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics Igor Bargatin, recently published two papers that map out the size, shape and materials for a sail that could carry a probe to Alpha Centauri in 20 years. As part of the Breakthrough Starshot Initiative, the team is designing a sail that would be powered by a ground-based laser array, and its 20-year journey is one that would take a rocket millennia to achieve.
Envisioning Gold: Digitally Recreating a 700-year-old Serbian Church
Sophomore Logan Cho has been putting his Digital Media Design Program studies to practical use: helping art history Associate Professor Ivan Drpić to envision the brilliance of faded medieval Serbian frescoes, 700 yrs later. Cho discovered the opportunity as a paid summer internship through Penn’s Center for Undergraduate Research & Fellowships, and has continued utilizing modern techniques to visualize ancient structures as an independent study.
Data Science: Refining Data into Knowledge, Turning Knowledge into Action
Across diverse fields within science, medicine and engineering, the study and application of data science grants researchers the ability to sift through and combine massive amounts of information to understand relevant phenomena, build or augment models, and make predictions. Penn Engineering faculty Jennifer Phillips-Cremins, Rob Riggleman, Dan Roth, (upper row, left to right) Victor Preciado, Eric Stach, and Paris Perdikaris (bottom row, left to right) each use elements of data science in their fields of research, which include varied topics such as genetics, medical imaging, materials design and more.
Events
ESE Ph.D. Thesis Defense: “Integrated Diamond-based Devices for Quantum Sensing and Communication”
MEAM Seminar: “Aluminum Scandium Nitride Films for Microelectromechanical Systems Resonator’s Next-Generation Cellular Technology”
BE Doctoral Dissertation Defense: “Experimental and computational analyses of locomotor rhythm generation and modulation in Caenorhabditis elegans” (Hongfei Ji)
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About Penn Engineering
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