Building Better Materials, Alum Isa Pan’s Penn Roots and MIT Research
2025 MSE Graduates, Caroline de Andrade, Nina Guo, Isa Pan and Vivek Nair | Photo credit: John Russell By John Russell Isa Pan still lights up when she talks about a certain kind of Penn evening, the kind that starts with a “quick check” in the lab and somehow turns into a late-night marathon of problem-solving, […]
Making, Learning, Leading: A VIPER Student’s Path in the world of Materials Science
By John Russell Justin Wang grew up between two places that shaped him in different ways. He was born around the bays of San Jose, but his family later moved back to Taiwan, where he spent a large stretch of his life. By the time he arrived at Penn, he carried both worlds with him: […]
Rishika Mehavarnam’s Charge: Powering EV Innovation at the Nanoscale
Rishika Mehavarnam | Photo credit: John Russell By John Russell When Rishika Mehavarnam begins to talk about her research, her words carry the enthusiasm of discovery and the precision of someone who knows she’s building the future, one molecule at a time. A second-year master’s student in Materials Science and Engineering at the University of […]
Marathon Man: John Chen Balances the Half Marathon and High-Impact Research
Third-year doctoral student John Chen knows a thing or two about endurance. This fall, he not only pushed through long hours in the lab but also crossed the finish line of the Philadelphia Half Marathon with a time of 1:44:56, a strong performance by any standard, especially for someone balancing serious graduate research. Chen, […]
Penn Student-Led Research Tackles Urban Heat with Reflective Pavement Technology
Pictured Zhan Shi, Nafisa Bangura, and Angelica Dadda (Credit John Russell) As record-breaking temperatures become more frequent in cities across the globe, a student-driven team from the University of Pennsylvania is partnering with the City of Philadelphia to investigate innovative solutions for mitigating urban heat. Their work focuses on CoolSeal, a reflective pavement coating designed […]
Colgate-Palmolive Internship for PhD Candidate Sydni Wilson
Sydni Wilson, a third-year PhD candidate, recently completed a ten-week summer internship with Colgate-Palmolive in New Brunswick, NJ, working in the Department of Global Technology. During her time there, she was based in a characterization lab known as the Center of Research Excellence (CORE). Her work focused on refining experimental techniques using Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation (QCM-D) and learning how […]
Commencement, Community, and Change
Dear Family and Friends, The laughter of cherished memories has faded, and the tears of parting have fallen. The hats and gowns have been traded for shorts and graphic tees as summer begins, as we get to enjoy a well-earned break before the next chapter unfolds. With the recent release of the Bob Dylan biopic, […]
From Springfield to the French Alps: A Scientific Journey Abroad for Lindsay Jones
Lindsay Jones, a second-year Ph.D. candidate under the mentorship of Professor Karen Winey at the University of Pennsylvania, recently traded her lab bench in Philadelphia for the snow-dusted peaks of the French Alps. Hailing from Springfield in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Lindsay traveled to Grenoble, France, in late February to attend the prestigious Grenoble Energy Conversion […]
Penn Materials Science Ph.D. Student Selected for Prestigious DOE Research Fellowship
Penn Materials Science Ph.D. Student Selected for Prestigious DOE Research Fellowship George Hollyer, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, has been selected for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) Program. He is one of just 79 doctoral students […]
2025 Department of Materials Science and Engineering Student/Postdoc Awards
Congratulations to the Department of Materials Science and Engineering students, and postdoctoral students, for their outstanding achievements. Top row left to right: Chuyi Pan, Amelia Pilot and Vivek Nair, R.M. Brick Award. The R. M. Brick Award is named for the first chairman of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and is awarded to […]