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 to lower surface and ambient temperatures in vulnerable neighborhoods.

The project is rooted in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) and the Russ Composto Lab, with collaborative support from Penn Engineering, the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Sustainability, and the Weitzman School of Design. The research brings together expertise in materials science, chemical and biomolecular engineering, and architectural design to address a pressing environmental challenge that city agencies often lack the resources to explore on their own.

A Student-Led Team with Citywide Impact

The initiative began with a core team that included Dr. Kristin Field, and undergraduate researchers Julia Chiang, and Colby Snyder. Since then, the team has expanded, and the project is now primarily supported by the Penn Undergraduate Research Mentoring Program (PURM), with partial funding also provided by the Environmental Innovation Initiative.

Current research operations are led by two rising juniors: Nafisa Bangura, a Materials Science and Engineering major from Georgia, and Angelica Dadda, a Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering student from New Jersey. Both students are conducting field and lab experiments as part of the project’s summer phase. CBE junior Dylan York assists the group with equipment setup and data recording during site visits.

Pictured Zhan Shi, Dylan York, Angelica Dadda, and Nafisa Bangura.

Field Research in Hunting Park

The team’s fieldwork is centered in Hunting Park, a Philadelphia neighborhood particularly vulnerable to extreme heat. A CoolSeal test site was implemented there by the City, and the Penn team is conducting periodic site visits throughout the summer to collect environmental data. During the academic semester, weekly visits were standard, but the summer schedule was adjusted for more intensive, forecast-based data collection every few weeks.

Outfitted with a custom-designed weather cart, the students collect comprehensive measurements including:

• Temperature and humidity at multiple heights
• Longwave and shortwave radiation
• Surface temperature differences between treated and untreated asphalt
• Wind speed
• Mean Radiant Temperature (MRT), an essential metric for human-perceived heat

Graduate researcher Zhan Shi and Dr. Dorit Aviv (Weitzman School of Design) have been instrumental in supporting MRT modeling and simulation. They also helped plan the measurement locations and ensure scientific rigor in the data collection schedule.

Lab Testing and Materials Science in Action

Beyond the field, the team is conducting materials testing to evaluate the long-term durability and thermal performance of CoolSeal. In the Russ Composto Lab, they are preparing asphalt bricks treated with CoolSeal and other coatings, designed to simulate real pavement under extreme conditions.

These bricks, currently curing outdoors in custom frames, will undergo:

• Freeze-thaw cycling
• Heat flow analysis
• Structural integrity assessments
• Thermal conductivity measurements

The goal is to understand how well these materials withstand Philadelphia’s specific climate stressors—especially humidity and freeze-thaw cycles that are not accounted for in similar studies conducted in arid cities like Phoenix.

A Model for Interdisciplinary Climate Research

This initiative is a strong example of interdisciplinary, student-led research addressing real-world challenges. By leveraging Penn’s academic strengths in science, engineering, and design, while working hand-in-hand with city officials, the project serves as a model for community-engaged climate adaptation.

As the summer continues, the research team will analyze their data and begin to share early findings. Their work has the potential to inform Philadelphia’s heat resilience policies and guide urban planning decisions in cities facing similar climate risks.

The team welcomes collaboration with others in urban sustainability, materials innovation, and climate science, and is open to sharing insights from their ongoing work.