Affiliated Centers & Institutes
For complete descriptions of our affiliated Engineering centers, see the summaries below.
Jump to: AESOP | LRSM | MURI | Pennergy| PICS | REACT
Center for Analyzing Evolved Structures as Optimized Products (AESOP) |
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Shu Yang, Director In order to address society’s ever more pressing need to conserve water, nutrients, energy, and sustainability in a highly diverse set of circumstances and environments, Center for Analyzing Evolved Structures as Optimized Products (AESOP) aims to mine nature for its structures, materials, and their processing by bringing together evolutionary biology with the physical sciences and engineering, and find innovative solutions at the system level by creating a new paradigm of algorithmic design of products that transcends scales. The Center will accelerate the discovery rate and technology advancement in manufacturing, assembly, and actuation of flexible, buildable and packable devices that can change shape, orientation, or function depends at least in part on environmental conditions with optimized energy efficiency. In turn, we will improve the synthetic ecosystems in which humans interact, just as organic and living as plants and other animals with their natural habitat. Learn more. |
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Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter (LRSM) |
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Arjun G. Yodh, Director The Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter (LRSM) is the intellectual focal point of materials research at Penn. It hosts the Materials Research Science & Engineering Center (MRSEC), which consists of five Interdisciplinary Research Groups (IRGs) plus selected seed projects. The MRSEC provides crucial support for faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students drawn from different disciplines, to tackle complex materials science projects that can only be addressed in a truly collaborative mode. Learn more. |
MURI (via ONR): Phase Change Materials for Photonics |
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Ritesh Agarwal, Director |
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Penn Center for Energy Innovation (Pennergy) |
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Cherie Kagan and Andrew Rappe, Co-Directors The Penn Center for Energy Innovation (Pennergy) brings together world-class researchers to solve scientific and technological problems enabling the efficient use of current energy sources, the practical use of more sustainable energy, and the facile conversion of energy to different forms. The Center researchers and educators integrate and share their knowledge through energy research, educational, and outreach activities that impact researchers, students, and our community. Learn more. |
Penn Institute for Computational Science (PICS) |
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David Srolovitz, Director |
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Research and Education in Active Coating Technologies (REACT) for the Human Habitat |
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A National Science Foundation-funded Partnerships in International Research and Education project (PIRE) This PIRE project addresses fundamental research challenges through an international educational platform to develop Active Coating Technologies (ACTs) that divert, collect and purify water (ACT 1), suppress bacteria adhesion and proliferation (ACT 2), and convert and store solar energy (ACT 3). The three ACTs take advantage of the versatility provided by polymers, nanoparticles and their mixtures to create coatings with tailored chemistry, surface texture and function. REACT comprises a multidisciplinary team in the US and France and provides international research opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students. Learn More. |
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