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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210831T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210831T160000
DTSTAMP:20260406T165530
CREATED:20210824T180018Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210824T180018Z
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SUMMARY:ODEI Spotlight: SAC Fall Activities Fair
DESCRIPTION:This is an opportunity to get to know more about the many undergraduate student organizations that exist at Penn. In addition to the in-person events being hosted 8/31-9/2\, groups will be available to connect virtually from 6-8pm these same days via PennClubs.com.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/odei-spotlight-sac-fall-activities-fair/
LOCATION:PA
CATEGORIES:Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210830T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210830T123000
DTSTAMP:20260406T165530
CREATED:20210813T135440Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210813T135440Z
UID:10006852-1630324800-1630326600@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:PSOC Webinar: Kuangzheng (Peter) Zhu
DESCRIPTION:Zoom Meeting Waiting Room (email discher@seas for entry) \n\nhttps://upenn.zoom.us/j/95100409935?pwd=aGZjdkpYd3V4UU1qMkU5S1RiY3QvUT09\n\nMeeting ID: 951 0040 9935\nPasscode: 330227\n\nPSOC@Penn Summer Webinars 2021 \nContact manu@seas.upenn.edu with any questions
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/psoc-webinar-kuangzheng-peter-zhu/
LOCATION:https://upenn.zoom.us/j/96715197752
CATEGORIES:Seminar,Doctoral,Graduate,Student
ORGANIZER;CN="PSOC":MAILTO:manu@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210830T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210830T120000
DTSTAMP:20260406T165530
CREATED:20210826T143903Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210826T143903Z
UID:10006868-1630317600-1630324800@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:BE Doctoral Dissertation: "Biophysical dynamics of RGS-LOV proteins as systems for light-induced membrane recruitment" (Ivan Kuznetsov)
DESCRIPTION:The Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania and \nDr. Brian Chow are pleased to announce the Doctoral Dissertation Defense of Ivan Kuznetsov. \nTitle: Biophysical dynamics of RGS-LOV proteins as systems for light-induced membrane recruitment \nDate: August 30\, 2021 \nTime: 10:00 AM \nLocation: Levine 307 and via zoom at the link below: \n\nhttps://upenn.zoom.us/j/93272141232?pwd=TWRMb2V5Wmg3Mk92aFlCcjk5cFM4UT09 \nAbstract: \nLight–oxygen–voltage sensitive (LOV) domains represent a ubiquitous family of blue-light photoreceptors. Recently\, we reported BcLOV4\, a LOV protein from B. cinerea\, which demonstrates a light-induced protein-lipid interaction with the plasma membrane. Previous work demonstrated preliminary characterization of BcLOV4 but stopped short of demonstrating its applications as an optogenetic tool. Here\, we report a 3D non-linear finite element model of the cell-wide spatiotemporal dynamics of BcLOV4 membrane recruitment. Inputs were data from single cells unique in morphology and initial absolute protein concentration\, as opposed to fitting an idealized cell to population data. All necessary BcLOV4 biophysical parameters were measured with recombinant protein or in HEK cells. The model outperforms existing (2D and/or linear) approaches and recapitulates observed complexities\, including cell-geometric effects on recruitment efficiency and inter-instrument diffractive effects. It also highlights underappreciated determinants of signaling magnitude\, contrast\, and spatial confinement – such as the nonlinearity introduced by finite membrane-binding sites\, outsized role of rebinding kinetics\, and impact of excitation volume on the signaling impulse response. By capturing both intrinsic biophysical contributions of the optogenetic tools and extrinsic contributions of the optical hardware\, this framework improves understanding of how to spatiotemporally shape signaling.\nThe biophysical and computational study of BcLOV4 suggest that it has great utility as a generalizable modality for optogenetic tool development. We leverage this to construct a multitude of BcLOV4-based tools\, focusing primarily on Rho GTPases\, specifically Rac1 and RhoA. We demonstrate that these tools can generate physiologically relevant downstream signaling\, including cell motility and\, in the case of RhoA\, YAP-TEAD-dependent transcriptional activity. This work sets the groundwork for a BcLOV4-based optogenetic toolkit for accurate dissection of mechanotransduction.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/be-doctoral-dissertation-biophysical-dynamics-of-rgs-lov-proteins-as-systems-for-light-induced-membrane-recruitment-ivan-kuznetsov_/
LOCATION:Room 307\, Levine Hall\, 3330 Walnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
CATEGORIES:Doctoral,Graduate,Dissertation or Thesis Defense
ORGANIZER;CN="Bioengineering":MAILTO:be@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210828T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210828T140000
DTSTAMP:20260406T165530
CREATED:20210824T191532Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210824T191532Z
UID:10006867-1630155600-1630159200@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:Launching into SEAS: Underrepresented @ Penn Engineering
DESCRIPTION:Launching into SEAS: Underrepresented @ Penn Engineering \nDate: Saturday\, August 28th \nTime: 1 p.m. – 2 p.m. \nLocation: Skirkanich Hall – Berger Auditorium \nAre you eager to get involved in the SEAS community? Interested in learning more about minority student organizations? Want to meet upperclassmen and fellow engineering students? \nJoin the Underrepresented Student Advisory Board in Engineering (USABE) and the Office of Diversity\, Equity\, and Inclusion (ODEI) in an NSO preceptorial panel featuring upperclassmen from identity organizations in SEAS. Participants will gain insightful advice on navigating their first semester in SEAS and learn about resources to support their academic\, professional\, and social development. Grab-and-go lunch will be provided at the end of the event! \nRegister for the event here. Please reach out to Shriya Karam and/or Fahmida Lubna for more information.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/launching-into-seas-underrepresented-penn-engineering/
LOCATION:PA
CATEGORIES:Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210824T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210824T170000
DTSTAMP:20260406T165530
CREATED:20210730T183016Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210730T183016Z
UID:10006841-1629817200-1629824400@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:BE Doctoral Dissertation Defense: "Engineering Novel High-Resolution Bioelectronic Interfaces from MXene Nanomaterials" (Brendan Murphy)
DESCRIPTION:The Department if Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania and Drs. Brian Litt and Flavia VItale are pleased to announce the Doctoral Dissertation Defense of Brendan Murphy.\n\nTitle: Engineering Novel High-Resolution Bioelectronic Interfaces from MXene Nanomaterials\nDate: August 24\, 2021\nTime: 3:00pm\n \nThe public is welcome to attend via Zoom:\nhttps://us06web.zoom.us/j/9948619859
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/be-doctoral-dissertation-defense-engineering-novel-high-resolution-bioelectronic-interfaces-from-mxene-nanomaterials-brendan-murphy/
LOCATION:https://upenn.zoom.us/j/96715197752
CATEGORIES:Doctoral,Graduate,Dissertation or Thesis Defense,Staff
ORGANIZER;CN="Bioengineering":MAILTO:be@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210824T103000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210824T120000
DTSTAMP:20260406T165530
CREATED:20210817T161230Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210817T161230Z
UID:10006857-1629801000-1629806400@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:MEAM Seminar: "Deep Learning and Uncertainty Quantification: Methodologies and Applications"
DESCRIPTION:Uncertainty is ubiquitous in physical and engineering science because of the lack of knowledge\, inaccuracy in measurements\, objective stochastic nature. “You cannot be certain about uncertainty”. Uncertainty quantification plays an essential role in decision making\, solutions of partial differential equations\, optimal design\, etc. However\, quantifying the uncertainty is not trivial in computational science. The difficulty of uncertainty quantifications increases dramatically with for instance\, the dimensionality of the problems\, the type of noise in the data\, the complexity of black box functions where the data is obtained (large scale simulations\, expensive experiments)\, etc. Moreover\, with the knowledge of physics\, how to quantify uncertainty with only a few numbers of data should be considered properly. \nUncertainty quantification and its interactions with deep learning is a recently emerging interdisciplinary area that leverages the power of statistical methods\, machine learning models\, numerical methods and data-driven approach to provide reliable inference for quantities of interest in natural science and engineering problems. Given the fast growth in deep learning\, probabilistic methods and the large volume of data available across different research areas (computer visions\, natural language processing\, decision making)\, we aim in taking advantage of these recent advances to propose novel methodologies to solve problems where uncertainty quantification plays important roles. \nThis talk will highlight our recent process on the interaction between deep learning and uncertainty quantifications in the aspects of methodologies and applications. On the methodology side\, solutions regarding partial differential equations (forward problems) and system identifications (inverse problems) will be discussed with robust uncertainty estimations. Active learning and data acquisition will also be covered in the presence of uncertainty. Equipped with the methodologies we have developed\, we will briefly discuss some applications of such uncertainty quantification techniques in real-world problems such as cardiac flow activation mapping\, optimal design as well as analysis for high dimensional data.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/meam-seminar-deep-learning-and-uncertainty-quantification-methodologies-and-applications/
LOCATION:Zoom – Email MEAM for Link\, peterlit@seas.upenn.edu
CATEGORIES:Seminar
ORGANIZER;CN="Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics":MAILTO:meam@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210823T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210823T123000
DTSTAMP:20260406T165530
CREATED:20210813T135129Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210813T135129Z
UID:10006851-1629720000-1629721800@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:PSOC Webinar: Mai Wang
DESCRIPTION:Zoom Meeting Waiting Room (email discher@seas for entry) \n\nhttps://upenn.zoom.us/j/95100409935?pwd=aGZjdkpYd3V4UU1qMkU5S1RiY3QvUT09\n\nMeeting ID: 951 0040 9935\nPasscode: 330227\n\nPSOC@Penn Summer Webinars 2021 \nContact manu@seas.upenn.edu with any questions
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/psoc-webinar-mai-wang/
LOCATION:https://upenn.zoom.us/j/96715197752
CATEGORIES:Seminar,Doctoral,Graduate,Student
ORGANIZER;CN="PSOC":MAILTO:manu@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210820T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210820T170000
DTSTAMP:20260406T165530
CREATED:20210723T173941Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210723T173941Z
UID:10006836-1629471600-1629478800@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:BE Doctoral Dissertation Defense: "A Computational Study of the Influence of Cortical Processes on the Olfactory Bulb" (David Kersen)
DESCRIPTION:The Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania and Drs. Vijay Balasubramanian and Minghong Ma proudly announce the Doctoral Dissertation Defense of David Kersen.\n\nThe title is “A computational study of the influence of cortical processes on the olfactory bulb”\n\nDate: August 20\,2021\nTime: 3:00pm\n\nThe zoom link is:\nhttps://upenn.zoom.us/j/98075290445?pwd=SXlsMlNWQ1RJSkZReW80SlVNUTY3Zz09
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/be-doctoral-dissertation-defense-a-computational-study-of-the-influence-of-cortical-processes-on-the-olfactory-bulb-david-kersen/
LOCATION:Room 337\, Towne Building\, 220 South 33rd Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
CATEGORIES:Doctoral,Graduate,Student,Dissertation or Thesis Defense
ORGANIZER;CN="Bioengineering":MAILTO:be@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210817T103000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210817T120000
DTSTAMP:20260406T165530
CREATED:20210810T131149Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210810T131149Z
UID:10006843-1629196200-1629201600@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:MEAM Seminar: "Metal and Air Generate Power for Robots"
DESCRIPTION:In many cases\, the size and weight of energy storage technologies required to power robotic systems are too large or massive for a robot to carry\, leading to limited operational times and long recharging times over which the robot remains unused. Computer-free autonomous decision making based on environmental cues provides exciting alternatives to classic control systems for robots and smart materials. Although this functionality has been studied in microswimmers and active colloids where energy in the surrounding liquid is prevalent\, there are no devices that can provide sufficient power from environmental chemicals to move and steer larger scale robots and vehicles in dry environments. \nIn this talk\, I will show a new approach for powering robots and electronics by electrochemically scavenging energy from metal surfaces. This approach overcomes energy storage scaling laws by allowing robots and electronics to extract energy from large volumes of energy dense material without having to carry the material on-board. Next\, we demonstrated an environmentally controlled voltage source (ECVS) that\, when directly attached to electric motors on a vehicle\, can increase the energy available to the vehicle and provide computer-free autonomous navigation toward chemical fuels in the environment and away from hazards. The ECVS uses electrochemistry to extract power from the chemical fuels\, and the vehicle avoids hazards that reduce the output voltage or electrochemical kinetics. \nThese works present a new method to simultaneously steer and power vehicles and robots without computers by directly responding to a wide variety of chemical fields in their environment using electrochemistry.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/meam-seminar-metal-and-air-generate-power-for-robots/
LOCATION:Zoom – Email MEAM for Link\, peterlit@seas.upenn.edu
CATEGORIES:Seminar
ORGANIZER;CN="Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics":MAILTO:meam@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210816T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210816T130000
DTSTAMP:20260406T165530
CREATED:20210520T133641Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210520T133641Z
UID:10006792-1629115200-1629118800@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:PSOC Webinar: Aayush Kant & Xingyu Chen
DESCRIPTION:Zoom Meeting Waiting Room (email discher@seas for entry) \n\nhttps://upenn.zoom.us/j/95100409935?pwd=aGZjdkpYd3V4UU1qMkU5S1RiY3QvUT09\n\nMeeting ID: 951 0040 9935\nPasscode: 330227\n\nPSOC@Penn Summer Webinars 2021 \nContact manu@seas.upenn.edu with any questions \nAayush Kant 12:00-12:30 PM \nXingyu Chen 12:30-1:00 PM
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/psoc-webinar-aayush-kant-xingyu-chen/
LOCATION:https://upenn.zoom.us/j/96715197752
CATEGORIES:Seminar,Doctoral,Graduate,Student,Postdoctoral
ORGANIZER;CN="PSOC":MAILTO:manu@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210810T103000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210810T120000
DTSTAMP:20260406T165530
CREATED:20210803T133708Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210803T133708Z
UID:10006842-1628591400-1628596800@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:MEAM Seminar: "Accelerated Design of Heterogeneous Materials for Improved Failure Characteristics"
DESCRIPTION:Nature provides countless examples of the use of heterogeneity to enhance the failure properties of materials. Many biological materials\, such as bone\, marine shells\, and fish scales\, are extremely resilient to fracture and failure. These often consist of regions that are highly mineralized and stiff and regions of biopolymers that are extremely soft. In practice\, combining such disparate materials in synthetic systems is fraught with difficulties\, such as poor interfacial adhesion. However\, as we show in our work\, other types of heterogeneities lead to similar enhancements to failure characteristics\, including voids (inspired by bamboo) and spatial variations in fiber orientation (inspired by many materials\, such as aorta). With the rise of 3D printing technology\, it is possible to arbitrarily place materials with spatially-varying microstructure to mimic biological materials\, ultimately with the goal of achieving comparable improvements to failure properties in synthetic materials. \nIn this talk\, I will discuss three different types of heterogeneities that can be easily introduced to enhance failure characteristics. First\, inspired by the microstructure of the Mantis shrimp club\, we show how process defects that are intrinsic to extrusion-based additive approaches (voids and weak interfaces) can be spatially arranged in a helical (Bouligand) pattern to produce complex crack patterns and enhanced energy absorption. Next\, we show how arrangements of voids (inspired by conch shells) can deflect cracks and enhance energy dissipation during fracture. Finally\, we show how spatial variations in fiber orientation (inspired by aorta) can be produced using direct ink writing (DIW)\, leading to soft composites with high toughness and fatigue threshold. \nHeterogeneities in materials\, and the 3D printing processes used to create them\, introduce a large number of parameters into the material design process\, such as infill layer angle\, fiber orientation\, void placement\, etc. Bio-inspiration provides a starting point and some basic intuition about how to design heterogeneous materials for improved failure properties\, but it cannot guarantee optimal failure properties. I will therefore conclude the talk with a discussion of the use of Bayesian optimization for the acceleration of the design of architected heterogeneous materials with optimal failure properties. This will include the use of Bayesian optimization to design optimal architectures for energy dissipation using arrangements of voids inspired by conch shells. The second example uses a multi-fidelity Bayesian optimization approach to accelerate the design of heterogeneous triangular lattices with maximal energy absorption during compressive loading.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/meam-seminar-accelerated-design-of-heterogeneous-materials-for-improved-failure-characteristics/
LOCATION:Zoom – Email MEAM for Link\, peterlit@seas.upenn.edu
CATEGORIES:Seminar
ORGANIZER;CN="Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics":MAILTO:meam@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210809T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210809T130000
DTSTAMP:20260406T165530
CREATED:20210520T140513Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210520T140513Z
UID:10006797-1628510400-1628514000@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:PSOC Webinar: Benjamin Emert & Kuangzheng (Peter) Zhu
DESCRIPTION:Join Zoom Meeting: \nhttps://upenn.zoom.us/j/99334915941?pwd=eDRXV1lITDlySXFyRHUyUzdmRldoQT09 \nMeeting ID: 993 3491 5941 \nPasscode: 189247 \nPSOC@Penn Summer Webinars 2021 \nContact manu@seas.upenn.edu with any questions \nBenjamin Emert 12:00-12:30 PM \nPeter Zhu 12:30-1:00 PM
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/psoc-webinar-benjamin-emert-kuangzheng-peter-zhu/
LOCATION:https://upenn.zoom.us/j/96715197752
CATEGORIES:Seminar,Doctoral,Graduate,Student,Alumni
ORGANIZER;CN="PSOC":MAILTO:manu@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210806T103000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210806T120000
DTSTAMP:20260406T165530
CREATED:20210727T132132Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210727T132132Z
UID:10006840-1628245800-1628251200@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:MEAM Seminar: "A Differential Homogenization Framework for Precipitation Strengthened Metals"
DESCRIPTION:Precipitation-strengthened alloys are a commercially important class of materials because their mechanical properties can be altered by changing the microstructure through heat-treatment. Specifically\, precipitates are introduced into the bulk (matrix) material to interact with dislocations and affect their mobility. It is known that the size\, shape\, orientation and stiffness of the precipitates\, which can be altered during the age-hardening process\, have a strong influence on the alloy and its plastic behavior. In this talk\, I will discuss a differential homogenization framework that has been developed to model elasto-viscoplastic particulate composites which exhibit hardening at the local scale. The new homogenization estimates incorporate the second moments of the local hardening fields and improve on existing formulations which only take into account the first moment. First\, we’ll consider the simple case of linear viscoelasticity and show that by using differential equations instead of difference equations\, the new formulation is more robust than earlier incremental approaches and recovers exact results for certain classes of composites. Next\, we provide estimates for creeping single crystals with elastic particles and find that neglecting the elasticity of the crystal\, an assumption which is typically made\, can lead to an overestimation of the effective creep-rate. Last\, we examine the role of microstructure on the effective workhardening of precipitation-strengthened crystals. We focus on the interplay between crystallographic and morphological anisotropy and how these can reduce the overall anisotropy\, as well as how the choice of the crystal matrix(either FCC or HCP) leads to markedly different work-hardening behavior.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/meam-seminar-a-differential-homogenization-framework-for-precipitation-strengthened-metals/
LOCATION:Zoom – Email MEAM for Link\, peterlit@seas.upenn.edu
CATEGORIES:Seminar
ORGANIZER;CN="Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics":MAILTO:meam@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210803T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210803T130000
DTSTAMP:20260406T165530
CREATED:20210709T201412Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210709T201412Z
UID:10006831-1627992000-1627995600@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:MEAM PhD Thesis Defense: "Controlled Levitation of Nanostructured Thin Films for Sun-Powered Near-Space Flight"
DESCRIPTION:Earth’s mesosphere is the least studied part of our atmosphere. The data it contains within itself can help develop more comprehensive and accurate models of the atmosphere and can help us understand our climate better. The main challenge before scientists is the inaccessibility of this region. The pressure is not high enough for aircraft and balloons and it is too high for satellites. There are remote sensing methods as well as transient rockets to collect data\, though they are expensive and collect data for a few minutes at a time. In this thesis\, we present photophoresis or light-driven motion as an alternative flight mechanism for long-duration access to this region. \nPhotophoretic force has long been studied for micron scale particles. However\, in order to leverage photophoresis to levitate large microflyers capable of carrying useful payloads under sunlight\, the structure of microflyers need to be ultralight\, with areal densities of no more than a few g/m2. Creating a large scale structure with thicknesses that result in temperature difference and weigh only a few g/m2 is a challenge. The approach we present in this thesis is to generate photophoretic force that leverages heat transfer between gas molecules and surface molecules/structure. By altering this heat transfer on either side of a thin disc we can generate large photophoretic forces that can levitate cm-scale samples with several milligrams of payload. \nIn this work we propose and validate a predictive theoretical framework that accounts for conductive\, convective\, and radiative heat transfer and determines the temperature of illuminated thin disc microflyers as well as their lift force and payload capacity with sizes ranging from millimeters to centimeters over pressures ranging from 10 to 120 pascals. \nWe used cheap and fast methods to fabricate cm-scale thin disc microflyers with areal density of ~ 1 g/m2 and test them in vacuum and under variable light intensity. We fabricated four generations of microflyers starting by dropcasting carbon nanotubes onto thin disc-shaped mylar films. Atomic layer deposition and laser micromachining enabled stiffer continuous and porous samples to be created as well. Moreover\, we used different microfabrication techniques to improve the performance of microflyers and increase their range of operation. Lastly\, we used our validated theoretical model to predict the performance of the microflyers in upper atmosphere under natural sunlight\, and we further propose different approaches that can lead to better performance and higher payload carrying capabilities.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/meam-phd-thesis-defense-controlled-levitation-of-nanostructured-thin-films-for-sun-powered-near-space-flight/
LOCATION:Zoom – Email MEAM for Link\, peterlit@seas.upenn.edu
CATEGORIES:Doctoral,Dissertation or Thesis Defense
ORGANIZER;CN="Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics":MAILTO:meam@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210803T103000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210803T120000
DTSTAMP:20260406T165530
CREATED:20210726T195154Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210726T195154Z
UID:10006839-1627986600-1627992000@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:MEAM Seminar: "Exploiting Interface Patterning for Adhesion Control"
DESCRIPTION:Surface force-mediated adhesion\, e.g. van der Waals forces\, is critical for direct bonding of bulk solids in the absence of an adhesive layer. However\, no two surfaces are ideally flat or perfectly conformal due to surface roughness or intentional patterning. When in the adhered state\, non-zero surface tractions arise wherever the local separation of the surfaces differs from an intrinsic equilibrium separation\, for which surface tractions vanish\, hence regions of tensile and compressive loads are induced across the interface. A fundamental understanding of such imperfect adhesion is important and unlocks opportunities to control interfacial strength and toughness in various applications including MEMS/NEMS\, micro-transfer printing\, and processes to manufacture advanced 3D integrated-circuits. The aim of this work is to understand the fundamentals of direct adhesion of non-conformal surfaces by examining the interplay of (1) the intrinsic adhesive properties of traction-separation relation (TSR)\, (2) interface geometry\, and (3) elastic deformation of the adhered bulk solids. The TSR we adopted accounts for strong repulsion when the interface separation is less than the equilibrium separation\, and only the normal surface tractions were considered. The effective TSR properties\, including the effective adhesion strength and work of separation\, are determined from numerical calculations. Simple closed-form solutions are obtained when assuming rigid bulk solids. A finite element model utilizing cohesive elements in a periodic cell was constructed to study cases with non-uniform deformation in the elastic solids under pure normal separation without shear.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/meam-seminar-exploiting-interface-patterning-for-adhesion-control/
LOCATION:Zoom – Email MEAM for Link\, peterlit@seas.upenn.edu
CATEGORIES:Seminar
ORGANIZER;CN="Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics":MAILTO:meam@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210802T133000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210802T153000
DTSTAMP:20260406T165530
CREATED:20210707T132644Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210707T132644Z
UID:10006819-1627911000-1627918200@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:BE Doctoral Dissertation: "Quantitative Methods for Guiding Epilepsy Surgery from Intracranial EEG" (John Bernabei)
DESCRIPTION:The Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania and Dr. Brian Litt are pleased to announce the Doctoral Dissertation Defense of John Bernabei.\n\n \nTitle: Quantitative methods for guiding epilepsy surgery from intracranial EEG\nDate: August 2\, 2021\nTime: 1:30 PM \nLocation: 337 Towne Building\n \nThe defense will also be available via zoom at the link below:\nhttps://upenn.zoom.us/j/95425194465
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/be-doctoral-dissertation-quantitative-methods-for-guiding-epilepsy-surgery-from-intracranial-eeg-john-bernabei/
LOCATION:Room 337\, Towne Building\, 220 South 33rd Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
CATEGORIES:Doctoral,Graduate,Student,Dissertation or Thesis Defense
ORGANIZER;CN="Bioengineering":MAILTO:be@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210802T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210802T130000
DTSTAMP:20260406T165530
CREATED:20210520T140001Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210520T140001Z
UID:10006796-1627905600-1627909200@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:PSOC Webinar: Lindsey Fernandez & Mai Wang
DESCRIPTION:Join Zoom Meeting: \nhttps://upenn.zoom.us/j/99334915941?pwd=eDRXV1lITDlySXFyRHUyUzdmRldoQT09 \nMeeting ID: 993 3491 5941 \nPasscode: 189247 \nPSOC@Penn Summer Webinars 2021 \nContact manu@seas.upenn.edu with any questions \nLindsey Fernandez 12:00-12:30 PM \nMai Wang 12:30-1:00 PM
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/psoc-webinar-lindsey-fernandez-mai-wang/
LOCATION:https://upenn.zoom.us/j/96715197752
CATEGORIES:Seminar,Doctoral,Graduate,Student
ORGANIZER;CN="Bioengineering":MAILTO:be@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210728T161500
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210728T171500
DTSTAMP:20260406T165530
CREATED:20210723T184204Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210723T184204Z
UID:10006837-1627488900-1627492500@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:Climate & Diplomacy: How cities around the world collaborate on science-based climate solutions
DESCRIPTION:PIRE REACT Summer Student Program presents a talk for summer student researchers in STEM and their graduate student mentors; all are welcome. \n“Climate & Diplomacy: How cities around the world collaborate on science-based climate solutions.”  The speaker\, Ms. Lolita Jackson\, is a Penn Engineering alum and now with Sustainable Dev. Capital\, LLP (recent interview in a Scotland-based media forum: https://www.holyrood.com/inside-politics/view\,making-change-happen-interview-with-lolita-jackson and PWH bio: https://global.upenn.edu/perryworldhouse/person/lolita-k-jackson).
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/climate-diplomacy-how-cities-around-the-world-collaborate-on-science-based-climate-solutions/
LOCATION:PA
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210727T103000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210727T120000
DTSTAMP:20260406T165530
CREATED:20210712T181144Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210712T181144Z
UID:10006832-1627381800-1627387200@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:MEAM Seminar: "Some Investigations of Phase Transitions in Rod-like Macro-molecules and Fibrous Gels"
DESCRIPTION:Stress-induced solid-to-solid phase transitions form a large class of phase transitions in nature. They occur in materials that can exhibit different crystal structures under different conditions (stress and temperature)\, and when the stress and temperature condition changes\, the material may undergo a transformation from one phase to another. Despite its considerable potential in application\, some fundamental aspects about the basic physical mechanisms of stress-induced solid–solid phase transitions remain poorly understood. In this work we are particularly interested in phase transitions in macromolecules and fibrous gels. \nFirst\, we conduct Langevin dynamics calculations on a chain of masses and bistable springs in a viscous fluid and extract a temperature dependent kinetic relation by observing that the dissipation at a phase boundary can be estimated by performing an energy balance. Using this kinetic relation\, we solve boundary value problems for a bistable bar immersed in a constant temperature bath and show that the resultant force-extension relation matches very well with the Langevin dynamics results. We estimate the force fluctuations at the pulled end of the bar due to thermal kicks from the bath by using a partition function. We also show rate dependence of hysteresis in cyclic loading of the bar arising from the stick-slip kinetics. \nSecond\, we use a double-well stored energy function in a chemo-elastic model of gels to capture the existence of two phases of the network. We model cyclic compression/decompression experiments on fibrous gels and show that they exhibit propagating interfaces and hysteretic stress-strain curves that have been observed in experiments. We can capture features in the rate-dependent response of these fibrous gels without recourse to finite element calculations.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/meam-seminar-some-investigations-of-phase-transitions-in-rod-like-macro-molecules-and-fibrous-gels/
LOCATION:Zoom – Email MEAM for Link\, peterlit@seas.upenn.edu
CATEGORIES:Seminar
ORGANIZER;CN="Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics":MAILTO:meam@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210726T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210726T130000
DTSTAMP:20260406T165530
CREATED:20210520T135334Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210520T135334Z
UID:10006795-1627300800-1627304400@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:PSOC Webinar: Indrajit Tah & David Li
DESCRIPTION:Join Zoom Meeting: \nhttps://upenn.zoom.us/j/99334915941?pwd=eDRXV1lITDlySXFyRHUyUzdmRldoQT09 \nMeeting ID: 993 3491 5941 \nPasscode: 189247 \nPSOC@Penn Summer Webinars 2021 \nContact manu@seas.upenn.edu with any questions \nIndrajit Tah 12:00-12:30 PM \nDavid Li 12:30-1:00 PM
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/psoc-webinar-indrajit-tah-david-li/
LOCATION:https://upenn.zoom.us/j/96715197752
CATEGORIES:Seminar,Postdoctoral
ORGANIZER;CN="PSOC":MAILTO:manu@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210721T103000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210721T120000
DTSTAMP:20260406T165530
CREATED:20210707T161341Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210707T161341Z
UID:10006827-1626863400-1626868800@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:MEAM PhD Thesis Defense: "Lightweight Structures Enabled by Microfabrication"
DESCRIPTION:Lightweight structures are the product of the science of making systems as light as possible with constraints\, which often refer to being sufficiently strong and stiff. Although the development of lightweight structures was initially driven by the demands for better fuel and material economy\, the recent advancements in microfabrication have allowed the manufacture of structures with unprecedented properties. In this work\, three strategies of achieving lightweight structures are explored: (1) hollowing\, (2) folding\, and (3) lightweight composites. The first strategy is demonstrated by creating a hollow atomic force microscopy (AFM) cantilever. We made these hollow cantilevers by conformally depositing a thin layer of alumina on a solid beam and hollowing out the internal mold\, resulting in hollow shells with the same overall dimensions but with nanoscale wall thickness. Due to their significantly reduced weight\, these hollow cantilevers exhibited comparable resonant frequencies compared to their solid counterparts\, but significantly reduced quality factors and spring constants\, resulting in increased bandwidth and wear resistance. In the second strategy\, we made a self-deployable silicon-based propeller for microflyers with lightweight polymeric film. The propeller can be initially folded and then deployed by the centrifugal force from rotation. The propeller exhibited low weight yet payload capable thrust which is promising for application in micro-aerial vehicles (MAVs). Furthermore\, the fabrication techniques we developed allowed controllability on the folding directions which can be beneficial to origami-inspired devices. Lastly\, we developed thin composites in the form of millimeter-thick sandwich plates by combining carbon-fiber-based faces with perforated aluminum core. The sandwich constructions allowed improved stiffnesses and strengths without adding excessive mass compared to single-ply carbon-fiber sheets\, presenting viability as structural elements for small-scale robotics applications. In addition\, these plates can be manufactured to be folded and curved that allows more complex geometries.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/meam-phd-thesis-defense-lightweight-structures-enabled-by-microfabrication/
LOCATION:Zoom – Email MEAM for Link\, peterlit@seas.upenn.edu
CATEGORIES:Doctoral,Dissertation or Thesis Defense
ORGANIZER;CN="Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics":MAILTO:meam@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210720T103000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210720T120000
DTSTAMP:20260406T165530
CREATED:20210713T145501Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210713T145501Z
UID:10006834-1626777000-1626782400@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:MEAM Seminar: "Rheological Behavior and Field Statistics of Suspensions of Rigid Particles in Yield Stress Fluids"
DESCRIPTION:Suspensions of non-Brownian particles in fluids are commonly found in nature (e.g. mud\, soils\, and debris flows) and in the industry (e.g. paints\, food\, and cosmetics). Understanding the relations between the microstructure and the effective properties of these materials can provide insight into how they fail or behave during processing. Despite their ubiquity and usefulness\, estimating the rheological properties of such suspensions\, particularly in the non-dilute regime\, remains a challenge. In this talk\, I will discuss homogenization techniques to model the rheological behavior of athermal suspensions of hard spheres in both Newtonian and non-Newtonian (viscoplastic) fluids. For the case of Newtonian suspensions\, we propose a generalization of the classical homogenization estimates of Ponte Castañeda and Willis (PCW) for the full viscosity tensor. The new estimates make use of an empirical interpolation parameter that is expected to depend on the particle properties (e.g. polydispersivity and size-ratios). Good agreement is found with experimental (rheology) data using polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) spheres suspended in Glycerol\, a viscous fluid. For the case of non-Newtonian suspensions\, the generalized PCW estimates are used in combination with a variational linear comparison method to predict the effective nonlinear properties of viscoplastic suspensions. Good agreement is found with experimental data for suspensions of PMMA spheres in Carbopol\, a yield-stress fluid. The proposed new theory is found to improve the predictive capabilities of the classical PCW estimates at moderate particle volume fractions. A physical interpretation of the interpolation parameter is offered in terms of the phase averages and the fluctuations of the local fields. Finally\, the new estimates are used to generate fully-optimized\, second-order homogenization estimates for viscoplastic suspensions under pure and axisymmetric shear. Special attention is devoted to the method’s ability to capture the localized\, anisotropic deformation patterns that emerge under pure shear but are absent under axisymmetric shear.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/meam-seminar-rheological-behavior-and-field-statistics-of-suspensions-of-rigid-particles-in-yield-stress-fluids/
LOCATION:Zoom – Email MEAM for Link\, peterlit@seas.upenn.edu
CATEGORIES:Seminar
ORGANIZER;CN="Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics":MAILTO:meam@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210719T133000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210719T153000
DTSTAMP:20260406T165530
CREATED:20210706T132536Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210706T132536Z
UID:10006817-1626701400-1626708600@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:BE Doctoral Dissertation: "Development and Evaluation of Next Generation Tomosynthesis" (Trevor Vent)
DESCRIPTION:The Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania and Dr. Andrew Maidment are pleased to announce the Doctoral Dissertation Defense of Trevor Vent. \nTitle: “Development and Evaluation of Next Generation Tomosynthesis” \nThe public is welcome to attend. This event will be held both in person and on zoom. \nZoom link \nMeeting ID: 993 7019 2766 \nPasscode: 249310 \nPhysical location: \nClass of 1962 Auditorium \nJohn Morgan Building \nPerelman School of Medicine
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/be-doctoral-dissertation-development-and-evaluation-of-next-generation-tomosynthesis-trevor-vent/
LOCATION:Class of 62 Auditorium\, John Morgan Building\, 3620 Hamilton Walk\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104
CATEGORIES:Doctoral,Graduate,Student,Dissertation or Thesis Defense
ORGANIZER;CN="Bioengineering":MAILTO:be@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210719T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210719T150000
DTSTAMP:20260406T165530
CREATED:20210719T000744Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210719T000744Z
UID:10006835-1626699600-1626706800@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:MSE Thesis Defense: "Liquid Crystallinity in Responsive Soft Materials: Embedding Intelligence via Anisotropy"
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/mse-thesis-defense-liquid-crystallinity-in-responsive-soft-materials-embedding-intelligence-via-anisotropy/
LOCATION:PA
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210719T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210719T130000
DTSTAMP:20260406T165530
CREATED:20210520T134741Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210520T134741Z
UID:10006794-1626696000-1626699600@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:PSOC Webinar: Geng-Yuan "Scott" Chen & Ze Gong
DESCRIPTION:Join Zoom Meeting: \nhttps://upenn.zoom.us/j/99334915941?pwd=eDRXV1lITDlySXFyRHUyUzdmRldoQT09 \nMeeting ID: 993 3491 5941 \nPasscode: 189247 \nPSOC@Penn Summer Webinars 2021 \nContact manu@seas.upenn.edu with any questions \nScott Chen 12:00-12:30 PM \nZe Gong 12:30-1:00 PM
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/psoc-webinar-geng-yuan-scott-chen-ze-gong/
LOCATION:https://upenn.zoom.us/j/96715197752
CATEGORIES:Seminar,Postdoctoral
ORGANIZER;CN="PSOC":MAILTO:manu@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210719T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210719T110000
DTSTAMP:20260406T165530
CREATED:20210702T201753Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210702T201753Z
UID:10006816-1626688800-1626692400@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:MEAM PhD Thesis Defense: "Design of Proprioceptive Legged Robots"
DESCRIPTION:It has been twenty years since the advent of the first power-autonomous legged robots\, yet they have still not yet been deployed at scale. One fundamental challenge in legged machines is that actuators must perform work at relatively high speed in swing but also at high torque in stance. Legged machines must also be able to “feel” the reaction forces in both normal (to switch from swing to stance control) and tangential (to detect slip or stubbing) directions for appropriate gait-level control. This “feeling” can be accomplished by explicit force/torque sensors in the foot/leg/actuator\, or by measuring the deflection of a series mechanical spring. In this thesis we analyse machines that obtain this force information directly through the implementation of highly backdriveable actuators that require no additional sensors (apart from those already required for commutation). \nWe address the holistic design of robots with backdriveable actuators including motor\, transmission\, compliance\, degrees of freedom\, and leg design. Moreover\, this work takes such actuators to the conceptual limit by removing the gearbox entirely and presenting the design and construction of the first direct-drive legged robot family (a monopod\, a biped\, and a quadruped). The actuator analysis that made these direct-drive machines possible has gained traction in state of the art modestly geared machines (legged robots as well as robot arms)\, many of which now use the same motors. A novel leg design (the symmetric five-bar\, where the “knee” is allowed to ride above the “hip”) halves the wasted Joule heating per unit of torque produced over the workspace compared to a conventional serial design\, making the 40 cm hip-to-hip Minitaur platform possible without violating the thermal limit of its motors. A means of comparing actuator transparency (the curve representing collision energy vs. contact information) is presented and is used to compare the performance of actuators with similar continuous torque but vastly different gear ratios (1:1\, 4.4:1\, 51:1). This transparency can be used to show the different outcomes in a representative task where the actuators must “feel” a ball on a track through contact and then recirculate to “cage” the ball before the energy required to “feel” has caused the ball to roll out of the workspace. For a 50g rubber ball\, the direct drive actuator is able to successfully accomplish the task\, but the 4.4:1 actuator is not able to cage the ball in time\, and the 51:1 actuator cannot feel the ball at all before pushing it out of the workspace. \nFinally\, the actuation and force measurement/estimation strategies of the three leading commercial legged robots are compared\, alongside other considerations for real-world fielded machines. This thesis seeks to show that legged robots (both academic and commercial) whose actuators are designed with careful consideration for proprioception can have similar performance to more conventional machines\, with better robustness and greatly reduced complexity.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/meam-phd-thesis-defense-design-of-proprioceptive-legged-robots/
LOCATION:Zoom – Email MEAM for Link\, peterlit@seas.upenn.edu
CATEGORIES:Doctoral,Dissertation or Thesis Defense
ORGANIZER;CN="Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics":MAILTO:meam@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210715T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210715T140000
DTSTAMP:20260406T165530
CREATED:20210712T210417Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210712T210417Z
UID:10006833-1626354000-1626357600@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:MEAM PhD Thesis Defense: "Modular Robots Morphology Transformation and Task Execution"
DESCRIPTION:Self-reconfigurable modular robots are composed of a small set of modules with uniform docking interfaces. Different from conventional robots that are custom-built and optimized for specific tasks\, modular robots are able to adapt to many different activities\, and handle hardware and software failures by rearranging their components. This reconfiguration capability allows these systems to exist in a variety of morphologies\, and the introduced flexibility enables self-reconfigurable modular robots to handle a much wider range of tasks\, but also complicates the design\, control\, and planning. \nThis thesis considers a hierarchy framework in order to deploy modular robots in the real world: the robot first identifies its current morphology\, then reconfigures itself into a new morphology if needed\, and finally executes either manipulation or locomotion tasks. A reliable system architecture is necessary to handle a large number of modules. The number of possible morphologies constructed by modules increases exponentially as the number of modules grows\, and these morphologies usually have many degrees of freedom with complex constraints. In this thesis\, hardware platforms and several control methods and planning algorithms are developed to build this hierarchy framework leading to the system-level deployment of modular robots\, including a hybrid modular robot (SMORES-EP) and a modular truss robot (VTT). Graph representations of modular robots are introduced as well as several algorithms for morphology identification. Efficient mobile-style reconfiguration strategies are explored for hybrid modular robots\, and a real-time planner based on optimal control is developed to perform dexterous manipulation tasks. For modular truss robots\, configuration space is studied and a hybrid planning framework (sampling-based and search-based) is presented to handle reconfiguration activities. A non-impact rolling locomotion planner is then developed to drive an arbitrary truss robot in an environment.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/meam-phd-thesis-defense-modular-robots-morphology-transformation-and-task-execution/
LOCATION:Zoom – Email MEAM for Link\, peterlit@seas.upenn.edu
CATEGORIES:Doctoral,Dissertation or Thesis Defense
ORGANIZER;CN="Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics":MAILTO:meam@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210715T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210715T120000
DTSTAMP:20260406T165530
CREATED:20210709T164717Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210709T164717Z
UID:10006830-1626343200-1626350400@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:CBE PhD Dissertation Defense | "Diverse Roles of Nuclear Intermediate Filaments in Proliferating Cells"
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: \nEmbryonic tissues and cancer have in common the fact that they are both highly proliferative tissues rapidly moving through the cell cycle\, as opposed to most other differentiated tissues in an adult. DNA damage can arrest some embryonic cells but genetic instability is a hallmark of cancer. This thesis studies the contrasting role of two nuclear intermediate filaments – Lamin A and Lamin B1 in the proliferating cells of embryonic hearts and cancer. Lamin B1 is upregulated together with proliferation genes in at least 15 cancers curated in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA)\, whereas Lamin A trends align with ‘matrix mechanosensititve’ genes. With physicochemical principles in mind\, we show Lamin B1 scales with many mitosis genes in cancer\, and experiments reveal its role in promoting cell cycle and direct regulation by the cell cycle transcription factor FOXM1. The genes that scale are used in Scaling-informed Machine Learning (SIML) to better predict overall patient survival and to better identify cell lineage in single cell RNA profiles. A distinct role of Lamin A is revealed by experiments on the first organ in its first days – the heart – which show Lamin A levels are modulated in interphase cells through phosphorylation in response to acto-myosin stress. Lamin A levels determine the probability of nuclear rupture and subsequent DNA damage\, telomere attrition\, and cell cycle arrest. Nuclear lamins thus have different roles in responding to and regulating cell cycle.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/cbe-phd-dissertation-defense-diverse-roles-of-nuclear-intermediate-filaments-in-proliferating-cells/
LOCATION:Zoom – Email CBE for link
CATEGORIES:Doctoral,Graduate,Student,Dissertation or Thesis Defense
ORGANIZER;CN="Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering":MAILTO:cbemail@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210715T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210715T120000
DTSTAMP:20260406T165530
CREATED:20210707T190014Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210707T190014Z
UID:10006829-1626343200-1626350400@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:CBE PhD Dissertation Defense | "Bijels for Continuous Reactive Separation"
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: \nSeveral chemical processes involve the use of mutually immiscible molecules\, for example a water-soluble catalyst is used in combination with oil-soluble reagents to produce water soluble products. There are two possible strategies to run these processes. A mutual solvent can be used to promote mixing of the otherwise immiscible molecules; however\, such a system would make the separation of the product challenging. Biphasic systems comprising two immiscible phases provide a very powerful platform because their ability to host both polar and apolar species and at the same time allowing separation of molecules of different polarity by simple phase partitioning\, without relying on complex and often energy intensive separation processes. Such a strategy is employed in several industrially relevant scenarios like fatty acid and pharmaceutical manufacturing for which the desired product is made from an oil-soluble precursor\, while the desired products and the catalyst are water-soluble. Two forms of biphasic reactive separation systems have been widely studied: emulsion-based and membrane-based systems. There are several examples of successful implementation of simultaneous reactive separation based on emulsions and membranes; however\, the efficiency and effectiveness of these systems can be further enhanced. Significantly\, all emulsion based systems comprise a continuous phase and a droplet phase; the discrete nature of the droplets makes the supply or reagent or retrieval of product challenging. Although continuous processing is possible\, membrane reactors have limitations in their interfacial area. \nA recently developed class of soft materials\, bicontinuous interfacially jammed emulsion gels or bijels provide opportunity to overcome the shortcomings of emulsions and membrane-based biphasic reactors. Bijels have a bicontinuous architecture which allows intimate contact between the two fluid phases; moreover\, bijels provide a significantly higher water/oil interfacial area than membranes. Traditionally bijels are made by triggering the spinodal decomposition of a binary mixture of fluids either by temperature change or co-solvent removal; the three dimensional bicontinuous structure arising from spinodal decomposition has several advantages since both the water and the oil phases are co-continuous and therefore allow for the continuous transport of chemicals throughout its domains. Despite these promising features\, several aspects of bijels must be further addressed to enable their application as reactive media. For examples\, bijels are fragile; they lose their microscopic and macroscopic structure under mechanical (e.g. flow\, agitation) and chemical stresses (e.g. pH change). Moreover\, most bijel formulations are unsuitable for system involving biological molecules such as enzymes\, as they require surfactants to control nanoparticle wetting properties. This study addresses these shortcomings and develops simple and inexpensive methods to engineer bijels for reactive separation. Reactive separation is successfully demonstrated in these bijels in batch mode. Lastly\, for the first time\, bijels are used for continuous reactive separation; bijel-based reactor conversion is compared to membrane based reactors and simple batch stirred tank reactors. Future studies will include the further development of bijels microreactor design and its development as a potentially disruptive technology in multiphase catalysis.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/cbe-phd-dissertation-defense-bijels-for-continuous-reactive-separation/
LOCATION:Zoom – Email CBE for link
CATEGORIES:Doctoral,Graduate,Student,Dissertation or Thesis Defense
ORGANIZER;CN="Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering":MAILTO:cbemail@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20210713T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20210713T120000
DTSTAMP:20260406T165530
CREATED:20210629T173019Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210629T173019Z
UID:10006813-1626174000-1626177600@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:MEAM Ph.D. Thesis Defense: "From Deployments of Elder Care Service Robots to the Design of Affordable Low-Complexity End-Effectors and Novel Manipulation Techniques"
DESCRIPTION:Older adults are forming a much larger percentage of the population leading to a strain in the healthcare sector. It is expected that the population aged 65 and over in the United States alone will double in the next 30 years\, and similarly worldwide. Despite the abundance of facilities to accommodate the growing older adult population\, there is a shortage of caregivers to staff these facilities. With the scarcity of care options available\, and necessity aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the elderly\, low-cost robots may be a creative and vastly accessible solution for mobile and manipulation tasks that would normally be handled by a caregiver. \nThis thesis proposes an investigation on both behavioral and technical aspects of human-robot interaction (HRI) in elder care settings\, in view of an affordable platform capable of executing desired tasks. The behavioral investigation combines a qualitative study with focus groups and surveys from not only the elders’ standpoint\, but also from the standpoint of healthcare professionals to investigate suitable tasks to be accomplished by a service robot in such environments. Through multiple deployments of various robot embodiments at actual elder care facilities (such as at a low-income Supportive Apartment Living\, SAL\, and Program of All-Inclusive Care\, PACE Centers) and interaction with older adults\, design guidelines are developed to improve on both interaction and usability aspects. This need assessment informed the technical investigation of this work\, where we initially propose picking and placing objects using end-effectors without internal mobility (or zero degrees-of-freedom\, DOF)\, considering both quasi-static (tipping and regrasping as in-hand manipulation) and dynamic approaches. Maximizing grasping versatility by allowing robots to grasp multiple objects sequentially using a single end-effector and DOF is also proposed. These novel manipulation techniques and end-effector designs focus on minimizing robot hardware usage and cost\, while still performing complex tasks and complying with safety constraints imposed by the elder care facilities.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/meam-ph-d-thesis-defense-from-deployments-of-elder-care-service-robots-to-the-design-of-affordable-low-complexity-end-effectors-and-novel-manipulation-techniques/
LOCATION:Zoom – Email MEAM for Link\, peterlit@seas.upenn.edu
CATEGORIES:Dissertation or Thesis Defense
ORGANIZER;CN="Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics":MAILTO:meam@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR