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    • Summer 2025 GRASP Seminar: Antonino Furnari, University of Catania, “Towards an Embodied Understanding of Human Behaviour with Egocentric Vision”

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    Amy Gutmann Hall, Room 306 3317 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

    This is a hybrid event with in-person attendance in AGH 306 and virtual attendance via Zoom. ABSTRACT The last few years are witnessing a major shift in the way we think of computing, with humans relying more and more on AI assistants which speak their language and understand images and videos. While this revolution has […]

    ESE Ph.D. Thesis Defense: “Statistical Limits and Efficient Algorithms for Learning-Enabled Control”

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    Amy Gutmann Hall, Room 414 3333 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, United States

    As the adoption of large-scale learning for control continues to grow, developing sample-efficient algorithms has become critical. Yet, even in simple settings, algorithms achieving optimal sample complexity for specific problem instances often remain unknown. Motivated by this limitation, we discuss recent progress toward understanding sample-efficient methods in learning-enabled control. We first examine the statistical limits […]

    AI Across the Care Spectrum: From Bench to Bed (Webinar)

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    Join Penn AI on June 18 @ 2PM for an exciting webinar exploring how artificial intelligence is transforming every corner of healthcare—from dental exams to home care, medical imaging to gerontology, and beyond. Hear directly from leading experts including  as they dive into the real-world impact of AI in their fields, the challenges of implementing […]

    MEAM Ph.D. Thesis Defense: “Elastomeric Strain Limitation for Design of Soft Pneumatic Actuators”

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    Room 337, Towne Building 220 South 33rd Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

    Modern robots embody power and precision control, yet as robots undertake tasks that apply forces on humans this power brings risk of injury. Soft robotic actuators use deformation to produce smooth, continuous motions and conform to delicate objects while imparting forces capable of safely pushing humans. This thesis presents strategies for the design, modeling, and […]

    MSE Ph.D. Defense: “Wet Spinning Responsive Filaments: Assembly and Processing with Anisotropic Building Blocks”

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    Auditorium, LRSM Building 3231 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

    Fibers are among the most versatile material forms in contemporary applications, including textiles, biomedicine, and aerospace. Wet spinning, the process of coagulating a polymer solution into tangible fibers, remains one of the oldest and most reliable methods for continuously fabricating fibers from a wide range of materials. Contemporary research in fiber science has begun to […]

    CBE Doctoral Dissertation Defense: “Reconfigurable Metasurfaces Based on Multistable Elastic Pixels” (Jed-Joan S. Edziah)

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    Glandt Forum, Singh Center for Nanotechnology 3205 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

    Abstract: Metamaterials are engineered materials designed to manipulate and tailor electromagnetic (EM) waves. Metasurfaces are planar metamaterials that rely on inclusions whose optical properties and spatial arrangements are designed to interact with incident EM waves to yield desired reflected or transmitted waveforms. A reconfigurable metasurface in which the relative positions of inclusions can be controlled […]

    • MEAM Ph.D. Thesis Defense: “Mechanical Robust Biocompatible Polymeric Networks for Repetitive Loading”

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    Towne 319 220 S. 33rd Street, Philadelphia, United States

    Crosslinked biocompatible polymer networks offer unique potential for biomedical applications that demand high resilience under repetitive load-bearing conditions. However, conventional hydrogels often exhibit poor mechanical strength and irreversible damage under cyclic deformation. To address these challenges, this work presents a class of engineered polymer network designed for enhanced mechanical robustness: cryogel-based double-network (DN) hydrogels. In […]

    CBE Doctoral Dissertation Defense: “Computational Strategies for Efficiently Sampling Conformational Changes in Solvated Macromolecules” (Akash Pallath)

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    Amy Gutmann Hall, Room 414 3333 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, United States

    Abstract: Solvated macromolecules such as proteins and polymers undergo conformational changes in response to stimuli such as pressure, temperature, pH, ligand binding, and post-translational modification. These transitions are fundamental to biological function, from cellular signaling to misfolding and aggregation, and are increasingly harnessed in applications such as drug delivery, biosensing, and biomaterials design. Understanding how […]

    CBE Doctoral Dissertation Defense: “Computational Analysis of Colloidal Self-Assembly with Interaction Heterogeneity” (Po-Ting Wu)

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    PICS Conference Room 534 - A Wing , 5th Floor 3401 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

    Abstract: Micron-scale colloidal particles with short-ranged attractions, e.g., colloids functionalized with single-stranded DNA oligomers, have emerged as a powerful platform for studying colloidal self-assembly phenomena with the long-term goal of identifying routes for metamaterial fabrication. Although these systems have been investigated extensively both experimentally and computationally, the role of ‘real world’ features that may impact […]

    ESE Ph.D. Thesis Defense: “Towards General Microscopic Robots”

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    Towne 337

    This defense presents my contributions towards general robotics at the microscopic scale. Namely, through the introduction of fully programmable, autonomous microscopic robots free to explore the microscopic world. The robots complete simple, but essential milestones for microscopic robots. The machines we build are small enough to experience the same physics as their biological counterparts, allowing […]

    ESE Ph.D. Thesis Defense: “Energy-efficient Wavelength-Division-Multiplexing Systems for the Next Generation of Optical Transceivers”

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    Towne 337

    The rapid growth of data traffic in data centers and AI applications demands faster, more energy-efficient communication solutions to scale up parallel computing capabilities. This dissertation explores integrated photonic-electronic systems designed to significantly enhance data transfer rates and reduce energy consumption. By simultaneously using multiple wavelengths of light, these systems achieve data rates reaching terabit-per-second […]

    MEAM Seminar: “Modularity Strategies for Pneumatic Control in Soft Robotic Systems”

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    Room 337, Towne Building 220 South 33rd Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

    Soft robotic systems, defined as both compliant robotic platforms and mechanically adaptive structures, offer unique advantages such as safe human-machine interaction, structural flexibility, and environment-driven reconfigurability. By relying on deformable materials and embedded physical intelligence, these systems can achieve complex motions and responsive behaviors that are difficult for conventional rigid robots. Pneumatic control, including actuation, […]