Penn Engineering Magazine: Fall 2012

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA Fall 2012

PennApps eat. sleep. code.

www.seas.upenn.edu

School of Engineering and Applied Science

University of Pennsylvania

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2Future Vision George Pappas takes the reins as the newly minted Chair of Electrical and Systems Engineering.

6Applying Math to Materials

Understanding how the structure of materials deforms under different conditions is the fascination of preeminent materials scientist and engineer David Srolovitz.

10Internet of ThingsA world in which every object is tagged with chips that can interact with networks, dubbed the “Internet of Things,” is the futuristic vision of Davor Sutija, M&T’83.

13A Sweet Solution for Regenerative MedicinePenn bioengineers adapt confectionery-making techniques to create precision-designed vasculature using molds made of sugar.

18Singh Center for NanotechnologyThe nearly complete Singh Center boasts numerous state-of-the-art scientific tools and architectural elements.

20On and Off the MatMike Steltenkamp, mechanical engineering scholar and Division I athlete, applies disciplined training to scholarly pursuits.

24Helping Engineers Bring Ideas to Market More than 3,200 students have benefited from Penn Engineering’s Entrepreneurship Program and immersion into the realities of innovation.

28Renaissance Man Overseer Harlan Stone, C’80, leverages his experience, gifts and service to bring Penn Engineering students multiple interdisciplinary learning opportunities.

“ There are limitless ways to learn, create and explore to establish a common enterprise.”

31The (R)evolution of CodePennApps challenges teams of programmers to create something new using nothing more than imagination and computer code.

Penn Engineering / Fall 2012

University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied ScienceCONTENT

“ Innovation is guided by instinct, and leading scholars learn to trust their instincts, turning curiosity into a driving passion.”

cover The sixth PennApps hackathon invades the Hall of Flags, where over 300 students engage in a 48-hour stretch of nonstop coding. Little time is spent on frivolous things like sleeping, and teams from across the country line up to win top honors and bragging rights.

Penn Engineering Magazine [email protected] 215-898-6564 www.seas.upenn.edu

Eduardo D. Glandt Dean

George W. Hain III Vice Dean, External Affairs Development and Alumni Relations

Joan S. Gocke Director of Communications Editor

Design Kelsh Wilson Design

Photography Kelsh Wilson Design John Carlano Steven Lowy

The University of Pennsylvania values diversity and seeks talented students, faculty and staff from diverse backgrounds. The University of Pennsylvania does not discriminate on

the basis of race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, color, national or ethnic origin, age, disability, or status as a Vietnam Era Veteran or disabled veteran in

the administration of educational policies, programs or activities; admissions policies; scholarship and loan awards; athletic, or other University administered programs or

employment. Questions or complaints regarding this policy should be directed to: Executive Director, Office of Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Programs, Sansom

Place East, 3600 Chestnut Street, Suite 228, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6106 or by phone at (215) 898-6993 (Voice) or (215) 898-7803 (TDD).

University of Pennsylvania Nondiscrimination Statement

Mr. Andrew S. Rachleff, W’80 [Board Chair] Partner Benchmark Capital Menlo Park, CA

Mr. Andrew Africk, L’92, WG’92 Senior Partner Apollo Management, L.P. New York, NY

The Honorable Harold Berger, EE’48, L’51 Managing Partner Berger and Montague, P.C. Philadelphia, PA

Mr. David J. Berkman, W’83 Managing Partner Liberty Associated Partners, L.P. Bala Cynwyd, PA

Mr. Dennis “Chip” Brady, C’94, W’94 Partner LSN Partners, LLC Miami, FL

Dr. Katherine D. Crothall, EE’71 Principal Liberty Venture Partners, Inc. Philadelphia, PA

Mr. Peter N. Detkin, Esq., EE’82, L’85 Co-Founder, Vice-Chairman Intellectual Ventures Palo Alto, CA

Mr. Richard D. Forman, EE’87, W’87 Managing Partner Health Venture Group New York, NY

Mr. C. Michael Gooden, GEE’78 Chairman and CEO Integrated Systems Analysts Inc. Alexandria, VA

Mr. Paul S. Greenberg, EE’83, WG’87 Principal Trilogy Capital LLC Greenwich, CT

Mr. Alex Haidas, C’93, ENG’93, WG’98 Portfolio Manager Credaris (CPM Advisers Limited) London, UK

Dr. George H. Heilmeier, EE’58 Chairman Emeritus Telcordia Technologies, Inc. Dallas, TX

Mr. Alex T. Krueger, ENG’96, W’96 President First Reserve Corporation London, UK

Dr. John F. Lehman, Jr., GR’74 Chairman and Founding Partner J. F. Lehman & Company New York, NY

Mr. Ryan D. Limaye, ENG‘93, W‘93, WG‘93 Managing Director & Head Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. San Francisco, CA

Dr. David M. Magerman, C’90, ENG’90 President and Founder Kohelet Foundation Gladwyne, PA

Mr. Sean C. McDonald, ChE’82 President and CEO Precision Therapeutics Pittsburgh, PA

Mr. Hital R. Meswani, ENG’90, W’90 Executive Director and Member of the Board Reliance Industries Limited Mumbai, India

Mr. Rajeev Misra, ME’85, GEN’86 Global Head of Credit UBS Investment Bank London, UK

Mr. Ofer Nemirovsky, EE’79, W’79 Managing Director HarbourVest Partners, LLC Boston, MA

Ms. Alison Newman, C’83 Partner Alston & Bird LLP New York, NY

Mr. Mitchell I. Quain, EE’73, parent [Board Chair Emeritus] Partner One Equity Partners New York, NY

Mr. Allie P. Rogers, ENG’87, W’87 Co-Founder Triple Point Technology, Inc. Westport, CT

Dr. Jeffrey M. Rosenbluth, ENG’84 Private Investor Sands Point, NY

Ms. Suzanne B. Rowland, ChE’83 VP Business Excellence Tyco Flow Control Princeton, NJ

Mr. Theodore E. Schlein, C’86 Managing Partner Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Menlo Park, CA

Dr. Krishna P. Singh, MS’69, Ph.D.’72 President and CEO Holtec International Marlton, NJ

Dr. Rajendra Singh, parent Chairman and CEO Telcom Ventures LLC Alexandria, VA

Ms. Juliet Sjöborg, EE’85 WG’92 Director Plena Group London, UK

Mr. Robert M. Stavis, EAS’84, W’84 Partner Bessemer Venture Partners Larchmont, NY

Mr. Harlan M. Stone, C’80 President and Chief Operating Officer Halstead International Norwalk, CT

Mr. Frederick J. Warren, ME’60, WG’61 Founder Sage Venture Partners, LLC Winter Park, FL

Ms. Sarah Keil Wolf, EE’86, W’86 Retired Investment Banker Bear Stearns and Company Scarsdale, NY

Dr. Michael D. Zisman, GEE’73, GR’77 Managing Director, Operations Internet Capital Group Wayne, PA

Penn Engineering Board of Overseers

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FROM THE DEAN

It’s PennApps!

Eduardo D. Glandt/Nemirovsky Family Dean

PennApps comes around twice a year. It is one of the largest “hackathons” in the country and is a sight to behold. A cloud of coders, a congregation of creators, a pack of programmers, a 48-hour non-stop gathering of hundreds of college students pounding furiously at their laptops. Noon-on-Friday ‘til noon-on-Sunday. We provide the power outlets; they order the pizzas. The majority are Penn students, every one of them infected with a passion for innovation, but scores join us from Harvard, MIT, Rutgers, CMU, Hopkins, and an occasional busload from Ann Arbor.

Every article in this issue of Penn Engineering magazine is testimony to the gratifying vibrancy of our School, but the feature about PennApps bears particular significance because it is an activity organized and run by students. It is a large community held together by a shared appreciation of innovation. It is engineering at its best: a team effort toward a well-defined technological objective. It is a perfect complement to lectures and scholarly projects; one glance and you immediately know that the participants will remember this event forever.

We foster and celebrate learning outside the classroom. It is a hallmark of American higher education. PennApps, PennVention, Rube Goldberg events, our departmental and School-wide Senior Design competi-tions and countless other such activities are not mere games. They are the crucial instances where rigorous engineering science becomes translated into a product, into a contribution for a better world, where young students become young professionals.

We do our part by providing the needed resources and appropriate venues, but the bulk of the credit goes to our students, and to those who ensure that this cohort is surrounded by a crowd of talented and stimulating peers. Dean of Admissions Eric Furda and his highly insightful staff know how to read through countless applications and assemble an engineering class populated by interesting individuals. We take it from there. We are privileged to be the very first witnesses to the results. Yes, it is hard work for everybody, and also a shared joy.


University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science

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George Pappas

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Innovation is guided by instinct, and leading scholars learn to trust their own, turning curiosity into a driving passion. “You follow your nose—you do well at what you enjoy and you enjoy what you do well,” says George Pappas, the newly named Chair of the Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering (ESE).

Pappas has parlayed his own talents into a highly accomplished academic and research career, focusing on embedding intelligence into systems, including cars, airplanes and buildings. It was an Apple II personal computer that first piqued Pappas’ interest as a young student in Greece. “I wanted to know not just how it worked for the user, but what was happening inside the box. When I started taking classes in engineering, I learned that computers were useful, not just for word processing and sending emails and playing games, but as a way of changing or impacting the world.”

Inspiration and CollaborationWith early encouragement from his professors, Pappas earned undergraduate and master’s degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. One professor said, “You have two options. You can pursue your interest in controls and systems or you can open a Greek diner.”

The choice for Pappas was clear, and he went on to earn a Ph.D. and completed a postdoctoral appointment at the University of California at Berkeley.

Pappas came to Penn in 2000, and quickly distinguished himself as a top scholar. Two years later, he won a coveted National Science Foundation Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). Pappas also won the Ruberti Young Researcher Prize and has been named an IEEE Fellow. In 2008, Pappas was named the Joseph Moore Professor of Electrical and Systems Engineering.

“Penn has been a wonderful place for me,” he says. “As a professor, I’ve had the luxury of working with wonderful students on both the undergraduate and graduate levels, many of whom have gone on to amazing careers.”

Doctoral candidate Chinwendu Enyioha chose Penn for his graduate education so he could work with Pappas. “Every time George opens up a new course offering he gets more students than he anticipated, and that’s a testament to his talents as a teacher,” Enyioha says. “He’s also very good at letting students do their work independently. He gives them sound ideas and direction and then allows them to arrive at their own conclusions.”

Future Vision George Pappas Ushers in New Era for ESE

By Elisa Ludwig

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Pappas believes that one of the unique advantages of Penn is its size. “Intellectually, there are not many people who do exactly what you do here so it forces you to collaborate across disciplines and that is a good thing for both students and faculty.”

Previously Pappas served as Penn Engineering’s Deputy Dean for Research, focusing on developing those interdisciplinary connections. “I tend to think broadly about engineering, and enjoy the interplay of ideas, for instance, in robotics, where you bring together mechanical engineers with systems engineers and computer science programmers.”

Charting New TerritoryAs Chair, Pappas’ focus will be on continuing to foster those interactions as well as identifying areas for growth and new directions for investment, such as nanodevices and the recently added major in Networked and Social Systems Engineering. “My other priorities will be hiring, cultivating and retaining top-notch faculty to train the next generation of engineers, and working to translate what’s happening on the research front into better educational programs at all levels, down to the freshman experience.”

A pilot course for freshmen, ESE 111, will cover the scope and possibilities of electrical and systems engineering, from the foundations of how information is connected to physics through basic circuits, up through nanoscale devices and informational systems for energy, health and transportation. “The breadth of electrical system engineering is unparalleled, and we want our students to understand all of the opportunities in front of them and feel empowered.” Pappas is also hoping to get undergraduate students involved in research earlier in their educational careers.

“Today, the strength of its faculty and the diversity of its research activities make ESE an intellectual hub of the School. It is home to about 25 percent of our doctoral students and is responsible for about 25 percent of the School’s research funding. With George Pappas as Chair, the Department is clearly poised for great success and even greater stature,” says Eduardo D. Glandt, Nemirovsky Family Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

21st Century SolutionsPappas will continue to focus on his own research in three areas, including his work with the Greater Philadelphia Innovation Cluster for Energy Efficient Buildings, a Federal Government-funded green building initiative at the Navy Yard; improving security in electronic systems in cars; and developing real-time traffic reports without infringing on individual privacy. “You might not think of energy or security as electrical systems problems but we have solutions for them, and this is the type of vision we want to see going forward, using our foundation and applying it in novel domains to address the modern needs of society.”

Pappas’ example continues to galvanize students not only in their research but in forging their own career paths. “When you first start out as a graduate student, you can only focus on a small problem, but you don’t have a clue about how it fits into the bigger picture,” says Miroslav Pajic, a doctoral candidate who has co-authored a paper with Pappas on wireless control networks. “George has helped me understand how this research can be used in the real world, and watching him work has inspired me to pursue a career in academia.”

“ Penn has been a wonderful place for me,” notes Pappas. “As a professor, I’ve had the luxury of working with wonderful students on both the undergraduate and graduate levels, many of whom have gone on to amazing careers.”

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Applying Math to Materials Materials Scientist and Engineer David Srolovitz Joins Penn Faculty

By Janelle Weaver

The frothy foam that rises on top of beer as you pour it into a glass, the bubbles that build up in the sink after you dump dish soap into it, the smooth texture of shaving cream smeared on your face—these physical phenomena are entrancing enough on the macroscopic scale, but David Srolovitz has an entirely different perspective. Srolovitz, the inaugural Joseph Bordogna Professor of Engineering and Applied Science in the departments of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics (MEAM) and Materials Science and Engineering (MSE), is fascinated by the microscopic properties of these materials. For years, he has used computer simulations to understand mechanical defor-mations affecting the microstructure of a variety of materials, from crystals to foams. Using mathematical principles, he has developed intricate theories that describe how crystal grains and other structures grow in three dimensions, laying a strong foundation for the entire field of materials science.

“We are very excited that Srolovitz has joined the Penn faculty, because he is one of the world’s most preeminent computational materials engineers and influential materials scientists and mechanicians of his generation,” says Eduardo D. Glandt, Nemirovsky Family Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science. Penn has also recruited Vivek Shenoy, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, another leading expert in computational science who focuses on modeling the fabrication, performance and physical properties of nanoscale devices and structures.

Small-scale SimulationsBy studying mechanical properties at the nanoscale, Srolovitz gains unique insights into how materials behave when they’re deformed. A wire, for instance, behaves very differently at the macroscopic scale than it does on the nanoscale when it is stretched. Using

Understanding how the structure of materials deforms under different conditions is crucial for a range of applications, from building jet engines that are less likely to fracture when stressed to

precisely controlling the properties of hair mousse.


David J. Srolovitz

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molecular dynamics simulations, Srolovitz tracks the position of individual atoms at every moment in time to gain a more complete quantitative picture of their behavior than is possible with experiments. “The central goal of materials science is to control the micro-structure of materials, and our work provides really precise descriptions of how microstructures evolve,” he says.

These simulations provide a glimpse of how materials behave, making it easier to develop theories. “Without simulations, you can make macroscopic observations from experiments, but then it’s a big leap to try to understand what’s going on at the microscopic level and to develop theories,” Srolovitz says.

Understanding how the structure of materials deforms under different conditions is crucial for a range of applications, from building jet engines that are less likely to fracture when stressed to precisely controlling the properties of hair mousse. “We walk on the edge between things that are technologically interesting and good scientific questions that can be applied broadly,” Srolovitz notes.

For the past several years, Srolovitz was the Executive Director of the Institute of High Performance Computing at Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), and prior to that position, he was on the faculties at Yeshiva University, Princeton University and the University of Michigan. The decision to join the Penn faculty was easy for him because it meant returning to the place where he got his start. Srolovitz earned master’s and doctoral degrees from Penn’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Since then, he has maintained his ties with MSE, returning to give seminars every few years. “I’ve spent a lot of time in this part of the country, and it feels like coming home,” he says.

Collaboration Is Key As a member of the Penn faculty, Srolovitz will bridge macroscopic observations with theoretical predic-tions by collaborating with experimentalists in the Departments of Physics and Chemistry, among others. “I enjoy working with people from a lot of different disciplines because each discipline brings its own perspective, and it’s important to bring to bear whatever approach you need to solve a problem.”


The Penn Institute for Computational Science (PICS) is a new

center that will act as a central hub for computational

modeling research. The premier institute will bring together

faculty across Penn who are working on a diverse set of

projects involving high-speed computing. Unlike many

other institutes for computational science, PICS will have a

broad focus, welcoming scientists from a variety of research

areas, including engineering, chemistry, biology, applied

mathematics, computer science and physics. PICS will also

host a regular seminar series and provide technical training

to students and postdoctoral fellows to allow them to take

advantage of rapidly evolving computing technology. “With

the launch of PICS, we are trying to make sure that Penn plays

a leadership role in computational science and engineering

at the national level,” says Director David Srolovitz.

Penn PICS Up the Pace

Penn’s relatively small size makes it easy to forge collaborations, but at the same time it’s large enough to achieve a critical mass of experts in various specialties, Srolovitz notes. “Penn strikes the right balance in terms of size, and because it’s a world-class institution, it will allow me to collaborate with high-quality researchers on both the engineering side of the discipline as well as the basic science side.”

One Penn scientist Srolovitz plans to collaborate with is Randall Kamien, professor of Physics and Astronomy, who develops precise mathematical theories to describe at the molecular level how materials fold. “Srolovitz has the intellectual range and expertise to take an abstract mathematical idea and know how to make a real material out of it,” Kamien says. “Because of his remarkable breadth and eagerness to collaborate, he epitomizes what our campus is about.”

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ENTREpRENEuRs’ CORNER

Imagine being able to test the freshness of your produce or the potency of your medicine simply by scanning it with your smartphone. A world in which every object is tagged with chips that can interact with networks, dubbed the “Internet of Things,” is the futuristic vision held by Davor Sutija, M&T’83, Chief Executive Officer of Thin Film Electronics ASA. This Oslo-based company, launched in the mid-90s, has pioneered the development of flexible, wafer-thin printed tags that store electronic information in rewritable memory.

Less expensive and more amenable to mass production than standard silicon microelectronics, this non-toxic, low-power, polymer-based technology is also ideal for personalized toys and games, allowing children to program characters to have specific names and features. For businesses, the technology means protecting their brands with printed radiofrequency identification tags and tracking customers’ behaviors and preferences for interactive marketing campaigns.

The printed electronics company demonstrated its first prototype of an integrated printed system last October together with PARC, a Xerox® company that manufac-tures transistors used to construct the circuits. And this summer, Thinfilm announced that it will partner with the Fortune 500 Wisconsin-based packaging company Bemis®, paving the way for introducing freshness indicators into grocery stores and pharmacies by 2014. By monitoring individual packages to ensure that their contents have been kept at a safe temperature over time, the printed sensor systems can alert consumers if their milk or medicine is past its prime.

“This technology will allow consumers to check the quality of perishable goods inside packages, as well as companies to check the environmental conditions that packages are exposed to during transport, so that they know when and where the quality of the material they ship is compromised,” Sutija says. “It’s a significant

Internet of Things The Promise of Printed Electronics

By Janelle Weaver

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step in the direction toward an ocean of smart tags that I believe will form the basis for the long-heralded Internet of Things.”

Launching SuccessAmong the first batch of graduates from Penn’s Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology, Sutija credits this unique interdisciplinary program—and his past Chemical Engineering advisor Eduardo Glandt, now the Nemirovsky Family Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science—for fostering his sense of entrepreneurship. “Dr. Glandt was adamant in his view that a degree in engineering was not a hindrance to participating in technology management, rather quite the opposite—that it would give me a unique perspective and credibility in leading technically entrepreneurial teams and organizations,” Sutija says. “It’s rare to combine a top-notch engineering education and business education into one program, and this interdisciplinary education was critical for launching my career.”

After receiving his Penn degree, Sutija studied History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge and then earned a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley. Based in Norway for the past 20 years, Sutija co-founded SiNOR AS (now REC-SiTech), a producer of photovoltaic ingots, was on the management team of FAST, an enterprise software company bought by Microsoft® in 2008, and joined Thinfilm in 2010. Through these diverse entrepreneurial experiences, he has focused his efforts on making energy consumption more environmentally friendly, improving the way we search for information, and developing smart tags that can lead to a better quality of life. “I’m excited about being at the forefront of creating technology that affects the way we live,” Sutija says.

In 2011, Thinfilm’s manufacturing partner InkTec® opened a dedicated printing line to produce Thinfilm rewritable memory. In the photo, InkTec CEO K.C. Chung and Davor Sutija hold the first roll of fully printed memories from the new line.


A Sweet Solution for Regenerative Medicine Using Sugar to Create 3D Vascular Networks

By Jessica Stein Diamond

Lollipops that dissolve at an ideal pace. Intricate sugar lattices that garnish restaurant desserts. The candy layer that coats M&M’S and Skittles.

Borrowing concepts from such unlikely realms as candy manufacturing and an open source hacker-inventor community, Christopher S. Chen, Professor of Bioengineering, leads a scientific collaboration that recently advanced the science of tissue engineering. In a lab often suffused with the scent of fresh cotton candy, his postdoctoral fellow Jordan Miller worked with collaborators at MIT to adapt confectionery-making techniques to create precision-designed vasculature using molds made of sugar.

Their breakthrough keeps liver cells alive within engineered 3D tissues that can be created rapidly and inexpensively, and was published in July in Nature Materials.

Candy-makers & Hackers“This innovation fills an important scientific need: we can now readily design and create 3D tissues to study human biology,” says Chen, M.D., Ph.D., and Skirkanich Professor of Innovation. “This powerful model for vascular biology mimics the environment of human tissues and will help us understand how things get plumbed and vascularized, what controls how blood

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vessels grow or don’t grow, and what happens to tissues when they get re-vascularized or have too few or too many blood vessels.”

Adapting lost wax casting techniques used by sculptors and jewelers for thousands of years, the research team uses an open source printer to cast molds made of a laboratory-grade sugar formulation that dissolves in a gel pre-polymer moments after that gel solidifies. The result: a precise architecture of blood vessels between 150 to 750 microns in diameter that supply nutrients and remove waste for living cells in a gel. The vascu-lature forms its own capillary sprouts and so far has

nurtured liver cells, fibroblasts and myocyte progenitors within 3D tissues.

Over the past decade, scientists have refined techniques for creating thin tissues such as engineered skin, cornea, bladder and trachea. But their efforts to create thicker tissues such as in the liver, heart, kidneys or muscles were stymied because cells in the core of thicker structures would starve without blood vessels that would feed them. Bio-printing layer-by-layer didn’t work due to seams and structural weaknesses in the vasculature, and also because primary cells such as liver cells are too fragile to survive that process. Prior

Miller checks 3D printed sugar templates for defects before using them in tissue engineering research. The sugar serves as a temporary template for casting fluidic networks to keep cells alive.


http://youtu.be/9VHFlwJQIkE

molding techniques also used organic solvents that killed living cells.

“This discovery is the next step in liver tissue engineering—how to go from thinner tissues fed by diffusion to a thicker tissue that will require networks of blood flow within it,” says Sangeeta Bhatia, M.D., Ph.D., and Wilson Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Chen’s collaborator. “All tissues thicker than a millimeter need vascular networks, the piping that brings nutrients close enough to the cells. Chris and his team came up with a way to

make this piping. This is a powerful research tool for a broad spectrum of tissue types and diseases.”

Odd CombinationInspiration for this breakthrough came from two improbable topics: dead bodies and desserts. Shortly after coming to Penn, Miller saw the Franklin Institute’s Body Worlds exhibit featuring plasti-cized casts of human organs and bodies. He realized this reverse-mold technique could work better than bio-printing to create engineered vasculature.

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Later, at a restaurant, Miller had an epiphany. A sugar lattice garnished his dessert. “It looked like vasculature. I immediately realized sugar would be the best material for the mold because it’s nontoxic for cells,” says Miller, who began creating sugar lattices at home, using cookbooks and a candy thermometer.

As he pondered ways to precision-print sugar, Miller drew on his interests outside the scientific community. He came across the RepRap printer, an inexpensive device often used by hobbyists to print figurines or replacement parts for appliances or toys. He began working with a group of inventors and artists at Hive 76, a Philadelphia-area hacker space, to learn how to build a RepRap. He tweaked the device, replacing a plastic frosting extruder with a glass syringe head wrapped with toaster wire that keeps the sugar solution molten until printed.

It took two years to optimize those sugars. First, they tested recipes from a 19th century German candy-making textbook that strengthened sugar with a starch additive. But that made the sugar too cloudy, disrupting photo-polymerization. Another additive, glycerol, weakened the sugar. Ultimately, a blend of sucrose and glucose plus dextran (a sugar polymer similar to starch used in blood perfusion in human patients to stabilize blood pressure) kept the sugars clear and strong.

Next, they needed to protect the printed sugar filaments so the mold would dissolve at the right moment. Studying lollipops, M&M’S and Skittles, they decided to coat the sugar template with a layer of corn-derived polymer that would allow the sugar to dissolve moments after the gel cross-links. “That thin coating gives us time and control over everything,” says Miller. “That allows the sugar to flow out of the gel instead of through

Jordan Miller (left) and Chris Chen in the Tabas Lab, testing recent upgrades to the open source 3D printer system, which has been modified to extrude molten sugar.


the gel, which protects living cells from sugar at a concentration that’s toxic.”

Future ChallengesThe next goals involve designing thicker and more complex vascularized tissues. “Creating capillaries is not a problem,” says Chen. “We’ve been able to print vessels that are the size of what would feed the stem of a maple leaf and all the little vessels inside that leaf. Now we need to be able to print vessels that would feed a branch with 100 leaves on it.”

“Too many or not enough blood vessels are central to the ischemic diseases that are a major aspect of mortality and morbidity,” says Chen. “The question of how a tissue gets the right amount of vascularity or not is critical, for instance, in cardiac ischemia, peripheral

artery disease, chronic wound healing for individuals with diabetes, and revascularization of the brain after stroke.”

Bhatia, whose postdoc Kelly Stevens worked closely with Miller, says, “Together, we have created two important building blocks: we have learned how to support cells in artificial environments and how to make tissues thicker. Until now the field of micro- circulation has been largely observational. With these tools, we’ll be able to recreate the architecture of vasculature in thicker tissues. This is an important step for regenerative medicine as we advance the translational science of creating replacement parts for aging, injured and diseased tissues.”

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The curtain wall is composed of a patterned etched glass layer, a reflective insulating layer and an interior coating of translucent patterned glass.

The clean room areas will achieve a rating of 10,000 particles per cubic meter.

Singh Center for Nanotechnology

The temperature and humidity in the imaging labs will vary less than one degree year round.

The facility will feature the artwork of Tony Smith, Jaume Plensa, Hilla Rebay and Casey Reas.

Each lab area above grade has access to views and natural daylight. Labs with sensitive imaging equipment are below grade.

The building captures and stores all rainwater that falls on the site, much of which will be stored and reused for irrigation.

The building will have two green roof areas, both featuring local vegetation.

The length of the cantilever is 65 feet.

The glass patterns have varying degrees of transparency and opacity in six different panel types, which maximize views in key locations.

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“Once you have wrestled, everything else in life is easy,” or so said legendary Olympic gold medalist and Iowa University wrestling coach, Dan Gable. Does this include working toward a degree in Mechanical Engineering at Penn?

Mike Steltenkamp, a Penn Engineering senior and Penn wrestler, recently considered the quote and found a good deal of truth in it. But even as the sport, for him, “consumes body, mind and spirit,” it has rewarded him with myriad skills and lessons he can apply to the game of life. Along with extreme attention to detail while looking at the larger strategy, Steltenkamp has developed the quality of self-discipline.

In wrestling, the known rigors of serious athletic training are complicated by the ongoing challenges of making weight for each match. Wrestlers of all levels traditionally compete at a lower weight class, theoreti-cally gaining advantage over their opponents. This often necessitates cutting weight to qualify.

Although aware of the dangers of dehydration and caloric self-deprivation before a match, it is the cultivation of a disciplined lifestyle that seems to be Steltenkamp’s guiding principle. A competitor in the

174-pound weight class, his sensible approach to weight management is, understandably, a point of pride with him.

Not for the Faint of Heart Penn’s wrestling practice schedule is most definitely not for everyone: six days a week, with two practice sessions a day on four of those days during the season. At the gym at least 10 times a week for weightlifting, conditioning and wrestling drills while attending engineering classes as a master’s submatriculant, putting in hours as a Teaching Assistant and serving as president of the Alpha Tau Omega (ATO) fraternity adds up to an arduous schedule. As Steltenkamp puts it, it’s all about “drive: nine to five.”

Driven, yes he is, but others also describe him as dedicated. As a high school wrestler in Bloomfield Hills, MI, Steltenkamp was twice awarded the Coaches Medal for dedication. When asked for his thoughts on having won the award, Steltenkamp expressed his belief that he was being recognized for his efforts in bringing new or inexperienced team members into the fold and teaching them what there was to know. In other words, he not only embodied but also passed along the spirit of the team.

On and Off the Mat With Scholar-Athlete Mike Steltenkamp

By Patricia Hutchings


Mike Steltenkamp

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Perhaps it was having acted as a mentor during those years that made him a natural for the SEAS Freshman Alumni Mentoring Program as a mentee. Whatever the attraction, Steltenkamp is glad he signed on. The program, (www.seas.upenn.edu/alumni/mentoring.php), pairs an alumni mentor with a first-year engineering student for one year.

Power of Penn Networks Steltenkamp’s experience in the Mentoring Program illustrates the success of the program and the power of Penn connections to provide guidance and inspiration. His network originated with his assigned mentor, Guido Gaeffke, ME’82, who put him in touch with Bruce Tassone, ME’82, WG’86. The introduction resulted in his working for Tassone’s engineering firm, Engine Cleaning

Technology, Inc., in Bridgeport, PA, over the summer of his freshman year.

The experience, according to both, was 100 percent win-win. As Tassone sums up that summer, “It turned out to be a great success story. Mike showed an immediate commitment to our business and positively contributed by developing a number of value engineering processes. We only wish he could have stayed a while longer, but he had to get back to the Towne Building for classes!”

Steltenkamp’s most recent summer was spent in an environment quite different from Tassone’s company: Ford Motor Company. Even with his family home just an hour or so from Detroit and his grandfather a lifetime career GM’er, Steltenkamp had never given much thought to eventually taking his mechanical engineering


skills to Detroit. After completing his product devel-opment internship, during which he analyzed the Lincoln Continental in terms of customer experience, Motor City is now on his radar.

Definition of a Scholar-AthleteWhile the future seems to hold much promise for him, Steltenkamp is very much a man who lives intensely in the moment. A GPA of 3.91 in his major attests to his mental agility when facing the competing demands of school and sport. An article in his high school newspaper, in fact, once described him as having “put the scholar back in scholar-athlete.” How does he do it?

His wrestling teammates, who immediately became his “25 best friends” on his very first day at Penn, provide a robust support system. His professors, if not exactly

wrestling fans, seem to be on his side, cognizant of his heavy course load and his travel and workout schedules.

Steltenkamp’s academic advisor, Katherine Kuchenbecker, Skirkanich Assistant Professor of Innovation, and a national championship volleyball player while at Stanford, is especially mindful of his double life. He notes that Kuchenbecker even now forms her MEAM design classes into teams.

Also in Steltenkamp’s corner are his parents, both teachers, who instilled in him the importance of taking his education seriously. At the same time, his father, a discus thrower at Michigan State, never questioned his son’s consuming involvement with athletics.

With a personal team like that, nine-to-five drive and the gift of passionate dedication, perhaps everything else in life is easy because of wrestling.

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Avi Berkowitz recalls discovering that even the best engineering ideas are unlikely to achieve commercial success unless they are inspired by a solid sense of what the market wants.

Berkowitz, a 2005 graduate from Penn Engineering, acquired an early understanding of the realities of innovation when he took Professor Thomas Cassel’s introductory Engineering Entrepreneurship course in the spring of his senior year. The course, one of three in Penn’s Engineering Entrepreneurship Program, equips students with the tools to turn technologies into business startups. It showed Berkowitz and his classmates that entrepreneurial expertise is a critical component in any plan to capitalize on an engineering idea.

“It’s 10 percent about the technology and 90 percent about the business model,” says Berkowitz, now an entrepreneur working on his latest startup. “The idea that ‘If you build it they will come’ is a non-starter.”

Student interest in intellectual property, venture capital, operations strategy and other aspects of starting a technology business helps to explain the popularity of the 12-year-old program that has attracted more than 3,200 students and garnered a series of awards. These awards include the prestigious Provost’s Award for Distinguished Teaching in 2007 for Cassel, who is the Director of the Engineering Entrepreneurship Program and a Professor of Practice. The program immerses students in the world

of high-tech startups, using case studies to demonstrate how to write a business plan, marketing and sales forecasts, patent protection, and team leadership.

Real-world WisdomThe program, also offered as a minor to juniors and seniors who mostly but not exclusively come from Penn Engineering, is peppered with prominent guest speakers from industries ranging from medical devices and pharmaceuticals to defense systems contracting and venture finance.

The real-world emphasis has its roots in the business career of Cassel, a Penn graduate, who co-founded Reading Energy Holdings, an owner and operator of waste-fueled power plants that began in 1978 as an engineering and economic consulting firm, and evolved to become a pioneer in the then-nascent independent electric power industry. Cassel and his team developed three large power plants in California, Pennsylvania and Illinois, which were eventually sold in the 1990s. With a successful business career behind him, Cassel then briefly considered retirement but was persuaded in 1999 by Dean Eduardo Glandt to start an engineering entrepreneurship course at Penn. After discussions with both practitioners and educators on the West and East Coasts, Cassel designed a program whose mission was, and remains, to help engineers develop their products in response to real market demands.

Helping Engineers Bring Ideas to Market It‘s Not Enough to Just ‘Build It’

By Jon Hurdle


The Engineering Entrepreneurship Program immerses students in the world of high-tech startups, using case studies to demonstrate how to write a business plan, marketing and sales forecasts, patent protection, and team leadership.

Tom Cassel, Jeffrey Babin and Elliot Menschik

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Cassel designed a program whose mission was, and remains, to help engineers develop their products i.

Tom Cassel


While aiming to give young engineers the business savvy to make their ideas work, the program leaves them with no illusion that it will be an easy task, says Jeffrey Babin, the program’s Senior Lecturer and Associate Director. “One of the things the course teaches is how difficult it is to become a successful entrepreneur,” he notes. That’s shown by the experience of J.R. Cromer, who took two of the Engineering Entrepreneurship classes, EAS 545 and 546, in 2004 and 2006, respectively. After leaving Penn, Cromer tried and failed at an Internet startup, and then launched a business providing construction and education for the solar industry.

Startup RedesignCromer’s solar business initially did well but struggled when subsidies declined. He ended up closing the construction side of the business, and redesigning the company as a solar education service for architects and engineers, with just one employee —himself—who now crisscrosses the country to provide solar training to his clients. Cromer credits Cassel’s program with helping him to be flexible without losing sight of his vision. “That’s what engineering entrepreneurship taught us, to adapt to market opportunity.”

Niranjan Kameswaran, another former student, said he took the course because he wanted to learn about real-world applications of technologies that he had only encountered in the classroom. “The class looked like a great opportunity for me to understand just what the world outside of research was,” he says. “I wanted to know how to take something out of the lab and make something useful out of it.”

Kameswaran, a bioengineer whose Ph.D. research was focused on repairing nerve damage, became a teaching assistant for one of the courses. He now applies his entrepreneurial skills in a healthcare consulting firm,

advising clients such as pharmaceutical companies on how to identify market opportunities for new drugs.

The program’s real-world relevance helps to explain the flood of students who regularly oversubscribe the courses and submit glowing course evaluations. “This course was so inspiring to me,” wrote one student. “It has paved my path into the entrepreneurial world with no fear and immense confidence.” The program continues to attract more students, whose numbers rose to a record 500 this year.

To meet the growing demand, Penn Engineering hired Elliot Menschik as Adjunct Associate Professor in August 2012. Menschik, a physician, neuroscientist, engineer and successful entrepreneur who has lectured in the Department of Bioengineering, is the recent founder of Venturef0rth, a Philadelphia company providing strategic and operational support for startups and early-stage technology businesses.

Broader ContextFor his part, Babin attributes the program’s popularity to student interest in how technology companies work in the marketplace, and to the fact that it focuses on high-profile technologies and the companies that use them. “It gives them a broader context for their engineering education,” he notes.

While the program has encouraged startups by students like Berkowitz and Cromer, most have not (yet) done so, and that’s fine with Babin and Cassel. The pair is more focused on giving students the skills they will need when and if they choose to launch a high-tech venture than they are with unleashing a flood of technology startups. “It’s not a metric for success,” Cassel says, referring to the number of startups by program participants. “We want them to be prepared so that whenever the opportunity crosses their path they will be ready to seize it.”

The 12-year-old Engineering Entrepreneurship Program has attracted more than 3,200 students and

garnered a series of awards, including the prestigious Provost’s Award for Distinguished Teaching in

2007 for Tom Cassel, who is the Director and Professor of Practice.

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Harlan Stone


Renaissance Man Harlan Stone Brings Creative Passion to Engineering

By Amy Biemiller

For those who see engineering and the arts as dichot-omies, Harlan Stone, C’80, would like to have a moment of their time. “This is the age of a potential renaissance, when the creative process and human expression come together with scientific inquiry to produce innovative outcomes,” he says.

Considered an advocate for melding science with humanities, Stone leverages his experience, gifts and service to bring Penn Engineering students multiple interdisciplinary learning opportunities. He is a member of the School’s Board of Overseers and sponsors student internships. He has also funded the Digital Media Design (DMD) program’s animation studio and a newly endowed professorship, both created to build strong and successful linkages between computer and information science, visual culture and art history.

“We can use today’s technology to gain better under-standing of cultures and past eras, and create synergies between art and science,” he says. “There are limitless

ways to learn, create and explore and by helping to establish a common enterprise, I hope to encourage Penn Engineering students to look at things through different lenses to gain better understanding.”

Visual Art and Engineering While some may find it anomalous that an art history major would have such an affinity for engineering, Stone finds it relevant. “I love the cross-disciplinary aspects of the engineering program and that intellectual pursuit is encouraged,” he says. “I am able to contribute by being the voice of visual creativity within the engineering environment. For me, that is a real privilege.”

Stone’s dedication to advancing the study of visual art as fuel for innovative science is an outgrowth of his own academic experience at Penn. In the 1970s he studied with Leo Steinberg, one of the country’s most distin-guished art historians; with Adrian Malone, BBC

Considered an advocate for melding science with humanities, Harlan Stone leverages his experience, gifts and service to bring Penn Engineering students multiple interdisciplinary learning opportunities.

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director and producer; and was influenced by Vartan Gregorian, the founding Dean of Penn’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

“These men were great voices for the importance of investing in humanities in higher education, at a time when most universities were struggling to justify the relevancy of those studies,” he says. “They helped shape my vision and influenced me greatly.” Another whose influence continues to inspire him today is Stone’s father, who graduated from Penn with a degree in accounting.

“While my dad studied accounting at Penn, he encouraged me to follow my passions academically and personally,” says Stone, who earned his degree in art history and has applied that knowledge to running the family decorative building materials businesses. Stone is President and CEO of Halstead International, CFO of Metroflor Corporation and Managing Director of Vertex Group. “What I learned has served me well in business. That’s why I strongly advocate for students to follow their passions and seek knowledge to try to understand things. This will benefit them and our communities.”

Encouraging Students to Follow Their PassionsStone also feels strongly about applying his knowledge and resources to support the next generation of scholars. As an Overseer for the School, he fully supports the strategic planning process and initiatives that help prepare students to be responsible, creative leaders in a high-tech world.

“Being an Overseer allows me to work with great visionaries like Dean Eduardo Glandt and professor Norm Badler, the real founder of digital media,” he says. “It also gives me the opportunity to stretch intellectually, translating my passion for humanities in a way that resonates with a technically oriented school environment.”

Perhaps what Stone enjoys most about his involvement with the School is the opportunity to interact with the students. “These are bright kids with a passion to work hard and be creative,” he says, “and every time I’m around them, I come away uplifted and inspired.”

“ What I learned has served me well in business” says Stone. “That’s why I strongly advocate for students to follow their passions and seek knowledge to try to understand things. This will benefit them and our communities.”


The buzz can be heard all over campus. “Do you have a team for PennApps yet?” “I heard they ordered an entire truckload of Red Bull.”

PennApps, the largest student-run hackathon in the U.S., is about to begin. By nightfall, students will swarm the campus from as far away as Ann Arbor and Montreal, cramming into Houston Hall for the opening ceremonies. Now in its fifth year, this highly respected event elicits major sponsorship from such tech-based

luminaries as Facebook, Yahoo!, Google and Twitter, as well as the venture capital and software companies that support and embrace emerging startups.

Hacking Is PowerIn 48 hours, teams of programmers are challenged to create something entirely new out of thin air using nothing more than their imaginations and computer code. The payoff is a grand prize of $4,000, a trip to

The (R)evolution of Code By Amy Calhoun

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Google NYC to demo their creation, and entry into Facebook’s college hackathon finals, where they will repeat the process all over again. Bragging rights are gratis.

The Dining Philosophers, Penn’s undergraduate computer science club, organizes many events, but PennApps is the largest and most complex. Computer science undergraduates Pulak Mittal, Amalia Hawkins, Ayaka Nonaka, Jonathan Leung and Trisha Kothari, with support from Ware College House and sponsors, organize and run the hackathon. Hawkins notes, “Keeping three or four hundred people fed, energized and entertained for 48 hours is challenging. Finding space and sponsors and estimating needs takes a lot of time, but all of that pales in comparison to the hectic energy of the weekend.”

It may be hard to grasp the allure of competing with hundreds of other programmers while sleeping on floors and pounding caffeine for two days straight, but PennApps is synonymous with hacker culture and the groundswell movement of startups. For some, the word ‘hacker’ conjures images of criminals breaking into Pentagon databases, but the term has evolved to describe many forms of creative reimplementation.

In the computer science domain, hacking represents a creative retaliation against a prefabricated world. Technological gadgets now come in highly designed,

self-contained packages that thwart all attempts to tinker. Try taking your smartphone apart to see what you can do and all you’ll end up with is a broken phone. The desire to manipulate and fiddle with objects is persistent though, and if you know how to write code, you can access a whole new world of creativity while re-asserting your individuality.

Training Ground for the Inner EntrepreneurA great hack creates something useful, fun and often totally unintended by the mega-corporation that built the device. Great hacks can also give birth to new business opportunities, which is the honey that draws companies such as Andreessen Horowitz and Bain Capital Ventures to this event. “Many people come to hackathons,” explains Mittal, “hoping to build something fun and cool, which is a great goal, but for some students, PennApps is a training ground for their inner entrepreneur. In just two days, a programmer can transform an idea into a preliminary prototype while gathering support from mentors and peers. And nothing beats the validation that students get from the judges and a packed audience at the final demo session. PennApps has been the birthplace for a number of startups, and I hope to see that number continue to grow!”

In 48 hours, teams of programmers are challenged to create something entirely new out of thin air using nothing more than their imaginations and computer code.


http://2012f.pennapps.com/

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Validation From the JudgesAs more than 300 students from 29 schools will attest, the competition at PennApps is fierce, and by Sunday morning, the wear and tear is evident. Recycling bins spew empty pizza boxes and soda cans, while crumpled bodies snooze in corners. But the competition produces great hacks, 91 of them in total. One application uses fingerprint recognition to create a unique identifier system that frees the user from carrying credit cards. Simply touch the screen and payment choices open, providing a safe way to make purchases. Another creation, Silencr, syncs a phone with Google calendar, ensuring that the user won’t be a social misfit with a ringing phone in the midst of a movie or lecture.

At midday the hackers reassemble in front of a roaring crowd and Team J.A.M. takes first place. “The name,” explains team member Jocelin Lee, “stands for Java Auto Music, and we designed it to help with our musical creations. The application is able to read a .wav file or a recording and produce sheet music.” Members of Team J.A.M. harnessed the triple threat of brains, ingenuity and coding for the win. Hacking is power, and though this battle may be over, the next PennApps is already being planned for spring.

2012 PennApps winners Ana Mei (left), a junior in Digital Media Design (DMD); Angela Yu, a junior in the Applied Science Computational Biology program; and Jocelin Lee, also a junior in DMD.


Do you want to make a real difference in an undergraduate’s life? The Penn Engineering Mentoring Program seeks alumni who are interested in mentoring first-year undergraduate engineering students to:

•Provideexposuretoandexpandstudents’ perceptionsofacareerfield.

•Offerpersonalandprofessionalcareerguidance.

The time commitment is minimal, but the rewards can be enormous.Formoreinformationandtoregister,visit www.seas.upenn.edu/alumni/mentoring.php

OtherwaystOgetinvOlved

theengineeringalumnisociety offers alumni many other

greatopportunitiesforgettinginvolvedwiththeschoolandthe

Universityatlarge.Formoreinformation,visitourwebsiteat

www.seas.upenn.edu/alumni/alumni-society/index.php

Share Your InsightsMentoranengineeringstudent

Six CourSeS offered: Biotechnology,Computergraphics,Computerscience,nanotechnology,robotics,engineeringComplexnetworks

threeweekslong,intensive,exhilarating, and lots of fun and camaraderie!

July 7 — 27, 2013

applicationdeadline:May15

Formoreinformationandonlineapplication: www.seas.upenn.edu/saast

Summer Academy in Applied Science & TechnologyFor Rising High School Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors

FALL 2012 n 36

www.seas.upenn.edu SCHOOL NEWS

New Faculty

Brian Chow

Assistant Professor of Bioengineering

Ph.D. in Media Arts and Sciences,

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Postdoctoral Associate, The Media Laboratory, Department of

Biological Engineering, and Department of Brain & Cognitive

Sciences, MIT

Dr. Chow’s research is in the area of “optogenetics,” a field

that combines optical control with genetic techniques to

manipulate biological systems. His laboratory aims to create

technological innovations to enhance therapeutic interven-

tions in central nervous system disorders, and to this end,

focuses on engineering tools to elucidate, diagnose and treat

the diseased brain. The lab constructs these tools by inte-

grating a broad range of disciplines: optogenetics, synthetic

biology, genomics, neurophysiology, microfabrication and

nanotechnology. Recently, Dr. Chow and collaborators utilized

next-generation sequencing technologies to discover many

widely employed optogenetic reagents for cell type-specific

perturbation of neural circuits.

Victor Preciado

Assistant Professor of Electrical and Systems Engineering

Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science,

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Preciado’s research focuses on modeling, analysis and

optimization of dynamical processes and strategic interactions

in large-scale complex networks, with applications in social

networks, multi-agent systems, electrical and biological

networks. His current research is devoted to building a

rigorous theoretical foundation to analyze massive networks

of dynamical elements using tools and techniques at

the intersection of dynamical systems, control theory,

probability, optimization, and graph theory. His work is an

excellent match for the new Networked and Social

Systems Engineering program.


Vivek Shenoy

Professor of Materials Science and Engineering

Ph.D. in Physics,

The Ohio State University

Dr. Shenoy is a world leader in the mechanics and physics

of nanostructure formation. He has used rigorous analytical

methods and multiscale modeling techniques, ranging from

atomistic density functional theory to continuum methods, to

gain deep physical insight into myriad important problems in

materials science and mechanics.

Dr. Shenoy’s current research focuses on developing

theoretical concepts and numerical methods to understand

the basic principles that control the behavior of both

engineering and biological systems. A significant challenge in

modeling these systems is that important processes involve

coupling of both small-scale (atomic or single molecule)

phenomena and long-range (elastic, electromagnetic)

interactions over length scales of hundreds of nanometers.

The goal of his group’s work is to address these issues by

combining atomic scale simulation methods with continuum

or mesoscale theories and by adapting insights from

condensed matter physics, solid mechanics, chemistry,

materials science and applied mathematics.

David J. Srolovitz

Joseph Bordogna Professor of Engineering and Applied Science

Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and

Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics

Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering,


Dr. Srolovitz is the inaugural Joseph Bordogna Professor

of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of

Pennsylvania, and holds a joint appointment in the Depart-

ments of Materials Science and Engineering and Mechanical

Engineering and Applied Mechanics. He has also been named

the Founding Director of the Penn Institute of Computational

Science. He joins Penn Engineering following a post in

Singapore where he served as the Executive Director of

the Institute of High Performance Computing, and

Scientific Director of A*STAR’s Science and Engineering

Research Council.

Dr. Srolovitz is a leading scholar in theoretical and

computational materials science and related disciplines,

especially as they apply to understanding defects in materials,

microstructure, morphology and their temporal evolution.

He is particularly well known for his work on surface

stability, grain growth and film growth.

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Jason Burdick, Associate Professor of Bioengineering, was named a 2012 American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) Fellow for “seminal contributions in understanding the formation and structure of biodegradable materials toward tissue regeneration therapies and drug delivery applications.”

Russell J. Composto, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, is the recipient of a national Science Foundation (nSF) Special Creativity Award from the Division of Materials Research in recognition of “excellent research on dispersion and assembly of gold nanorods confined to polymer nanolayers.” This award offers the most creative investigators an extension on a current nSF project to attack adventurous, high-risk research opportunities.

Daniel Gianola, Skirkanich Assistant Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, received a 2012 Department of Energy (DOE) Early Career Award. His proposal, “Modulating Thermal Transport Phenomena in nanostructures via Elastic Strain at Extreme Limits of Strength,” was one of the very few selected for the award.

Andrew Jackson, Professor of Practice in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, has been named a Fellow of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) for his “out-standing contributions in the field of tribology and lubrication science.” Fellows of the SAE are long-term members who have made a significant impact on society’s mobility technology through leadership, research and innovation.

Ali Jadbabaie, Professor of Electrical and Systems Engineering, is the recipient of a prestigious 2012 Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) Award. His project, “Evolution of Cultural norms and Dynamics of Socio-Political Change,” will include collaborations with researchers at Cornell, MIT, Stanford and Georgia Tech. Funding is $7.5 million over five years.

Michael Kearns, National Center Professor of Management & Technology in the Department of Computer and Information Science, was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation’s most prestigious honorary societies. The Academy is also a leading center for independent policy research.

sCHOOl NEws

Honors and Awards


Harry J. Gray, professor emeritus in Electrical Engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, died July 27 at age 88.

Dr. Gray earned each of his degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, including his bachelor’s in 1944 and master’s in 1947, both in Electrical Engineering. Dr. Gray was appointed to the faculty after earning his Ph.D. in 1953. He retired in 1989.

As one of 30 computer pioneers involved with EnIAC, the first electronic general-purpose computer, Dr. Gray was honored with a medal by Penn’s Moore School of Electrical Engineering during a 40-year anniversary celebration of computer science and engineering at Penn. From 1943 to 1946, Dr. Gray was a radio specialist officer in the United States navy.

In addition to teaching, Dr. Gray was a consultant for various electrical and technical companies, including the Philco Corporation. Dr. Gray was involved in many professional organizations including the Institute of Radio Engineers, the Professional Group of Electronic Computers, the Professional Group on Antennas and Propagation and the Association for Computer Machinery.

Dr. Gray is survived by his wife Cecilia M.; children, Margaret “Meg,” Dr. David Roeltgen, Cecilia A.; Mary Ellen Gilligan; six grandchildren; three great grand-children; and his sister, Patricia Gray. His daughter, Kathleen, was a Penn freshman when she died in 1973.

I N M E M O R I A M

Vijay Kumar, UPS Foundation Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, has received a 2012 World Technology Award for his research in quadrotor robotics. These awards represent the innovative work of researchers with “the greatest likely long-term significance” in their fields.

Rahul Mangharam, Stephen J. Angello Term Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering, is a recipient of the 2012 Intel Early Career Faculty Honor Program Award. In this program, Intel provides financial and network-ing support for 20 faculty members who show great promise as academic leaders in disruptive computing technologies. The aim is to promote careers of promising young faculty members and to foster long-term collaborative relationships with senior technical leaders at Intel.

Beth Winkelstein, Professor of Bioengineering and Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education, has been named Editor of the ASME Journal of Biomechanical Engineering.

FALL 2012 n 40

www.seas.upenn.edu pOp QuIZ

Rosette PyneRosette Pyne, Senior Associate Director in the University’s Career Services Office, has been working with engineering students and alumni for more than 25 years in the exciting and often arduous process of career exploration.

Many college graduates have found the current job market challenging. How do you help students find jobs in 2012? I work with students to help them strengthen and identify skills, prepare resumes and cover letters, practice and hone interview Q&A, and negotiate job offers. I also interact closely with employers to help them develop an effective recruiting strategy at Penn, and to familiarize them with our academic programs and the accomplishments of our students. Our engineering students are among the best prepared in the country. Employers are aggressively competing to recruit Penn Engineering students for positions across all industries and sectors.

What distinguishes engineering students at Penn? While my career has included working with students and alumni from nearly all the schools at Penn, the engineers have been the most special to me. I love their enthusiasm, admire their intellect and their appreciation of the high-quality, interdisciplinary education offered at Penn. I am in awe of their educational and research accomplishments.

How do you interact with alumni? Our alumni pursue their careers with unabashed enthusiasm, and they love to mentor our students. I’m especially proud of the Freshman Mentoring Program started in cooperation with the Penn Engineering Alumni Society nearly 10 years ago. We match freshmen with alumni for one year. A few years ago, we began to combine social media technology and advice from alumni who “tweet” their activities—a “Day in the Life” of a Penn alum entrepreneur, chemical engineer, consultant, software engineer—an exhaustive list. In 2010, we launched PennCareerDay,* and I am delighted that our alumni are very active in the program. It’s especially rewarding for me when alumni return to recruit for the organizations where they work or for the company that they started.

What do you do for fun? I enjoy time at the beach with family and friends and restoring classic cars. After all, I am an

engineer at heart.

* In June, Rosette Pyne and Shannon Kelly received the National Association of Colleges & Employers 2012 Innovation Excellence Award for PennCareerDay.

2Future Vision George Pappas takes the reins as the newly minted Chair of Electrical and Systems Engineering.

6Applying Math to Materials

Understanding how the structure of materials deforms under different conditions is the fascination of preeminent materials scientist and engineer David Srolovitz.

10Internet of ThingsA world in which every object is tagged with chips that can interact with networks, dubbed the “Internet of Things,” is the futuristic vision of Davor Sutija, M&T’83.

13A Sweet Solution for Regenerative MedicinePenn bioengineers adapt confectionery-making techniques to create precision-designed vasculature using molds made of sugar.

18Singh Center for NanotechnologyThe nearly complete Singh Center boasts numerous state-of-the-art scientific tools and architectural elements.

20On and Off the MatMike Steltenkamp, mechanical engineering scholar and Division I athlete, applies disciplined training to scholarly pursuits.

24Helping Engineers Bring Ideas to Market More than 3,200 students have benefited from Penn Engineering’s Entrepreneurship Program and immersion into the realities of innovation.

28Renaissance Man Overseer Harlan Stone, C’80, leverages his experience, gifts and service to bring Penn Engineering students multiple interdisciplinary learning opportunities.

“ There are limitless ways to learn, create and explore to establish a common enterprise.”

31The (R)evolution of CodePennApps challenges teams of programmers to create something new using nothing more than imagination and computer code.


University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied ScienceCONTENT

“ Innovation is guided by instinct, and leading scholars learn to trust their instincts, turning curiosity into a driving passion.”

cover The sixth PennApps hackathon invades the Hall of Flags, where over 300 students engage in a 48-hour stretch of nonstop coding. Little time is spent on frivolous things like sleeping, and teams from across the country line up to win top honors and bragging rights.

Penn Engineering Magazine [email protected] 215-898-6564 www.seas.upenn.edu

Eduardo D. Glandt Dean

George W. Hain III Vice Dean, External Affairs Development and Alumni Relations

Joan S. Gocke Director of Communications Editor

Design Kelsh Wilson Design

Photography Kelsh Wilson Design John Carlano Steven Lowy

The University of Pennsylvania values diversity and seeks talented students, faculty and staff from diverse backgrounds. The University of Pennsylvania does not discriminate on

the basis of race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, color, national or ethnic origin, age, disability, or status as a Vietnam Era Veteran or disabled veteran in

the administration of educational policies, programs or activities; admissions policies; scholarship and loan awards; athletic, or other University administered programs or

employment. Questions or complaints regarding this policy should be directed to: Executive Director, Office of Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Programs, Sansom

Place East, 3600 Chestnut Street, Suite 228, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6106 or by phone at (215) 898-6993 (Voice) or (215) 898-7803 (TDD).

University of Pennsylvania Nondiscrimination Statement

Mr. Andrew S. Rachleff, W’80 [Board Chair] Partner Benchmark Capital Menlo Park, CA

Mr. Andrew Africk, L’92, WG’92 Senior Partner Apollo Management, L.P. New York, NY

The Honorable Harold Berger, EE’48, L’51 Managing Partner Berger and Montague, P.C. Philadelphia, PA

Mr. David J. Berkman, W’83 Managing Partner Liberty Associated Partners, L.P. Bala Cynwyd, PA

Mr. Dennis “Chip” Brady, C’94, W’94 Partner LSN Partners, LLC Miami, FL

Dr. Katherine D. Crothall, EE’71 Principal Liberty Venture Partners, Inc. Philadelphia, PA

Mr. Peter N. Detkin, Esq., EE’82, L’85 Co-Founder, Vice-Chairman Intellectual Ventures Palo Alto, CA

Mr. Richard D. Forman, EE’87, W’87 Managing Partner Health Venture Group New York, NY

Mr. C. Michael Gooden, GEE’78 Chairman and CEO Integrated Systems Analysts Inc. Alexandria, VA

Mr. Paul S. Greenberg, EE’83, WG’87 Principal Trilogy Capital LLC Greenwich, CT

Mr. Alex Haidas, C’93, ENG’93, WG’98 Portfolio Manager Credaris (CPM Advisers Limited) London, UK

Dr. George H. Heilmeier, EE’58 Chairman Emeritus Telcordia Technologies, Inc. Dallas, TX

Mr. Alex T. Krueger, ENG’96, W’96 President First Reserve Corporation London, UK

Dr. John F. Lehman, Jr., GR’74 Chairman and Founding Partner J. F. Lehman & Company New York, NY

Mr. Ryan D. Limaye, ENG‘93, W‘93, WG‘93 Managing Director & Head Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. San Francisco, CA

Dr. David M. Magerman, C’90, ENG’90 President and Founder Kohelet Foundation Gladwyne, PA

Mr. Sean C. McDonald, ChE’82 President and CEO Precision Therapeutics Pittsburgh, PA

Mr. Hital R. Meswani, ENG’90, W’90 Executive Director and Member of the Board Reliance Industries Limited Mumbai, India

Mr. Rajeev Misra, ME’85, GEN’86 Global Head of Credit UBS Investment Bank London, UK

Mr. Ofer Nemirovsky, EE’79, W’79 Managing Director HarbourVest Partners, LLC Boston, MA

Ms. Alison Newman, C’83 Partner Alston & Bird LLP New York, NY

Mr. Mitchell I. Quain, EE’73, parent [Board Chair Emeritus] Partner One Equity Partners New York, NY

Mr. Allie P. Rogers, ENG’87, W’87 Co-Founder Triple Point Technology, Inc. Westport, CT

Dr. Jeffrey M. Rosenbluth, ENG’84 Private Investor Sands Point, NY

Ms. Suzanne B. Rowland, ChE’83 VP Business Excellence Tyco Flow Control Princeton, NJ

Mr. Theodore E. Schlein, C’86 Managing Partner Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Menlo Park, CA

Dr. Krishna P. Singh, MS’69, Ph.D.’72 President and CEO Holtec International Marlton, NJ

Dr. Rajendra Singh, parent Chairman and CEO Telcom Ventures LLC Alexandria, VA

Ms. Juliet Sjöborg, EE’85 WG’92 Director Plena Group London, UK

Mr. Robert M. Stavis, EAS’84, W’84 Partner Bessemer Venture Partners Larchmont, NY

Mr. Harlan M. Stone, C’80 President and Chief Operating Officer Halstead International Norwalk, CT

Mr. Frederick J. Warren, ME’60, WG’61 Founder Sage Venture Partners, LLC Winter Park, FL

Ms. Sarah Keil Wolf, EE’86, W’86 Retired Investment Banker Bear Stearns and Company Scarsdale, NY

Dr. Michael D. Zisman, GEE’73, GR’77 Managing Director, Operations Internet Capital Group Wayne, PA

Penn Engineering Board of Overseers

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA Fall 2012

PennApps eat. sleep. code.

www.seas.upenn.edu

School of Engineering and Applied Science


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Documents

Penn Engineering Magazine: Fall 2012