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ESE PhD Dissertation Defense: “Balancing Fit and Complexity in Learned Representations”

Thesis Title: Balancing Fit and Complexity in Learned Representations Abstract: This dissertation is about learning representations of functions while restricting complexity. In machine learning, maximizing the fit and minimizing the complexity are two conflicting objectives. Common approaches to this problem involve solving a regularized empirical minimization problem, with a complexity measure regularizer and a regularizing […]

MEAM MSE Thesis Defense: “Design and Characterization of an Origami-Inspired Robot that Swims via Jet Propulsion”

Zoom - Email MEAM for Link peterlit@seas.upenn.edu

Underwater swimmers present unique opportunities for using bodily reconfiguration for self-propulsion. Origami-inspired designs are low-cost, fast to fabricate, robust, and can be used to create compliant mechanisms useful in energy-efficient underwater locomotion. This thesis demonstrates an origami-inspired robot that can change its body shape to ingest and expel water, creating a jet that propels it […]

CBE PhD Dissertation Defense | “Structures Formed By Colloids at Curved Fluid Interfaces”

Zoom - Email CBE for link

Abstract:  Colloidal particles accumulate and organize at fluid interfaces via capillary interactions. We study pair interactions and structure formation around spherical particles with pinned contact lines. Particles attract to apparent contact and organize in near trapped structures that reflect the underlying curvature field. We have derived pair potentials to describe these interactions. The particles distort […]

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”

Zoom - Email MEAM for Link peterlit@seas.upenn.edu

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 […]

CBE PhD Dissertation Defense | “Bijels for Continuous Reactive Separation”

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Abstract:  Several 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 […]

CBE PhD Dissertation Defense | “Diverse Roles of Nuclear Intermediate Filaments in Proliferating Cells”

Zoom - Email CBE for link

Abstract:  Embryonic 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 […]

MEAM PhD Thesis Defense: “Modular Robots Morphology Transformation and Task Execution”

Zoom - Email MEAM for Link peterlit@seas.upenn.edu

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 […]

MEAM PhD Thesis Defense: “Design of Proprioceptive Legged Robots”

Zoom - Email MEAM for Link peterlit@seas.upenn.edu

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 […]

BE Doctoral Dissertation: “Development and Evaluation of Next Generation Tomosynthesis” (Trevor Vent)

Class of 62 Auditorium, John Morgan Building 3620 Hamilton Walk, Philadelphia, PA

The Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania and Dr. Andrew Maidment are pleased to announce the Doctoral Dissertation Defense of Trevor Vent. Title: "Development and Evaluation of Next Generation Tomosynthesis" The public is welcome to attend. This event will be held both in person and on zoom. Zoom link Meeting ID: 993 7019 […]

MEAM PhD Thesis Defense: “Lightweight Structures Enabled by Microfabrication”

Zoom - Email MEAM for Link peterlit@seas.upenn.edu

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 […]