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MEAM Ph.D. Thesis Defense: “Enhancing Photophoretic Levitation using Three-dimensional Structures for Flight in the Mesosphere and on Mars”

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

Current propulsion and flight mechanisms limit atmospheric observations. The mesosphere is too dense for satellites and too thin for typical planes and balloons, with similar conditions found in the Martian atmosphere, especially at Olympus Mons. Photophoresis, the movement of gas molecules due to light, has been studied for microscale objects like aerosols and operates optimally […]

MEAM Seminar: “CRISPR-Programmed Microfluidic Devices for DNA Detection, Computing and Digital Display”

Wu and Chen Auditorium (Room 101), Levine Hall 3330 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

CRISPR is a gene editing technique that allows researchers to quickly and precisely edit genome sequences. Beyond gene editing, CRISPR-Cas systems can be repurposed as a programmable platform for other various applications. In this talk, I will introduce how we use CRISPR technology to program microfluidic devices for DNA detection, DNA computing and digital display. […]

MEAM Ph.D. Thesis Defense: “Controlling Contact Transitions for Dynamic Robots”

Towne 311 220 S. 33rd Street, Philadelphia, United States

Legged robots, robotic manipulators, and their combined embodiment as humanoid robots have received considerable attention across both academia and industry. However, with few notable exceptions, state-of-the-art demonstrations are significantly less dynamic than their biological counterparts. A considerable challenge towards achieving more dynamic robots lies within controlling contact interactions with their environment. Legged robots undergoing impacts […]

MEAM Seminar: “Elasticity of Fluids in Nanopores: Molecular Modeling and Ultrasonic Experiments”

Wu and Chen Auditorium (Room 101), Levine Hall 3330 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

Fluids confined in nanopores are ubiquitous in nature and technology. In recent years, the interest in confined fluids has grown, driven by research on unconventional hydrocarbon resources -- shale gas and shale oil, much of which are confined in nanopores. When fluids are confined in nanopores, many of their properties differ from those of the […]

MEAM Seminar: “Natural Structural Materials: Lessons on Toughening Mechanisms, Weight Reduction, and Multifunctionality”

Wu and Chen Auditorium (Room 101), Levine Hall 3330 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

Structural materials that are damage-tolerant, lightweight, multifunctional, and sustainable are highly desirable for many engineering applications. Such combinations of properties are often found in the biological world. Organisms from nature construct various biological structural materials for protection, predation, body support, camouflage, etc. Despite the fact that these materials are made from limited constituent materials with […]

MEAM Ph.D. Thesis Defense: “Contacts with Dynamically Tunable Adhesion and Friction via Active Materials with Thermally Modulated Stiffness”

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

Contact interactions, including adhesion and friction, are critical to the design of many engineered systems. Currently, most systems rely on materials with static mechanical properties, requiring careful selection of materials to realize effective systems for specialized tasks. However, with advances in smart materials, system design is no longer limited to materials with static properties. There […]

MEAM Seminar: “Controlling Adhesion and Friction of Soft Interfaces by Meso-Scale Structures”

Wu and Chen Auditorium (Room 101), Levine Hall 3330 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

Discoveries of unique adhesive and frictional properties in biological attachment systems have, over the past two decades, demonstrated how near-surface architecture at lengths between the molecular (a few nm) and continuum (mm) scales can be used to achieve interesting and unique surface mechanical properties. This has spurred considerable research activity in design of meso-scale, near-surface […]

MEAM Seminar: “Powering the Future Through Hydrogen Hubs and International Partnerships for Materials and Engineering System Solutions”

Wu and Chen Auditorium (Room 101), Levine Hall 3330 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Earthshots Initiative aims to accelerate breakthroughs of more abundant, affordable and reliable clean energy solutions, to tackle the toughest remaining barriers to addressing the climate crisis and achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Specifically, the Hydrogen Energy Shot seeks to reduce the cost of clean hydrogen by 80% in […]

MEAM Seminar: “Systemic Disadvantages for LGBTQ Professionals in STEM”

Wu and Chen Auditorium (Room 101), Levine Hall 3330 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

Researchers have documented race and gender bias in STEM for decades, but there has been little parallel examination of LGBTQ status as an axis of inequality. How do LGBTQ-identifying STEM professionals fare in STEM? Drawing on data from her NSF-funded STEM Inclusion Study, which included surveys of over 25,000 STEM workers, Dr. Cech will discuss […]

BE Seminar: “Synthetic reconstitution of complex cellular behavior” (Ahmad Khalil, Boston University)

216 Moore Building

Cells use genetically-encoded molecular circuits to execute diverse biological functions. We are developing novel tools of synthetic biology that allow us to construct regulatory circuitry inside living cells that recapitulate complex functions like those seen in nature. In this talk, I will describe how we use this approach to achieve three objectives. First, I will […]