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Through
6/14
All Day
Meyerson Hall, 210 S. 34th St.
6/27
12:00 p.m.
Benjamin Franklin Statue
6/28
10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Penn Museum, 3260 South St.
7/12
7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.
Institute of Contemporary Art, 118 S. 36th St.
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Science & Technology
Chinedum Osuji is a faculty fellow of the Environmental Innovations Initiative, Eduardo D. Glandt Chair, and a professor in the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (CBE) department of the School of Engineering and Applied Science. In his role, he’s responsible for faculty affairs and the CBE undergraduate and graduate programs.
His research focuses on the dynamics of soft materials, including, in part, a concern with how the design and structure of materials such as membranes could affect water filtration, separation of metals, and more. Osuji describes his research and its connections to sustainability and the environment and explores how industry and researchers could work better together.
The work in his lab, Osuji says, is impacted by the conversations and policies around renewable energy and green technology.
“One of the things that we care a lot about are membranes, or membrane technology. My lab works to develop membranes that can decrease the energy intensity of certain chemical processes and in particular, chemical separations. A sizeable fraction of energy consumption globally is devoted to chemical separations—roughly 10-15%. That’s an enormous amount,” he says. “If we can reduce the energy use associated with hydrocarbon separations (e.g. separating mixtures of organic solvents into their constituents; or commodity scale chemical feedstocks such as isomers of xylene that must be purified to make polyethylene terephthalate—the plastic used in plastic bottles), we could have a big impact.”
He also discusses how chemical engineers can effectively communicate the importance of sustainability to nontechnical stakeholders. “We went through the challenge of having a hole in the ozone layer. We responded, as a global society, to the depletion of the ozone layer that was caused by certain harmful propellants that we use in aerosols, for example, and addressed that challenge collectively,” he says. “And so there are examples of society—countries, nations—coming together to take concerted action in the face of critical threats. And I think that we should think about sustainability and climate change in a similar vein. I think by alluding to these successes of the past, and keeping the language simple, we can get to a better place and raise awareness even higher of the need to take on these challenges.”
Read more at Environmental Innovations Initiative.
Campus & Community
An iconic tradition at Penn, third-year students were promoted to senior status.
Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences
Hundreds of undergraduates take classes in the fine arts each semester, among them painting and drawing, ceramics and sculpture, printmaking and animation, photography and videography. The courses, through the School of Arts & Sciences and the Stuart Weitzman School of Design, give students the opportunity to immerse themselves in an art form in a collaborative way.
Campus & Community
Solar production has begun at the Great Cove I and II facilities in central Pennsylvania, the equivalent of powering 70% of the electricity demand from Penn’s academic campus and health system in the Philadelphia area.
Education, Business, & Law
The Empowerment Through Education Scholarship Program at Penn’s Graduate School of Education is helping to prepare and retain teachers and educational leaders.
If there’s news at Penn, you’ll find it here. We strive to bring you faculty, staff, and student profiles, research updates, and the latest happenings on campus.