Adventures in innovation: Penn Engineering startups lead Venture Lab Challenge
A trio of Penn Engineering startups took home more than $100,000 at the annual Venture Lab Startup Challenge. Sync Labs, whose AI assistant, Alice, is enhancing caregiving for seniors, claimed the Richard and Ellen Perlman Grand Prize, as well as three other awards. Quok.it, which helps customers leverage unused computing power around the world for tasks like AI training, earned the William G. Simpson and R. Drew Kistler Runner Up Prize. And Serpent Labs, whose robotic tree trimmer is designed to safeguard arborists performing critical but dangerous tasks like cutting down trees near power lines, took home the Robert S. Blank New Venture Collaboration Award and the Weiss Audience Choice Award.
On the move: Water quality and antimicrobial resistance testing goes mobile
Penn researchers have developed a mobile field laboratory allowing them to test water quality and track antimicrobial resistance in and around San Cristóbal in the Galápagos.
Penn researchers Vanessa and Alexis North are studying one of the largest collections of Egyptian blue objects ever found in the ancient Near East, shedding new light on how the world’s first synthetic pigment may have traveled far beyond Egypt.
A new role for dental providers? Rethinking where vaccines are given
Vaccinations have traditionally been administered in primary care settings or pharmacies. However, for about a decade, some states have authorized dentists to administer vaccines, and many others did so during the COVID-19 pandemic. The effectiveness of this approach has led some countries and states to expand or consider expanding the role of dental providers in delivering routine vaccines, including those against COVID-19 and the human papillomavirus (HPV), and in providing vaccine education.
Penn student develops a way for computer chips to run more efficiently
Fluid Silicon, a platform from President’s Sustainability Prize winner Nhlanhla Mavuso, allows computer chips to continuously monitor their health and self-tune as their characteristics change. The technology has the potential to reduce energy usage in data centers and improve reliability in mission-critical applications.
