Training Tomorrow’s Data Scientists

This year, as part of its new AI x Science initiative, the Data Driven Discovery Initiative has expanded its four-year-old postdoctoral fellow program to include researchers from Penn Engineering and Penn Medicine using cutting-edge techniques in data science and artificial intelligence.

• Computer and Information Science
• Criminology
• Electrical and Systems Engineering
• Physics and Astronomy
• Radiology

Microelectronics and Entrepreneurship with Kurt Petersen

In the latest episode of Penn Engineering’s Innovation & Impact podcast, Vijay Kumar sat down with one of the most influential figures in modern engineering, Kurt Petersen, widely recognized as the father of microelectromechanical systems.

• Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics

Penn Students Innovate in the Time of AI

Academic year 2024-25 was a milestone for artificial intelligence at Penn: It saw the introduction of the Penn AI Council, the launch of the Penn AI Initiative, the opening of Amy Gutmann Hall as a space for campus-wide data science and AI collaboration, and the first AI Month at Penn.

AI Month 2025 Wrap Up

AI Month 2025 at Penn Engineering featured standout events with Yann LeCun and Bill Dally, plus panels and talks on AI and human well-being. Thanks to all the speakers, partners and attendees who made it such a meaningful month!

How Penn is reimagining research in the age of artificial intelligence

Bhuvnesh Jain and René Vidal have teamed up to create the AI x Science Fellowship, which builds on the thriving postdoctoral program of the Data Driven Discovery Initiative to foster cross-disciplinary collaboration among researchers across the University.

• Electrical and Systems Engineering
• Physics and Astronomy
• Radiology

Can We Still Detect AI-Generated Content?

As models like OpenAI’s GPT-4, Anthropic’s Claude, and Google’s Gemini blur the line between machine and human authorship, a team of researchers including Weijie Su has developed a new statistical framework to test and improve the “watermarking” methods used to spot machine-made text.

• Computer and Information Science
• Statistics

Rob Ghrist: The Soul of an Artist, the Mind of a Mathematician

Robert Ghrist embraces innovation to enrich each of his roles: artist, author, engineer, mathematician, and mentor. Penn Today met with Ghrist and some of his many mentees, both former and current, to talk about math. “Rob has an extraordinary gift for making the abstract not just accessible, but exhilarating," said Tony Pantev.

• Electrical and Systems Engineering
• Mathematics

How Income Equality Makes Everyone Happy

What does income inequality in America have to do with happiness? A recent study by Matthew Killingsworth, based on approximately 1.7 million real-time reports from more than 33,000 U.S. workers, reveals that in order to increase happiness across society, it’s most effective to raise the incomes of those earning the least.

• People Analytics

The Future of AI With Yann LeCun

AI is at the forefront of technological advances and is also reshaping creativity, ownership and societal interactions. In the latest episode of Penn Engineering’s Innovation & Impact podcast, Vijay Kumar spoke with Yann LeCun about the journey of AI, how we define intelligence and the possibilities and challenges it presents.

• Computer and Information Science
• Electrical and Systems Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics

How AI Vaporizes Long-Term Learning

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots in the classroom has sparked much debate in the education community. A 2024 study from Hamsa Bastani and colleagues, featured on Edutopia, revealed AI tools like ChatGPT could boost test scores—but ultimately undermined students’ learning and retention.

• Communication
• Computer and Information Science