2025 January Graduate Monthly Newsletter
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Announcement for the Month| Grants, Scholarships, & Fellowships |Events| Career & Networking|
Important Dates: 
Date | Event |
January 15th | Spring term classes begin |
January 20th | Martin Luther King Day (No Class) |
January 28th | Course Selection Period Ends (last day to add classes and last day to drop with 100% refund) |
February 24th | Last Day to drop a course (must withdraw after this date) Last Day to Apply for May Graduation |
March 8th- 16th | Spring Break (No Class) |
Spring 2025 Semester Advising Hours
Day of the week | Time | Location |
Mondays | 10:00 am – 12:00 pm (EST) | Virtual |
Tuesdays | 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm (EST) | In-Person, Towne 107 |
Wednesdays | 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm (EST) | In-Person, Towne 107 |
Thursdays | 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm (EST) | Virtual |
Fridays | No Advising |
* Information with Zoom links for virtual advising days (Monday/Thursday) is emailed to students throughout the semester. If you are unable to attend scheduled advising hours, additional times may be available by appointment only. Please email to request an appointment.
Announcements for the month
Fast-Track Your Research: Gain Commercialization Insights through Student Teams
Doctoral Students, Are you interested in having a team of undergraduate or master’s students explore the commercialization potential of your research? If you’re working on exciting projects with commercial value and considering forming a team or having students develop business case studies to examine go-to-market strategies, we’d love to collaborate with you.
By submitting information about your research, students in EAS 5460 (Engineering Entrepreneurship II) and our Engineering Entrepreneurship Fellows Program may choose to work on it. Under the guidance of entrepreneurship faculty with venture capital experience, they will develop a business plan and pitch deck on your behalf.
This will take you no more than 5 minutes to do. You can directly enter the form based on your research work of interest after getting your PI’s approval.
Deadline: January 17, 2025 (soft deadline)
Form (with examples): https://forms.gle/QfyyXvXtoPQsJwYs5
Contact Sevile Mannickarottu (sevile@seas.upenn.edu) with any questions.
Provost’s Graduate Academic Engagement Fellowship Information Session
The Provost’s Graduate Academic Engagement Fellowship at the Netter Center for Community Partnerships (PGAEF@NC) is an opportunity for PhD students across all schools and fields at the University of Pennsylvania. Fellows are outstanding students who are involved in community-engaged scholarship and related activities, including Academically Based Community Service (ABCS), participatory action research, service-learning, and learning by teaching in public schools.
Learn more at the PGAEF website and join us for this virtual information session!
Tuesday, January 14th
10:00 am – 11:00 am
Online Session
Click here to register
Wednesday, January 22nd
10:00 am – 11:00 am
Online Session
Click here to register
Grants, Scholarships & Fellowships
Penn Engineering is pleased to offer funding opportunities for high-tech projects and venture development. We are soliciting proposals for projects and venture concepts that might develop into companies, and these funds are available to help.
Berkman Opportunity Fund ($500 or $1,000 per project) The Berkman Opportunity Fund provides support for students (or teams of students) with innovative ideas that might turn into products and companies.
Miller Innovation Fellowship ($15,000 per venture) Miller Innovation Fellowships are designed to allow students (or teams of students) that have made use of Penn’s innovation & entrepreneurship resources to further develop ventures based on high-tech products & services and to have focused capital and advising resources to explore a venture.
Please see the Penn Engineering Entrepreneurship Funding site for more information.
Events
How to Start and Build Businesses as an Immigrant
Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with Nitin Pachisia from the Unshackled Ventures investment team as he shares insights on starting a company in the U.S. while on a visa. If you are a current or aspiring entrepreneur looking for guidance on how to navigate the complexities of immigration and company formation – This joint event between Unshackled & Pennovation Works is for you! Learn about the potential pathways, strategies, and resources available to you.
Friday, January 17th
9:3oam – 11:30 am
Pennovation Center
Click here to register
Dissertation Formatting & Deposit Consultations
Graduating PhD students can stop by weekly, in-person drop-in hours to get individual assistance with dissertation formatting questions, technical support in Word, or just to gain peace of mind.
Thursday, January 23rd
3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Graduate Student Center,
3615 LocustWalk, Third Floor, Room 301
2025 Penn Tango Spring Boot Camp
We have professional instructors and it’s a really nice way to meet people from departments you wouldn’t otherwise run into 🙂 and this is the link to our official website: https://sites.google.com/view/penntango/home?
We are open to all Penn affiliates – students, postdocs, faculty, staff, alumni, and visiting scholars.
Monday, January 27th and February 3rd
7:00 pm – 9: 30pm
Bodek Lounge
Career & Networking
Lunch & Learn: Making the most of career fairs as a Grad student
Penn Career Services organizes several career fairs each semester, and partners with other institutions for several other consortium career fairs (virtual and in-person). All of these events are open to graduate students, and many employers participate in order to connect with graduate-level candidates. Take advantage of these events to explore different career options, practice your networking with recruiters and alumni, and position yourself for your next internship or job opportunity. Join an advisor from Penn Career Services at this Lunch and Learn to get some quick best practices to help you make the most of the next career fair you attend. Upcoming career fairs include:
SPRING CAREER & INTERNSHIP FAIR (in-person) Friday, January 31, 2025
DESIGN CAREER FAIR (in-person) Thursday, February 6, 2025
DESIGN CAREER FAIR (virtual) Wednesday, February 12, 2025
STEM CAREER FAIR 2025 (in person) Thursday, February 13, 2025
SPRING ALL INDUSTRY VIRTUAL CAREER FAIR Thursday, February 20, 2025
ALL-IVY ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CAREER FAIR (in-person) Friday, February 28, 2024
GRADUATE CAREER CONSORTIUM PHD & MASTER’S VIRTUAL CAREER EXPO Wednesday, March 5, 2025
Van Pelt Library | 3420 Walnut St | 2nd Floor, Class of 1955 Conference Room 241
Click here to register
STEAM Career Fair
Career Services is available to discuss concerns regarding career planning, job hunting, resume review, and hosting mock interviews. Get to know your Engineering Master’s Career Advising Team and the Doctoral Career Advising Team.
By attending the University of Pennsylvania‘s STEM CAREER FAIR, you will enjoy the opportunity to recruit highly qualified undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and recent alumni for internship and full-time employment – while also building and expanding your brand on campus and seeding your talent pipeline. This event typically draws candidates of all academic levels from our interdisciplinary and practice-oriented School of Engineering & Applied Science as well as from our many other NSF-classified STEM disciplines across Penn’s twelve schools. This includes undergrad students from the First Ivy League Bachelor of Science in Engineering in Artificial Intelligence.
Thursday, February 13th,2025
11:00 am -3:00 pm
Houston Hall, 3417 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Click here to register