Penn Engineering Graduate Monthly Newsletter

2025 April Issue

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Announcement for the Month|  Grants, Scholarships, & Fellowships |Events| Career & Networking|Previous Issue

Important Dates:

Date	Event
April 21st	2025 Engineering Master’s Ceremony Registration Deadline
April 30th	Last day of classes
May 1st – 4th	Reading Days
May 5th	Thesis due for May 2025 graduates
May 5th -13th	Final Examinations
May 13th	Spring Term ends

 

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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 109
Wednesdays	1:00 pm – 3:00 pm (EST)	In-Person, Towne 109
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.

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Announcements for the month

SEAS Study Space

Have you ever wished to have a quiet study space in engineering to work on your problem sets?
Penn Engineering Study Space in the Towne Building is located on the second floor, west side (rooms 295-299)! Available to all engineering students and their study partners from all schools.

Key Details: Open 24/7; Available to any Penn Engineering student and their study groups
Food allowed (but it is not intended as a meal space); Two large open work tables in each room
Whiteboards are installed in all rooms; Digital suggestion box for you to share ideas for the space

Coming Soon: Additional chairs to accommodate larger study groups; More whiteboards

Teaching Assistant for the ESAP 2025 program

The Penn Engineering OAS office would like to invite you to apply to work as a Teaching Assistant for the ESAP 2025 program. The expected start date is Monday, June 30th, with the expected last date being Friday, July 25th. TAs are paid $3000, or $25 per hour, over the course of this period. Please review and complete the TA Application by 04/18/25 in order to be considered for a position. For more information about ESAP, please visit its official website. We look forward to potentially working with you.

Important information regarding Immigration Policies and International Travel

International Students:

We’ve included two important links to offer guidance regarding immigration policies and international travel.

Immigration Policy Updates and Resources

This site includes the latest immigration policy updates, announcements from ISSS, resources to help navigate changes in federal policy, and contact information for further assistance. It is regularly updated, and as a reminder, it is PennKey protected.

Navigating U.S. Ports of Entry & Secondary Inspection

This site provides guidance for international students about navigating U.S. ports of entry and secondary inspection.

Engineering Grad students are eligible to take LAWN 5060 Technology Law & Ethics offered in Fall 2025

This course introduces legal frameworks and principles of ethical decision-making that enable technologists to identify professional and societal responsibilities and to think critically through difficult ethical issues. In each class, we examine contemporary real-world problems, approaching the questions they raise from the perspectives of the technology and legal professionals working to address them today. Topics to be explored include artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, data protection, dark patterns, digital surveillance, environmental sustainability, intellectual property law, open-source software, and more.

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Grants, Scholarships & Fellowships

University Research Foundation Award

The University Research Foundation (URF) is an intramural funding program that provides up to $75,000 for research projects and up to $5,000 for conference support. The URF provides seed funding for up to one year for research activities that are expected to lead to external sponsorship and/or peer-reviewed research publications. Conference support grants are faculty-developed events that take place on Penn’s campus.

During Fall 2024, the OVPR reviewed 83 applications (over $4.2 million in requests) from across campus. Four review panels consisting of 33 faculty reviewers assessed proposals in four categories: Humanities, Social Sciences and Management, Natural Sciences and Engineering, and Biomedical Sciences. A total of 56 new projects were recommended for funding, totaling $2,595,003.

The next cycle for the Fall 2025 URF program will open in late August, with a proposal deadline of October 9, 2025.

PARCC Announces Partnerships with AHEAD, NVIDIA and more

Penn Advanced Research Computing Center (PARCC) has reached a major milestone toward opening its high-performance computing cluster. PARCC is pleased to announce contracts with AHEAD to build an NVIDIA SuperPod backed by VAST Data Storage and powered by NVIDIA Blackwell. The cluster will be hosted by Flexential, offering an integrated on-campus research computing experience. Further updates on PARCC can be viewed on the OVPR website.

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Events

Fireside Chat with Dr. Julie Gilmore (VP and Global Head of Eli Lilly Gateway Labs)

Eli Lilly Gateway Labs is a program between Eli Lilly’s resources and early stage biotech companies. Dr. Gilmore will be speaking about her life experience in biotech and drug development, as well as her experience looking at indicators for success among biotech startups.

Monday, April 7th
At 6:00 pm
Zoom link

Virtual Housing Fair

Virtual Housing Fair, starting March 27, 24×7. Students can search for off-campus living opportunities. Click here to learn more about off-campus services.

March 27 – July 26, 2025
Click here to register

 

AWE Presents Spring Pot Planting Event

Join AWE PhD committee for a rejuvenating evening of potting herbs and decorating pots! Unwind from your research grind by potting beautiful flowers, adding a touch of nature to your workspace. Get artsy as you decorate your pots with vibrant colors and designs, and bring home a personalized flower garden with a beautifully adorned pot. 🌿🖌️🌸 Food will be provided.

Friday, April 11th
4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Skirkanich Basement
Click here to register

Health Hacks+

In partnership with Venture Lab and PennSEM, PennApps is thrilled to announce HealthHacks+, an interdisciplinary hackathon where coding meets strategy to tackle real-world healthcare challenges! Participants will team up to develop innovative solutions that combine cutting-edge technology with viable business models.

Whether you’re a coder, designer, healthcare expert, business strategist, or someone interested in solving pressing challenges, this event is your chance to collaborate, create, and make an impact in the healthcare space. Workshops, mentorship, and prizes will guide and reward your journey from idea to execution. Let’s build the future of healthcare together!

Open to Penn undergraduate and graduate students from all academic backgrounds.

April 4th – 6th
Tangen Hall
Click here to register

Lunch & Learn: Communicating with Faculty

Learn the ins and outs of communicating with faculty at Penn. You’ll learn how to craft a clear, well-thought-out email to a faculty member to request support in your coursework or research interests.

Friday, April 4th
12:15 pm – 12: 45pm
Click here to register

Yarnstars – Penn Women’s Center

Interested in learning how to crochet or knit like a pro? Join Penn Women’s Center (PWC) Yarnstars event, kicking off February 4th and continuing every other Tuesday 5:30 – 7:00 PM. No yarning experience required, so kickback, learn a new skill, and enjoy snacks with PWC staff and friends!

Starting from February 4th
Every other Tuesday
5:30 pm – 7:00 pm
Penn Women’s Center (3643 Locust Walk)

 

PAACH Mural Unveiling

We’re about to kick off PAACH’s 25th anniversary! In honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, the Pan-Asian American Community House invites you to the unveiling of the PAACH Mural 2025. Join us for a community celebration, mural unveiling, and a catered lunch as we commemorate this milestone together.

Wednesday, April 16th
12:00pm – 1:00pm
Arch Building Main Lobby

Penn FoQuS 2025: The 2nd Penn Forum on Quantum Systems

On behalf of the University of Pennsylvania’s QUIEST Center, we are excited to announce that registration is OPEN for our second annual Forum on Quantum Systems: Penn FoQuS 2025!

Penn FoQuS 2025 will build upon the success of last year’s inaugural event by once again bringing together quantum experts from academia, industry, and government to speak and engage with participants. This year’s program will include a featured panel discussion, more time for open-ended conversations amongst attendees, and an optional exclusive group outing to the Science History Institute. The Center hopes this event will build connections between researchers, raise awareness about regional, national, and international efforts in QUIEST, and help guide ongoing research and education priorities for the QUIEST Center moving forward.

Quantum enthusiasts of all levels in the Penn community are welcome to participate. Registration will remain open until in-person attendance reaches capacity – we encourage you to register sooner rather than later to ensure you are able to participate. We will also offer an option to view talks remotely if you are unable to participate in-person.

If you are interested in sharing your research as part of the FoQuS Poster Session during this conference, please submit your poster abstract here.

Monday, May 5th and Tuesday, May 6th. More information, click on this link.

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Career & Networking

Startup Internship + Founding Engineer roles in AI/ML, Computer Vision

🚀 Startup Internship + Engineer roles in AI/ML, Computer Vision
-Sync Labs, a UPenn backed startup, is looking to onboard 1-2 candidates as a Computer Vision AI/ML Engineer.
-The internship would commence in April 2025 and carry on for a paid summer engineer role.
-Must have previous experience with CV (including, but not limited to: tensorflow, MoViNet, PyTorch).
-Applications are on a rolling basis, so apply here ASAP if you are interested!

More about the company:
-Sync Labs was founded in 2023 with a team of graduate and undergraduate students at the University of Pennsylvania.
-Sync Labs is a UPenn based (VIP-X) startup that has developed ‘Alice,’ a privacy-first AI sensor and co-pilot for senior living communities. Using proprietary vision technology, Alice detects key behaviors—like bathroom trips, meal completion, and medication adherence—without recording video. This real-time insight empowers caregivers to provide more personalized and effective care. We’ve launched 5 pilots, with 2 already generating revenue.

Improve for Interviewing

Penn Career Services often hears feedback from employers that Penn students get “stuck in their head” or are “unable to go off script” in an interview. In this session, you will learn ways to combat these pitfalls using a series of theater-style improv games.

Friday, April 4th
12:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Click here to review

Using AI in Your Job Search [PhD Career Training Platform]

With the rapid growth of AI tools, many PhDs and postdocs may be wondering if it’s helpful to use generative AI to write their resumes or cover letters. While it might seem like a faster way to create job documents, generative AI has its limitations.

Join the PhD Career Training Platform team to learn more about the opportunities and challenges of using AI in your job search. This webinar is designed for doctoral students and postdocs from all academic disciplines who are wondering:

What can AI do, and what are its limitations?
What do I need to know before using AI in my job search?
Will AI help me land a job?

Wednesday, April 16th
12:00 – 12:45 pm
All webinars will be held via Zoom and will be recorded. Advance registration is required. Register today at: https://institutions.beyondprof.com/webinar-using-ai/

Click here to register in Handshake

12th Annual PhD Online Career Conference

From May 5-9, the PhD Career Training Platform will host its 12th annual Online Career Conference. As a graduate student or postdoc at Penn, you have access to this popular conference series that has helped nearly 20,000 trainees build careers beyond the professoriate. This conference is designed to help you quickly learn how to build a foundation for your job search strategy and successfully transition to a non-academic career.

Topics include:

May 5: What employers actually value about your degree
May 6: How to write a resume
May 7: How to network when you don’t have a network
May 8: Using LinkedIn in your job search
May 9: How to find jobs that will give you stability
All webinars will be held via Zoom and will be recorded. Advance registration in Beyondprof is required.

Click here to register in Handshake

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