Penn Engineering
The School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Pennsylvania is well positioned to address current global challenges.
Guided by In Principle and Practice, Penn’s strategic framework, Penn Engineering will leverage and build on its foundation of excellence to be a leader in the profession.
Resting on a proud history of innovation and firsts, Penn Engineering is also unique among its peers: It has strong academic and research ties with the 11 other schools at Penn, and it is situated in close physical proximity on a single urban campus. The resulting cross-pollination gives the School exclusive interdisciplinary strengths and sustains a culture of transdisciplinary collaboration.
In addition, collaborations and startups are conceived and enhanced by access to top industry partners and institutions in Philadelphia and the region, as well as other hubs on the East Coast, producing real-world results.
Penn Engineering’s central guiding principle is to attract the best talent in students and faculty, from diverse backgrounds and perspectives, to expand the frontiers of knowledge, to catalyze the translation of research to practice and to educate the next generation of responsible innovators, all in service of addressing the key challenges facing our world.
Inspired by the vision of our founder, Benjamin Franklin, Penn Engineering advances scientific discovery, innovation and opportunity for all. In doing so, we embrace the following shared values:
Technology is essential to confronting the grand challenges faced by human civilization. Penn Engineering will become a catalyst for innovation by addressing challenges in areas such as human health, climate, energy, food, urban infrastructure and education.
The lens through which engineers view problem solving is increasingly valuable to people in every field, discipline and profession. Just as the skillsets of engineers make a positive contribution to fields like business, law and medicine, engineering must lower barriers to entry and increase the contributions of other disciplines within our profession. As such, Penn Engineering will expand its footprint to educate and train students across campus and beyond, reaching out to a broad population of students and professionals.
In keeping with this goal, attracting a wide pool of talent is important for our discipline, and Penn Engineering can and must take a leadership role in this area. This can be done locally through expanding the K-12 pipeline in the Philadelphia area and surrounding region, and through the recruitment, retention and development of exceptional students, faculty and staff who hail from all backgrounds.
It is important for Penn Engineering to invest in our community of students, staff and faculty to advance science, engineering and technology in areas of national importance. We will do this through:
Supporting our vision requires investment in emerging technologies that have the highest potential for impact on our planet and society, a commitment to modern spaces for collaborative research that connect to other schools on campus, and the development of new mechanisms to accelerate the processes of discovery and commercialization. Penn Engineering will prioritize investments in the following domains:
As technology plays a vital role in all sectors of society, it is essential to invest in and support our activities as educators of all students, not just the engineering students on our campus. Penn Engineering will continue to engage local and global communities and further the mission of our school. We will do this by:
