Wu and Chen Auditorium (Room 101), Levine Hall

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3330 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104 United States Get Directions
Website https://www.facilities.upenn.edu/maps/locations/levine-hall-melvin-and-claire-weiss-tech-house

Events at this venue

Today

    • MEAM Seminar: “Fractured Flows: Suspensions Pushed Too Far”

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    Wu and Chen Auditorium (Room 101), Levine Hall 3330 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

    Particle suspensions can fracture into intricate patterns as they are pushed out of equilibrium. We probe the fracture and relaxation characteristics of dense aqueous cornstarch suspensions that exhibit discontinuous shear-thickening behavior. Air injection into three-dimensional bulk suspensions can lead to smooth bubbles that rise upwards under the action of buoyancy or to sharp fractures that […]

    CBE Seminar Series: “Problem-Making as Sociotechnical Negotiation: Cases of Translation in Energy and Engineering Education” (Desen Özkan, University of Connecticut)

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    Wu and Chen Auditorium (Room 101), Levine Hall 3330 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

    Abstract: This talk explores how sociotechnical systems analytics can be a bridge between engineering education and energy infrastructure systems. Drawing on classroom research and ethnographic study of US offshore wind projects, I examine two levels of sociotechnical understanding: how disciplinary training shapes what engineering students perceive as "technical" versus "social" in energy systems, and how industry and government actors […]

    Fall 2026 GRASP on Robotics: Andrea Bajcsy, Carnegie Mellon University, “What Does Safety Mean for Generalist Robots?”

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    Wu and Chen Auditorium (Room 101), Levine Hall 3330 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

    This will be an in-person event ONLY in Wu and Chen Auditorium. ABSTRACT Robot safety is a nuanced concept. We commonly equate safety with collision-avoidance. However, when considering the possibility of generalist robots -- one robot that can do "anything" -- we need to expand our notion of safety. For example, a manipulator should understand […]

    MEAM Seminar: “Very cool! Preventing Unwanted Ice Adhesion”

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    Wu and Chen Auditorium (Room 101), Levine Hall 3330 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

    In this talk I will overview several different surface design strategies that can be utilized to manipulate and typically minimize the adhesion of solid foulants. The specific foulant of interest for this talk will mainly be ice, although the design principles apply to any hard fouling substance. I will first discuss the effect of utilizing […]

    BRITTON CHANCE DISTINGUISHED LECTURE IN ENGINEERING & MEDICINE: “Ushering in a New Era of Human Biology by Spatial Multi-Omics” (Rong Fan, Yale University)

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    Wu and Chen Auditorium (Room 101), Levine Hall 3330 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

    Abstract: From Hippocrates’ observations of illness to anatomical investigation and cellular pathology, understanding human biology and disease has depended on examining the human body at progressively finer scales. Molecular biology introduced a complementary approach: explaining how genes, proteins, and regulatory processes govern cellular function. Yet, a foundational divide persists between examining tissue architecture and understanding […]

    Fall 2026 GRASP on Robotics: Alan Stocker, University of Pennsylvania, “Embodied and Efficient: Toward a Resource-Rational Theory of Human Cognition”

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    Wu and Chen Auditorium (Room 101), Levine Hall 3330 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

    This will be an in-person event ONLY in Wu and Chen Auditorium. ABSTRACT Human cognition is implemented in a physical system (our brain and body) with limited resources . Perception, memory, and decision-making therefore must reflect smart trade-offs between performance and the associated resource costs of acquiring, representing, and maintaining information. I will present a […]

    CBE Seminar Series: “Linking Sequence to Consequence in Protein Condensates” (Benjamin Schuster, Rutgers University)

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    Wu and Chen Auditorium (Room 101), Levine Hall 3330 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

    Abstract: Proteins are the workhorse molecules of life. For many proteins, such as enzymes, the protein’s amino acid sequence specifies a stably folded structure that determines function. In contrast, intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) are dynamic and do not adopt a stable fold. Modern computational and experimental approaches, such as AlphaFold and cryo-electron microscopy, have enabled […]

    • MEAM Seminar: “From Cavity Expansion to Clinical Diagnosis”

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    Wu and Chen Auditorium (Room 101), Levine Hall 3330 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

    The mechanical properties of biological tissues change over time and with disease progression. Quantifying these mechanical properties can thus be instrumental for medical diagnosis and for evaluation of tissue viability for transplant. However, it is exceptionally challenging to mechanically characterize soft and biological materials using conventional testing methods, especially in-vivo. In recent years, volume controlled […]

    CBE Seminar Series: “Beyond Size and Charge: Molecular Origins of Selective Ion Transport in Membranes” (Jovan Kamcev, University of Michigan)

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    Wu and Chen Auditorium (Room 101), Levine Hall 3330 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

    Abstract: Electrochemical membrane-based technologies are poised to play an important role in meeting the growing global demand for clean water, sustainable energy, and critical materials because of their high efficiency, compact footprint, and operational simplicity. Central to these technologies are ion-exchange membranes (IEMs), which are made from charged polymers that regulate the transport of ionic […]

    Fall 2026 GRASP on Robotics: James Anderson, Columbia University, “How to Control Your JEPA”

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    Wu and Chen Auditorium (Room 101), Levine Hall 3330 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

    This will be an in-person event ONLY in Wu and Chen Auditorium. ABSTRACT Planning and control based on visual observations require representations that preserve what matters for decision making, not merely what is predictable. Visual observations contain many features that may be easy to predict yet irrelevant to the decisions a controller must make. The […]

    Fall 2026 GRASP on Robotics: Noah Cowan, Johns Hopkins University, “Toward a Control Theory for Active Sensing”

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    Wu and Chen Auditorium (Room 101), Levine Hall 3330 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

    This will be an in-person event ONLY in Wu and Chen Auditorium. ABSTRACT Active sensing is often defined as “movement for the purpose of sensing.” Here, I take a different perspective—that active sensing in biological systems is not a distinct class of behaviors, but rather a set of movement phenomena that arise from a control […]

    CBE Seminar Series: “Embracing the Complexity of Mixed Metal Oxide Catalytic Structures For Efficient Energy and Chemical Conversion” (Eranda Nikolla, University of Michigan)

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    Wu and Chen Auditorium (Room 101), Levine Hall 3330 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

    Abstract: Controlling the dispersion of metals on supports has been widely used as a strategy for tuning catalytic functionality. However, conventional supported catalysts often face challenges associated with multisite reactivity, poorly defined active centers, and the intrinsic dynamicity of those sites under operating conditions. These complexities make it difficult to establish clear structure-function relationships that […]