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By Ty Tkacik

Despite the prevalence of synthetic materials across different industries and scientific fields, most are developed to serve a limited set of functions. To address this inflexibility, researchers at Penn State, led by Hongtao Sun, assistant professor of industrial and manufacturing engineering (IME), have developed a fabrication method that can print multifunctional “smart synthetic skin” — configurable materials that can be used to encrypt or decrypt information, enable adaptive camouflage, power soft robotics and more.

By Sam Sholtis

Oil-in-water droplets respond to chemical cues by forming arm-like extensions that resemble filopodia, which are used by living cells to sense and explore their environment. A research team led by chemists at Penn State studies the droplets to glimpse how matter may have transitioned to life billions of years ago. The researchers dissected the mechanism through which these arms form and showed that they respond directionally, growing toward or away from specific chemicals.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly used to analyze medical images, materials data and scientific measurements, but many systems struggle when real-world data do not match ideal conditions. Measurements collected from different instruments, experiments or simulations often vary widely in resolution, noise and reliability. Traditional machine-learning models typically assume those differences are negligible — an assumption that can limit accuracy and trustworthiness.

Two Penn State professors were named to the 2025 class of fellows by the National Academy of Inventors (NAI): Swaroop Ghosh, professor of electrical engineering and computer science (EECS), and Dipanjan Pan, the Dorothy Foehr Huck & J. Lloyd Chair Professor in Nanomedicine. Only a relatively small group of academic inventors receive this honor, which is considered the highest professional distinction, each year. They will be officially inducted at the 15th Annual NAI Conference on June 4 in Los Angeles.

A team of researchers at Penn State have devised a new, streamlined approach to design metasurfaces, a class of engineered materials that can manipulate light and other forms of electromagnetic radiation with just their structures. This rapid optimization process could help manufacture advanced optical systems like camera lenses, virtual reality headsets, holographic imagers and more, the team said.

By Jamie Oberdick

Yang Yang, assistant professor of engineering science and mechanics in the Penn State College of Engineering, has been selected as a recipient of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Early Career Research Program Award for 2025.

LionGlass, a stronger and more sustainable glass invented at Penn State, may soon be developed for windows and windshields, thanks to a new partnership with North America’s largest architectural glass manufacturer Vitro Architectural Glass. The company signed a multi-year research agreement to scale up the new, patent-pending glass technology for use in flat glass applications across architectural and automotive markets.