Artificial Intelligence
Now in its third year, AI Month has grown from its beginnings at Penn Engineering into a University-wide initiative, bringing together the Penn community for a month of conversation and collaboration around AI. Throughout April 2026, AI Month featured more than 60 events across the University, including over 20 at Penn Engineering. Highlights included a keynote conversation with Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna, the IDEAS on Generative AI Symposium and a range of workshops, seminars and community events exploring AI in health, science, education, business and public life.
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The NSF Artificial Intelligence-Driven RNA BioFoundry (AIRFoundry), funded by the National Science Foundation, officially opened as a new facility advancing RNA-based technologies through AI-driven discovery, bioengineering and advanced manufacturing.
The Summit featured panel discussions with industry leaders, founders, investors and GRASP faculty, alongside networking events and research demonstrations exploring the future of robotics and emerging technologies.
Vanessa Z. Chan, Penn Engineering Vice Dean of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, explored how emerging technologies, smarter design and innovation can transform data centers into more efficient and sustainable drivers of the energy transition amid growing AI demand.
Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna joined Penn Engineering Dean Vijay Kumar for a fireside conversation on innovation, AI and the path from scientific research to industry leadership.
The IDEAS on Generative AI Symposium brought together leading researchers to explore the future of generative and multimodal AI across natural language processing, computer vision, robotics and machine learning.
