Homecoming 2025 with Penn Engineering Online

This Fall, our online students and alumni were invited to join us on campus for Penn’s university-wide Homecoming celebration. It was an incredible three days full of connection, camaraderie and collaboration. 

In addition to a plethora of activities hosted by the University at large, Penn Engineering students and alumni were invited to a collection of events that comprised the Homecoming Powered by Penn Engineering program. A number of additional events were facilitated specifically for students and alumni of our online master’s degree programs.

We were thrilled that over 140 of our online graduate students joined us on campus for Homecoming — including students who are actively studying from 24 U.S. states and 7 different countries around the globe.

Our online graduate programs are accessible to students living all around the world thanks to our digital learning platforms and our Learning Design and Technology staff, who ensure a highly engaging and effective learning experience can be accessed from anywhere. While we consistently offer an abundance of opportunities for students to interface with their peers and classmates digitally through connection points such as coursework, our Slack community, peer mentorship programs – it is always exciting to offer our online students a chance to gather together face-to-face and spend time on the University’s historic grounds. Homecoming Powered by Penn Engineering was one of these special instances where our digital network was bolstered in person. 

Schedule

Our 2025 Homecoming attendees participated in a wide range of festivities and activities, including:

⇒ campus tours
⇒ a Resource Fair highlighting services and support for online students
⇒ a pre-football game tailgate 
⇒ formal and informal networking sessions
⇒ a panel discussion featuring Penn Engineering Online alumni
⇒ professional headshot appointments
… and more!

Campus Tours

Pathways After Penn: An Alumni Panel

Additional highlights of the Homecoming agenda included Lightning Talks, a Fireside Chat with Penn Engineering’s Dean Vijay Kumar and an online programs Dinner Reception.

Penn Engineering Lightning Talks

This series of TED Talk-style Lightning Talks featured some of Penn Engineering’s most popular professors:

⇒ Sherry Gao, Presidential Penn Compact Associate Professor in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

⇒ Douglas Jerolmack, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Endowed Term Professor of Earth and Environmental Science and Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics (MEAM)

⇒ Christopher Madl, Assistant Professor in Materials Science and Engineering

⇒ Marc Miskin, Assistant Professor in Electrical and Systems Engineering

⇒ Noor Momin, Stephenson Foundation Term Assistant Professor of Innovation in Bioengineering

These faculty members shared insights into their latest groundbreaking research, spanning the topics of AI and Society, Biomedical Engineering Breakthroughs, Clean Energy Solutions and Robotics and Autonomy.

Fireside Chat with Vijay Kumar and Ramanan Raghavendran

This conversation was hosted by Vijay Kumar, Nemirovsky Family Dean of Penn Engineering, who sat down with Ramanan Raghavendran ENG’89, W’89, LPS’15 for an inspiring conversation titled “Building a Sustainable Future: Empowering the Next Generation”. Raghavendran is not only the Chair of the Board of Trustees but is also the founder of Amasia.

Dinner Reception

This exclusive Penn Engineering Online event offered a special opportunity for online students and alumni to connect in-person with fellow classmates, faculty and Penn Engineering staff during a cocktail reception and dinner, capped by keynote remarks from Penn Engineering professor Andreas Haeberlen.

For many online students, Homecoming provided a chance to meet face-to-face with peers and professors who they may have only ever connected with virtually in the past. For others, the weekend offered an opportunity to reunite with those who they had met at previous events on campus or through our Road Trips program.

As new connections were forged, existing connections were strengthened. We cannot wait to see how this community and the connections that were sparked during Homecoming will continue to flourish. 

We are grateful to all who traveled from near and far to spend Homecoming 2025 with us … and we can’t wait to see everyone again in 2026!