Penn Engineering
This deep reservoir of creativity has the potential to redefine health, sustainability, intelligent systems and the very way we educate the next generation of engineers. However, the most revolutionary ideas often begin before they fit neatly into traditional funding models. To achieve maximum impact, these ideas require the freedom to explore bold questions, test unconventional approaches and demonstrate early proof of concept.
The Futures Fund Partnership for Innovation is designed to provide exactly that. Through this philanthropic collaboration, we unlock leading-edge research and bold educational advancements, ensuring that breakthrough concepts do not wait for opportunity, but are propelled toward it.
Successful projects will attract major external grants, launch research centers, create startups and forge industry partnerships. At the same time, we are developing new models of teaching and learning that prepare engineers to lead responsibly and creatively in a rapidly changing world.
By placing philanthropic resources at the precise point of opportunity, you help turn early promise into lasting progress. In doing so, we create not only breakthroughs, but a shared legacy of impact.
Vijay Kumar Nemirovsky Family Dean Penn Engineering
Penn Engineering combines depth of talent, world-class infrastructure and a uniquely cross-disciplinary culture that spans all 12 schools at Penn and Philadelphia’s growing innovation ecosystem. This proximity to experts in medicine, business, education, law, design and public policy fosters collaborations that produce outcomes that no single discipline can achieve alone.
Penn Engineering consistently ranks among the nation’s leading research institutions. Strategic recruitment has strengthened expertise in AI, energy, health, robotics and advanced materials, infusing fresh vision into critical fields. Our facilities include modern wet labs, fabrication spaces, nanoscale research laboratories and next-generation computing capabilities. Our students are drawn from around the world by Penn Engineering’s reputation for academic excellence, a collaborative culture and its commitment to responsible innovation.
For more than 170 years, Penn Engineering has been a pioneer in research and technological innovation. From the invention of ENIAC at The Moore School in the 1940s to today’s Nobel Prize-winning mRNA vaccine technology, many important breakthroughs began here as ambitious ideas whose potential was not yet obvious. The Futures Fund is designed to propel this legacy forward, giving today’s visionary researchers the opportunity to pursue tomorrow’s defining breakthroughs.
Revolutionary breakthroughs come from a willingness to challenge existing assumptions and pursue ideas before their impact is fully understood. Yet ideas at this earliest stage often struggle to find support because they have not yet generated the preliminary results required by traditional funding mechanisms.
The Futures Fund gives Penn Engineering researchers the freedom to pursue these opportunities, establishing proof of concept, building interdisciplinary collaborations and accelerating discoveries that help meet the world’s most pressing challenges with urgency and impact.
Penn Engineering is built for this moment. As reflected in Penn’s In Principle and Practice framework, the University has made leadership on grand challenges a central priority. The Futures Fund responds to this call by by supporting the earliest stages of innovation, launching ideas that will transform health, sustainability, intelligent systems and engineering education.
The Futures Fund serves as a catalyst and a proactive engine for emerging research initiatives.
Our philanthropic partners become early supporters of exceptional faculty and their most ambitious ideas. Through carefully selected project awards, the Futures Fund enables researchers to explore bold scientific questions that can unlock large competitive grants and create new research centers, startup ventures and industry partnerships.
To address humanity’s greatest challenges, Futures Fund support can include seed funding to foster early-stage research, translation of lab research to validated prototypes and products, and access to critical resources like core facilities, personnel, advanced computing and data capacity. Funding supports the specific needs of each project, ensuring that breakthrough ideas have what is required to succeed.
Building on the Big Ideas introduced through Penn Engineering 2030, the Futures Fund focuses on three scientific frontiers where the School is positioned to drive discovery, accelerate translation and expand societal impact. These areas represent powerful opportunities for philanthropic partners to catalyze breakthroughs:
When projects are realized, resulting returns are reinvested into the School, creating an ever-renewing engine for innovation.
At Penn Engineering, we recognize that research excellence and educational innovation are inseparable.
Education is being reshaped by rapid developments in AI, digital tools and shifting workforce demands. The ability to adapt, think critically and apply learning in complex, real-world contexts has never been more important. Higher education must develop and integrate new technologies responsibly, preparing students not only to master today’s tools but to lead in fields that are still emerging. Institutions that innovate in how they teach as well as what they teach will define the next era of educational impact.
Preparing engineers for the age of AI and beyond requires reimagining how engineering education must benefit society. The Futures Fund’s philanthropic partners have the opportunity to support several interconnected areas of educational innovation, including:
Together, these efforts create an environment where flexible philanthropic support enables faculty partnerships, cross-school collaborations and rapid experimentation with new pedagogical approaches that will extend Penn’s reach far beyond campus.
The Futures Fund supports bold, early-stage research and educational innovation through a rigorous, competitive RFP process aligned with the School’s strategic priorities. Faculty submit proposals that are reviewed and prioritized based on potential impact, alignment with frontier areas and a clear articulation of why Penn is uniquely positioned to lead.
Funded projects receive targeted support designed around the needs of the proposed work to maximize impact. Depending on the project, funding may support specialized equipment, advanced computing, prototype development, technical staff, research personnel, commercialization activities and other project-specific resources necessary to achieve meaningful proof of concept.
The Futures Fund is directed by the Dean in consultation with the Associate Dean for Research and Innovation and advised by a Futures Fund Board composed of philanthropic partners, distinguished academic leaders and industry experts. This governance structure ensures strategic focus, transparency and accountability. An annual Futures Fund Impact Forum will convene faculty, students, donors and partners to showcase progress and identify additional emerging opportunities.
The Futures Fund Partnership Opportunities honor the visionary leadership and generosity of those whose commitments power this initiative. Opportunities begin at $50,000.*
Partners may choose to support the Futures Fund as a whole, giving Penn Engineering the flexibility to invest where the greatest opportunities for breakthrough innovation exist, or they can direct their philanthropy toward a specific research frontier or area of educational innovation that reflects their passions and vision for impact.
*Gifts may be fulfilled over a period of up to five years.
Your contribution accelerates high-impact research and educational innovation and empowers Penn Engineering faculty and their collaborators to pursue ambitious ideas with the potential to transform industries and improve lives. A commitment to the Futures Fund positions Penn Engineering for sustained leadership in the decade ahead and beyond.
