Penn announced the recipients of its 2026 President’s Engagement and Innovation Prizes, recognizing four teams of seniors whose projects address issues such as homelessness, health care access, workplace safety, and energy efficiency.
The recipients, who were selected from a pool of 67 applicants, will pursue their projects under the guidance of Penn faculty and staff mentors. Each winning team will be provided with $100,000 in project funding, along with a $50,000 living stipend per member.
College seniors Chloe Chang, Darlene Leohansson, and Connie Ni were recognized for Home for Arts, Voices, Enrichment, and Nurturing, an after-school program at the Jane Addams Place family shelter in North Philadelphia. The program is designed to address gaps in childhood literacy and emotional development.
“We are unbelievably grateful for this opportunity to bring HAVEN to life and to serve our families at Jane Addams Place,” Ni wrote in a statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian. “As a first-generation college student, my parents sacrificed so much for me to attend Penn — they worked constantly and never took vacations so I could have opportunities they didn’t.”
She added that HAVEN is intended to “ease some of that burden for caregivers, creating space for them to pursue employment while knowing their children are supported.”
Leohansson emphasized the personal significance of the project in a statement to the DP, describing the ability “to connect with children in Philadelphia” as the “greatest honor and privilege.”
“I was raised by a single, immigrant mother in a low-income household,” she wrote. “My mom’s dedication to providing for my brother and me while finding us accessible avenues to the arts transformed my childhood.”
Chang similarly described the impact of her mother, “when I was struggling to read in kindergarten, my mom took me to the Queens library every day and sat beside me until the words finally clicked.”
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“That’s where I found my voice — one that led me to study English in college,” Chang added. “These kids are already so curious and capable; we just hope to build a space that offers that same kind of support, where their voices can grow and learning feels joyful, creative, and empowering.”
College seniors Janine Haros and Justin Wang, along with Eric Lee — a senior in the Roy and Diana Vagelos Program in Molecular Life Sciences — were also awarded the prize. Their project, Shared Vision, will subsidize eye screenings and educational resources within Philadelphia’s homeless shelters.
“I’m incredibly excited and grateful to work on Shared Vision after graduation with Justin and Eric,” Haros wrote. “Our project aims to bring free eye screenings, care coordination, and patient education to Philadelphia’s underserved communities.”
She described the prize as “a unique opportunity,” adding that and I feel thankful for the chance to pursue Shared Vision through it.
Wharton senior Margaret Zhu was recognized for her project Serpent Robotics, an electric rope-climbing system designed to improve safety for tree care workers. The system also mitigates outages and other risks.
“Workers in the industry experience one of the highest injury and fatality rates, so my team and I wanted to do something to help,” Zhu wrote to the DP. “We started working on Serpent over a year ago, and we’ve been incredibly fortunate to receive so much support from Penn’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.”
Nhlanhla Mavuso, a student in the Vagelos Integrated Program in Energy Research program, received the President’s Sustainability Prize, a category within the Innovation Prize. The project, titled Fluid Silicon, ensures that computer chips utilize energy efficiency in an effort to decrease waste from data centers.
Penn also named other finalists for the award, including College seniors Anmol Dash, Allison Li, and VIPER senior Claire Zhang.
“The prizes serve as an incredible opportunity for students to create and explore socially impactful projects that would be difficult to pursue or not as effective without generous university support,” Dash wrote. “Over the past several months, our team learned a ton about some of the most important issues affecting new mothers across the Philadelphia area.”
“This year’s recipients of the President’s Prizes exemplify the creative rigor and civic commitment that define Penn at its best,” Penn President Larry Jameson wrote in the press release. “I am deeply grateful to the faculty and staff mentors who helped bring these projects to life and proud of the lasting difference these students will make.”
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Staff reporter Hailey Hilsabeck covers facilities and infrastructure and can be reached at hilsabeck@thedp.com. At Penn, she studies cinema and media studies and English. Follow her on X @hhilsabeckk.
