Amanda Mott, Penn Today
University of Pennsylvania President J. Larry Jameson today announced the recipients of the 2025 President’s Engagement, Innovation, and Sustainability Prizes. Awarded annually, the Prizes empower Penn undergraduate students to design and undertake post-graduation projects that make a positive, lasting difference in the world. Since the establishment of the President’s Prizes, generous philanthropic support has ensured that each Prize-winning project receives $100,000, as well as a $50,000 living stipend per team member and each team collaborates with a Penn faculty or staff mentor.
Five fourth-year students have been named recipients of the 2025 President’s Engagement Prize. They are Ejun Mary Hong and Jack Nicholas Roney for PIXEL, and Imani Nkrumah Ardayfio, Inaya Zaman, and Rashmi Acharya for Nourish to Flourish. Three fourth-year students have received the President’s Innovation Prize: Melanie Herbert, Nami Lindquist, and Alexandra Popescu for Sync Labs. Fourth-year Piotr Lazarek has received the President’s Sustainability Prize, a sub-category of the President’s Innovation Prize, for Nirby.
“This year’s recipients of the President’s Prizes and their Prize-winning projects exemplify Penn’s values and strategic priorities and the highest ideals of higher education,” said Jameson. “PIXEL, Nourish to Flourish, Sync Labs, and Nirby are interdisciplinary and innovative in their approach—engaging in West Philadelphia to inspire creativity and to introduce nutritional programs improving health and addressing hunger; innovating to enhance eldercare through AI; and embracing a sustainable approach to farmland soil management. On behalf of the University, I congratulate this year’s winners.”
The 2025 prize recipients—selected from an applicant pool of 68—will spend the next year implementing the projects:
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Melanie Herbert, Nami Lindquist, and Alexandra Popescu for Sync Labs: Herbert, an electrical engineering major in the School of Engineering and Applied Science from Short Hills, New Jersey; Lindquist, a dual-degree major in computer science and economics in the Jerome Fisher Program in Management & Technology from Bellevue, Washington; and Popescu, a systems engineering major in Penn Engineering from Easton, Connecticut, will address eldercare with an effective, privacy-centric AI system that reduces staff exhaustion, addresses caregiving gaps, and offers a solution for issues in senior care. Sync Labs is mentored by Jeffrey Babin, professor and associate director of engineering entrepreneurship in the School of Engineering and Applied Science and the engineering faculty director for Venture Lab.
Piotr Lazarek for Nirby -
Piotr Lazarek for Nirby: Lazarek, a dual-degree major in the Jerome Fisher Program in Management & Technology from Pawłowice, Poland, will further grow Nirby, a real-time soil analytics and farmland-management system designed to address inefficiencies in fertilizer usage, by integrating satellite data and drone-enabled soil measurements to provide real-time insights into field productivity and nutrient distribution. Piotr is mentored by Jeffrey Babin.
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