Liz Wai-Ping Ng
During the pandemic, Matthew Cleaveland, a doctoral candidate at the Penn Research in Embedded Computing and Integrated Systems Engineering (PRECISE) Center, took up running to get outside and boost his health. He spent four months training for his first marathon; two weeks before race day, he faced a major setback.
Cleaveland was diagnosed with cancer and needed immediate surgery. Although the procedure would take place four days before the race, and his doctor said there was no way Cleaveland could run it as planned, Cleaveland was determined to cross the finish line in his own way.