A Celebratory Dedication for the Vagelos Laboratory for Energy Science and Technology

On a cold December day, the mood inside the Vagelos Laboratory for Energy Science and Technology was warm and celebratory, as some 200 people gathered to dedicate the new building named for its benefactors P. Roy Vagelos, C’50, PAR’90, HON’99, and Diana T. Vagelos, PAR’90, who were in attendance with members of their extended family.

Guests also included Penn Interim President J. Larry Jameson, Penn’s Board Chair Ramanan Raghavendran, Penn Arts & Sciences Incoming Interim Dean Jeffrey Kallberg, and Nemirovsky Family Dean of Penn Engineering Vijay Kumar, along with many of the faculty and students who will soon fill the 112,500-square-foot space.

Designed by architecture firm Behnisch Architekten, the building, located at 3200 Walnut Street, is the new home for the Vagelos Institute for Energy Science and Technology, led by Vagelos Professor in Energy Research Karen Goldberg. It also has space for students in the dual-degree Vagelos Integrated Program in Energy Research (VIPER), co-directed by Andrew Rappe, Blanchard Professor of Chemistry, and John Vohs, Carl V. S. Patterson Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.

The evening—punctuated by a lighting ceremony that illuminated the building’s façade—marked the end of a years-long planning and construction phase and the start of a new and exciting chapter in Penn’s study of energy science. With the lab’s opening, researchers from Penn Arts & Sciences and Penn Engineering now have a state-of-the-art physical space to collaborate in the fight against climate change.

“Tonight, we are celebrating not just the opening of an incredible facility, but we are marking our commitment to the important work that will be done in this building,” said Kallberg, who began the evening’s formal programming. “Not least of all, we are here to share this milestone with those who have made it possible.” 

Remarks followed from Raghavendran, Jameson, Kumar, Goldberg, and Mark Trodden, Penn Arts & Sciences Associate Dean for the Natural Sciences. “Wow. Just wow. That’s actually what I say every time I walk into this building,” said Goldberg, who joined Penn in 2017 to lead the Vagelos Institute. “Everyone in this building feels so excited, creative, and uplifted just being here.”

Goldberg noted the motivation she and her colleagues feel to develop sustainable energy solutions, and the work they’ve already begun on battery technologies, capturing and sequestering CO2, recovering and purifying minerals needed for clean-energy technologies, and plastic waste re-use. “We are so excited to work together in this new building,” she said, “and help Penn to lead the world in creating a sustainable energy future.”

Trodden thanked the Vageloses and spoke about their long partnership with Penn Arts & Sciences. “Roy and Diana,” he said, “your unflagging commitment has catapulted us into a position of leadership in this great challenge of our time, the need to transform our approach to energy and find our way to a sustainable future.”

The reason we’re here is because of you. You have the talent. You have the will. You have the know-how to make inventions and improve lives and society going forward.

Finally, the Vageloses said a few words. Roy talked about the creation of the VIPER program more than a decade ago and the moment he noticed a dearth of lab space to do what he and Diana saw as crucial work battling climate change. “We had the idea that we would build a new building, a new lab,” he said. In 2019, they gifted the University $50 million to be put toward the effort, adding another $20 million the next year. The University committed to matching the funds, and, as Roy put it, “the plan was hatched.”

In late 2020, the Board approved design plans, and construction started in early 2022. The first “sails,” the now iconic sunshades that both let sunlight into the building and reflect the solar radiation from the glass, went up in June 2023, and the first building occupants moved into the space in November 2024.

“You thank us, but we thank you, because this is the best investment we can make, to invest in people who are smarter than we are and who will live longer, and will accomplish tons more than Diana and I could’ve done on our own,” Roy said, as many of the faculty and undergraduate researchers he spoke of looked on. “The reason we’re here is because of you. You have the talent. You have the will. You have the know-how to make inventions and improve lives and society going forward.”

The dedication culminated in a lighting ceremony, count down and all, that added dazzling lights to the building’s exterior, illuminated throughout the night in blue and purple. Then guests had the opportunity to explore the higher floors—each of which was represented by cuisine symbolizing a different chemical process used in cooking—and tour the building that will help shape the future of energy research at Penn and beyond.

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