Congratulations to Wharton undergraduate and finance major Margaret Zhu, W’26, recipient of a Class of 2026 University of Pennsylvania President’s Prize. Zhu’s Innovation Prize recognizes involvement with Serpent Robotics, a startup that is prototyping a rope‑climbing, ground-controlled robotic system allowing arborists and tree care workers to cut branches and secure their descent to the ground. The team’s work has the potential to dramatically reduce injuries in one of the nation’s most dangerous industries.
Awarded annually, the President’s Prizes empower Penn undergraduate students to design and undertake post-graduation projects that make a positive, lasting difference in the world. 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.
Serpent Robotics, which is also led by Integrated Product Design and Penn Engineering students Steyn Knollema, GEN’26, Jason Li, GEN’26, and Yiran Xuan, GEN’26, previously won the Robert S. Blank New Venture Collaboration Award and Weiss Audience’s Choice Award during Venture Lab’s 2025 Startup Challenge; was a finalist in last year’s Mack Institute for Innovation Management’s Y-Prize Competition; and was included with the “Poets&Quants” Most Disruptive Business School Startups list in 2025.
Read the full story here.
By Erica Moser
Posted: May 8, 2026
