October 19, 2018

We are pleased to recognize the recent grants, publications, presentations, awards and honors of members of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Grants

• Meghan Butryn, PhD, associate professor of psychology, was awarded a $865K NIH R01 grant titled “Enhancing Effectiveness of a Dissonance-Based Obesity Prevention Program,” in collaboration with the Oregon Research Institute.
• Adrienne Juarascio, PhD, associate professor of psychology and director of training at the WELL Center, received $2.25M grant from the National Institutes of Health for the project “Improving Weight Loss Outcomes for Binge Eating Disorder (The BALANCING ACT Project).” Co-investigators include Evan Forman, PhD, professor of psychology and director of the WELL Center; Stephanie Manasse, PhD, assistant research professor at the WELL Center; and Zoe Zhang, PhD, assistant professor of psychology; and Stella Volpe, PhD, professor and chair of nutrition sciences in the College of Nursing and Health Professionals.
• John Medaglia, PhD, assistant professor of psychology, is co-investigator on a $3M NIH grant for the project “Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for Aphasia: Efficacy and Neural Basis.” The team will investigate the neural changes underlying treatment responses to brain stimulation in aphasia (language loss due to stroke).
• Shari Moskow, PhD, department head and professor of mathematics, was among four Drexel faculty members to receive a $1.1M NSF Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Grant. The award will fund 24 non-teacher education STEM majors at Drexel to earn teacher certification in grades 4-8 mathematics or science with a focus on understanding the cultural and life experiences of middle school students in high-need, urban schools.

Honors and Awards

• Shahmar Beasley, BA political science and anthropology ’18, was named a Forbes 30 Under 30 Scholar. He attended the Forbes 30 Under 30 Summit in Boston with funding from the Office of the Provost and the Department of Politics.
• Eric Brewe, PhD, associate professor of physics and science education, was peer-elected a 2018 American Physical Society Fellow, which recognizes his “foundational research and development in introductory physics, pioneering work on student networks in education and contributions to the community advancing physics education research.”
• Meghan Butryn, PhD, associate professor of psychology, was appointed operational director of cancer survivorship research for Thomas Jefferson University’s Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, which has a research consortium with Drexel. She will be leading efforts to integrate behavioral science into Jefferson’s basic- and clinic-science enterprises, particularly as they relate to obesity, diet and physical activity along the cancer continuum.
• Erin Graham, PhD, assistant professor of politics, is a Global Order Visiting Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perry World House. The Perry World House connects policy makers and global affairs professionals with academics studying our most pressing global challenges.
• Arthur M. Nezu, PhD, DHL, ABPP, Distinguished University Professor of Psychology, was awarded the ABPP Distinguished Contributions to the Professional of Psychology award at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association in San Francisco, California. He also presented an invited address titled “Emotion-Centered Problem-Solving Therapy for Suicidality.”
• Johannes Krause, PhD student in environmental science, was awarded the 2018-2019 William L. McLean III Fellowship from the Department of Biodiversity, Earth and Environmental Science and the Academy of Natural Sciences. He will study the seasonal variation in seagrass coverage in the estuary of Bahia San Quintin (Baja California, Mexico) and will investigate the mechanisms regulating carbon burial and microbial remineralization in this dynamic marine environment.
• Michael Silverstein, PhD student in clinical psychology, was awarded the APAGS/Psi Chi Junior Scientist Fellowship, which will fund his research into risk factors for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Key Partnerships

• Jennifer Schwartz, PhD, associate teaching professor of psychology and director of the Psychological Services Center, developed a partnership with the People’s Emergency Center of Philadelphia. She will supervise trainees in treating trauma for homeless mothers and their children who are victims of domestic violence.

Presentations and Conferences

• The Department of Sociology hosted the 2018 American Sociology Association (ASA) pre-conference, “Sexualities, Race and Empire: Resistance in an Uncertain Time.” The conference brought together more than 200 sociologists to celebrate the first two decades of the ASA section of the Sociology of Sexualities. The Department of Sociology and the College of Arts and Sciences also sponsored the ASA’s annual meeting in Philadelphia.
• Maureen Gibney, PsyD, associate teaching professor of psychology, presented “Narrative Explorations of Aging and How They Can Offer Guidance to Professionals” at the 12th International Technology, Education and Development Conference in Valencia, Spain.
• Writers Room and Drexel Smart House embarked on a yearlong design collaboration for a cooperative living home for Drexel students and community residents. Scott Knowles, PhD, department head of history, facilitated the first in a series of three related public talks and guided writing workshops, titled “Home: Affordable Housing + Cooperative Living.”

Publications

• Amelia Hoover Green, PhD, published the book “The Commander’s Dilemma: Violence and Restraint in Wartime,” Cornell University Press.
• Brian Erickson, postdoctoral PhD student in applied cognitive and brain sciences, was first author on “Resting-State Brain Oscillations Predict Trait-Like Cognitive Styles,” a paper published in ScienceDirect and based on his dissertation. Psychology faculty members, Fengqing (Zoe) Zhang, PhD, and John Kounios, PhD, Monica Truelove-Hill, PhD applied cognitive and brain sciences ’18, and doctoral students Yongtaek Oh and Julia Anderson were co-authors.
• John Medaglia, PhD, assistant professor of psychology, was lead author on the article “Moral Attitudes and Willingness to Enhance and Repair Cognition with Brain Stimulation.” It was published in the journal Brain Stimulation, a top journal that accepts less than 10% of submissions, and establishes a new scientific area of study that combines moral psychology and brain stimulation.
• Jocelyn Sessa, PhD, assistant professor of biodiversity, earth and environmental science, was co-author on the paper “Little Lasting Impact of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum on Shallow Marine Molluscan Faunas,” published in Science Advances.
• Mimi Sheller, PhD, professor of sociology and director of the Center for Mobilities Research and Policy, published the co-edited volume “Mobilities and Complexities,” Routledge.