December 07, 2020

Meet the new faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences, and please join us in offering them a warm welcome to our community!

Department of History

Zachary Sell, PhD 
Visiting Assistant Professor

Zachary Sell, PhD, is a scholar of slavery, empire and colonialism in the nineteenth century. Before joining Drexel University, he was Ruth J. Simmons Postdoctoral Fellow and visiting assistant professor at Brown University's Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice. Sell is committed to public history and has worked on several projects related to the histories and legacies of racial slavery in the Atlantic world. He recently served as a faculty advisor for the Choices curriculum “Racial Slavery in the Americas: Resistance, Freedom, and Legacies” and is involved in the making of a multi-part documentary film series on the Atlantic slave trade directed by Stanley Nelson.

His book “Trouble of the World: Slavery and Empire in the Age of Capital” examines the terrible convergence between the expansion of U.S. slavery and the growth of the British Empire in the mid-nineteenth century. He is currently working on a second project focused on global transformations in trade, slavery and colonialism in the era of the American Revolution.

Department of Psychology

Kate Devlin, PhD 
Assistant Research Professor

Kathryn (Kate) Devlin, PhD, earned her PhD in clinical psychology and neuroscience from Temple University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in clinical neuropsychology at Thomas Jefferson University. She is a member of Drexel’s Applied Neuro-Technologies Lab and a frequent collaborator with the Drexel University/Temple University Comprehensive NeuroAIDS Center (CNAC). She has co-authored over 20 peer-reviewed manuscripts and book chapters, and her work has been funded by the National Science Foundation and recognized by the Centers for AIDS Research (CFAR) and the Philadelphia Neuropsychology Society.

Devlin’s interdisciplinary research incorporates clinical neuropsychology, immunology and statistics. Her work seeks to understand the nature, causes and outcomes of neurocognitive impairment in several populations, particularly older adults, persons living with HIV, and those with neurodegenerative diseases. More recently, her research has also included epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and brain injury.

Devlin investigates the impact of biomedical factors, such as vascular disease and inflammation, and social factors, such as education and culture, on cognitive performance and daily functioning. She utilizes statistical and actuarial approaches to improve the accuracy of neuropsychological diagnosis and prognosis, particularly in underrepresented groups. The ultimate goal of her work is to enhance cognition, functioning, and quality of life through early and accurate detection, and by paving the way for interventions that target the causes and profiles of cognitive impairment.

Department of Global Studies and Modern Languages

Octavio Borges-Delgato, PhD 
Assistant Teaching Professor

Octavio Borges-Delgado, PhD, earned his PhD in Hispanic cultural studies from Michigan State University. His research and teaching examine contemporary narrative representations of Hispanic Caribbean migrations to the United States. An important part of his research focuses on transnational issues of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and national identity concerning migration and postcolonialism in literature and popular (sub) cultures. He has taught courses on Spanish as a second language, Hispanic/Latinx identities, Latin American migrations to the United States, and Hispanic Caribbean literature and cultures.

Department of Chemistry

Reza Farasat, PhD
Assistant Teaching Professor

Reza Farasat, PhD, earned his PhD from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Center for Polymer Reaction Monitoring and Characterization (PolyRMC) at Tulane University. His areas of expertise are polymer, physical and analytical chemistry. He is interested in determining properties of materials, developing theories about their properties, and discovering potential applications of materials. He is also interested in exploring the interactions and transformations of materials.

Moreover, he has extensive industrial experience. While in industry, he collaborated with and provided consulting for universities and companies regarding polymer-based projects. He has experience conducting interdisciplinary research to apply techniques such as ThermoAnalytics, Multi-detector Size Exclusion Chromatography (SEC), and ACM (Automatic Continuous Mixing of Polymers) in the fields of biomedical engineering, materials science and physics.

Farasat strives to portray to his students the many exciting and practical applications of chemistry across diverse disciplines. His goal is for students to leave his courses empowered with strategies, techniques, and critical thinking and problem-solving skills to promote a smooth transition from college to career. Teaching and course development are his passions, and he has taught a diverse population of students.