May 23, 2019

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

Awards and Honors

Esther Han, BS biological sciences ’21, received a Gilman Scholarship to study abroad at Hanyang University in Seoul, South Korea. Mirando Russo, BS criminology and justice studies ’21, is a Gilman Scholar alternate to Ireland and Jordan.

David Velinsky, PhD, department head of biodiversity, earth and environmental science, and Elizabeth Watson, PhD, assistant professor of wetlands science, co-authored a paper that ranked 53rd in Scientific Reports’ “Top 100 in Earth Science” most-read papers in 2018. The paper is titled “Accuracy and Precision of Tidal Wetland Carbon Stocks in the Contiguous U.S.”

Grants

Celeste Mann, instructor of Spanish, received two awards to support her presentation, “Evoking Memories: Public Speaking for Intermediate Spanish and Portuguese Learners,” at the American Association of Teachers of Spanish & Portuguese (AATSP) conference in July in San Diego. The awards are a $500 travel stipend from AATSP and a $1K Teaching and Learning Conference Travel Award from Drexel’s Office of Faculty Affairs.

Two PhD students in biology, Katie Fiocca and Meghan Barrett, were awarded grants from the American Philosophical Society to support their field research.

Michael Vogeley, PhD, professor of physics, was awarded a $45K fellowship from the Institute for Advanced Study to partially support a sabbatical visit to IAS during the 2019-2020 academic year.

In The Media

Rogelio Miñana, PhD, department head of global studies and modern languages, was the featured guest in the second episode of “Literatura Oral: Literature to Listen to,” a series by AL DÍA News. In the episode titled “Don Quixote,” he discussed the classic text by Miguel de Cervantes and how its title character builds a reality for other characters.

Presentations and Events

The Physics Graduate Student Association demonstrated engaging physics concepts to thousands of kids and adults during the Philadelphia Science Festival. Physics major Sarah Coccia exhibited her senior thesis project featuring the science of IceCube, while graduate-student volunteers included Virginia Price, Erin Hansen, Justin Gambrell, Olga Kyzylova, Sean Lewis, Angelica Rivera and Rebecca Philipson.

Writers Room celebrated the second annual Canon TRIPOD photo exhibition with a reading and reception at the Free Library of Philadelphia. Writers Room also welcomed Patrice Worthy, MS biochemistry ’12, as its first assistant director.

Publications

Susan Bell, PhD, department head of sociology, published the article “Interpreter Assemblages: Caring for Immigrant and Refugee Patients in U.S. Hospitals” in Social Science & Medicine.

Eric Brewe, PhD, associate professor of physics, co-authored “Sexual Harassment Reported by Undergraduate Female Physicists,” published in Physical Review Physics Education Research, which identified that 75 percent of undergraduate women in physics experience some form of sexual harassment. It received news coverage in Nature and on the homepage of the American Physical Society.

Kelly Conaboy, BA English ’09, received a publication contract for her book “The Particulars of Peter,” a humorous mix of memoir and reporting exploring the author’s relationship with her dog.

Harriet Levin Millian, associate teaching professor of English, and Kamyar Kamyar, BA mathematics and BS economics ’21, translated four original poems by Iranian poet H.E. Sayeh that appeared in the spring issue of the Michigan Quarterly Review.

Donald Riggs, PhD, teaching professor of English, authored the paper “Frank Herbert’s Dune and the Dune Series,” which was accepted for publication by Oxford Bibliographies in American Literature, Oxford University Press.

Mimi Sheller, PhD, professor of sociology and director of the Center for Mobilities Research and Policy, produced wall text and catalogue essays for three recent art exhibits: “Mobile/Immobile,” curated by the Mobile Lives Forum at the National Archives in Paris; “Transit: Art, Mobility and Migration in the Age of Globalisation,” curated by KOS: Museum of Art in Public Spaces, in Copenhagen; and “The Speed of Thinking: Joelle Dietrich and Owen Mundy,” at the Leonard Pearlstein Gallery.

Diane Sicotte, PhD, associate professor of sociology, published her article “The Toxic Relationship Between Fracked Gas Liquids and Plastics” in Toxic News.

Scott Stein, teaching professor of English, had his novel, “The Great American Deception,” contracted for publication by Tiny Fox Press, to be published in 2020.

Lillian Walkover, PhD, postdoctoral fellow in global health, co-authored the chapter, “The Structural Competency Working Group: Lessons from Iterative, Interdisciplinary Development of a Structural Competency Training Module,” published in Structural Competency in Mental Health and Medicine, Springer.