June 10, 2020

Two master’s students in science, technology and society, Daniel Drexler (Drex) ’20 and Sumita Gangwani, are the recipients of the 2020 Excellence in Science, Technology and Society (STS) Prize. This is the fifth year that the Center for STS has offered this annual prize. Nominated and voted on by STS-affiliated faculty, the prize is presented to an STS graduate student who has demonstrated exemplary performance in research, academics and service to the STS program. Due to the outstanding nature of both Drex and Sumita's contributions, the prize was given to two students this year.

Drex and Sumita are both valuable, visible, contributing members of STS at Drexel.

Drex’s research interests center on the intersection of software and society. He actively participated in STS events and helped build an intellectual community by reaching out to other graduate students. Drex is a thoughtful, rigorous scholar who takes his work in STS seriously. Drex’s master project is titled “Software as Composites: A Maze of Twisty Passages.”

Sumita's research interests focus on the entanglement of identities, capitalism and stimulants. She is particularly interested in the use of visual methods to investigate the connections between science, technology, and society. She served Drexel’s STS community by providing leadership in the student-run organization the STS Collective, especially during a difficult time when there were transitions in Drexel’s Graduate College. She actively promotes the Center’s activities in and beyond the University. Her master's project is titled “A Cup of Capitalism: Snapshots of Coffee Culture on Drexel's Campus.”