December 08, 2021

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

Bolortsetseg Erdenee, a PhD student in biodiversity, earth and environmental science, received the graduate student award from the Entomological Society of Pennsylvania.

Sarah Fishel, a graduate student in the JD-PhD clinical psychology program, passed the Virginia bar.

Lynn Levin, adjunct associate professor of English, won first prize in the Bucks County Short Fiction Contest for her story “Tell Us About Your Experience.” View an interview with Levin and other contestants in the contest.

Asta Zelenkauskaite, PhD, associate professor of communication, was re-elected co-chair of the Audience Section of the International Association for Media and Communication Research and was invited to serve as co-chair of the Communication and Media Division of the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies.

Grants and Contracts

Sarah Fishel, a graduate student in the JD-PhD clinical psychology program, received the 2021 American Psychology – Law Society Grant in Aid in support of her dissertation research.

Erica Schulte, PhD, assistant research professor in the WELL Center, received a $4,698 WELL Center Seed Award to fund the project “Development of a Semi-Structured Clinical Interview to Operationalize Ultra-Processed Food Addiction.”

Publications

Susan Bell, PhD, professor of sociology, published "Commentary on the special issue of Reproductive Biomedicine & Society on “Symposium: Risk, innovation and ignorance production” in Reproductive Biomedicine & Society. 

Eric Brewe, PhD, associate professor of physics, authored “Faculty Response to Remote Teaching During COVID,” which was featured as a “Back Page” article in the American Physical Society Newspaper.

Virginia Caponera, a PhD student in biodiversity, earth and environmental science; Meghan Barrett, a PhD candidate in biology; and Sean O’Donnell, PhD, professor of biodiversity, earth and environmental science and professor of biology, authored “Behavioral Attributes of Social Groups Determine the Strength and Direction of Selection on Neural Investment,” which was published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.

Lena Champlin, a graduate student in biodiversity, earth and environmental science, co-authored and illustrated a children’s book, Coco’s Fire: Changing Climate Anxiety into Climate Action.

Ted Daeschler, PhD, professor of biodiversity, earth and environmental science and associate curator of vertebrate zoology at the Academy of Natural Sciences, authored “A new species of Eusthenodon (Sarcopterygii, Tristichopteridae) from the Upper Devonian (Famennian) of Pennsylvania, USA, and a review of Eusthenodon taxonomy,” which was published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

Richardson Dilworth, PhD, department head and professor and of politics, published “Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) in Philadelphia and their Potential as Regional Actors” in Urban Affairs Forum.

Drexel Publishing Group (DPG) produced a book on behalf of the Drexel University Black Alumni Council (DUBAC). A Legacy to Share contains the stories of 50+ Black alumni of Drexel, describing their experiences in school and work. The work was done by Scott Stein, director of the Drexel Publishing Group and teaching professor of English, and the DPG interns who worked on layout, formatting, copy editing and proofreading the book. It will be released in January.

Bolortsetseg Erdenee, a PhD student in biodiversity, earth and environmental science, and Jon Gelhaus, PhD, professor of biodiversity, earth and environmental science and curator of the department of entomology at the Academy of Natural Sciences, authored “Comparison of streamflow patterns in drainages of two major terminal basics: the United States Great Basin and Mongolia’s Central Asian Internal Drainage,” which was published in Inland Waters.

Christina Felonis, a graduate student in the WELL Center; Laura Boyajian, research coordinator; Stephanie Fan, research coordinator; Sarah Drexler, research coordinator; Brighid Fitzpatrick, research coordinator; Adam Payne-Reichert, research coordinator; Adrienne Juarascio, PhD, assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences; and Stephanie Manasse, PhD, assistant research professor in the WELL Center, authored “Changes in affect from non-eating activity engagement as predictors of loss of control eating: An ecological momentary assessment study,” which was published in Eating and Weight Disorders.

LeeAnn Haaf, a PhD candidate in biodiversity, earth and environmental science, and Danielle Kreeger, PhD, research associate professor of biodiversity, earth and environmental science, authored “Principal Factors Influencing Tree Growth in Low-Lying Mid Atlantic Coastal Forests,” which was published in Forests.

Christian Hunold, PhD, professor of politics, has a chapter, “Social media images of urban coyotes and the constitution of more-than-human cities,” forthcoming in The Oxford Handbook of Animal Organization Studies: A Critical Reader in Ethics, Business and Society, edited by L. Hamilton and L. Tallberg.

Stefanie A. Kroll, PhD, assistant research professor of biodiversity, earth and environmental science and watershed ecology section lead, Patrick Center of Environmental Research at the Academy of Natural Sciences, authored “Macroinvertebrate and diatom indicators of baseline conditions for setting targets in agricultural BMP restoration” in Freshwater Ecology.

Sean O’Donnell, PhD, professor of biodiversity, earth and environmental science and professor of biology, and Meghan Barrett, a PhD candidate in biology, authored “Experience-expectant brain plasticity corresponds to caste-specific abiotic challenges in dampwood termites (Zootermopsis angusticollis and Z. nevadensis),” which was published in The Science of Nature.

Kathleen Powell, PhD, assistant research professor of criminology and justice studies, authored “The Age-Graded Consequences of Justice System Involvement for Mental Health,” published in the Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency. Powell also authored “Who Pays? Measuring Differences in the Process of Repayment of Legal Financial Obligations,” published in Social Sciences.

Sanjana Ramanathan, a senior English major, published numerous poems: “Beekeeping on the Moon” in Clandestine Lit, “The Hermit” and “Potion of Reincarnation” in Fairy Piece Mag, “The Fortune Teller's Folly” in Analogies & Allegories Literary Magazine, “The Trial of Aspasia” in Provenance Journal, and “Ode to this Particular Peach” and “But the Swan Still Gets the Stars” in Spillover Magazine. She also published a piece of short fiction titled “Between the Banyan Tree” in Flash Frog.

Gordon Richards, PhD, professor of physics; Trevor McCaffery, current student; and Angelica Rivera, PhD student, authored “Probing the Wind Component of Radio Emission in Luminous High-redshift Quasars,” which was published in The Astronomical Journal. Additionally, Richards, along with Jackeline Moreno, PhD, research fellow; Rachel Buttry, alumna; John O’Brien, current student; and Michael Vogeley, PhD, professor of physics, authored “Properties of a Previously Unidentified Instrumental Signature in Kepler/K2 That was Confused for AGN Variability,” which was published in The Astronomical Journal.

James Spotila, PhD, professor emeritus of biodiversity, earth and environmental science, authored “Field metabolic rates of giant pandas reveal energetic adaptations,” which was published in Scientific Reports - Nature.

Kelly Underman, PhD, assistant professor of sociology, authored “Counter-Clinical Spaces,” which was published in Sociological Forum.

Scott Warnock, PhD, associate dean for undergraduate studies and professor of English, co-authored two new books: Teaching Writing in the Twenty-First Century and Administering Writing Programs in the Twenty-First Century, both published by the Modern Language Association.

Asta Zelenkauskaite, PhD, associate professor of communication, authored “Reach and power of physician-initiated Tweets in a Twitter Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) community,” which was published in Crohn’s and Colitis 360.

Presentations

Travis Curtice, PhD, assistant professor of politics, presented “Who Makes the State? National Ownership and International Statebuilding” at the 2021 Annual Peace Science Meeting and “Board Sponsored Panel entitled After George Floyd: Police Brutality in Africa and the Diaspora” at the 2021 Annual African Studies Association Meeting.

Bolortsetseg Erdenee, a PhD student in biodiversity, earth and environmental science, presented “Aquatic insect response to flow regime in two terminal basins, US and Mongolia” at the Entomological Society of Pennsylvania annual meeting.

Dacia Pajé, a PhD candidate in Communication, Culture and Media, presented her paper "Body as Evidence: Law & Order: SVU and the Rape Kit Backlog" at NCA 107th Annual Convention: Renewal and Transformation, in the Activism and Social Justice Division.

Sharrona Pearl, PhD, associate teaching professor of medical ethics and affiliated faculty in the Center for Science, Technology and Society, presented “James Barry and Emily Stowe: Two Canadian Firsts” at Archival Kisment, “Diagnoses of Modernity: or, is there dyslexia if there is no reading?” at the Society for the History of Technology annual meeting, and “Masking Safety: What is Revealed by a Masked Face?” at the Health Humanities Consortium International Conference.

Kris Unsworth, PhD, director of the Center for Science, Technology and Society and assistant teaching professor of criminology and justice studies, served on a panel on ethics at the Delaware Data Science Symposium.

Maddie Worth, environmental studies and sustainability major, presented her research “Extraordinary high diversity of Geranomyia crane flies (Diptera: Limoniidae) in a small forest fragment in Costa Rica” at the Entomological Society of Pennsylvania annual meeting.

In the Media

To view media mentions, visit In the Media.

Do you have a recent accomplishment that you would like to see listed in our next update? Email Gina Myers, content coordinator, at gmm94@drexel.edu.