September 09, 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

Hai-Feng (Frank) Ji, PhD, professor of chemistry, has been awarded a Louis and Bessie Stein Family Fellowship for Exchanges with Israeli Universities for his proposal “Metal phosphorus halides for Magnetic Enantioseparation.”

Michael Lowe, PhD, professor of psychological and brain sciences; Zoe Zhang, PhD, associate professor of psychological and brain sciences; and Leora Benson, graduate student, had their article “Greater within-person weight variability during infancy predicts future increases in z-BMI” selected as an Editors’ Choice pick for the October 2021 issue of Obesity.

Grants and Contracts

Michelle Dolinski, PhD, associate professor of physics, received a second grant renewal from the Department of Energy Office of Science over the next two years for the project “Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay at Drexel.”

The Department of Entomology at the Academy of Natural Sciences was awarded an Institute of Museum and Library Services grant to digitize and preserve a huge trove of field recordings of grasshopper and cricket songs captured by Curator Emeritus Dan Otte from 1960s-1990s in the Hawaiian Islands, American West and Africa. This grant brings together science and collections in a highly innovative collaboration with Drexel that advances the Academy's Strategic Plan and showcases how vitally important information in non-traditional collections is to our understanding of organisms and their conservation and role in nature.

Charles Lane, PhD, professor of physics, Michelle Dolinski, PhD, associate professor of physics, and Russell Neilson, PhD, associate professor of physics, received a grant renewal from the Department of Energy Office of Science over the next four years for the project “Experimental Particle Physics at Drexel.”

Stephanie Manasse, PhD, assistant research professor and director of the child and adolescent program at the WELL Center, has received a seed award to support two projects: “Can improving sleep enhance self-regulation in adolescents with binge-spectrum eating disorders? An initial case series” and “Individual and dyadic momentary predictors of dysregulated eating among adolescents receiving treatment for overweight/obesity.”

Marina Potapova, PhD, associate professor of biodiversity, earth and environmental science, is co-PI on an NSF award to fund a new scanning electron microscope on main campus. The joint project with several engineering professors, led by Christopher Li, PhD, will provide a fabulous new SEM that will enhance research and education and provide even more stunning images of diatoms.

Maria Schultheis, PhD, vice provost of research and professor of psychological and brain sciences, was recently awarded an NSF ADVANCE grant for her project “Catalyzing STEM Gender Equity at Drexel: Building a Foundation for Systemic Transformation.”

Publications

Michael Berry, Christina Chwyl, Stephanie Manasse, PhD, and Evan Forman, PhD, of the WELL Center, published their article “Rethinking emotional eating: Retrospective and momentary indices of emotional eating represent distinct constructs” in Appetite.

Rebecca Crochiere, graduate student; Adrienne Juarascio, PhD; and Evan Forman, PhD, of the WELL Center, along with Zoe Zhang, PhD, associate professor of psychological and brain sciences, had the manuscript “Comparing Ecological Momentary Assessment to Sensor-Based Approaches in Predicting Dietary Lapse” accepted for publication in the journal Translational Behavioral Medicine.

Miriam Kotzin, PhD, professor of English, published a flash fiction piece titled “Water Wings” in 50 Give or Take.

Elizabeth Lampe, doctoral student; Rebecca Crochiere, graduate student; Claire Trainor, doctoral student; and Adrienne Juarascio, PhD, from the WELL Center, published their article “Be ACTive! Mindfulness and Acceptance-based Interventions for Physical Activity Engagement in Adolescents” in Translational Behavioral Medicine.

Doctoral students Elizabeth Lampe, Claire Trainor, Emily Presseller and Megan Michael, research coordinator Adam Payne-Reichert, and Adrienne Juarascio, PhD, from the WELL Center, published their article “Characterizing Reasons for Exercise among Individuals with Binge Eating” in Eating Behaviors.

Lynn Levin, adjunct associate professor of English, published a translation of Guillaurme Apollinaire’s “Le Pont Mirabeau” in Solstice: A Magazine of Diverse Voices.

Cecilia Mondaini, PhD, assistant professor of mathematics, co-authored “Mixing Rates for Hamiltonian Monte Carlo Algorithms in Finite and Infinite Dimensions,” which was accepted for publication in Stochastics and Partial Differential Equations: Analysis and Computations.

Elias Spiliotis, PhD, associate professor of biology, and Louis Devlin, a biology PhD graduate student, published "Proteomic profiling of the oncogenic septin 9 reveals isoform-specific interaction in breast cancer cells" in Proteomics. Spiliotis and Iliana Kesisova, PhD, a former biology post-doctoral fellow, published "Spatial regulation of microtubule-dependent transport by septin GTPases" in Trends in Cell Biology.

James Spotilla, PhD, professor emeritus of biodiversity, earth and environmental science, published “Short-term gain, long-term loss: How a widely-used conservation tool could further threaten sea turtles” in Biological Conservation.

Scott Stein, teaching professor of English, published the humor piece “First Lines of Classic Novels About Professors” in Point in Case.

Elizabeth Burke Watson, PhD, assistant professor, and Johannes Krause, PhD, recent graduate of the department of biodiversity, earth and environmental science, co-authored “Monitoring Vegetation Dynamics at a Tidal Marsh Restoration Site: Integrating Field Methods, Remote Sensing and Modeling," published in Estuaries and Coasts.

Presentations and Podcasts

Daniel King, PhD, associate professor of chemistry, organized and presided over a symposium entitled “Engaging Students in the Classroom” at the Fall 2021 American Chemical Society National Meeting. He also presented a talk “Lessons learned about student engagement during remote instruction” during the symposium.

Bryce Koester, environmental science PhD student, presented her pteropod and ocean acidification research at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles’ Underwater Workshop, a conference for K-12 STEM teachers in the Noyce Science Fellows program.

John Kounios, PhD, professor of psychological and brain sciences, appeared on the American Psychological Association’s podcast Speaking of Psychologyto discuss creative insights.

Jonson Miller, PhD, teaching professor of history, and Sheila Sandapen, PhD, assistant teaching professor of English, appeared on Pennoni Honor College’s Pop, the Question podcast to discuss the albums that changed their lives when they were 14 years old.

Sheila Sandapen, PhD, associate teaching professor of English, had her paper “Reporting on A Women of Very Bad Character: Public Opinion and the Death of a Factory Girl” accepted for the 2021 Annual Conference of the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association.

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.