Ted Daeschler, PhD, professor in the Department of Biodiversity, Earth & Environmental Science, reports on his fourth week in Antarctica...

The Drexel University Center for Public Policy debuted the latest edition of Drexel Policy Notes titled Climate Change and the Future of the North American City at the Philadelphia Citizen's Ideas We Should Steal conference on November 30, 2018. The Issue brings together 15 of Drexel's environmental experts to weigh in on what Philadelphia may look like in 2100.

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

“Ant-Man and The Wasp,” sequel to Marvel Cinematic Universe’s 2015 “Ant-Man,” is in movie theaters this summer. Wondering how the superheroes compare to real insects, we checked in with the Academy’s Entomology Department, which houses 3.5 million insect specimens – a treasure for researchers around the world.

There we found Robert Conrow, an affable Drexel PhD student and teaching assistant who studies crane flies with Entomology Curator Jon Gelhaus, PhD, a world expert. Gelhaus  also is a professor in Drexel’s Department of Biodiversity, Earth and Environmental Science. Conrow says crane flies would make terrible superheroes “because their long legs easily fall off in the slightest breeze.”

Biological Sciences major and BS + MD student Anuranita Gupta will address graduates as the class of 2018 representative at the College of Arts and Sciences Commencement ceremony on June 15, 2018.

Freshwater mussels and shad were once plentiful in the Delaware Estuary and its tributaries, providing a range of natural benefits to people and waterways. Today they face an uncertain future in local streams and rivers, creating a serious disadvantage when it comes to ecological health.

Now, the Academy of Natural Sciences, the College of Arts and Sciences of Drexel University, the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, Philadelphia Water Department and Department of Parks and Recreation, Bartram’s Garden, and the Independence Seaport Museum have come together to develop the Aquatic Research and Restoration Center to coordinate large-scale restoration efforts that do not currently exist in the Philadelphia region.

“One time I was in rehab, and they were talking about how there is an original body of pain. And you create more pain on top of that trying to handle the original thing that hurt you.”

So recalls Ashley Ramey in the trailer for “Original Body of Pain,” a documentary about motherhood and opioid addiction co-directed by Stan Wright, BA Communication ’15, and Dominic Silva, both MFA students at Wake Forest University.

Weather changes, such as the unseasonably high temperatures in Philadelphia this fall, can have serious impacts on health, says Drexel’s Ali Kenner, PhD, assistant professor of political science and of science, technology and society — especially for senior citizens, who are at higher risk for climate-related health complications.

As hurricane Irma barreled toward south Florida in early September, Kathleen Reardon gathered her staff to give them something akin to a pep talk. The situation in the Caribbean looked truly frightening that morning, with Irma devastating island chain after island chain with a ferocity that left meteorologists astounded. There was talk, too, that the just-developing Hurricane Jose might turn northward and put Bermuda — the headquarters for Reardon and her team at global reinsurance firm Hamilton Re — in harm’s way as well.

For most people, the thought of camping conjures images of leisurely hikes and starry nights cozied up to a campfire. For geoscience prof Ted Daeschler, PhD, it resembles something more like a two-day flight, followed by a noisy jaunt via military cargo plane, culminating in a 100-mile helicopter ride into the remote terrain and sub-freezing temperatures of Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valleys.

Fifteen Drexel students stood bright-eyed and eager to entertain in front of cameras rolling at a local hospital. Part of a Drexel community-based learning course dubbed Story Medicine, the students were there to engage sick and disabled children through live broadcast programming, using skits to infuse laughter with a little education.

If you live in a town or city like Philadelphia where industrial facilities are emitting chemicals into the air, there is plenty of reason to wonder: How is this affecting me? Few communities have access to ambient air-monitoring data, and those that do rarely use it because it is complicated and lacks context.

A sixth-grade science fair project in 2014 led to the discovery that erythritol, the main component of Truvia, is a natural insecticide. Today, that discovery is the basis of a new Drexel-backed startup, BioLogic Insecticide. Simon D. Kaschock-Marenda, now a freshman at Drexel in the College of Engineering, was 11 when he noticed that Drosophila melanogaster, commonly known as fruit flies, died much quicker when they fed on Truvia than on other sweeteners. His father, Daniel Marenda, PhD, professor of biology in the College of Arts and Sciences, was unconvinced at first.

The typical images that “climate change” conjures include disappearing coastlines and melting polar ice. But what about animals’ brains — including our own? Can they be affected by the changing climate? Sean O’Donnell, PhD, professor in the College of Arts and Sciences, argues that they absolutely can.