February 4, 2019

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

AWARDS AND HONORS

André Carrington, PhD, associate professor of English, was elected to the executive committee for the Modern Language Association Forum on Media Studies: Sound Studies. He also published an article titled "Reading in Juxtaposition: Comics," in the book "After Queer Studies: Literature, Theory and Sexuality in the 21st Century," Cambridge University Press.

Christopher Diaz, BS/MS psychology ’16 and current PhD student in clinical psychology, was awarded Drexel University’s Young Alumni Distinguished Service Award.

Mona Elgohail, a clinical psychology PhD candidate mentored by Pamela Geller, PhD, was named the Muslim Mental Health Policy Advocate of 2018 by the University of Southern California's Center for Muslim Mental Health and Islamic Psychology. The award recognizes her research and advocacy around mental health wellness, particularly in the area of fertility and infertility.

Vito Gulla, adjunct professor of English, was named a 2019 Drexel Library Faculty Fellow. He will promote the use of open educational resources by developing or using a textbook through the Open Textbook Network and delivering informational sessions to faculty in his department.

Zhenni Lu, BS Environmental Science '20, was awarded a 2019 Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship for study or research abroad in Equatorial Guinea.

James Minock, BS physics ’20, and Johannes Wagner, BS physics ’20, were nominated to represent Drexel University in the 2019 Goldwater Scholarship competition. The Goldwater Scholarship recognizes the nation’s top undergraduates in science, math and engineering with up to two years of support.

Diana Norden, PhD, biology postdoctoral researcher in the lab of John Bethea, PhD, received the inaugural Cotswold Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship. Her research focuses on spinal cord injury induced deficits in T-cell responses to virus infection.

Abioseh Porter, PhD, professor of English, was named a Fulbright Scholar for the 2019-2020 academic year. He will be based at the Université Paul Valéry in Montpellier, France, completing a critical life-and-works study of the Beninese novelist Olympe Bhêly-Quénum.

Mimi Sheller, PhD, professor of sociology and director of the Center for Mobilities Research and Policy, was named the Henry King Stanford Distinguished Professor in the Humanities at the University of Miami, beginning fall 2019. She will present work relating to her forthcoming book “Island Futures: Caribbean Survival in the Anthropocene,” Duke University Press, which features two articles on Caribbean hurricane recovery published in the journals Society & Space and the Journal of Extreme Events.

PUBLICATIONS

Hilde van den Bulck, PhD, professor and head of communication, co-authored the article “Social Media Celebrities as Salient Resource for Preteens’ Identity Work,” published in the book “Celebrity and Youth: Mediated Audiences, Fame Aspirations and Identity Formation,” Peter Lang Publishing.

Valerie Fox, PhD, teaching professor of English, co-authored a collection of poetry and prose titled "The Real Sky," Bent Window Books.

Miriam Kotzin, PhD, professor of English, published the story “Cha-cha-cha” in the journal Off Course and the poem “Smoke, Onions, Loss” in Eclectica magazine.

Greg Niedt and Greg Loring-Albright, both PhD students in communication, culture and media, produced and were featured in a video segment titled “Watch What You (Don’t) Say: Communication Constraints in Gaming” for In Media Res, an open access platform and the digital magazine of the National Communication Association.

The PROSPECT Collaboration, a joint research initiative of 14 institutions nationwide including Drexel University, published the article “First Search for Short-Baseline Neutrino Oscillations at HFIR with PROSPECT” in Physical Review Letters. Drexel co-authors include Michelle Dolinski, PhD, associate professor of physics; Charles Lane, PhD, professor of physics; postdoctoral fellows Jonathan Insler, PhD, and Yung-Ruey Yen, PhD; physics doctoral candidates Kelley Commeford and Olga Kyzylova; physics undergraduates James Minock ’20, Cuong Trinh ’19 and Johanes Wagner ’20; and alumnus Brian Goddard, BS physics and mathematics ’16.

Matthew Smith, adjunct assistant professor of English, published the book “Lizzie Legend,” Simon and Schuster. The novel is geared toward middle-school students and features a positive message about girls in sports.

PRESENTATIONS

Three College of Arts and Sciences researchers presented at the Office of Global Engagement’s inaugural Spotlight On… series, which invites faculty to share their international research and global activities. Frank Ji, PhD, professor of chemistry, presented “Porous Materials for CO2 Uptake - A Project Sponsored by Drexel and SARI”; Loyc Vanderkluysen, PhD, assistant professor of biodiversity, earth and environmental science, presented “Drone-Assisted Volcano Monitoring in Indonesia”; and Lillian Walkover, PhD, postdoctoral fellow in global health in the department of sociology, presented “Translating Where There Is No Doctor: How the Production of Local Knowledge Propels Global Travels.”

Drexel Writers Room and the Drexel Smart House hosted the second of three public talks in the HOME symposium, titled the Healthy Living Forum. The event, titled the Healthy Living Forum, featured expert speakers on healthy living environments and community, followed by an interactive session on creative practices within living spaces. The third HOME Symposium, the Cooperative Living Design Workshop, will take place on April 20.