February 6, 2014

As part of Drexel’s Urban Sustainability Initiative (USI), several teams of School of Public Health faculty and MPH and doctoral students were recently awarded funding from the USI 2014 Fellowship program.  The SPH teams will focus on community resilience and social sustainability, eco-literacy, and sustainability and older adults.

After an internal call for proposals and a peer review process, the Urban Sustainability Initiative (USI) awarded a total of eight teams with $7,500 of funding for a period of up to nine months.  As they conduct the eight pilot research projects, faculty and student fellows will meet on a monthly basis for collaborative research in progress discussions, journal club and guest seminar events, and a culminating student research symposium in September. 

The USI continues to build the Drexel University's collective capacity in research, training and community-engaged service to address the challenges of creating sustainable, equitable and healthful urban communities.  The Initiative is led by Dr. Patrick Gurian (College of Engineering), Dr. Christian Hunold (College of Arts & Sciences), and Dr. Ann Klassen (School of Public Health).

Project title: Community Resilience and Social Sustainability in West Philadelphia
Faculty Lead: Amy Carroll-Scott, PhD, MPH, SPH, Dept. of Community Health & Prevention
Fellow: William Koulisis, first-year MPH student
Focus group facilitator: Constance Owens, first-year MPH student

Project title: Refuse, Reuse, Revalue: Redefining Value in Philadelphia’s Waste Streams
Faculty Leads: Dr. Mary Ebeling, CoAS, Dept. of Culture and Communication
Dr. Mira Olson, CoE, Dept. of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Fellow: Danie Greenwell, third-year PhD student in Communication, Culture, and Media

Project title: Sustainability Knowledge Production in Philadelphia: Understanding How Public Data Projects Advance Civic Engagement
Faculty Lead: Dr. Alison Kenner, CoAS, Dept. of History and Politics
Fellow: Dawn McDougall, undergraduate student with custom-designed Environmental Praxis major

Project title: Creating Eco-literacy: Agency and Responsibility in Media Presentation of Sustainability Issues in Diverse Populations
Faculty Leads: Ann Klassen, PhD, SPH, Dept. of Community Health & Prevention
Dr. Kelly Joyce, CoAS, Dept. of History and Politics, and Center for Science, Technology, & Society
Fellow: Stephanie Wever, MPH, second-year DrPH student in Community Health & Prevention

Project title: Research linking urban sustainability to mobility in community-dwelling older adults living in Philadelphia
Faculty Lead: Yvonne Michael, ScD, SM, SPH, Dept. of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Fellow: Heather Rozjabek, first-year PhD student in Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Project title: SOL Food: Youth leading the way to a more just and sustainable food system
Faculty Lead: Dr. Brandy-Joe Milliron, CNHP, Dept. of Nutrition Sciences
Community Collaborator: Meg MacCurtin, Director of Education with Greener Partners
Fellow: Samantha Beaino, undergraduate student with major in Nutrition and Foods

Project title: Green Infrastructure: Performance analysis of the ABC Carpet Stormwater Treatment Wetland installed in the Bronx, NY
Faculty Lead: Dr. Franco Montalto, CoE, Dept. of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering
Fellow: Ge (Jeff) Pu, first-year MS student in Environmental Engineering

Project title: Benchmarking Performance for Sub-acre Farms
Faculty Leads: Dr. Patrick Gurian and Dr. Sabrina Spatari, CoE, Dept. of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering; Dr. Christian Hunold, CoAS, Dept. of History and Politics
Fellow: Yetunde Sorunmu, first-year PhD student in Environmental Engineering