In this section, Drexel Quarterly provides an update on research funding, commercialization activity and faculty honors at Drexel, courtesy of the Office of the Provost. This update offers a snapshot of activity during the past spring term.

Major Gifts, Honors and Recognition

Distinguished University Professor and Dean of the School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems Paul Brandt-Rauf, SCD, MD, DRPH, was elected to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) Class of 2019 College of Fellows. 

Peter A. Lewin, PhD, Richard B. Beard Professor in the School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems, was invited to serve on the National Advisory Council for the National Institute of Nursing Research of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). 

Bang Jeon, PhD, professor in the LeBow College of Business, was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to work and study in Bucharest, Romania at the Bucharest University of Economic Studies. 

Hyokjin Kwak, PhD, professor in the LeBow College of Business, has been named an International Research Fellow of Waseda University’s Research Center of Consumer Behavior at the Faculty of Commerce in Japan. 

Sponsored Research

Olimpia Meucci, MD, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Pharmacology & Physiology in the College of Medicine, received a five-year individual Merit Award for superior productivity in research, entitled “Role of chemokines in neuronal function and survival,” from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (in the NIH), with the projected total award of $1.8 million.

Ing. Ulrike Altenmüller-Lewis, associate professor and program director of Architecture in the Westphal College of Media Arts & Design, and Bruce Levine, JD, associate clinical professor, program director of Education Policy, Global and International Studies and Educational Improvement and Transformation MS in the School of Education and director of the Drexel University-Washington, DC Center, received the Latrobe Prize, a $100,000 award to work with two school districts in Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, Maryland, to assess community impact, educational adequacy and indoor environmental quality in modernized and non-modernized schools.

School of Education faculty members Christina Vorndran, PhD, associate clinical professor, and Katie Beals, adjunct instructor, received a $50,000 NSF I-Corps grant to develop a comprehensive, computer-based English language teaching program providing personalized instruction in sentence construction. 

The Office of the Provost’s Drexel Areas of Research Excellence (DARE) initiative announced this year’s winners showcasing inter-disciplinary scholarship that could provide Drexel national prominence in the near term.

This cycle, teams composed of 177 members representing a wide range of scholarly expertise submitted 22 potential DARE projects. Below are the 2019 DARE awardees:

• Cell2Society Aging Research.net: “Embodying the spirit of Drexel’s “The Future is a Place We Make” campaign, our DARE will create a novel ecosystem for the pursuit of use-inspired aging research from which to inform the role of Drexel University in an aging society.”
  • Principal Investigator: Rose Ann DiMaria-Ghalili, PhD, assistant dean for interprofessional and collaborative research and professor in the College of Nursing and Health Professions.
  • Faculty research network members: Joke Bradt, PhD, associate professor in the College of Nursing and Health Professions; Felice Elefant, PhD, associate professor and director of the Biology graduate program in the College of Arts and Sciences; Eugenia Ellis, PhD, associate professor in the Westphal College of Media Arts & Design; Kathleen Fisher, PhD, a professor in the College of Nursing and Health Professions; Girija Kaimal, EdD, associate professor in the College of Nursing and Health Professions; Peter Lewin, PhD, Richard B. Beard Distinguished University Professor in the School of Biomedical Engineering, Science & Health Systems; Longjian Lui, MD, PhD, associate professor in the Dornsife School of Public Health; Claire Milner, PhD, associate professor and director of the PhD program in Rehabilitation Sciences in the College of Nursing and Health Professions; Kristine Mulhorn, PhD, teaching professor and department chair of the Health Administration Department in the College of Nursing and Health Professions; Michael Neidrauer, PhD, assistant professor in the School of Biomedical Engineering, Science & Health Systems; Il-Yeol Song, PhD, professor in the College of Computing & Informatics; Glenn Williams, PhD, associate professor and chair of the Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences and director of the Doctor of Physical Therapy Program in the College of Nursing and Health Professions; Stella Volpe, PhD, chair and professor of the Department of Nutrition Sciences in the College of Nursing and Health Professions; and Michael Weingarten, MD, professor of surgery and assistant dean of the Medical Scholars Program in the College of Medicine.
  • Faculty Steering Committee Members: Katherine Clark, director of strategic initiatives in the College of Nursing and Health Professions; Dean and Distinguished University Professor of the College of Nursing and Health Professions Laura Gitlin, PhD; Jana A. Hirsch, PhD, assistant research professor in the Dornsife School of Public Health; Andres Kriete, PhD, associate dean for academic affairs and teaching professor in the School of Biomedical Engineering, Science & Health Systems; Donald L. McEachron, PhD, teaching professor in the School of Biomedical Engineering, Science & Health Systems; Suzanne Rocheleau, PhD, associate dean of the Pennoni Honors College and director of the Office of Undergraduate Research; Christian Sell, PhD, associate professor in the College of Medicine; and Elisabeth Van Bockstaele, PhD, founding dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Professional Studies in the College of Medicine and vice provost of graduate education.
• The Future of Historic Sites: Increased Access, Engaged Communities, Sustainability and Archives without Walls: “Our multidisciplinary team will investigate and propose solutions to the national crisis affecting historic sites and their communities, using a significant historic house museum in Germantown as a pilot. We will study and develop tools for broadening access via digital products — “Archives and Historic Interpretation Without Walls”—engage local communities and neighborhoods to increase the sense of shared ownership of culturally significant sites, and develop new, data-driven business models for sustainability.”
  • Project Leads: Rosalind Remer, vice provost and executive director of the Lenfest Center for Cultural Partnerships; and Page Talbott, PhD, senior fellow in the Lenfest Center for Cultural Partnerships.
  • Core Participants: Troy Finamore, program director of the Inderactive Digital Media program in the Westphal College of Media Arts & Design; Aroutis N. Foster, PhD, associate professor and interim associate dean of academic affairs and graduate studies in the School of Education; Alan Greenberger, department head of the Architecture, Design & Urbanism department and distinguished teaching professor in the Westphal College of Media Arts & Design; Scott Knowles, PhD, department head of the Department of History and professor in the College of Arts and Sciences; Elizabeth Milroy, PhD, department head of the Department of Art & Art History in the Westphal College of Media Arts & Design; Glen Muschio, associate professor in the Westphal College of Media Arts & Design; Alex Poole, assistant professor in the College of Computing & Informatics; Gabriel de Avilez Rocha, PhD, assistant professor in the College of Arts and Sciences; Page Talbott, PhD, senior fellow in the Lenfest Center for Cultural Partnerships; and Neville Vakharia, program director of the Arts Administration campus program and associate professor and research director in the Westphal College of Media Arts & Design.
  • Participant: Bruce Melgary, senior fellow in the Lenfest Center for Cultural Partnerships.
  • Grant Writer: Melissa Clemmer, associate in the Lenfest Center for Cultural Partnerships.
• Internet of Things for Future Smart Campus and City: “The vision for this DARE is to align Smart Campus/City technology research and development with real-world problems through a demand-driven participatory stakeholder engagement process.”
  • Principal Investigator: Kapil Dandekar, PhD, professor and associate dean for research and graduate studies in the College of Engineering.
  • Co-principal Investigators: Ali Shokoufandeh, PhD, professor and senior associate dean of research and operations in the College of Computing & Informatics; Franco Montalto, PhD, associate professor in the College of Engineering; Jason Orne, PhD, assistant professor in the College of Arts and Sciences; Youngmoo Kim, PhD, professor in the College of Engineering and director of the Expressive and Creative Interactive Technologies (ExCITe Center); Endla Anday, MD, professor in the College of Medicine; Owen Montgomery, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology in the College of Medicine; Genevieve Dion, associate professor in the Westphal College of Media Arts & Design, affiliate faculty in the College of Engineering, founder of the Shima Seiki Haute Tech Lab and director of the Center for Functional Fabrics; Harris Steinberg, executive director of the Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation and distinguished teaching professor in the Westphal College of Media Arts & Design; Steven Weber, PhD, professor and department head of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the College of Engineering and founding director of the Cybersecurity Institute; Antonios Kontsos, PhD, associate professor in the College of Engineering; William Mongan, PhD, teaching professor in the College of Computing & Informatics; Rajneesh Suri, PhD, vice dean for research and strategic partnerships and a professor in the LeBow College of Business; Vineet Bhandari, MD, professor in the College of Medicine; Anup Das, PhD, assistant professor in the College of Engineering; Adam Fontecchio, PhD, professor in the College of Engineering and director of the Center for the Advancement of STEM Teaching and Learning Excellence (CASTLE); and Mimi Sheller, PhD, director of the Center for Mobilities Research and Policy and professor in the College of Arts and Sciences.

This story was published in the summer 2019 issue of Drexel Quarterly.