From left: Cheng, Creighton, Deak, Najafi
The College of Engineering has announced four recipients of the inaugural
Carleone Faculty Award. The program rewards active tenure-track faculty
members who demonstrate a commitment to the pillars identified in the
Drexel University College of Engineering Strategic Plan. This program is
focused on fostering interdisciplinary and intercollegiate collaboration at
the intersections of Drexel researchers’ existing expertise.
Funds are used to promote research projects that will lead to high-quality
scholarship, technology, commercialization, submissions for extramural
support, and ultimately from the NIH, DOD, NSF, and other governmental
agencies and foundations.
This year’s recipients and projects are:
Hao Cheng, PhD,
associate professor of materials science and engineering, was awarded for
his work with Pooja Jain, PhD, professor of microbiology and immunology.
The title of their project is “Engineering Living Materials for
Antigen-specific Immune Tolerance.”
Megan Creighton, PhD, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering, was awarded
for her work with Ezra Wood, PhD, associate professor of chemistry. The title of their project is “Bacterial Purification of
Recycled Supply Streams Containing Acrylate Adhesive Contamination.”
Peter Deak, PhD, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering, was awarded
for his work with Pooja Jain, PhD, professor of microbiology and
immunology. The title of their project is “Tolerogenic
Dendritic Cells via Synergistic Drug Combinations to Treat Autoimmune
Disease.”
Ahmad Najafi, PhD, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and mechanics, was awarded
for his work with Sorin Siegler, PhD, professor of mechanical engineering
and mechanics, and Steven Kurtz, PhD, part-time professor of biomedical
engineering, science, and health systems. The title of their project is “A
Multiphysics AI-assisted Design Framework to Tailor a Porous Swelling
Orthopedic Implant.”