December 2, 2024

Each month, the Graduate College, in collaboration with its Diversity Advisory Council (DAC), will select two graduate Drexel Dragons to highlight for the community! This month's recipients are george schafer and Lara Etheredge.

george schafer

george schafer is a third-year PhD candidate in education with a concentration in STEM education in the School of Education. They're originally from Northern California and have lived up and down the west coast. george holds a bachelor’s degree in astronomy and physics with a minor in education from the University of Washington in Seattle.

george chose Drexel for their graduate studies because of the opportunity to explore and engage in out-of-school K-12 STEM programs, as well as Drexel’s reputation for civic engagement and community-based education which was important to them in the context of their research. george was also drawn to the faculty in the School of Education who continue to push the boundaries of what equity-driven research and partnership can look like in out-of-school STEM spaces.

george's primary research seeks to analyze, understand, and improve relationships between universities and communities with respect to out-of-school, K-12 STEM programs. Particularly, they aim to study how partners conceptualize elements of community engagement and reciprocity in such programs, with the goal of promoting more equitable partnership practices. Through this work, george believes that out-of-school K-12 STEM programs can cultivate more belonging, equity, and cultural competence to support communities which are most historically excluded from STEM spaces.

george is a recipient of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) award, which supports their doctoral work. They have presented at several academic conferences including the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST), the International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS), and Science Educators for Equity, Diversity, and Social justice (SEEDS).

george credits their supervising professor, Dr. Christopher Wright, for his support and guidance and for enabling them to grapple with how to approach equity-driven work in respectful and responsive ways while also being able to situate that work within 'academic' structures and spaces. Dr. Wright’s perspective has also provided the tools george needed to craft a dissertation study that feels authentic to their goals and desires with respect to community-engaged research.

Given the wide variety of research interests among education scholars, finding community with others who are interested in equity-driven science education outside of Drexel has been a great resource for george. "As a doctoral student, your research is hyper-specialized and you don't often find others whose work is closely related to yours. So, finding people in other spaces has helped give me a sense of community as well as opportunity to think more deeply about the topics I find most interesting." said george.

When asked what advice george has for their fellow graduate students, they said they wished they had taken more time during their first two years to explore their research interests and think more deeply about the kind of work they wanted to engage in.

Outside of their research, george has enjoyed volunteering with the Out4STEM program at the College of Physicians at the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia. The program is designed to give LGBTQ+ high school youth in the city a safe space to learn more about STEM topics and engage with other LGBTQ+ students and professionals. George also loves to play tennis around the city and is a member of the Board of Directors for a local LGBTQ+ tennis organization called Philadelphia Liberty Tennis Association (PLTA).

Lara Etheredge

Lara is a second-year online MBA student with a minor in retail and merchandising and a program manager in Corporate and Executive Education in the LeBow College of Business. She is originally from West Chester, Pennsylvania and holds a bachelor's degree in English from West Chester University.

Lara chose Drexel for the faculty and their connections to industry. She is confident that her Drexel education would provide her with real word skills and prepare her for a wide variety of careers. Lara is most interested in understanding the future of business, specifically retail and the digital transformation happening in retail, consumer behavior trends and the impact of social media and shifts towards user-generated advertising. Additionally, she is interested in how companies are leveraging this consumer data to improve marketing efforts.

Lara's mentors include several of her instructors and program directors. She also credits her grandmother and her family for instilling the importance of education in her and for encouraging her to continue her educational journey.

Lara noted the importance of reading professional and business journals and listening to podcasts to help her understand practical applications in business and how concepts relate to current events strengthening her understanding of call materials.

When asked what advice Lara has for her fellow graduate students, she said "start implementing what you learn as you learn it. Do not wait until the end of your journey to start asking new questions or becoming curious about how things work within your current job and organization. You will find value in being able to connect the dots between what you learn in the classroom and how it relates to the world around you. Through drawing these connections, you will be able to become more immersed in the learning experience and you will be able to dive deeper into the pool of knowledge that you have here at Drexel."

Lara is passionate about ensuring access to education for all and actively finds ways to engage in discussion and support community initiatives that aim to improve school systems and educational institutions.

We are thrilled to have george and Lara as members of the graduate Drexel Dragon community and can’t wait to see all they will achieve!