Faculty

Spring 2013 Instructors "Life & Death in the Museum"

Dr. Lydia Pyne. Lydia holds a PhD in History and Philosophy of Science from Arizona State University as well as MA/MS degrees in Anthropology and History and Philosophy of Science from University of Texas at Austin and Arizona State University. Her research focuses on the history of science, the intellectual history of paleoanthropology and archaeology, as well as literary nonfiction.

Dr. Amy Slaton. Dr. Slaton has long been interested in the social character of technical expertise and work. She has written on the history of building technologies and materials testing, with a focus on who gets credit when things go well, and who gets blamed when structures and materials fail. Professor Slaton is also interested in understandings of technical aptitude in American manufacturing and engineering more generally, with particular emphasis on the role of race. Her most recent book is Race, Rigor, and Selectivity in U.S. Engineering: The History of an Occupational Color Line (Harvard University Press, 2010). Professor Slaton produces the blog, STEMequity.com, centered on equity in technical education and workforce issues, and her commentaries have appeared in Inside Higher Ed, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and other outlets. She is currently working on a study, with Professor Mary Ebeling, of America's optimistic view of nano-science and -technology as sources of new jobs and economic growth.

Jesse Smith. Jesse Smith is a Ph.D. student in the History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania. A former writer and editor, he has a long-standing interest in museums and other public encounters with science and the environment such as zoos, national parks, and hobbies such as birdwatching.

Winter 2013 Instructors "Celebrity Science: Geniuses & Heretics"

Dr. Lloyd Ackert. I am currently writing "The 'Cycle of Life': A History of Experimental Holism," in which I trace how a series of scientists developed laboratory-based methods to investigate a holistic vision of nature known as the "cycle of life." Here I survey late-18th to mid-20th century sciences as varied as biogeography, organic chemistry, plant physiology, microbiology, soil science, and ecosystem ecology.

Dr. Jonathan Seitz. Jonathan earned his Ph.D. in the History of Science at the University of Wisconsin - Madison by studying early modern witchcraft, possession, and other phenomena on the fuzzy frontier between nature and the supernatural. These phenomena were deeply disturbing to people in the 1500s and 1600s and spawned a lot of discussion of such fundamental questions as: "What is natural?" "How can you tell?" "Who gets to decide?" These are questions that we still grapple with today, often using frameworks that depend heavily on the answers that early modern Europeans forged in their day.

Fall 2012 Instructors "The Search For Extra-Terrestrial Life."

Dr. Shivanthi Anandan. I am interested in how photosynthetic organisms perceive and respond to environmental signals, particularly light. My research program uses molecular genetic and classical microbial genetics techniques to dissect out and study signal transduction pathways in marine and freshwater cyanobacteria. My current projects in the lab are:
1) Elucidating the function of the orfG and lrrA genes in Synechococcus elongatus
2) Deciphering the function of three putative extra-cellular matrix protein genes in Trichodesmium erythraeum

Dr. Kevin Egan. Kevin is the Acting Director for the Center for the Interdisciplinary Inquiry, and the Academic Advisor for Custom-Designed Major students. He received his PhD in Political Theory from Penn State in 2007, and spent the following year as a Visiting Fellow at Drexel University in the Great Works Symposium. Before attending Penn State, Kevin received his MA in Political Science at Virginia Teach and a BA in Philosophy and Political Science at the College Wooster.

Spring 2010 Instructors

Richardson Dilworth is Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for Public Policy at Drexel University. His research focuses on urban political development and urban public policy. He is the author of The Urban Origins of Suburban Autonomy (2005) and the editor of two books: The City in American Political Development (2009) and Social Capital in the City: Community and Civic Life in Philadelphia (2006). In 2008 he was a visiting scholar at the Legislative Office for Research Liaison of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and in 2009 he was a visiting scholar at the Center for Environmental Policy at the Academy of Natural Sciences. In 2008 he was appointed by Mayor Michael Nutter to serve on the Philadelphia Historical Commission, where he is chair of the Historic Designation Committee.

Dr. Mead developed the first spatial model of energy flow through a small temperate stream. Dr. Mead academic grandfather, Howard Odum, was the innovator of the systems approach for studying ecosystems using the tools of engineers. The systems approach is the foundation to biophysical assessments such as ecological foot-printing, and has vastly improved our ability to understand how human economies function and how they are constrained by and impact ecosystems. Dr. Mead research ranges from detailed assessments and modeling of the energy budgets of fish, modeling energy transfer in stream food webs, studying the structure of stream channels in old growth temperate forests of Chile, mapping the diversity of land snails in Jamaica, examining the impacts of oil on the economy of Cuba, to linking the global economy to climate change and the function and structure of stream ecosystems. Our class will use the systems approach to better understand the plan for sustainability in Philadelphia.

Winter 2010 Instructors

Prof. Cairncross leads a research group working on topics related to renewable polymers and renewable energy, teaches courses on renewable energy, and directs the capstone senior design course in Chemical & Biological Engineering at Drexel. Recently a group of students under his direction received a 2008 P3 (People, Prosperity and the Planet) Design Award from the EPA for development of a new reactor that can convert low quality natural/waste oils into Biodiesel. He has researched the net energy balance of corn-to-ethanol processes, the effect of different biomass feedstocks on performance of an integrated biorefinery, and the moisture barrier properties of bio-based polymers. Prof. Cairncross received a Fulbright Lectureship Award and will be teaching a graduate program on Renewable Energy at the University of El Salvador in Spring 2010. Prof. Cairncross also serves several roles in Engineers Without Borders (EWB) and is actively involved in sustainable development projects in El Salvador and Rwanda.

Paul Salvaggio, AIA, LEED AP is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design at Drexel University. He has a B.S. in Architecture and a B. ARCH, professional degree from The Pennsylvania State University. After becoming a Licensed Architect in Pennsylvania in 1993, he also received registrations in New Jersey and Ohio. Practicing as a Partner at a mid-sized firm in Exton, PA, Paul has been a member of the growing firm since its founding in 1987, and the Director of Residential Design for the past 10 years.

Paul was actively involved with the Foundation For Architecture with their education program to pre-teen students in the late 1990’s until the organization closed its doors in the early 2000’s. Throughout his architectural career, Paul has also completed five construction/renovation projects on residential properties which brought a wealth of experience and knowledge to experimentation in design and construction.

In May 2009, Paul became an Accredited Professional with the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).

Fall 2009 Instructors

Eugenia Victoria Ellis is an associate professor in the Department of Architecture + Interiors of the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design at Drexel University. A practicing architect who designs buildings “shaped by the sun,” such as the award-winning Florida Solar Energy Center, she has degrees in architecture from the University of Illinois at Chicago (B.Arch.), the University of Pennsylvania (M.S.), and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Ph.D.). She is a principal at BAU Architecture dedicated to sustaining, preserving, and cultivating the natural and built environment. At intersections of religion, nature, and culture, her research is in (eco)logical building technology, such as passive environmental design, daylighting and new lighting technologies, and natural ventilation. Dr. Ellis is a co-director of the university-wide Drexel Engineering Cities Initiative and the faculty advisor for the Drexel Smart House, a multidisciplinary student organization committed to researching and inventing alternative energy systems and smart technologies for residential living.

Christian Hunold (University of Pittsburgh, 1998) is an associate professor of political science in the Department of History and Politics. His teaching and research focuses on comparative politics and public policy in OECD countries, with special emphasis on environmental policy and technology policy. His work on citizen participation and democratic governance in environmental and energy policy has appeared in peer-reviewed journals such as Environmental Politics, German Politics and Society, Global Environmental Politics, Governance, and Political Studies. Dr. Hunold is a co-author of Green States and Social Movements: Environmentalism in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and Norway (Oxford University Press, 2003). His current work examines the politics of urban agriculture in Philadelphia and the politics of solar energy in the American Southwest. Dr. Hunold is a co-editor for the political science journal Environmental Politics.

Susan Stein is an assistant professor of environment and communication in the Department of Culture and Communication in the College of Arts and Sciences at Drexel University. She has a degrees in Zoology and Spanish (B.A.) and Mass Communication with an emphasis in energy analysis and policy (Ph.D) from the University of Wisconsin – Madison and Natural Resource Management (M.S.) from the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point. She was co-executive director of the Midwest Renewable Energy Association, an education and advocacy non-profit organization that addresses renewable energy and energy efficiency, and lived in two different off-grid, solar-powered houses in central Wisconsin. Dr. Stein was on the steering committee of the Wisconsin K-12 Energy Education Program and trained teachers how to teach about energy. Her current research sits at the intersection of environment and communication and focuses on environmental behaviors, environmental literacy, environmental justice, and the environment in popular culture. She is the faculty advisor for the Drexel Sierra Club.