The ninth annual Drexel Emerging Graduate Scholars (DEGS) Conference held at Drexel’s Bossone Research Enterprise Center May 7 and 8, 2025 welcomed “by far the largest CCI student cohort presenting at DEGS since the beginning of the conference,” according to CCI Professor Aleksandra Sarcevic, PhD.
The conference, a University-wide, “homegrown” event, provides graduate and professional students of all disciplines in-person and virtual conference experiences to demonstrate work at all levels of study and stages of research, according to the DEGS website.
While all Drexel students enrolled in graduate-level degree programs are eligible to submit their work, eligibility does not guarantee selection.
Lore Lawlor '27
CCI Master's in Information - Library and Information Science student Lore Lawlor ’27, who presented his research poster on “The Case for a Centralized Pharmacy Regulatory Search Tool,” shared how exciting it was to hear the conference selected him.
“When I submitted my abstract to be entered into the conference, I still had not even begun my first class as a Master's student — I felt eager to dive into everything Drexel has to offer as an R1 research facility and was elated to find out I had been accepted to participate!” said Lawlor.
Katherine Ann Zellner, a fifth-year information science PhD candidate, presented during the conference and won the President's Award for the Best Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) Competition. 3MT participants present “research within a three-minute time limit, using only a static PowerPoint slide, and in a jargon-free language understood by an audience of non-specialists,” according to the Drexel’s Office of Graduate Studies.
Additional CCI presenters included PhD student Aria Pessianzadeh and MS in Business Information Technology student Lacee Harris, who gave oral research presentations; and five PhD students (Elham Aghakhani, Tyler Chang, Christine Ikponmwonba, Jessica Medina, and Matt Namvarpour) as well as MS in Human-Computer Interaction and User Experience student Sanjith Kumaar Balasubramanian Sasikala, who presented research posters.