Five information science PhD students from Drexel’s School of Computer and Information Sciences (SCIS) were among more than 70 graduate and professional students presenting their research at the 10th annual Drexel Emerging Graduate Scholars (DEGS) Research Showcase held at the Bossone Research Enterprise Center on April 14, 2026.
The SCIS PhD students at DEGS 2026.
Judges awarded seven exhibits with first-poster awards, while nine others received second-poster awards. These posters represented the top 10% and 20% of scores. Sanonda Datta Gupta and Matt Namvarpour were among the nine who received second-place poster awards.
This year’s DEGS Research Showcase was hosted by the Graduate Student Association. This homegrown, university-wide event highlights the cutting-edge research Drexel graduate students conduct across all disciplines at the University.
SCIS presenters
*IS PhD students listed in bold
- Tyler Chang and Afsaneh Razi, “‘Everything Means Yes:’ Artificial Intimacy, Companion AI, and the Threat of Non-Consent.”
- Aria Pessianzadeh, Alex H. Poole, and Rezvaneh Rezapour, “Reddit After Roe: A Computational Analysis of Abortion Narratives and Barriers in the Wake of Dobbs.”
- Matt Namvarpour, Tyler Chang, Gabriel McHardy, and Afsaneh Razi, “Constitutional AI for Supportive and Ethical Conversations: real-time constitutional guidance for safer and more supportive AI responses.” Second-place Poster Award
- Christine D. Ikponmwonba, Vidhi Shah, Sifan Yuan, Ivan Marsic, Randall Burd, and Aleksandra Sarcevic, “Bounding Boxes in Practice: Design and Early Evaluation of a Video-Based PPE Compliance Monitoring Application for Time-Critical Care.”
- Sanonda Datta Gupta, John S. Seberger, and Jaime Snyder, “Strange Bedfellows: Sleep-Tracking and Elements of Epistemic Agency.” Second-place Poster Award