Drexel’s Department of Biodiversity, Earth and Environmental Science (BEES) brings together natural scientists, social scientists, and humanities scholars whose research spans biodiversity and evolution, geoscience, conservation and restoration, ecology, culture and community, and environmental justice. Faculty research connects the study of Earth and life over deep time with contemporary questions about ecological change, biodiversity, and human relationships with the environment.

The BEES department’s integration with the Academy of Natural Sciences gives faculty and students access to more than 19 million biological specimens, fossils, and minerals and to collections documenting centuries of environmental and evolutionary change. Undergraduate and graduate students work closely with faculty, participating directly in research and developing projects of their own.

Recent BEES Publications

Faculty Research Areas

BEES faculty are natural scientists, social scientists, and humanities scholars who take a hands-on approach to exploring the diversity of life on Earth. Faculty research is focused on three core areas:

Ecology and Evolution

Ecology and Evolution faculty researchers investigate the relationships among organisms and their environments and the processes that shape biological diversity and change. Research topics include species behavior and interactions; urban, wetland, and aquatic ecology; conservation biology; systematics; genomics; and responses to environmental change. This work draws on data from field investigations and monitoring, as well as laboratory, collections-based, molecular, and computational approaches. Field sites include the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge in Philadelphia, the Lacawac Sanctuary Field Station in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains, and study abroad in Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Guyana.

Faculty Member	Contact	Specialization
	Tatyana Livshultz Associate Professor; Assistant Curator of Botany, Academy of Natural Sciences ANS tl534@drexel.edu	Botany; phylogenetic reconstruction; evolution of plant specialized metabolism, plant-insect interactions, and plant functional morphology
	Jason Munshi-South Betz Chair and Professor PISB 323 jm5383@drexel.edu	Urban ecology and evolutionary biology; Landscape genetics; Population genomics; Native and commensal animals; Evolution of lichen symbionts; Urban habitat restoration and connectivity
	Sean O'Donnell Professor PISB 324 so356@drexel.edu	Animal behavior, neuroecology, social insects, tropical ecology, thermal physiology
	Marina Potapova Associate Professor Curator of Diatoms, Academy of Natural Sciences mp895@drexel.edu	Water quality, Algae, Protists, Diatoms, Aquatic Ecology, Biological Collections, Environmental Pollution
	Gary Rosenberg Professor; Pilsbry Chair of Malacology, Academy of Natural Sciences Malacology, ANS gr347@drexel.edu	Malacology Systematic Biology Evolutionary Biology
	Jacob A. Russell Professor PISB 325 jar337@drexel.edu	Symbiosis; Ants; Aphids; Genomics; Evolution; Molecular Ecology
	Jason D. Weckstein Professor Associate Curator of Ornithology, Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Ornithology Department 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway Philadelphia, PA 19096 jdw342@drexel.edu	Phylogenetics; Host-parasite coevolution; Ornithology; Systematic biology; Comparative biology, Biodiversity surveys, Genomics

Earth and Environmental Science

Earth and Environmental Science faculty researchers study a planet in transition, using evidence from sediments, rocks, fossils, water, and volcanic systems to reveal how Earth’s environments change through time. Scientists connect processes from the molecular to the planetary scale as they investigate climate change, ocean acidification, pollution and water quality, coastal and marine biogeochemistry and volcanic processes and their environmental impacts. Field sites include New Jersey’s Lighthouse Center for Natural Resource Education, and sites in Greece and Hawai’i to study volcanoes.

Faculty Member	Contact	Specialization
	Michelle E. Gannon Assistant Teaching Professor PISB 319 meg355@drexel.edu	Stable Isotope, Trace Element, Heavy Metal and Nutrient Biogeochemistry; Water Quality; Sclerochronology
	Jocelyn A. Sessa Associate Professor; Associate Curator, Invertebrate Paleontology Department, Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway Philadelphia, PA 19103 jsessa@drexel.edu	Ocean acidification; Mollusks; Climate change; Paleobiology
	Loÿc Vanderkluysen Associate Professor PISB, Room 322 loyc@drexel.edu	Volcano remote sensing and monitoring; Volcanic gases; Igneous petrology and geochemistry; Large Igneous Provinces
	David Velinsky Professor The Academy of Natural Sciences, 2nd Floor 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA velinsky@drexel.edu	Fate and transport of chemical contaminants; Stable isotope and nutrient biogeochemistry; Sediment geochemistry and deposition; Water quality

Environment and Society

Environment and Society faculty explore how people engage with their environment. In addition to studying natural processes, they consider the influence of cultural norms, institutions, and laws on human behavior within their environment. Faculty study how knowledge –gained from scientists and from people with lived experience– does or does not shape decision making. They actively seek ways to make science heard, promote community access to research, and amplify public discourse. Courses such as Philadelphia, Garden City: An environmental history, Cities and Climate Change and Food and Land Security connect students with grass-roots community organizations engaged in environmental action across the city of Philadelphia. Students can also travel to Puerto Rico to study sustainable agriculture and community organization.

Emeritus Faculty

BEES emeritus faculty have made significant and sustained contributions to research across a broad range of fields.

Faculty Member	Contact	Specialization
	Edward (Ted) Daeschler Professor Emeritus; Curator Emeritus, Vertebrate Zoology, Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University ebd29@drexel.edu	Vertebrate Paleontology; History of the Earth; Late Devonian fossil vertebrates; Origin of tetrapods; Fossil collecting; Museum curation
	Jon Gelhaus Professor Emeritus; Curator Emeritus, Entomology, Academy of Natural Science of Drexel University jkg78@drexel.edu	Taxonomy; Systematics; Entomology; Biodiversity; Water Quality; Museum Collections
	Richard M. McCourt Professor Emeritus; Curator Emeritus, Botany, Academy of Natural Science of Drexel University rmm45@drexel.edu	Molecular systematics; algae; evolution; taxonomy; algal ecology
	Michael O'Connor Professor Emerita PISB 220 oconnomp@drexel.edu	Physiological ecology; Physiology; Modelling; Allometry.

Research Partners

Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University

Lacawac Sanctuary

Natural Resource Education Foundation: Barnegat Bay Field Station

Partnership for the Delaware Estuary

Rushton Woods Preserve

Field Sites

BEES Department students, faculty and staff explore diverse field sites across urban Philadelphia, including the city’s many waterways, to the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania and New Jersey's shores, as well as locations of international significance around the world.

John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge, Philadelphia, PA

Wissahickon Valley Park, Philadelphia, PA

La Perouse Bank, Canada

• National Data Buoy Center
• Marine Regions

Salish Sea, Canada

Monteverde, Costa Rica

Tiputini Biodiversity Station, Ecuador

Nisyros Geopark, Greece

Deccan Traps in the Western Ghats, India