Ambassador Joseph M. Torsella (Ret.) has been named Drexel University Distinguished Visiting Fellow in Public Policy for the duration of this academic year. He will contribute to the teaching and scholarship undertaken by Drexel’s Center for Public Policy, and in particular help advance the Center’s efforts to facilitate public policy discussion and debate in the region.

More than a thousand residents and visitors to southern New Jersey will dig their own fossils and learn from the Drexel University paleontologist and students who conduct globally significant scientific research at Mantua Township's third annual Community Fossil Dig Day.

The new Psychological Services Center on Drexel's campus now offers high-quality, scientifically informed, affordable psychological services for the community and clinical training opportunities for doctoral students.

A Drexel-led team has described a new dinosaur species with the most complete skeleton ever found of one of the largest animals to ever walk the Earth. At 85 feet (26 m) long and weighing about 65 tons (59,300 kg) in life, Dreadnoughtus schrani is the largest land animal for which a body mass can be accurately calculated.

In the first pilot study asking adults on the autism spectrum about their experiences with driving, researchers at Drexel University found significant differences in self-reported driving behaviors and perceptions of driving ability in comparison to non-autistic adults. As the population of adults with autism continues growing rapidly, the survey provides a first step toward identifying whether this population has unmet needs for educational supports to empower safe driving – a key element of independent functioning in many people’s lives.

In a study that began as a sixth-grade science fair project, researchers at Drexel University have found that a popular non-nutritive sweetener, erythritol, may be an effective and human-safe insecticide. Erythritol, the main component of the sweetener Truvia®, was toxic to Drosophila melanogaster fruit flies in a dose-dependent manner in the Drexel team’s study, published in PLOS ONE. The flies consumed erythritol when sugar was available and even seemed to prefer it. No other sweeteners tested had these toxic effects.

Eight Drexel faculty members will be promoted to full professor effective Sept. 1. And with expertise ranging from architecture to photography, research covering everything from overeating to solar energy and international connections stretching to India, Japan, Ireland and beyond, they’re a diverse group. 

More than 5,000 students will graduate from Drexel University at its 127th Commencement on June 13 and 14 in five separate ceremonies. Drexel will award 20 honorary degrees to prominent individuals distinguished in their fields including NBC News’ chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell, legendary architect Robert A.M. Stern and MIT professor Robert Langer—the most cited engineer in history.

The Week of Writing, hosted by the Department of English and Philosophy, kicks off on Monday, May 12. Highlights include student readings, workshops, story slams and panel discussions including “Writing Lyrics,” “Storytelling in Unexpected Places” and “Writing about Sex.” Presenters will include students, faculty, journalists, playwrights, publishers, editors, poets, authors, songwriters and other noted guests.

The United States needs more science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) teachers. And Drexel has a wealth of bright students studying in those same fields. Now, a new program will connect Drexel’s strength with the nation’s need.

Best-selling author and religion scholar Reza Aslan will join Drexel University on Wednesday, May 7, as the fourth lecturer in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Distinguished Lecture Series. Previous lecturers in the series include neuroscientist David Eagleman, acclaimed author Sir Salman Rushdie and media maven Arianna Huffington.

During World War II, more than a million African Americans fought in a segregated and discriminatory U.S. military. A landmark new documentary, “Choc'late Soldiers from the USA,” produced by Drexel University writing professor Gregory Cooke, tells the compelling, previously untold story of 140,000 of these African American men and women who were stationed in Great Britain, and how they crossed a racial divide to forge an unexpected bond.

The film will make its Philadelphia debut at Drexel on Tuesday, April 8 at 6:30 p.m. in the Mitchell Auditorium of the Bossone Research Center (3120 Market St.). A question-and-answer session and reception will follow the screening from 8 – 9 p.m.