Each year, the College of Arts and Sciences community comes together for Research Day to celebrate our faculty and student researchers who explore a wide range of topics spanning the humanities, natural sciences and social sciences.
This annual event recognizes the breadth and depth of the exceptional scholarly activity that takes place across our college. This year’s Research Day, held on May 19, featured 17 spoken presentations and 57 posters from tenured, tenure-track, teaching and research faculty; postdoctoral fellows; graduate and undergraduate students and research trainees. The event was open to the entire Drexel community, where visitors were engaged in scholarly discussion and exploration of the participants’ research.
The Arts and Sciences Research Day 2026 Awards, judged by a panel of faculty members from the College of Arts and Sciences and School of Education, recognized some of the standout posters and talks.
The award for Best Talk by an Undergraduate Student was presented to biological sciences major Saatvik R. Soma (faculty advisor: Ryan J. Petrie, PhD).
The award for Best Talk by a Graduate Student was presented to applied cognitive and brain sciences PhD student Hansoo Chang (faculty advisor: Fengqing Zoe Zhang, PhD).
Three students received the award for Best Poster by an Undergraduate Student: global studies major Ryan Lewis (mentored by Tasneem Siddiqui, PhD); biological sciences major Hailey Mak (mentored by Frank A. Ferrone, PhD) and psychology major Sol Seales (mentored by Evangelia G. Chrysikou PhD).
Chemistry PhD student Ahmed Sheriff Bulhassan received the award for Best Poster by a Graduate Student (mentored by Young-Hoon Ahn, PhD).
The college welcomed alumni guest judge Helen D. Sutton, BA history ’89, to judge the Best Alumni Undergraduate and Graduate Poster Awards. These special honors went to undergraduate biological sciences major Kelly Baran (mentored by Ryan J. Petrie, PhD) and MS in psychology graduate student Alexa Lloyd (mentored by Alexa Tompary, PhD).
Congratulations to the awardees! Thank you to our judges, faculty, volunteers and especially to faculty organizers Lila Chrysikou, PhD, associate dean for research, and Lloyd Ackert, PhD, teaching professor of history.