Doctoral Student Celebration
Honoring Doctoral Degree Recipients
The Graduate College welcomes doctoral degree recipients from the current Academic Year, senior leadership, deans, faculty and professional staff advisors, and guests to attend a reception each year in June to honor the graduating class.
2023 Doctoral Student Celebration
Monday, June 12
5 to 7:30 p.m. ET
World Cafe Live
Music Hall
3025 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Please enter the venue through the main entrance on upper Walnut Street, 3025 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104. For more information about getting to the venue, parking, and accessibility, please visit the venue's website.
The formal remarks will begin promptly at 5:30 p.m. and will be live streamed and recorded on YouTube.
Watch the Remarks [YouTube]
RSVP closed June 5, 2023. Please contact the Graduate College at graduatecollege@drexel.edu.
The Graduate College welcomes doctoral degree recipients from the current Academic Year, senior leadership, deans, faculty and professional staff advisors, and guests to attend a reception honoring the Class of 2023. The event features brief remarks from senior leadership and distinguished student and alumni speakers. Light hors d'oeuvres and refreshments will be served.
Please review the Graduation Requirements page of our website for important graduation dates and deadlines, as well as the Graduation Dates, Deadlines & Procedures memo.
Please note that doctoral candidates are hooded as part of the individual college and school ceremonies. For more information about Commencement, including dates, times, locations, parking, tickets, regalia, where to report, etc. please visit the Commencement website or email commencement@drexel.edu.
View 2023 Event Photos
Distinguished Graduating Student Speaker
Christine B. Chesebrough, PhD '23
PhD Program in Applied Cognitive and Brain Sciences
Department of Psychology and Brain Sciences
College of Arts and Sciences
Christine is originally from New Jersey. She received her bachelor’s degree in cognitive science and French from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. She then received her master’s degree from Columbia University in New York City in cognitive science in education. Christine’s research focuses on the role of emotion, motivation, and metacognition in creativity. This means she looks for when people have "aha!" moments of insight, what led them there, and how these moments enhance motivation and persistence in learning and creativity. Christine has presented at multiple conferences throughout her time as a graduate student at Drexel including the 7th Meeting of the Society of Neuroscience of Creativity (SfNC), the Annual Conference of the American Psychological Association, and the 62nd Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society. She has won numerous awards for her research, most recently the Best Poster at the 7th Meeting of the Society of Neuroscience of Creativity (SfNC) in 2023. Besides the numerous conferences she has attended, one of Christine’s most gratifying moments she had was when a paper her lab published randomly trended on the front page of the platform Reddit via r/science. After graduating Christine would like to continue working in academia as a researcher and hopes to become a professor one day. She is excited to share her experience of the emotional roller coaster of pursuing a PhD degree in the lens of someone studying the psychology of creativity during her speech.
Distinguished Alumni Speaker
Assistant Professor
Mechanical and Energy Engineering
Purdue School of Engineering & Technology
Purdue University Indianapolis
Dr. Babak Anasori is an Assistant Professor at Purdue University Indianapolis and the Editor-in-Chief of the Graphene and 2D Materials, a Springer-Nature journal. Dr. Babak Anasori received his PhD at Drexel in 2014 in Materials Science and Engineering. During his PhD, Dr. Anasori received all possible teaching awards at Drexel, including the 2012 Teaching Excellence Award, 2013 Continuing Teaching Excellence Award, and 2014 Teaching Achievement Award. He also received Drexel’s Doctoral Research Excellence Award in 2014. After graduation, he continued at Drexel as a postdoc and then as a Research Assistant Professor at the A.J. Drexel Nanomaterials Institute and Materials Science and Engineering Department from 2016 to 2019. Dr. Anasori has more than 160 refereed publications on 2D MXenes (a Drexel-born nanomaterial) and their precursors, and he is among the Web of Science Highly Cited Researchers in 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022. He is also seventh on the 2022 list of Rising Stars of Science in the USA by Research.com. He has received several international awards, including the 2016 Materials Research Society Postdoctoral Award, the 2021 Drexel University 40 Under 40, the 2021 WIN Rising Star Award in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, and the 2023 IUPUI Employee Supervisor of the Year. Dr. Anasori's research lab is currently supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation, Department of Defense, and Department of Energy. His lab works on developing novel 2D carbide and carbonitride MXenes for various applications, including energy generation, electromagnetic interference shielding, and ultra-high temperature ceramics.
Accommodation Requests
Disability Resources provides equal opportunity and equal access to programs and activities for all individuals at Drexel University and empowers individuals who have documented disabilities by working together proactively to provide reasonable accommodations. To request accommodations for this event, please contact the Disability Resources at disability@drexel.edu. We appreciate requests at least 72 hours in advance. Thank you!
All levels of the venue are accessible by our central elevator. If you are using a wheelchair or mobility device, we recommend entering through the lower level on 31st Street. Please feel free to reach out ahead of time with any needs so that we can best accommodate you.