Wednesday, May 7
11 a.m. to 12 p.m. EDT
Mitchell Auditorium

Watch the Livestream [YouTube]

Alumni Panel Discussion

Join us for an exciting and engaging panel discussion with Drexel graduate student alumni as they share their academic and career journeys and provide advice to current graduate students. Lunch will follow the panel discussion in the Bossone Research Enterprise Center First Floor Lobby. Please register for the session and lunch via DEGS Conference registration.

Panelists

Josa Hanzlik, PhD '15, DABT, PMP

Senior Manager of Scientific Services
Haemonetics

Biomedical Engineering MS '13, PhD '15

During her time at Drexel, Dr. Josa Hanzlik was heavily involved in student activities founding Drexel Graduate Women in Science & Engineering (DGWiSE) and serving as president for the group for two years. During her PhD program in biomedical engineering, she spent a year in the Netherlands conducting research funded through the prestigious Whitaker Fellowship. In May 2024, she won the Drexel University Recent Alumni Emerging Leader Award. Currently Dr. Hanzlik works at Haemonetics as the Senior Manager of Scientific Services where she manages a global remote team that focuses on the biocompatibility and sterilization of medical devices. She has continued her leadership efforts helping develop the Remote/Hybrid Corporate Research Group (CRG) at Haemonetics for two years. Recently, she stepped down from that CRG to help lead the Environment and Sustainability CRG.

Thomas Shortell, PhD '18, CSEP

Fellow
Lockheed Martin Corporation

Computer Science MS '13, PhD '18

Dr. Shortell is a fellow, focused on systems engineering and software architecture at Lockheed Martin Corporation. He is also an adjunct professor in the College of Computing and Informatics. Dr. Shortell is the systems architect of a major defense program and leads the architecture for $100MM+ programs. He has worked in systems engineering across the entire lifecycle. He is heavily involved with the International Council for Systems Engineering (INCOSE) having served the Future of Systems Engineering (FuSE) team as a technical program manager and serves as an editor for the INCOSE Systems Engineering Handbook. Dr. Shortell is a "triple Dragon" as he earned his bachelor's (Computer Science & Physics BS '07), master's, and doctoral degrees from Drexel. His research interest is in secure signal processing and machine learning related to fully homomorphic encryption.

Katie Van Aken, PhD

Entrepreneur

Materials Science and Engineering PhD '17

After graduating from Haverford College with an undergraduate degree in Physics, Dr. Katie Van Aken joined the Materials Science and Engineering department as a PhD student in Dr. Yury Gogotsi's lab at Drexel University. She researched electrolytes and carbon materials for energy storage and graduated in 2017. After graduation, Dr. Van Aken secured a postdoctoral fellowship in the Electrical Engineering department at Drexel and went on to pursue a career in industry. She took a project manager role at Syncro Medical working on software development projects for medical device companies. Since 2017, Dr. Van Aken has also been coaching soccer, both for Drexel's club team and Haverford's varsity team. In 2021, Dr. Van Aken launched Impact Factor, a podcast discussing issues relevant to students who are at different stages of pursuing their PhD. She put the podcast on hold in 2024 when she was accepted into a master's program at The Football Business Academy. The program led to an internship in the United Kingdom with Worcester City Women's Football Club, which she recently completed.

As a doctoral student at Drexel, Dr. Van Aken served in many leadership roles, including as an executive board member of the Graduate Student Association in which she co-founded the Drexel Emerging Graduate Scholars (DEGS) Conference, now in its ninth year. Dr. Van Aken has returned to support the DEGS Conference for many years and also facilitates the annual Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) Competition prep workshop.

Jennifer Villareale, PhD

Director of Digital Content
Please Touch Museum

Digital Media PhD '23
Digital Communications and Media/Multimedia MS '19

Dr. Jennifer Villareale is a designer, researcher, and educator with over twelve years of experience in digital media. She is currently the Director of Digital Content at the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia, where she designs interactive learning experiences for young children. She earned her PhD in digital media from Drexel University and teaches courses on game user research and guest lectures on how game design can be leveraged to facilitate change in players. She has authored over 20 peer-reviewed publications and holds an MS in digital media from Drexel and a BA in illustration and design from Moore College of Art & Design. Before her academic career, she served as a Creative Director at several media and design companies. Her first game, OMBRA, was published on Xbox One in 2018.