Here's a snapshot of awards, scholarships, publications and fellowships Drexel University students have earned in the past term, courtesy of the Office of the Provost, Pennoni Honors College and others.
Scholarships, Fellowships and Publications
Six students were awarded admission to the Impact Innovation Hub, a six-month accelerator in the Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship: Donielle Blount, MS entrepreneurship and innovation ’26 from the Close School of Entrepreneurship; Allison Choong, criminology and justice studies ’28 from the College of Arts and Sciences; Faris Dababneh, electrical and computer engineering ’29 from the College of Engineering; Dibora Tito, MS biomedical engineering ’26 from the School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems; Parth Vaswani, computing and security technology ’29 from the College of Computing & Informatics; and Greeva Yava, computer science ’29 from the College of Computing & Informatics. The hub provides student entrepreneurs with resources, funding and mentorship to develop socially and environmentally impactful ventures that achieve financial sustainability and measure social impact.
Cameron Kosak, English ’26 from the College of Arts and Sciences, had a poem, “Cage Match,” accepted for publication in the Moonstone Arts Center 2025 New Voices Anthology, which features poets under the age of 25.
Breana Channer, an MD/PhD student in the pharmacology and physiology program in the College of Medicine, received a $54,538 award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for her project titled “Dopaminergic Immunomodulation Drives Macrophage Inflammation During HIV Infection.
Tasha Garayo, MD ’26 from the College of Medicine, served as a national conference chair for the 2025 Latino Medical Student Association National Conference, “Camino Al Cambio: Celebrating Identity and Shaping the Future,” held Sept. 5–7, 2025, in Chicago.
Madeline Plummer, public health ’26 from the Dana and David Dornsife School of Public Health, led research published in Psychology, Health & Medicine Journal in October 2025 titled “Educational attainment, health locus of control and inflammation among cancer survivors in the Midlife in the U.S. study.” This paper began as an independent research project conducted by Plummer during the STAR Scholars program in the summer of 2023; she was mentored by Agus Surachman, PhD, assistant professor of epidemiology from the Dornsife School of Public Health. Plummer then received funding from the Pennoni Honors College Undergraduate Research & Enrichment Programs (UREP) Undergraduate Research Mini-Grant to continue her work on this topic.
Catherine Turner, MPH ’26 from the Dornsife School of Public Health, an alumnus of the Bridging the Gap (BTG) program, presented about the Sunrise of Philadelphia Camp at the BTG Annual Symposium at the College of Physicians in October 2025. The symposium was open to the broader community and designed to provide a forum for dialogue and networking opportunities around health and wellbeing.
Three students from the School of Education led a session on generative artificial intelligence at the 2025 Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED) Convening on Oct. 22 in Philadelphia. Tyler Creek, educational leadership and management ’26; Serena Zelezny, educational leadership and management ’26; and Matthew Richardson, educational leadership and management ’27, presented their dissertation research that focuses on AI as it is applied in the technology sector, the wine industry and secondary education. They were joined in their presentation by Kristen Betts, EdD, clinical professor from the School of Education.
In September, the artwork “Bluebird” by Arefeh Ahmadi, PhD candidate in digital media from the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design, was displayed on digital billboards during The Armory Show 2025 and appeared across high-visibility sites in New York and New Jersey. The artwork was later showcased on digital billboards in Tokyo during Tokyo Gendai 2025, reaching audiences across major districts during the fair, which featured 66 galleries from more than a dozen countries.
Colin Cooper, architecture ’28 from the Westphal College of Media Arts & Design, was recognized as a winner of the 2025 John Stewardson Memorial Fellowship in Architecture Design Competition, organized in partnership with AIA Philadelphia and the Community Design Collaborative, for the project “Planting A Seed.” Participants were asked to reimagine how Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) could expand affordable housing, strengthen communities and support sustainable development, and Cooper teamed up with recent alumni Adeniyi Onanuga, BArch’25, and Alexander Puerto, BArch ’25.
More than 30 students from the College of Arts and Sciences participated in the fourth cohort of the DrexLab program. DrexLab (previously the ASURS Fund) provides College of Arts and Sciences undergraduate students with $1,500 to participate in research for six months with a research mentor, either a faculty member or a PhD candidate.
Kai Doron, environmental science ’28 from the College of Arts and Sciences, presented research at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Annual Meeting 2025 in Birmingham, England. Doron, a 2024 STAR Scholar whose travel was partially funded by a Pennoni Honors College Undergraduate Research and Enrichment Programs (UREP) travel grant, is continuing study on the evolution of wing spurs in waterfowl (Anseriformes) using specimens from the Ornithology Collection in the Academy of Natural Sciences at Drexel University. Doron works with faculty mentor Jason D. Weckstein, PhD and PhD candidate Emily V. Griffith.
Faris Dababneh, electrical and computer engineering ’29, Honors, from the College of Engineering, was selected as a Fall 2025 Gilman Scholar. The Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship supports students to study or co-op abroad in a country of their choosing. Dababneh will be studying abroad at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (UAS7) for a semester in information engineering, corresponding to several courses from Drexel’s electrical and computer engineering curriculum.
Janet Garcia, OD ’26, and Katherine Franklin, OD ’26, both from the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO) at Drexel University were awarded the Practice Excellence Scholarship by VSP Vision, a leading provider of vision care and insurance services. The scholarship, administered through the American Academy of Optometry Foundation (AAOF) is awarded to Doctor of Optometry students at each institution who demonstrate excellence in both clinical and academic performance, as well as a commitment to enter the independent practice of optometry.
The UREP office in the Pennoni Honors College awarded 12 student and faculty pairs with $1,000 undergraduate research mini-grants to support research, creative work and scholarship in the winter term. Here are the recipients:
- David Abraham, computer science and mathematics ’28 from the College of Computing & Informatics, and Arvin Ebrahimkhanlou, PhD, assistant professor of civil, architectural and environmental engineering from the College of Engineering, will explore CO2 injection for concrete 3D printing.
- Alejandra Holgate, business and engineering ’29, Honors, from the Bennett S. LeBow College of Business, and Ebrahimkhanlou will design and build an automated test rig to quantify heat effects on reclaimed brick’s reusability using nondestructive evaluation to advance circular construction by providing evidence-based guidelines for post-fire material reuse.
- Roshan Persaud, BS/MS mechanical engineering ’27, Honors, from the College of Engineering, will curate a dataset using the SEM machine and access the NSF-MRI GPU clusters at Drexel for AI development to contribute to Ebrahimkhanlou’s goal of designing and validating a generative AI capable of producing realistic images of metal microstructures.
- Maria Afonkina, biological sciences ’28, Honors from the College of Arts and Sciences, and Christopher Rodell, PhD, assistant professor of biomedical engineering and health systems, from the School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems, will work to design injectable biomaterials for immune cell activation.
- Faith Clark, biological sciences ’27, Honors, from the College of Arts and Sciences, and Seena Ajit, PhD, professor of pharmacology and physiology, from the College of Medicine, will study the contribution of Xist and RNF139 to sex differences in inflammatory response and pain.
- Ethan Erb, computer science ’28 from the College of Computing & Informatics, and Niharika Sravan, PhD, assistant professor of physics in the College of Arts and Sciences, will develop an automated process for identifying kilonovas, which are bright blasts of electromagnetic radiation.
- Ruhma Hashmi, computer science ’29, Honors, and Yuan An, PhD, associate professor of information science, both from the College of Computing & Informatics, will develop AILA (AI-Powered Intelligent Lecturing Assistant), which will generate high-quality multiple-choice questions that instantly adapt in difficulty based on each student’s performance and display progress and recommendations.
- Earli Ismaili, electrical & computer engineering ’29, Honors, and Wesley Chang, PhD, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and mechanics, both from the College of Engineering, will study the impact of dynamic discharge on the lifetime of anode-free lithium metal batteries to identify electrolyte-protocol combinations that enable safer, longer-lasting batteries for electric vehicle applications.
- Jenna Lisa, biological sciences ’28 from the College of Arts and Sciences, and Annalisa Na, PhD, PT, DPT, assistant research professor of physical therapy and rehabilitation sciences from the College of Nursing and Health Professions, will study the feasibility of achieving target heart rate during exercise in older adults with dementia and chronic pain.
- Stuti Mohan, computer science ’28, Honors, and Li (Harry) Zhang, PhD, assistant professor of computer science, both from the College of Computing & Informatics, are evaluating large language models (LLMs) to understand their limitations, which is key for safely deploying LLMs in real-world systems where strict adherence to constraints is critical.
- Divine Thomas, biomedical engineering ’27, Honors, from the School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems, and Peter Deak, PhD, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering from the College of Engineering, will develop and test a dual-color fluorescent liposome system to enhancing the detection of gp120-expressing HIV-latent cells.
- Ebube Wobo, computing and security technology ’26 from the College of Computing & Informatics, and Jen Katz-Buonincontro, PhD, professor of education from the School of Education, will work on the S.C.O.P.E. Project, which investigates how self-talk shapes creative problem solving, confidence and leadership development among undergraduate women and non-binary students through in-depth interviews.
Academic Accolades and Other Achievements
A team of 22 students from the Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program within Drexel’s College of Nursing and Health Professions, as well as from Arcadia University, traveled with five clinical mentors for a service-learning experience in Guatemala. The team traveled to three Hearts in Motion clinics and seven mobile clinics, bringing essential physical therapy services to underserved communities.
Emma Johnson, history ’26 from the College of Arts and Sciences, curated Building Men: Philadelphia College Students as World War I Military Engineers, an exhibition on display in the Rincliffe Gallery in Drexel University’s Main Building from Aug.14–Dec. 19, 2025. It includes artifacts from the Atwater Kent Collection at Drexel and others.
Two students from the Westphal College of Media Arts & Design curated exhibitions with the Drexel Founding Collection at Paul Peck Alumni Center that appear from Oct. 22, 2025, until Oct. 16, 2026. Natalee Mays, art history ’26, curated If These Walls Could Talk: An Invitation into the Home & Life of Anthony J. Drexel, and Gina Monahan, MS museum leadership ’25, curated Extending Beyond: A Century of Drexel Legacies.
Ai Hsieh, MD ’28 from the College of Medicine, who serves as Immunization Outreach Project coordinator on the College of Medicine at Tower Health campus in West Reading, worked with Giant Pharmacy to arrange for a flu vaccination partnership. Subsequently, Hsieh and David Hutchins, MD ’28 from the College of Medicine, were able to partner with Giant Pharmacy to offer free flu vaccine clinics, which are open to the public, on the University City and West Reading campuses.
Madison Haney, elementary education ’28, and Ally Andrews, elementary education’25, both from the College of Education; and Rymirah Garfield, global studies ’27 from the College of Arts and Sciences, traveled to Peru in September 2025 for a service-learning experience.