Drexel Researchers Receive Funding for Racial Equity Projects

Last month, motivated by the Juneteenth holiday and national and international calls to examine and eradicate racism, Drexel University’s Office of Research and Innovation announced the winners of its Rapid Response Research & Development Fund, which is designated for urgent action, short-term projects for research projects focused on racial equity.

Out of 33 responses, 22 groups of faculty and professional staff from nine colleges and schools (plus one institute) received a total of $100,066 to fund their research.

“Building off of the success of our COVID-19 rapid response research and development competition, this competition is focused on a different societal challenge but one that is just as pressing,” stated Executive Vice Provost for Research & Innovation Aleister Saunders, PhD. “Drexel has a unique ethos compared to the other institutions of higher ed. Our scholars are not only driven to create new knowledge but are also driven to apply their scholarship to confront real world challenges and have impact. The scourge of discrimination and racial inequality must be addressed head-on and we must seize this unique moment in history. It is our intention that this competition will bolster our researchers' efforts to use their scholarship to fight inequity, eradicate racism, and address systemic inequities.”

Here’s a list of the projects and researchers funded through this endeavor:

AJ Drexel Autism Institute

• Research Associate III Kaitlin Koffer Miller received $5,000 for “Educational Disparities Experienced by Individuals with ASD.”

College of Arts & Sciences

• Postdoctoral Research Fellow Kathleen Powell, PhD, received $5,000 for “Examining Racial Differences in the Link Between School Suspensions and Arrests.”
• Co-Director of The Center for the Advancement of STEM Teaching and Learning Excellence (CASTLE) and Associate Professor of Biology Jennifer Stanford, PhD, received $5,000 for “CASTLE Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Faculty Fellow.”
• Professor and Department Head Robert Kane, PhD, received $4,940 for “A Simulation-Based Peer Intervention Training Program to Increase Active Bystandership Among a Sample of Police Officers.”
• Assistant Professor Jason Orne, PhD, received $1,250 for “Policing & Health: The Effects of Law Enforcement Encounters Among Queer People of Color.”

College of Computing and Informatics

• Associate Professor Edward Kim, PhD, received $5,000 for “The Bias in the Machine,” as explained in this article from the College of Computing & Informatics.

College of Medicine

• Professor Ramesh Raghupathi, PhD, received $5,000 for “Does Racial Disparity Contribute to Delayed Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorders in Children with Early Childhood Brain Injury?”

College of Nursing & Health Professions

• Associate Teaching Professor Sharrona Pearl, PhD, received $2,926 for “Unmasking Race: The Racial Resonances of Masking in the Time of COVID.”
• Assistant Clinical Professor Ebony White, PhD, received $4,994 for “Examining Whiteness: An Immersive Education Program to Address Racism and Racial Injustice in Education Using VR Technology.”
• Associate Professor Jennifer Nasser, PhD, received $5,000 for “Research Training Pathway to SUPERNOVA: The Wonders of ‘WHY.’”
• Assistant Professor Jessica Chou, PhD, received $5,000 for “Couple/Marriage and Family Therapists Extent of Training Experiences for Race-Related Stress and Racial Trauma.”

Dornsife School of Public Health

• Associate Professor Loni Tabb, PhD, received $4,875 for “COVID-19 + Race/Ethnicity = Are We Really All in This Together?”
• Associate Professor Amy Carroll-Scott, PhD, received $5,000 for “Multi-City Policy Surveillance To Identify Policy Solutions To Law Enforcement Reform.”
• Research Professor Shiriki Kumanyika, PhD, received $5,000 for “Black Dragons: Understanding the Experiences of Racism, Racial Exclusion, and Racial Inequity Among Black Undergraduate and Graduate Students of Drexel University.”
• Associate Teaching Professor Darryl Brown, PhD, received $5,000 for “Economic Impact of Racial Disparities in Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease.”

Kline School of Law

• Associate Dean and Professor of Law Susan Brooks, JD, received $4,833 for “Developing Anti-Racism Community Dialogues: A Critical Race Participatory Action Research Project.”

LeBow College of Business

• Professor of Decision Sciences and MIS Orakwue Arinze, PhD, received $4,998 for “Preventing and Mitigating Racial Bias in Machine Learning-Based Software.”

School of Education

• Associate Professor Alonzo Flowers, PhD, received $5,000 for “The Interplay of Institutional Systems and the Academic Experiences of African Americans Males at Drexel University in STEM Cooperative (Co-op) Programs.”
• Associate Clinical Professor Deanna Hill, PhD, JD, received $5,000 for “Critical Conversations in Urban Education's Racial Equity Audit of the School of Education.”

Westphal College of Media Arts & Design

• Professor Joseph Hancock, PhD, received $5,000 for “Black Lives Matter: Fashion, Style & Aesthetics.”
• Associate Professor and Program Director Brea Heidelberg, PhD, received $5,000 for “The Intellectual Green Book: Tracking Self- and Community Preservation Tactics Among Black Women And Black Non-Binary Individuals in the Nonprofit Arts Sector.”
• Adjunct Professor Helene Furjan received $1,250 for “ParallaxPHL Podcast.”