In the race to out-compete other companies– artificial intelligence (AI) design is lacking a deep understanding of what data about humans mean and its relation to equity. Two Drexel University sociologists suggest we pay greater attention to the societal impact of AI, as it is appearing more frequently than ever before.

When your disease is hard to name and doesn’t have visible symptoms, it can be hard for others to understand that you are sick. And, when people don’t know much about your disease, it can be hard to explain it to family and friends.

A new study by Drexel environmental sociologist Robert J. Brulle, PhD, shows that between 2000 and 2016, lobbyists spent more than two billion dollars on influencing relevant legislation in the US Congress. As the first peer-reviewed, comprehensive analysis ever conducted of climate lobbying data, Brulle’s research confirms the spending of environmental groups and the renewable energy sector was eclipsed by the spending of the electrical utilities, fossil fuel, and transportation sectors.

No football team? No problem. Drexel University junior Isaiah Hoffman won a $100,000 tuition scholarship from Dr. Pepper for a successful halftime football toss.

In Pope Francis’ nearly 200-page climate change encyclical, Laudato SI, published earlier this year, he explicitly calls for a “dialogue with all people about our common home.” A group of leading social scientists provide a scholarly foundation for that dialogue in a special series of commentaries published online this week in Nature Climate Change.

According to the new book “Climate Change and Society: Sociological Perspectives,” engaging the social – and not just natural – sciences in the climate conversation is essential for effecting large-scale change. Edited by environmental sociologists Robert J. Brulle, PhD, a professor in Drexel University’s College of Arts and Sciences, and Riley E. Dunlap, a professor at Oklahoma State University, the book breaks new ground by presenting climate change as a thoroughly social phenomenon, embedded in behaviors, institutions and cultural practices.

From Coca-Cola cans to Apollo 11 to the Empire State Building, aluminum can be found almost anywhere you look. But are there unseen costs associated with this ubiquitous metal? In a new book, Drexel University’s Mimi Sheller, PhD, explores how aluminum enabled a high-speed, gravity-defying American modernity even as other parts of the world paid the price in environmental damage and political turmoil.

Aluminum has helped change the world in ways previously unimaginable. But the quest for more aluminum has also had damaging ripple effects on the environment and indigenous populations around the world.

A new study conducted by Drexel University environmental sociologist Robert J. Brulle, PhD, exposes the organizational underpinnings and funding behind the powerful climate change countermovement. This study marks the first peer-reviewed, comprehensive analysis ever conducted of the sources of funding that maintain the denial effort. Through an analysis of the financial structure of the organizations that constitute the core of the countermovement and their sources of monetary support, Brulle found that, while the largest and most consistent funders behind the countermovement are a number of well-known conservative foundations, the majority of donations are “dark money,” or concealed funding.

The Philadelphia Daily News reported in September that the Confederate battle flag may be becoming a more common sight in the area. DrexelNow sat down with Mary Ebeling, an associate professor of sociology, to talk about the message and meaning behind the divisive symbol.

This summer, five unique Inside-Out courses will invite students to learn inside a prison, at a farm, a senior citizen home and an enterprise center.