Alexis Wiley, Environmental Science '22
Dr. Steve Dolph, College of Arts & Sciences
This project is the creation of a co-curricular academic program in partnership with local community farms to examine these food apartheid structures in our city. Through academic and experiential agricultural programming, participants explore the reclamation of cultural identity within the African Diaspora in Philadelphia’s Black communities.

Read more about Alexis' work here: Resilience & Joy: Lessons of Da Land

Adeeb Abbas, Computer Engineering '23
Dr. Kapil Dandekar, College of Engineering
Inspired by our success with image recognition-based methods, we intend to investigate a new method of modulation recognition using Artificial Intelligence and techniques that have been traditionally used in the field of Natural Language Processing (NLP). NLP refers to the field which is concerned with human linguistics and the computer's ability to understand it. We will explore whether computers are able to understand these signals as if they are sentences of a language.

Roze Alzabey, Biomedical Engineering '21
Dr. Catherine von Reyn, School of Biomedical Engineering, Science & Health Systems
The main goal of this project is to identify the molecular code for partner recognition between neural cell types using Drosophila melanogaster as the model system, and publicly available scRNA-seq datasets. The objective is to identify near neighbor synaptic recognition molecules which represent cues that tell the neuron to synapse with the appropriate partner and perform the right function.

Ramya Ashish, Biomedical Engineering '23
Dr. Sriram Balasubramanian, School of Biomedical Engineering, Science & Health Systems
This research project involves quantifying pelvic morphology in normative children. There is a limited amount of pediatric bone data available, so this project will help inform strategies for pediatric bone fractures, as well as various other medical issues.

Atharva Bhagwat, Environmental Studies & Sustainability '23
Dr. Christian Hunold, College of Arts & Sciences
This project, situated in human-animal studies and the environmental humanities, explores changing conceptions of nonhuman belonging in urban spaces and refines our understanding of how cities function as “more-than-human” multispecies landscapes. To this end, this project analyzes ways in which social media images of urban coyotes engage with the Anthropocene’s evolutionary possibilities of hybridity, unsettled mixtures, and indeterminacy.

Amirah Brew-Snyders, Criminology and Justice Studies '22
Dr. Jordan Hyatt, College of Arts & Sciences
Using a mixed methodological approach, this pilot study measures the attitudes that residents of Philadelphia, PA hold toward formerly incarcerated individuals, the likelihood of recidivism, and the impact on employment. Additionally, interviews with employers elaborate on the usage of criminal background checks, the perceived potential for redemption, and the use of rehabilitative credentials.

Khang Duong, Biomedical Engineering '24
Dr. Catherine von Reyn, School of Biomedical Engineering, Science & Health Systems
This project will be using the model organism Drosophila melanogaster to understand the roles of novel interneurons that are connected to known sensorimotor circuits. The findings from this project will allow us to understand the populations and roles of interneurons in Drosophila, which could then be applied to many sensorimotor circuits in humans and other animals. Having a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms behind sensorimotor transformation will allow us to develop tools and therapies to restore circuit function when these sensorimotor circuits do get damaged, which will provide a better quality of life for patients diagnosed with a neurodegenerative disease.

Melissa Gray, Computer Engineering '24
Dr. Gail Rosen, College of Engineering
The focus of this project is simulating how taxonomic classification results change over time using a widely used classifier, Kraken 2. Efficiently and accurately identifying microbes that are present in biological samples is important to medicine and biology -- for example, microbe identification allows doctors to better diagnose diseases.

Patrick Henderson, Biological Sciences '24
Dr. Michael Bruneau, Jr., College of Nursing & Health Professions
This project administered a retrospective survey, the Physical Activity and COVID-19 (PAC-19) Survey, to measure habitual physical activity during the COVID-19 lockdowns.

Lilly Oni, Biological Sciences '22
Dr. Srinivas Somarowthu, College of Medicine
This project analyzed the RNA-seq data from HCC patient samples, available on public gene databases like NCBI's Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. We aim to cluster these data sets and categorize patient samples based on HBV positive or negative status and compare our findings to original patient diagnosis, while also identifying notable lncRNA that could be investigated further using cell biology and biochemistry techniques.

Risha Patel, Biological Sciences '23
Dr. Michael Bouchard, College of Medicine
This project used various bioinformatics tools and Drexel’s Proteus platform to create and test a pipeline that identifies RNA transcripts and can quantify their expression relative to human and viral genomes. This pipeline can further be used to identify correlations between the genes expressed in HCC as well as viral signatures.

Mark Petrovic, Materials Science & Engineering '21
Dr. Michele Marcolongo, College of Engineering
The purpose of this project is to investigate a new strategy to mitigate the deterioration of bioprosthetic heart valves by focusing on preservation of the native structure of their extracellular matrix.

Renee Saraka, Chemical Engineering '21
Dr. Nicolas Alvarez, College of Engineering
The relationship between solid/liquid ratio will be studied through rheological measurements to understand solution properties to best design industrial equipment that must process these solutions. In the case of paints, a certain color must be achieved, but the solution must also apply in an even coating and pass through a sprayer. This research will aim to understand the best formulation to achieve all of these things for future equipment design.

Vaidehi Andhare, Custom-Designed Major in Nature-Inspired Sustainable Engineering '24
Dr. Gwen Ottinger, College of Arts & Sciences
Environmental Justice: BIPOC Student Stories focuses on the experiences of students of color who are pursuing environmental career pathways with themes of race and anti-racism in their courses and co-ops. This research project focuses on having BIPOC students at Drexel getting their experiences and concerns expressed and shared in hopes of understanding how to better support these students throughout their college education and into their careers as aspiring environmentalists.

Sanjana Suresh, Operations & Supply Chain Management and Business Analytics '24
Dr. Thomas Heverin, College of Computing & Informatics
This research explores the use of semantic-web technologies, including ontology modeling and semantic queries, to automate the situation assessment tasks conducted by ethical hackers when evaluating targets. In particular, this research focuses on PLCs that use ICS protocols, and have highly exploitable vulnerabilities and known exploits. This research adds to the existing body of cybersecurity research by showing how semantic-web technologies can be used to reduce the complexity of situation assessment tasks.

Linda Franceschini, Materials Science and Engineering '22
Dr. Caroline Schauer, College of Engineering
The purpose of this study is to create a food waste composite whose properties are comparable to traditional plastic packaging. This study will attempt to create various plastic composites with waste coffee grounds and evaluate their resulting mechanical, thermal, and degradation properties.

Elizabeth Otruba, Environmental Science '24
Dr. Dane Ward, College of Arts & Sciences
By studying the communities that foul on artificial substrate that is placed in the water, this project plans to answer the question “What are the successional patterns of Biofouling communities in Barnegat Bay, NJ, and how do these patterns change seasonally?”

Zeal Jinwala, Biomedical Engineering '22
Dr. Ming Xiao, School of Biomedical Engineering, Science & Health Systems
We developed a new sequence-specific DNA labeling approach to complement the traditional enzyme motif-based strategy in optical mapping. We detected and assessed SVs by identifying outlier alignments. The goal of this study is to develop a better pipeline for the identification of the second color label signal in specific regions.

Mia Bevilaqua, environmental science ’22
Madeline Worth, environmental studies and sustainability ‘23
Dr. Andrew Smith, College of Arts & Sciences
This project will focus on learning about agroecological practices while also having a strong focus on Indigenous climate justice through site visits and research papers on said practices.

Seo Yeong Park, nursing ‘24
Dr. Joke Bradt, College of Nursing & Health Professions
Dr. Karolina Bryl, College of Nursing & Health Professions
This NIH-funded multi-site clinical trial aims to compare two types of interventions, a 6-week music-based and a 6-week verbal-based pain management protocol, for chronic pain management in people with advanced cancer. This qualitative study specifically explores the challenges that participants in the verbal-based program shared during their sessions regarding cancer treatment, psychosocial stressors, and stigmas related to cancer and cancer treatment.

Emily Hostetter, psychology ’21
Dr. Nancy Raitano Lee, College of Arts & Sciences
The aim of the current study is to explore parent child interaction, specifically autonomy-supportive parent behavior, and its relation to academic achievement in youth with Down syndrome. By having a better understanding of factors that are associated with reading skills of children with Down syndrome, effective intervention approaches can be developed and applied in this population.

Jillian Saunders, biomedical engineering ’22
Dr. Catherine von Reyn, School of Biomedical Engineering, Science, & Health Systems
This project aims to understand the functional role of astrocyte-like-glia in the drosophila visual system by characterizing it's development and potential neuronal interaction. There are three main aims of this project (RNAseq, a time course study, and RNAi) to address this question.

Laura Klouda, biological sciences ‘24
Dr. Michael J. Bouchard, Drexel University College of Medicine
In this project, Laura and Dr. Bouchard will be searching for dysregulated long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tumor samples by interrogating a wide array of publicly available RNA-seq data to compare tumor, adjacent and normal tissue samples. This will lead to further lab work to investigate the effects of those dysregulated lncRNAs on hepatocyte physiology.

Haley Carlton, environmental science ’21
Dr. Elizabeth Watson, College of Arts & Sciences
In Haley and Dr. Watson’s project, they will explore how changes in pH due to agricultural runoff are affecting the tidally-restricted (tides of 2cm to 2m) ponds and water quality in Elkhorn Slough. They will be using water quality data to compare how the tides have changed over a 30-year period.

Hannah Johnson, biological sciences ‘21
Dr. Peter Gaskill, Drexel University College of Medicine
Hannah created a 3-dimensional imaging technique to overcome imaging limitations in automated spinning disc microscopy within the Cellomics CellInsight CX7, utilizing its anchoring autofocus method to image at 15 individual Z stacks, to improve the ability to assess NF-kB activity in primary human monocyte derived macrophages (hMDM). Using Z’ factor analysis, Hannah will compare the statistical effect of a 3-dimensional Z stacked NF-κB nuclear translocation model in hMDM in the presence of elevated dopamine to the 2-dimensional, single-focal-plane imaging model.

Khanh Linh Pham, nursing ‘22
Dr. Justine Sefcik, College of Nursing & Health Professions
The aim of this research is to examine and report on published articles regarding the use of sensor technology with older adults. This research will inform the development of interventions to reduce behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia among nursing home residents.

Mark Petrovic, materials science & engineering, ‘21
Dr. Michele Marcolongo, College of Engineering
The purpose of this project is to investigate a new strategy to mitigate the deterioration of bioprosthetic heart valves by focusing on preservation of the native structure of their extracellular matrix.

Alexis Wiley, environmental science, ’22
Dr. Steve Vasquez Dolph, College of Arts & Sciences
This project is the creation of a community-based learning course (CBL) in which we explore the intersections of race, resource equity and food apartheid centered on Afro-Latinx diasporic community agriculture in Philadelphia.

Andrea Eleazar, public health ’23
Dr. Usama Bilal, Dornsife School of Public Health
This project seeks to inform public health interventions by examining the diversity of health outcomes of immigrants to the United States, a large and growing population, using data analysis methods to investigate social determinants of health.

Kiva Kelly, psychology ’21
Dr. Giacomo Vivanti, A.J. Drexel Autism Institute
Since imitation is highly variable in young children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), it is important to examine factors that may contribute to such observed discrepancies. Our study will investigate the roles of social motivation and motor skills in successful imitation performance in young children with ASD to ultimately inform and improve treatment approaches.

Renee Saraka, chemical engineering ’21
Dr. Nicolas J. Alvarez, College of Engineering
The relationship between solid/liquid ratio will be studied through rheological measurements to understand solution properties to best design industrial equipment that must process these solutions. In the case of paints, a certain color must be achieved, but the solution must also apply in an even coating and pass through a sprayer. Renee and Dr. Alvarez’s research will aim at understanding the best formulation to achieve all of these things for future equipment design.

Medina Talebi, political science ’22
Dr. Amelia Hoover Green, College of Arts & Sciences
The activism of the transnational Shia community can be described as native or diaspora. This research maps instances of targeted anti-Shia violence alongside efforts to reframe such violence as genocide.

Edward Gadasu, materials science & engineering ‘23
Dr. Yury Gogotsi, College of Engineering
Edward & Dr. Gogotsi’s research investigates the synthesis of a highly tunable polymer composite and its subsequent transformation into an adsorptive 3D structure to sequester atmospheric carbon and purify air at ambient temperature.

Nina Olney, economics ’21
Dr. Jay Orne, College of Arts & Sciences
Racial/ethnic minorities and queer people each experience more police encounters and report more negative consequences than their white or heterosexual peers, yet research on policing does not often use an intersectional lens to explore how queer people of color are affected by the manifestation of both systemic racism and heterosexism through policing. This study examines how these systems of oppression affect well-being among this marginalized group via a demonstration of health consequences of police encounters during adolescence and young adulthood among queer people of color, with specific attention to suicidality.

Petyo Manev, chemical engineering ‘24
Dr. Irwin Chaiken, Drexel University College of Medicine
Dr. Gabriela Canziani, Drexel University College of Medicine
In this project, Petyo and his mentors work to characterize antibodies (IgG), specificity to spike protein epitopes and polyclonal affinity symptomatic and asymptomatic convalescent COVID patient plasma and create a database of CoV-2 IgG. Additionally, they aim to evaluate the IgG response to CoV-2 spike vaccination in young and old C57BL/6 mice after immunization with spike-encoding DNA in presence or absence of adjuvant.

Bhakti Marfatia, health sciences ’22
Dr. Catherine von Reyn, School of Biomedical Engineering, Science, & Health Systems
Little is known about the sensorimotor circuits that drive escape behaviors, the transformation that happens between them, and the underling circuit connectivity that enables these transformations. In this project, the connectivity between Lobular Columnar (LC) neurons and Descending Neurons (DNs) is explored in order to gain a greater understanding of the sensorimotor escape circuits in Drosophila melanogaster.

Matthew W. Bauman, virtual reality immersive media ‘23
Dr. Arun Ramakrishnan, College of Nursing & Health Professions
In this project, Matthew and Dr. Ramakrishnan are creating an Immersive Clinical Simulation coursework for undergraduate nursing using 360 VR videos, to bridge the gap created by the COVID-19 lockdowns preventing in person training for clinical simulations for Winter and Spring 2021. The second goal is to create immersive learning course called 'Examining Whiteness' for Drexel's Rapid Response Grant to address racism and racial injustice for Spring 2021.

Shannon Rose Smith, psychology ’21
Dr. Stephanie Manasse, College of Arts & Sciences
In this project, Shannon and Dr. Manasse will examine the previously undiscovered relationship between weight suppression and food-based inhibitory control in individuals with bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder.