New digital enhancements will take online education to new and far more expansive heights at Drexel University. VRtifacts+, a first of its kind repository, will empower faculty and instructional designers to seamlessly incorporate 250,000 augmented, virtual and mixed reality learning objects across a wealth of disciplines into the University’s online coursework.

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.

More Drexel University undergraduate students will have the opportunity to earn teacher certification in science and mathematics thanks to the National Science Foundation’s Robert Noyce Scholarship program, which recently awarded Drexel’s School of Education a 5-year, $1.2 million grant. The new grant will allow 24 Drexel students pursuing a bachelor’s degree in a major related to science, technology, engineering or mathematics to earn pre-service teacher certification in middle grades (4-8) science or mathematics through Drexel’s DragonsTeach Middle Years program.

In an exciting development for the field of aerospace engineering, the lightweight materials of airplanes and rockets might soon be getting stronger. A new method for making ceramic materials — which are used in propellers and heat shields — has enabled the introduction of chemical compounds to bolster their strength and could also imbue them with other useful properties. The discovery was recently reported by researchers at Drexel University and Penn State University.

“If you build it, they will come” seems to be the mantra of top football programs around the country that have invested in the creation of exclusive player-only villages. Coaches are behind the concept of the “Athletic Village,” believing it will enhance the togetherness of their team. However, researchers are raising caution to the exclusivity of these compounds – which may support the further segregation of athletes from the campus population that can cause significant social and personal drawbacks.

Is there anything MXene materials can’t do? Since the discovery of a large new family of two-dimensional materials by Drexel University researchers in 2011, continued exploration has revealed their exceptional ability to store energy, block electromagnetic interference, purify water and even ward off bacteria. And, as recent research now suggests, MXenes are also very durable — the strongest material of its kind, according to a new study in the journal Science Advances.

The ExCITe Center at Drexel University released Making Culture, the first in-depth examination of K-12 education makerspaces nationwide, revealing the significance of cultural aspects of making that enable learning.

The Malcolm Jenkins Foundation is expanding its partnership with Drexel University’s Expressive and Creative Interaction Technologies (ExCITe) Center and Lindy Center for Civic Engagement  to offer a summer camp for local students to learn, experiment and experience the interplay between science, technology, engineering, arts, athletics and mathematics (STEAM).

A dedication ceremony on June 6 officially marked the opening of the addition to Drexel’s Korman Center and surrounding “Quad.” Located at the heart of Drexel’s campus, the Korman Center and its surrounding green space have served as a University landmark for decades.

Algorithms aren’t just deciding the content of social media feeds and online advertising anymore. To guard against bias creep and streamline decisions about the allocation of resources, many urban areas across the country are turning to these automated decision systems. But how do we ensure that the algorithms are the impartial arbiters we expect them to be? Drexel University professor Julia Stoyanovich is part of the first group in the nation helping to answer this question in the biggest urban area in the world. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio tapped Stoyanovich to serve on the city’s Automated Decision Systems Task Force, a team charged with creating a process for reviewing algorithms through the lens of fairness, equity and accountability.

Studio 54, Rocky Horror Picture Show, 19th century circuses, and botanicals in urban environments are the inspiration for a handful of student designers whose collections will be featured in Fashion ’18, Drexel University's annual fashion show, presented on Saturday, June 2 by the Fashion Design and Design & Merchandising programs in the Westphal College of Media Arts & Design.

Hisham Abdel-Aal, PhD, an associate teaching professor in Drexel University’s College of Engineering who is studying snake skin to help engineers improve the design of textured surfaces, such as engine cylinder liners, prosthetic joints — and yes, maybe even footwear.

Recently published research from Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania, shows a new technique for manipulating two-dimensional materials that allows them to be shaped into films of a practically usable thickness, while maintaining the properties that make them exceptional candidates for use in supercapacitor electrodes. 

Drexel University’s School of Education is partnering with the School District of Philadelphia to support Drexel’s Philadelphia Teacher Residency program, which will provide salaries, benefits and scholarships to aspiring STEM teachers.

Cornell William Brooks, JD, MDiv, dedicated civil rights leader, attorney and minister, will address the graduates of the Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law at commencement on Friday, May 18, at 3:30 p.m. The law school will celebrate 163 graduates during its 10th commencement ceremony, held at the Kimmel Center, in Verizon Hall (300 S. Broad Street). The event will celebrate 125 graduates who will receive a JD, 30 who will receive a Master of Legal Studies and eight who will receive an LLM in American Legal Practice.

SOUND MACHINES: an exhibition that will explore the interplay between sound and object, performance and sculpture, and the changing experience of sound in an age of digital reproduction is coming to Drexel University’s Pearlstein Gallery. The exhibit will feature Mauricio Kagel's Zwei Mann Orchester, a large-scale kinetic sound sculpture that utilizes orchestral instruments, household and found objects, connected through a network of levers and strings to produce an orchestra.

When Chase, a retired Drexel University fashion design professor, heard that Drexel’s Raymond G. Perelman Center for Jewish Life was in need of artwork to accompany its newly donated Torah, she knew the project was meant for her.