Drexel University’s Sigma Phi Epsilon will host its biggest annual St. Baldrick’s Foundation fundraising and head shaving event this year in the hopes of raising $55,000, more than any past event held by the fraternity, for children’s cancer research.

During a trip to her parents’ homeland of India, Rina Patel witnessed the pain of a starving woman carrying her crying baby and the suffering of four orphaned siblings. This experience together with the stories she had been told about her own parents’ childhoods forever changed her life. A student in Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business, Patel wanted to help underprivileged women and children in India. For that reason she established Aahana, a non-profit organization that recently received 501(c)(3) status from the U.S. Government.

As part of an initiative aimed at making a visit to the science museum as stress-free, fun and educational as possible for children on the autism spectrum, families and teachers now can access “museum stories” on the Academy’s website. The museum stories are a pre-visit tool to prepare children for what they might experience in the museum, where loud noises, unfamiliar sights, bright and dark rooms, and unpredictable live animals may cause discomfort and stress.

Mariana Chilton, PhD, an associate professor in the School of Public Health, was appointed to the National Commission on Hunger. As  part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2014 (H.R.3547), the 10-member commission focuses on developing new innovative methods to help solve the looming concern of hunger in the U.S.

Fashion journalists heralded the return of floral prints and motifs for spring 2014 – but did they ever really go away? From the rococo rose to the pop art daisy, floral motifs have been a perennial favorite. On March 8, Drexel University’s Historic Costume Collection, a treasure trove of textiles and garments spanning more than 200 years, is once again opening its doors to the public with “In Bloom: The Fashion for Florals,” the next installment in a series of quarterly events which include an educational seminar on a particular aspect of fashion history and a specialized viewing of the collection.

Most college tours will show you the dorms, the dining hall, the library – but what if a tour could give you a glimpse of what college is really like? Of the excitement, heartbreak and soul-searching that actually goes on during those life-changing years? “Welcome to Campus: Not Your Ordinary College Tour,” a co-production by Drexel University’s Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design and Philadelphia’s avant-garde Swim Pony Performing Arts theater company, brings those highs and lows of young adulthood to life through an interactive theatrical tour experience.

Tianna Gaines-Turner, a low-income mother of three children from North Philadelphia, will attend the State of the Union address as a guest of Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey on Jan. 28, the Senator announced today. Her attendance marks a new achievement of a Drexel program raising the voices of families living in poverty to gain a place in the national conversation.

The Democratic City Committee and Drexel University will host a debate among the democratic gubernatorial candidates vying for the chance to challenge incumbent Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett in the November election.

After 30 years of filming and photographing the world’s most violent wars and conflicts, award-winning British combat photographer Sebastian Rich turned his lens to something more beautiful but no less powerful – the world of dance. From Sunday, Jan. 26 – Saturday, Feb. 8, an exhibit of Rich’s dance photographs will be on display as part of the 42nd annual Dance on Camera Film Festival, part of the Lincoln Center Film Festival. Following the Dance on Camera festival, “Bullets to Ballet” will come to Drexel’s URBN Center Lobby from Feb. 10 – Feb. 21.

The City of Philadelphia was one of three cities and a total of five areas selected for a Promise Zone designation, a federal initiative to accelerate revitalization efforts in targeted areas. The Promise Zone initiative is led by the White House with support from federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Justice. 

“Raw to Refined: String, Tape, Sponges and Vinyl,” a new exhibition of artwork created with unconventional materials, will open at Drexel University’s Leonard Pearlstein Gallery (3401 Filbert St.) on Tuesday, Jan. 14 and run through Friday, March 21. The gallery is free and open to the public Tuesday – Sunday, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.

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.

What if businesses could respond in real-time to schools’ needs for supplies, or offered extensive shadowing or internship programs to introduce students to career opportunities? To encourage greater impacts from collaboration between the business sector and local K-12 educational institutions, Drexel University’s School of Education partnered with America’s Promise Alliance to host the first-ever “Business-Community Innovation Lab” in Drexel’s Washington, D.C. office last month.

A team of students from Drexel's College of Engineering, led by Alexander J. Moseson, PhD, an assistant teaching professor in the College and director of the Sustainable Engineering and Entrepreneurship for Development (SEED) Lab are among the latest recipients of a Grand Challenges Explorations grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Grand Challenge Explorations initiative, which funds innovative global health and development research, will help the team continue its work to create transformative farming tools for female smallhold farmers in Thailand.

With a dramatic victory over Delaware in the semifinals of the CAA Tournament Drexel’s men’s soccer team earned its first trip to the title game of the Colonial Athletic Association Championship. The Dragons will face William & Mary for the championship at 4 p.m. on Sunday at Vidas Field.

A new exhibition designed by Drexel University students takes visitors behind the curtain of one of Philadelphia’s most beloved holiday traditions, the Pennsylvania  Ballet’s annual presentation of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker. On display from Nov. 14, – Jan. 31 in the Philadelphia History Museum’s Community History Gallery, Behind the Scenes of The Nutcracker tells the story of The Nutcracker’s 45 year history in Philadelphia.

For solar panels, wringing every drop of energy from as many photons as possible is imperative.  This goal has sent chemistry, materials science and electronic engineering researchers on a quest to boost the energy-absorption efficiency of photovoltaic devices, but existing techniques are now running up against limits set by the laws of physics. 

Five nights on a yacht in the Caribbean, a 2014 Subaru Forester, a tattoo design by ambigram artist John Langdon of "The Da Vinci Code" fame and lunch with "The Simpsons" writer Mike Reiss at the 20th Century FOX Studios in Los Angeles are just a few of the items up for auction at Drexel University’s first eBay fundraising auction.