Honor Bound Spring/Summer 2024

FROM DREXEL UNIVERSITY’S PENNONI HONORS COLLEGE • SPRING/SUMMER 2024

PLUS:

• Fostering a community for Custom-Designed Majors

• Fellowships recipient maps out 10-year plan

• Nurturing passion into purpose

From the Dean

As many of you know, I have decided to step down as Dean of the Pennoni Honors College at the end of this academic year. Having served 10 years, I feel it’s time to return to the faculty and concentrate on teaching and writing.

I take enormous pride in this College and have great affection for it. I love meeting the new crop of students each fall and seeing our seniors graduate each spring. I enjoy fundraising to support our programs, attending our many events, recruiting new instructors for our courses, and talking with experienced ones about their teaching methods.

I accomplished the major tasks that I set out to do when I became dean: to find a home for our scattered units; to streamline, reassign, and consolidate staff roles; to create a more unified Honors community with more opportunities for students across the University to pursue excellence; to develop a wide range of original programming; and to increase the number and kind of Honors courses, including an ambitious core curriculum for self-selected students.

I am especially proud to have launched the Center for Civil Discourse that was ahead of the curve in its mission to promote discussion of controversial ideas with openness and civility. We need this program more than ever now, and I hope my successor will continue it. Among its most notable components is the Teagle-funded Program in Civic Foundations. Dr. Kevin Egan, director of Academic Programs, has shepherded the program and helped raise additional funding for it as part of our Honors with Distinction track.

Dr. Egan has been instrumental in shaping an effective Academic Programs staff who continue to work with our custom-designed majors to craft a field of study that falls outside conventional disciplines. The graduates of this program have been among the most impressive at the University, and I believe this major will become increasingly popular as our society changes and students seek a more tailored education.

Undergraduate Research & Enrichment

Programs is also thriving under Jaya Mohan, whose work toward a PhD connects directly to her leadership role with this unit. Pennoni’s hallmark undergraduate research program, STAR Scholars, continues to be one of the most important and respected at Drexel. Last year we held the late-summer STAR Showcase at Bentley Hall for the first time. We will continue to do this from now on. It’s great to be able to house this event in our own space.

Under Ms. Mohan’s directorship, we have also seen our students receive prestigious fellowships: Fulbrights, Trumans, Goldwaters, and even a Rhodes finalist, among others. More important than receiving a fellowship, as she and her staff emphasize, is learning how to think deeply about the future and articulate life goals — something that our donor-sponsored Aspire Program also helps students do. Aspire is a pipeline for fellowships and for other programs in the Honors College.

Marketing and Media, under the leadership of Erica Levi Zelinger, features the magazine you are reading, Honor Bound, which has now won six major awards under her editorship. The arts and culture magazine, TheSmartSet.com; Pennoni Panels; and the PBS-distributed TV talk show, The Civil Discourse continue to gain an audience.

Everything we do comes under the eagle eye of our Director of Strategy, Dr. Melinda Lewis. Dr. Lewis is a font of ideas and energy — check out her Pop, the Question podcast: conversations at the intersection of academia and popular culture.

Meanwhile, our director of finance and administration, Ann Alexander, our most longstanding staff member, is an ever-vigilant gatekeeper for everything we do. She strives to be fiscally conservative without compromising the quality of Pennoni’s programming or initiatives. These directors could not have accomplished so much without an exceptional staff. Pennoni staff have, over the past decade, become a tight-knit group with well-defined roles but

also a willingness to pitch in and help out across units when the occasion demands. They go out of their way to give time and attention to our students. A staple of my philosophy is that talk is cheap and that accomplishments are what count. I’m proud that our college is known for getting things done. People don’t just give lip service to good ideas; they put them into action.

Some programs that I most enjoyed initiating were the Dean’s Teas that executive assistant Karen Sams helped me organize; the chance to sketch our students’ portraits while chatting with them at various events; and the weekly Shakespeare Read-Aloud, an online gathering that I began during COVID and that is now a tight-knit group of Shakespearean enthusiasts, ranging in age from 18 to 80.

Other enhancements that I can claim under my watch: an art exhibit on the father of illustration, Howard Pyle, who taught at Drexel early in the late 19th century; a concert of operatic arias by the Academy of Vocal Arts in the Annette Pennoni Living Room; the large abstract canvases that dot Bentley Hall by the late Brooklyn artist Thor Rinden; and the library that we have assembled on either side of the fireplace in the Annette Pennoni Living Room, donated by friends of the College and categorized by our student workers under the supervision of the incomparable Ms. Sams. I love seeing students reading these books or working on an always-in-progress jigsaw puzzle on the library tables.

I cannot leave this office without acknowledging my

late predecessor Dave Jones, whose insightful, sometimes acerbic, observations I miss; and the founding dean of this College and Provost Emeritus of Drexel, Mark Greenberg, who continues to be a friend and resource. I am also grateful to Chuck Pennoni and his late wife Annette who endowed the College; Greg and Caroline Bentley, who made Bentley Hall possible; and John Martinson, a non-Drexel affiliated donor, whose generous gift funds our Honors with Distinction track. Others on my Advisory Board — Leslee Geltzer, Abbie Dean, and Eileen Kennedy, in particular — have been continuously generous with regard to programming and in-kind service.

Recent years have been challenging for Drexel, but I think the Honors College has been adept at keeping itself healthy, both financially and intellectually. We have also given students the respite from stress that they need. Our Pennoni Playground provides them with the opportunity to take a break — for game nights, magic, improv, bouquet-making, waffle bars, and other delightful activities. More of these are being planned as I write.

We have a true oasis of learning and sociability here in Pennoni, and I am confident that the College will continue to grow, prosper, and inspire those who engage with it. Please continue to be involved with us — keep abreast of what we do and be generous with your gifts, which will continue to be used to create a welcoming and intellectually stimulating environment at Bentley Hall.

Paula Marantz Cohen

Dean, Pennoni Honors College Distinguished Professor of English 215.895.1266 • cohenpm@drexel.edu

Editorial

Editor: Erica Levi Zelinger

Copy Editor: Dr. Melinda Lewis

Designer: Isabella Akhtarshenas

Graphic Design Co-op: Esther Lee

Administration

Director of Administration & Finance: Ann Alexander

Executive Assistant to the Dean: Karen Sams

Director of Strategy: Dr. Melinda Lewis

ERICA LEVI ZELINGER Dean:

Paula Marantz Cohen

ERICA LEVI ZELINGER

BRIAN KANTOREK

ERICA LEVI ZELINGER

Academic Programs

Director: Dr. Kevin D. Egan

Associate Director, Center for Interdisciplinary Inquiry: Dr. Katie Barak

Associate Director, Honors Program: Dr. Julia Wisniewski

Program Manager: Lauren Davis

Academic Advisor, Center for Interdisciplinary Inquiry: Charlotte Shreve

Honors Program Advisor: Kenyon Privott

Graduate Assistant: Greg Probst

Marketing & Media

Director: Erica Levi Zelinger

Associate Director: Brian Kantorek

Director: Jaya Mohan

Associate Director: Leah Gates

Associate Director: Kelly Weissberger

Associate Director: Emily Kashka-Ginsburg

Assistant Director: Cara Fantini

Program Manager: Roxane Lovell

Program Manager for Outreach: Rachel James

Graduate Student Advisor: Ian Zimmermann

You

KATIE SULLIVAN BARAK

PHOTOGRAPHY

In Brief Down on the Farm

A view from Pennoni Honors College student Damian Mozier’s family farm in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania.

Last summer, after completing Pennoni’s STAR Scholars program, Honors students and friends Alexandra Nickel, biomedical engineering ’27; Branwyn Dunlap, biomedical engineering’27; Damian Mozier, biomedical engineering ’27; and Poorv Lal, computer science ’27, took a trip to Damian's family farm in the mountains of Pennsylvania. The farm itself had been in Damian's family for more than 100 years and much of the furniture and items are original to the house. While there, they spent their time exploring the historic barn and farmhouse, hiking, and enjoying the incredible view.

On Board

At a party of students held during the National Collegiate Honors Council’s (NCHC) annual conference in November, Sydney Chiang got out on the dance floor to learn hip bumps and cha-chas from students from the south.

A beautiful moment of shared experience and connection, Sydney, hospitality management ’27, Honors, was recently elected to a two-year term on the Board of Directors for the NCHC, an educational organization designed to support undergraduate honors education.

As a student chair, she is responsible for providing insight into the students’ perspective on Honors Colleges, to enhance the experiences offered at Honors Colleges, and to help grow the Honors College community nationwide.

Sydney enrolled in the Pennoni’s Program for Civic Foundations in her first year and is now on the Honors with Distinction track. She has taken courses on Aristotle, concepts of community and Plato’s Republic.

“Sydney’s engagement with the Honors Program made her an ideal student to nominate as a representative on the NCHC Board of Directors,” says Dr. Kevin Egan, director of Academic Programs at Pennoni. “Her involvement in our civic foundations track, in particular, demonstrated that she has a real investment in

exploring public purpose through her education, and I strongly believe that service to the broader honors community could help her bring that sense of purpose to fruition.” Sydney is passionate about improving Honors courses at institutions across the country, but her responsibility as chair is also useful to her future career.

“The ability to collaborate with people from all over as well as organizing conferences and meetings are all skills necessary in my future career in the hospitality industry, and I'm more than excited to gain knowledge and experience from the NCHC,” Sydney says.

Recipients for DAAD RISE, offering undergraduate students summer research internships in Germany. With a record number of applications this year, this achievement was a direct result of the work done by Pennoni's Undergraduate Research & Enrichment Programs to expand access to summer research fellowships through our Research Fellowhship Supplement Program. 2 8 4 5 recipients

Classmate Amina Ibrahim with Sydney Chiang, right.

Neighbor

Dean Paula Marantz Cohen and English Professor Robert Watts held a conversation with a University of Pennsylvania class, “Art as Intercultural Dialogue,” a program under Penn’s Paideia Foundation with instructors Claudia Tordini and Fanchon Siberstein. The duo was pleased to welcome their collegiate neighbors into Pennoni on the second floor of Bentley Hall.

In Brief WON'T YOU BE MY PENNONI PUBLICATION

Dr. Kevin Egan, director of academic programs and Lauren Davis, assistant director of academic operations, have a forthcoming publication on the faculty fellows component of the Teagle Grant received by the Honors College. The essay, “Honors Civic Foundations Faculty Fellows Program,” will be part of a special volume detailing how honors colleges work to promote faculty development and enrichment. Here's a preview quote from the paper:

“The Honors Civic Foundation Faculty Fellows program is designed to serve as an incubator for curricular development that centers civic engagement and democratic participation as a cornerstone of learning. We aim to bring together faculty members of all disciplines to read, discuss, and create new and innovative ways to weave the principles of democratic tradition into their own disciplines and areas of expertise.”

Custom-Designed & Employer Approved

When a student is applying to join the custom-designed major, one of the first questions we invariably get — from students themselves or a concerned parent — is, “How do employers view this major?” With Cassandra Mikkelson’s 2024 Cooperative Education Student Award, we have a clear answer: Employers value the skills that custom-designed students have developed, including creative problem-solving skills, initiative, and the ability to communicate effectively to diverse audiences. Cassandra, neuroscience '24, is the embodiment of these skills, and she has consistently put them to good use in pursuing her individualized plan of study and in the workplace. Casandra created a major focusing on neuroscience before it became an official major at Drexel and succeeded in three research co-ops. She received the award based on her performance during her third and final co-op working at Century Therapeutics.

Taking Flight

WIn his nomination of Cassandra, her supervisor, Thomas Brigman, wrote: “[Cassie] shows initiative by taking on many projects of high complexity ... Not only does [she] have initiative and critical-thinking skills, but she is also very dependable and has major dedication.” For those of us running the custom-designed major, seeing those words — initiative, critical thinking, dependability, dedication and communication — is confirmation of what we already know. Custom-designed students like Cassandra are proficient in these areas by the nature of the work they put into creating and achieving their unique majors. Mr. Brigman praised Cassie for presenting her poster at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Students, fielding questions, and bringing back improvement ideas. This comfort in presenting complex information is something we instill in custom-designed students early on, and Cassandra has been exceptional in this regard.

Cassandra’s senior capstone research asked: How does the location and level of formal education of people with Alzheimer’s disease correlate with the availability of relevant clinical trials? Her work demonstrated the scope of this mismatch, and she deftly blended the technical aspects of her research with social scientific analysis. In doing so, she successfully integrated the fields of biology, psychology, and medical sociology into her major. It was an excellent representation of all that Cassandra has achieved. After graduation, Cassandra will be attending Thomas Jefferson University as a PhD candidate in neuroscience. —Dr. Kevin Egan, Director of Academic Programs

hen several accomplished Pennoni Honors College students were awarded prestigious fellowships this year, it marked not just an academic milestone, but a gateway to global exploration. These fellowships will see our students embarking on classes at foreign universities, participating in cultural excursions and delving deep into language studies, underscoring their commitment to broadening horizons and embracing diverse cultures. Their journeys are a testament to the power of education and the far-reaching impacts of immersive global experiences.

&

arts management

Annie Jiang, management information systems ’26, South Korea

Freeman-ASIA Scholarship & Gilman Scholarship

Emily Lincoln, MPH '25, Brazil Boren Fellowship

Rymirah Garfield, global studies '26, South Korea

Jordan Adams, global studies '26 Taiwan

Astrid Bliss, fashion design '26, UK

Hui Min Chen, international business & economics '28, South Korea

Kenny Lin, management information systems

finance '26, Hong Kong

Teliyah Davis, entertainment &

'26, South Korea

Boren Scholarship, Freeman-ASIA Scholarship, Gilman Scholarship

Gilman Scholarship

In Brief

From Furbies to Finance:

Lectures and laughter combine to make

In an academic twist to the traditional study hall, an improv comedy show peppered with lectures on unexpected topics had audience members laughing and learning. Pennoni Playground, the College’s initiative to encourage students to relax from schoolwork, hosted a team of improvisers from Philadelphia’s Crossroads Comedy Theater to create a show that was entertaining and educational.

Dr. Kevin Egan, Pennoni’s director of Academic Programs lectured about the aesthetic and attitude of punk music history; Kevin Murray, Honors College alum and associate director of Undergraduate Admissions advocated for the more-themerrier approach to credit cards; and senior Serenity Baruzzini, engineering and education ’24, brought a basket of Furby fun and shared with the crowd how she’d been studying the toy since 2019 as a vessel for mechatronic education.

Kevin Egan distilled the music genre down to the safety pin; Kevin Murray raised his own hand when he asked the audience if anyone had 15 credit cards and then tried convincing the crowd why everyone should have more plastic power. Serenity confessed how she once asked a group of professionals to fund the purchase of more Furbies so she could make an interactive record player.

So, what did the group of quick-witted improv comedians do with all this information?

London called — and called again — (making reference to The Clash’s celebrated song London Calling and pretending to make a phone call), the comedians ad-libbed a few scenes making reference to the lectures, telling the crowd that suburbia is not punk; suggesting that high-yield savings accounts are a better bet than opening up a ton of credit cards, and describing a Furby black market where eyelashes were also plucked for resale.

Nobody got much work done at Study Hall, but attendees learned a lot about punk music, credit cards, Furby toys — and giggled and guffawed at the improvised scenes that followed.

Poster Student

While Felicia Wolfer, graphic design ’24, was co-oping in Pennoni’s Marketing & Media department in spring/summer 2023, Dr. Melinda Lewis, director of strategy, posed to her a design challenge: similar to the iconic national park posters created by the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression, could Felicia create posters and postcards in the same vein that highlight the significance and wonders of Pennoni’s departments and initiatives.

Each director was asked to suggest a landform or geographical feature that best embodied their department; Felicia set out to visually represent those ideas.

To me, these images and ideas are integral to the overall story of Pennoni — of what we stand for collectively and what we continue to build and foster individually in our departments, says Dr. Lewis.

“I'm excited for the work we're doing in developing our narrative as not a collection of opportunities, but a holistic place that sees and treats students, staff, and faculty as whole people with a heap of potential.” Felicia’s designs were printed with the following descriptive captions about the College and each department:

Pennoni Honors College

Like a superbloom of wildflowers, the Honors College creates an environment for students to bloom. With creative work, students are encouraged to become fully embodies as we help guide them through the terrain.

Academic Programs

Academic Programs provides a guiding light to students, helping them find their way through the terrain of their academic career. Once you get through the vines and rocky passageways, you are able to embrace the wonders that lie before you — and see the world for all it has to offer!

Undergraduate Research & Enrichment Programs

Like a volcano, incredible potential can be dormant until the right alignment of circumstances. At Undergraduate Research and Enrichment Programs, we help tap into the potential of our undergraduate student.

Civil Discourse

The ground beneath our feet is in constant motion; tectonic plates crashing together over millions of years. Despite a central thread of “tension” running through discourse, we believe that earnest and honest conversation has the capability of magnanimous shift in perspective.

Marketing & Media

Like a powerful river spreading nutrients to the land, Marketing & Media delivers valuable information and materials to our community.

Brief

In

Casting Light on Her Custom-Designed Major

In her capstone presentation to nearly 40 attendees, Ta’Liyah Thomas talked about her journey into the custom-designed major program, how she developed her major and presented an introduction to her capstone project, “(In)Visible Spectrum: A Journey of Light, Color, and Emotion Hidden in Plain Sight,” a 9-month-long process that culminated in an exhibition at Bentley Hall; the project included large-scale photography and two home theater projection rooms playing her multimedia work.

A big fan of behind-thescenes videos, Ta’Liyah or T.T., creative media studies ‘24, provided the audience an inside look at her own educational path, an exploration of her work in light and color, film, photography and design.

As a young child, T.T. had a habit of walking off with her mother’s camera to snap photos. As a teen, she loved television and movies about the supernatural. She had tried her hand at robotics and dabbled in computer science. And she had an affinity for the lighting section at Home Depot. But coming into Drexel, she was in the dark on how to blend her interests in art, technology and media.

So, she started off in electrical engineering.

Science, she joked, was not her thing. While she despised chemistry and was not fond of physics 1, classes in electrical engineering in the real world and engineering design lit something in her; she realized she wanted to create and design art with the use of technology.

“When a door closes, T.T. busts open a window,” says Dr. Katie Barak, associate director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Inquiry. Joining CSDN allowed T.T. to morph her major from television advertising and special effects to event design and promotion and finally choosing creative media studies. She took courses in photography, video production and theater and “I solidified an unspoken theme in my major: lighting.”

As a capstone project, T.T. knew she wanted to create an immersive exhibition. She researched lighting in countless shows and movies and then set out to capture content, always keeping digital and film cameras on her. Then she began planning a visual display featuring original photographs and videos centered around the light and color we encounter in our lives.

“The last thing I want is a purely polished item,” she wrote down and then told the crowd. “I want you to experience this with me. I need you to. I need you to come on this journey with me on how different light can look. It’s different in film. It’s different in photo. It’s different in theatre. It’s different in art … I want people to see how light can affect us.

It needs to be about light.”

When attendees were finished looking at her photography and watching her home theater projections, she asked them to fill out a form asking how people were influenced by her work.

“Did anything in this exhibition touch you emotionally?” she asks. “Even if you are angry, let me know. That means I did my job.”

To see T.t.'s two video projects, click here

Ta'Liya Thomas presents her capstone project.

The Truman Show

Alyssa Kemp, BS/MS environmental engineering '25 was one of 193 outstanding undergraduate students selected as a 2024 Truman Scholar out of 709 applications from 285 nominating institutions. Alyssa is Drexel’s fourth-ever finalist and Drexel’s third-ever scholar — and the second in a row. With interests rooted in environmental and social justice, climate policy and community development, Alyssa was chosen for their commitment to a career in service of the public interest. The scholarship will provide them with mentorship, professional development through a summer internship program, and funding for graduate school.

They were also one of Drexel’s four nominees for the Udall Scholarship.

Alyssa is a quintessential Pennoni Honors College student. They have participated in the Honors Program, completed the 2021 STAR Scholars Program, served as a Velay Fellow, a 2021-22 Aspire Scholar, and continued research through the SuperNova Undergraduate Research Fellows Program. Alyssa is also a Nina Henderson Provost Scholar, a Community-Based Learning Project Lead, and a Task Member of Drexel’s Climate Action Plan. After graduation, they aspire to enter a JD program, specializing in environmental and energy law.

Advancing Science

Suhani Dheer, psychology ‘26, Honors, and Satvik Tripathi, computer science ’26, Honors, were the only two Drexel undergraduate students to receive recognition for their posters at the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Student E-poster competition at their annual meeting. Held in February in Denver, the competition acknowledges the dedicated endeavors of students who are currently pursuing undergraduate, graduate, or doctoral-level degrees. Suhani received an honorable mention in the Science in Society category for her poster titled, “Cognition and Driving Behavior in Drivers with and Without Multiple Sclerosis.” Satvik also received an Honorable mention in the Technology, Engineering & Math category for his poster, “Transfer Learning for Diabetic Retinopathy in Resource-Constrained Settings.”

Endgame

“As a final project for my Symposium class focused on the game Tetris — part of a year-long course series with the theme of games – I knew from the beginning I wanted to create a zine of some kind. The class centered on the role and impact games play in modern culture. I ended up going with an exploration of patterning using the Tetris Tetrominoes as a base. I wanted to highlight each Tetromino on its own, with patterns created using a singular piece in opposition to the patterns players create using every piece during a regular game of Tetris. Each pattern was created using different methods; for some, I just played Tetris and emulated the way the piece would fall and rotate in the game. Others I created based on visual interest alone, seeing what shapes and repeating patterns each piece could create when duplicated on top of itself. The final result is a 20-page booklet printed on 11x17 newsprint."

T E T R O M I N O

Sofia Caballero, graphic design ‘24

In Brief

GOOD SPORTS

Ron Bishop, professor of communication in Drexel’s College of Arts & Sciences, and Sarah Napoli, assistant clinical professor of sport management in the LeBow College of Business, met last year at Pennoni’s Symposium networking session. Pennoni’s yearlong course series explores a chosen subject matter each year, bringing together students, faculty and visiting lecturers to examine a topic through an interdisciplinary lens and apply knowledge across disciplines. Last year, Dr. Katie Barak, the associate director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Inquiry, put out a request for faculty to pitch ideas for the 2023-24 theme of games. Bishop and Napoli attended the gathering and shared their ideas, pedagogical approaches and backgrounds.

Neither had co-taught a course across disciplines, but the faculty duo partnered up to teach a class called “The Games We Play.” Following a journey through the history and cultural significance of play, Napoli, who worked for the Philadelphia Phillies for 11 years, delved into the $19 billion youth sport industry and how that growth has standardized the experience of play. Ron, a one-time sportswriter who keeps sports gear in his car — just in case — got to revisit his 2009 book, When Play Was Play, where he explored whether unstructured play and all its benefits was disappearing as children become overscheduled. Co-teaching a class about play — the subject of engaging in activity for enjoyment, Bishop acknowledged, was the very sport he needed to re-energize his teaching. What was the experience like? We had Napoli ask Bishop and Bishop ask Napoli.

Sarah Napoli: Why did you decide to pitch ideas for Symposium courses?

Ron Bishop: I pitched ideas because frankly over the last few years, I've been looking for new challenges, chances to re-energize a bit. I've been at Drexel nearly 30 years — and have loved every second of my time in the classroom — but I thought it was time to try something new.

Sarah Napoli: Did you come at this class with a particular pedagogical approach?

Ron Bishop: I kind of cringe at the word "pedagogy" — I try to start and maintain a conversation among fellow contributors. Colleagues, if you like. Too often the classroom experience is top-down. I learn as much from my students as much as they (I hope) do from me.

Ron Bishop: Did you come at this class with a particular pedagogical approach?

Sarah Napoli: I'm a fan of the instructor being the facilitator of a class-wide discussion. I don't think that lecturing for an hour is the most effective teaching method. And of course, since the symposium theme is "Games," we decided to weave in some time for play!

Ron Bishop: How do you think students responded to the material?

Sarah Napoli: We were so impressed with the students right from the beginning of the class. Our discussions around assigned readings proved that they really understood the material and were interested in the subject matter.

Sarah Napoli: How has co-teaching across disciplines influenced or changed you as a professor?

Ron Bishop: As for change — I think some of Sarah's excellent prep and organizational skills have rubbed off a bit. It's also the most relaxed I've felt in class in a while (I tend to "geek out" about material in class. Maybe a little too enthusiastically for my own good — think Steve Kornacki from MSNBC). And it reminded me just how fortunate I am to do what I do for a living, to meet and talk with so many bright and talented people.

And it's not every day you end up making up your own games and playing them with your fellow students in the hall outside your class.

Ron Bishop: What were the biggest challenges to co-teaching?

Sarah Napoli: I wouldn't say this was a challenge, but since I'm so used to teaching solo, it was an adjustment to figure out who was responsible for what, and the administrative responsibilities that go along with leading a class.

Sarah Napoli: Any stories from team teaching that sum up the experience for you?

Ron Bishop: The laughter — when our students played the games they invented or reacted to their classmates doing improv (we played Scenes from a Hat), or when they tried to figure out how the game Sarah borrowed from her daughters was played. You always need a little laughter in a class.

Ron Bishop: How about you? Any fond memories?

Sarah Napoli: During Week 9 of the term, we split students into groups and asked them to create a game. After providing some time to plan their game, they introduced the concept to the rest of the class, and we took turns playing each group's game. At the end of this exercise, we asked the students how they enjoyed that experience, and one student said, "That was so rejuvenating!". Our undergraduate students have so much on their plates; sometimes it's nice to laugh and play with your classmates … and shouldn't it be enough to play, just for play's sake?

Ron Bishop: What would you say to students to encourage them to enroll in future Symposium courses?

Sarah Napoli: If you see a Symposium theme or class title that even remotely interests you, go for it! This will not be your run-of-the-mill, 80-minute lecture with a test at the end.

Pennoni’s Cup Runneth Over

Pennoni Honors College received a gold CUPPIE for Pop, the Question in the podcast category; and took home a bronze for this very magazine in the internal magazines category as well as an honorable mention for long-form story for the fall/winter 2023 cover story “Bugging Out.” The CUPPIES are given out at the College and University Public Relations Association of Pennsylvania spring conference for marketing professionals from 100 institutions of higher education.

Child's Play

Not sure he’d be that into the Symposium course, Soham Patel, biomedical engineering ’24, was blown out of the water with Ron Bishop and Sarah Napoli’s “The Games We Play” course. The readings, guest lecturers and game time, he says, were so applicable to the real world.

“Unstructured play is of utmost importance to get kids to be creative and just have fun, especially at a young age. With technology, though, this has been drastically reduced, with many children just sitting around watching TV or YouTube.”

Soham adds, whether he has children, he now has a better sense of the problems that exist in the youth sports industry.

The biggest take-home message: “The most important thing an athlete can do is enjoy the sport you are playing and have fun. The rest of the experience is secondary to this.”

MATERIALS WORLD

This spring, eight Materials Science & Engineering (MSE) students from Drexel — including four Honors College students — traveled to sunny Orlando to attend The Minerals, Metals, and Materials (TMS) spring meeting. Their goal — participate in the Materials Bowl, a materials-based quiz competition among MSE undergraduate students across national institutions. The winners would be showered with prizes, fame, and a literal “materials” bowl trophy. As it turns out, many other schools had the same idea as Drexel — this was the largest materials bowl to ever be held and there was stiff competition as a result! Despite this, the Drexel team was determined to have fun, and put their best foot forward, with three members of the Pennoni Honors College on the four-person competition team. Though this was their first time participating, the Drexel team placed in the top 10. They even found free time during their trip to stop at Disney World and see the Epcot ball! — Cailey Ruderman, BS/MS materials science and engineering ’24; Marley Downes, BS/MS materials science and engineering ’24; Lia DiMitri, BS/MS materials science and engineering ’25; Alessandra Cabrera, materials science and engineering ’26

Cailey Ruderman, BS/MS materials science and engineering ’24

Drexel University prides itself on its global reputation, especially in the field of materials science and engineering. Reputations are earned and must be maintained intentionally year after year. Attendance at conferences like the TMS Annual Meeting and Exhibition is integral to upholding our reputation and advancing it through the world-class, cross-disciplinary exchange of technical knowledge offered by TMS. This year, the Drexel University chapter of Material Advantage stewarded the first substantial undergraduate participation at the TMS Annual Meeting and Exhibition in at least 10 years, according to Dr. Richard Knight, the student organization's faculty advisor. This effort, enabled by the financial support of the Pennoni Honors College, provided this incredible opportunity for us as undergraduates and honors students.

At TMS 2024, I attended numerous sessions highlighting state-of-the-art research and industry trends. I networked with members of my field from across the globe, made new connections, and developed existing ones. I was even invited to present my senior design research project with a poster in a session dedicated to the otherwise niche topic of "Advances in Multi-Principle Element Alloys." I received overwhelmingly positive feedback, and I am now more confident than ever that the work I am completing here at Drexel is worthwhile and transformative for my field. This perspective could not have been gained without this exposure to the other institutions that are actively researching the same topic across the globe. We experienced the frontier of scientific knowledge in the field of materials engineering at TMS 2024, and I am so grateful and excited to bring this perspective back to my peers.

“I am now more confident than ever that the work I am completing here at Drexel is worthwhile and transformative for my field.”

—Cailey Ruderman

Materials Science & Engineering students gain insight and experience at the Minerals, Metals, & Materials spring conference in Orlando.

In college, we have many “firsts” — whether that be the first time moving away from home, the first time stepping foot into a lecture hall, or our first time working a full-time job. Although we may relocate several times throughout our lives and have brand new experiences, the first time we do something is always special. I am honored to have attended my first conference: the 2024 TMS Conference in Orlando, with seven of my fellow MSE majors from Drexel University. We made wonderful memories sharing meals together and cracking jokes. By the end of the conference, we learned a lot and truly bonded as a group. I definitely still have a lot to learn about metals, but seeing the connection between academic research and my classes was very valuable, and it certainly reaffirmed my passion for materials science. It was heartening to see that Drexel was well-represented at TMS with undergraduates, grad students, and faculty. The TMS Conference has inspired me to seek out many more “firsts” and hopefully present my own research at conferences like this in the future.

Alessandra Cabrera, materials science and engineering ’26

Marley Downes, BS/MS materials science and engineering ‘24

TMS is one of the major materials-focused conferences to be held each year, attracting 4,000 attendees from around the world to their Annual Meeting & Exhibition. During my time at Drexel, I have been lucky enough to attend two of their meetings: once as a scholarship winner and most recently with the generous support of the Pennoni Honors College. When I attended last year as part of my scholarship, I presented my research to the Light Metals Division (LMD) of TMS and got to meet with many of the organization’s important figures, including their former president! Though my work is mainly in nanomaterials synthesis, the LMD was extremely welcoming and encouraged me to look into the Material Advantage (MA) events hosted at TMS, mainly the Materials Bowl.

I returned to Drexel and immediately began to get my MA team excited about attending the conference this year, competing in the Materials Bowl, and possibly restarting our old Bladesmithing team (another undergraduate competition at TMS — yes students compete to produce a blade by forging and welding!) With plenty of planning and fundraising from our secretary, Cailey, we were able to make TMS 2024 a reality and support travel for 8 MA members — both outgoing seniors giving one last hurrah and the underclassmen who make up the future of MA.

Additionally, one of our members won a similar scholarship to mine, continuing the legacy of Drexel excellence at TMS. The Drexel team stuck together for the Materials Bowl, with the underclassmen cheering the team on! While the competition tested my materials knowledge — and showed me where I need to study more — the most exciting aspect of the conference was meeting other researchers in my field and having engaging discussions about our research. During the poster session, I even ran into Dr. Babak Anasori (professor at Purdue, but received his PhD from Drexel) and Drexel MSE professor and my mentor, Dr. Yury Gogotsi. As my last undergraduate conference, TMS 2024 was certainly a success and I look forward to what the future will hold!

Lia DiMitri,

BS/MS

materials science and engineering ’25

Time and time again, I find myself immensely grateful for not only the opportunities Drexel University has offered me, but also the people, connections, and relationships fostered along the way to make these opportunities possible. Through tremendous effort and coordination among our executive board with the Pennoni Honors College, the Materials Science and Engineering Department, and the Student Organization Resource Center, TMS 2024 in Orlando, Florida, was made possible for me. As vice president of Material Advantage and incoming president of our organization, the sheer dedication our seniors had in arranging this trip and Drexel’s support throughout the process serve as an example of my commitment to expanding these opportunities to students in the future. At the conference itself, I was unsure if I would find presentations tailored to my interests in biomaterials since it was hosted by TMS, the Metals, Minerals, and Materials Society. However, to my surprise, an entire hall at the convention center was dedicated to biomaterials, ranging from talks regarding the nanostructure of enamel to honey-mediated gold nanoparticles for drug delivery. I was able to relate these talks to my own research at Drexel and co-op at Johnson & Johnson, gaining both insight into my work and a glimpse into the future of my career. One talk in particular — using AI to Improve Medical Devices — struck my attention, as it delved into the use of emerging technologies to mediate current failings of orthopedic devices. Since I currently work part-time for DePuy Synthes, the orthopedics company of Johnson & Johnson, I was actually able to report significant findings discussed at this presentation to my boss and coworkers after the conference, who found them equally as interesting. The conversations fostered throughout and as a result of the conference have reinvigorated my passion for materials science and engineering, providing a renewed sense of purpose in my academic and professional journey.

LI v I ng W IT h O u T L

Lia DiMitri, BS/MS materials science and engineering ’25, and Cailey Ruderman, BS/MS materials science and engineering ’24, are well-traveled conference attendees. Lia and Cailey were also part of a group of Honors College students who attended the WE23 Conference in October 2023 with the Drexel section of the Society of Women Engineers. With funding from Pennoni Honors College, Lia; Cailey; Munazzah Al Hashim, mechanical engineering and mechanics ’25; Abigail Jackson, computer engineering ’24; and Feben Wolde-Semayat, BS/MS chemical engineering and materials science and engineering ’24, joined more than 17,000 women in Los Angeles to network, gain career insights, and learn about innovation in their fields.

"My experience at this conference and career fair was incredibly enriching and transformative,” says Feben. “It has provided me with a wealth of knowledge, networking opportunities and potential career paths, all of

IMITS

which are invaluable as I prepare to embark on my professional journey. This opportunity means a great deal to me, as it has broadened my horizons, introduced me to a multitude of possibilities, and equipped me with the tools and connections needed to navigate the challenging landscape of the engineering world."

Women were encouraged to "Live Without Limits" and the theme, exemplified by conference programming, says Cailey, “reinvigorated my desire to challenge myself, push boundaries, and reach my full potential. Networking with successful and passionate engineers in my field with a shared identity is an unparalleled experience."

Hearing from the engineers who worked on NASA’s Artemis mission relay their experience of the exact moment the rocket launched, Lia adds, reminded her of why she chose to pursue engineering: passion.

“Sometimes this motivation can be obscured among the plethora of

due dates, tests and assignments, but hearing Artemis’s successful launch from the perspective of women who made it happen reminded me that being an engineer means pushing existing bounds and working with a common goal for the advancement of all humanity."

Sessions like "Engineering Your Own Finances," "Brown Girl Magic - Leadership Looks Like Me," and "Women with ADHD in the Workplace," Munazzah acknowledges, educated her on managing and navigating parts of her life such as finances, identity and mental health struggles. “During a lot of these sessions, not only was I able to share a space where I felt like I belonged,” she says, “but I was also provided with tangible resources that I could use to make some of my everyday life processes a lot more feasible."

Munazzah Al Hashim, mechanical engineering and mechanics ’25 and Abigail Jackson, computer engineering ’24 at WE23.

Pennoni Honors College students attend the WE23 Conference with the Drexel section of the Society of Women Engineers.

Everything Ventured, Everything Gained

By Erica Levi Zelinger

Ayear after she graduated, Uma Patel moved to Berlin and helped launch a startup that helped other startups monitor their competitors in the market. When it sold, the entrepreneur-in-residence at venture capital firm Wizard Ventures shifted gears to help get a design subscription service off the ground.

Uma, chemistry ’22, is not doing research or applying to medical school — she’s using her studies in the central science as a way of thinking.

From exploratory studies her first year, the Honors Program alum’s self-described “squiggly college career” led her to settle on chemistry, but she found everything interesting. She hated the idea of picking a major. Uma credits her education in the Honors Program as a means to discovering the multidisciplinarity she desires in life.

Her transcript of Honors classes shows breadth and depth of learning;

Uma found intellectual balance in courses such as Knowledge and Injustice; Romanticism: Style & Structure; and Aging & Design.

“Those classes made me appreciate how important it is to read and participate in things that aren’t part of your career,” says Uma, chemistry ’22. “I make sure to go to events that are geared toward art, film or fashion. I am creating these classes in my everyday life.”

When the Philadelphia native started at Drexel, she hated the feeling of people being confused by her. She was trying to put chemistry in a place that made sense. She had all these other interests: venture capital, women’s health startups, biotech startups, and, although she only came to terms with it much later in college, “it doesn’t have to be one thing.”

“I wanted to be amazing at everything and I did not want to have hiccups in my path,” Uma says. The

path was lonely. She tried to convince herself that maybe she was interested in research. So, she did the STAR Scholars Program. But it was clear when she was talking to other STAR students who were so passionate about research, that she was not.

Co-ops gave her the chance to explore different career options and explore venture capital (VC) roles, but her return sometimes felt alienating.

“My co-ops never made sense to other people. I felt lonely.”

As her college career wore on, the “multi-curious” student shed her professional loneliness; she leaned into it and stopped hiding. She started being honest with herself and pursuing what genuinely sparked her interest. She sought communities that supported her other interests: she joined groups or programs to support diversity in technology education; women’s health; writing; and film photography.

“I wanted to be amazing at everything and I did not want to have hiccups in my path.”

Left: Uma Patel in her Berlin office space; above: a winter sunset at Mauer Park.

Her interest in VC and writing landed Uma a job her sophomore year as a content writer for a VC fellowship program for aspiring VCs in underrepresented universities. She wrote deep dives every few weeks on entrepreneurs and their startups.

But she wouldn’t tell her fellow chemistry majors about these side projects she was working on. “It would look like I was unfocused because I wasn’t just focused on chemistry,” Uma admits to feeling at the time.

Then she found a way to lean into and not hide from her squiggly trajectory.

In her senior year, Uma introduced Pennoni Honors College and Drexel to the Anti-Resume Project, an initiative that started at the University of Pennsylvania to highlight both failures and accomplishments of people who don’t normally show up on a resumé. With co-ops, 10-week terms, clubs, and the city of Philadelphia, Drexel students have a lot to balance, and, Uma said at the time, “Sometimes it feels like there’s no space for mess-ups.”

“Those classes made me appreciate how important it is to read and participate in things that aren’t part of your career. I make sure to go to events that are geared toward art, film or fashion. I am creating these classes in my everyday life.”

The goal was to inspire and encourage taking risks, detach your self-worth from your GPA, normalize the “figuring it out” process and allow yourself to be vulnerable and authentic.

“Our worth,” Uma says, “is not confined to a single white sheet of paper typed in Times New Roman font. It’s within the messiness of our lives that we actually start living.”

Uma’s living took her to Germany last year, where the adventurous and adaptable young woman works out of an apartment with the two co-founders of her company. She says her VC content writing gig helped land her this role, which as the only full-time person working for the company, was rather daunting, especially for her first job post-graduation.

“The amount of growth and knowledge I've acquired in nine months feels equivalent to four jobs,” she says. “This job forced me to see how much I was capable of and how much I could ‘figure out.’ One thing I didn't realize about building a company is it really forces you to confront your limiting beliefs and insecurities and so it was a huge wake-up call to the thoughts holding me back.”

Above: The Staatsballett Berlin or Berlin State Ballet; right: Uma Patel says her job in venture capital has forced her to see how much she is capable of.

Uma Patel and her colleagues at VC firm Wizard Venures.

“Our worth is not confined to a single white sheet of paper typed in Times New Roman font. It’s within the messiness of our lives that we actually start living.”

Dean for a

Dean Paula Marantz Cohen concludes a decade of service to Pennoni Honors College this year. Under her leadership, Pennoni has established its home in Bentley Hall, received remarkable financial support from its constituents, and made available countless programs and initiatives for students and the greater Pennoni community.

When Dean Cohen reflects on her past decade of accomplishments, programming, and courses, her fondest memories involve student interaction and impact. There are the big annual events like the Honors Program Medallion Ceremony; the Bentley Hall Block Party and Senior Send-Off festivities (where the Dean would chat with — and draw portraits of — students); Custom-Designed Major capstone and commencement events; and the STAR Scholars Summer Showcase. Additionally, there have been “serendipitous conversations in the Annette Pennoni Living Room” in Bentley Hall and through numerous interdisciplinary Honors Program, Great Works, and Program in Civic Foundations course opportunities.

A Drexel Distinguished Professor of English and educator on Jane Austen, William Shakespeare, Alfred Hitchcock, Henry James, and George Eliot for many years at Drexel, Dean Cohen originally became connected to Pennoni through respected colleagues and preceding Deans Mark Greenberg and the late Dave “D.B.” Jones.

During her time as Dean, Dr. Cohen has never neglected the drive to write, prolifically producing books, essays and newspaper op-eds. Her writing has appeared in The Wall

Street Journal, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The American Scholar, and Pennoni’s own The Smart Set. Her latest book, Talking Cure: An Essay on the Civilizing Power of Conversation (Princeton University Press, 2023) received accolades in both The New Yorker and Wall Street Journal. Her preceding book, Of Human Kindness: What Shakespeare Teaches Us About Empathy (Yale University Press, 2021), was a partial impetus for the weekly Shakespeare Read-Aloud series Dean Cohen has hosted virtually since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. She relishes how the series inspired and enabled her to bond with participants from throughout the University and beyond, despite their distance (including one fervent group member from England). Dean Cohen notes, “This group kept my spirits up through the pandemic and other pitfalls — and promises to continue on indefinitely.”

Of course, this is just one of an abundance of achievements from the Dean’s past decade. Perhaps most notable was the 2020 completion of Bentley Hall, made possible by a groundbreaking gift from Greg and Caroline Bentley and allowing all Pennoni departments to permanently unite under one roof and fully integrate with the Honors Living-Learning Community. Dean Cohen’s involvement in this Honors “house” stretched from initial development strategy all the way through to interior design selections and post-pandemic efforts to reintroduce in-person events and make everyone feel at home. By 2023, programming abounded, and Bentley Hall became host to classes, meetings, social events, celebrations, and

“Pennoni has a unique culture of unity and concern for each other and for students. This is hard-won and fragile. I hope my successor will tread gently in dealing with this culture and learn to respect it. It involves trust and flexibility. When all members of our academic community — staff, faculty, and students — are trusted and given latitude, they tend to be more creative and productive.”

other special events like Art on Arch — an exhibition realized by Dean Cohen with the dedicated support of Executive Assistant Karen Sams and the Drexel Founding Collection.

As someone who appreciates robust conversation, Dean Cohen also envisioned a Center for Civil Discourse at the University “to forward an array of initiatives geared to important and controversial issues.” Pennoni led this effort with its popular flagship Pennoni Panels series, as well as the longstanding PBS-broadcast television interview series The Civil Discourse born from its legacy predecessor The Drexel Interview (both of which Dean Cohen has hosted for a total of nearly 20 years). Some of her most

memorable interview guests from the series include Christopher Hitchens, Bari Weiss, Thomas Chatterton Williams, Salman Rushdie, Nikole Hannah-Jones, John Waters, Nora Ephron, and Cynthia Ozick. For a handful of episode recordings, Dean Cohen and her team also pivoted important Pennoni Panels discussions as episodes of the show, including “The Future of the University” (with President John Fry alongside others from Rutgers University and St. John’s College) and “When Great Artists Behave Badly” (a collaboration with the Barnes Foundation and New York Live Arts, featuring Tony Award-winning choreographer/artist Bill T. Jones).

Dean Cohen’s Center for Civil

Discourse also welcomed a landmark achievement with the acquisition of a prestigious Teagle Foundation grant to fund the nascent Program for Civic Foundations. Philanthropist John Martinson later supplemented this award with a generous gift to expand the Honors with Distinction track of the Honors Program. Through energetic fundraising efforts over her decade in Pennoni, Dean Cohen also cultivated gift accounts to allow greater support for student travel, research, and programming like Aspire.

As Dean Cohen and the entire Pennoni community welcome its next leader, she calls for “leeway for experimentation — even failure.” Dean Cohen elaborates: “Some of the initiatives

that we tried did not pan out, but they were useful learning experiences. There should be room for our staff to come up with new ideas and take risks.

“Pennoni has a unique culture of unity and concern for each other and for students. This is hard-won and fragile. I hope my successor will tread gently in dealing with this culture and learn to respect it. It involves trust and flexibility. When all members of our academic community — staff, faculty, and students — are trusted and given latitude, they tend to be more creative and productive.”

Once she steps down from her role, Dean Cohen will take a sabbatical year to work on a new book, offering an integrative proposal for how to resolve existing problems in undergraduate education. In Fall 2025, Dr. Cohen will return to her faculty post.

By EricaLeviZelingerBy EricaLeviZelinger

Photos courtesy of Kiana Ahmari and Nursultan Zhanabay

To study the ozone during an eclipse, a pair of Honors College students had to collect a balloon launched nearly 100 miles away that landed in somebody's backyard near Fredericksburg, Texas. They would have to retrieve it — during hunting season.

Using a GPS tracking device attached to the balloon and some great investigative skills, Kiana Ahmari, chemical engineering ‘27, determined the property was listed on Airbnb, contacted the company, and then got in touch with the owner. With support from the Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project, Kiana and Nursultan Zhanabay, chemical engineering ‘27, were among six Drexel students who traveled to Rocksprings, Texas in October for a high-altitude balloon launch when the sun, moon and Earth perfectly aligned to create a path of darkness. This trip — celestial occurrence meets scientific exploration — was months long in the making. Kiana, from Valley Forge, Pa., and Nursultan, or “Nurs,” for short, from Kazakhstan, each applied their first year to participate in the College of Engineering’s Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP). They began working with Dr. Richard Cairncross,

professor of chemical and biological engineering and the project lead on this research.

As part of VIP, Kiana and Nurs attended weekly meetings and followed lesson plans during their winter and spring terms; they both had been accepted to STAR and chose to continue this research full-time with Dr. Cairncross during the summer after their first year.

The Drexel students, joined by one faculty member and a group of students and teachers from Springside Hill Chestnut Academy, set up at Camp Eagle, an adventure camp near San Antonio and in the eclipse path.

The rare astronomic occurrence provided the group with an opportunity to measure stratospheric ozone concentration in response to a rapid change in sunlight; ozone plays a crucial role in protecting life on Earth by absorbing the sun’s harmful ultraviolet radiation. Monitoring the ozone levels in this 8- to 10-minute time period helps scientists understand variations in ozone concentration and distribution, which are essential for assessing the health of the ozone layer.

“The knowledge and data gathered during th[is] expedition will contribute to ongoing research and inspire future endeavors in the field of atmospheric chemistry,” wrote Nurs in

a blog about the experience.

After testing the equipment the day before, and several hours of preparation on the day of, the team launched their first balloon at 9:47 a.m. The string connecting the electronic payloads — GPS, barometric pressure sensor, ozone sensor, cameras — broke off, causing the balloon to fly off without the payloads.

On the first balloon launch attempt, the payload string broke.

The day before the solar eclipse in Texas, the team prepared and tested equipment.

Left: During an annular solar eclipse, the sun appears as a “ring of fire” in the sky; below: an aerial view of the students filling the balloon.

“I felt panic,” Kiana says. “The goal was to launch before the eclipse at 11 a.m. I thought, ‘Are we going to be able to get something up before the eclipse happens?’ But even after the failure, everyone worked together to fill another balloon with helium, discussed cutting back on the payload stacks and devised flight predictions to make sure the balloon hit altitude during the eclipse.”

On a second — and successful — launch, the team was able to get a second balloon up in time, though without the cutdown mechanism that allows the balloon to drop the payload stack; the second balloon then had to fly until it burst. Meanwhile, the group took in the total solar eclipse and its “ring of fire” with requisite eclipse glasses.

At the ground station, Kiana determined the balloon burst at 30,000 meters and then deployed Nurs and the recovery team — which is why, nearly two hours later, the curious and argumentative Nurs was traipsing through a backyard in Fredericksburg, Texas looking for their downed equipment.

Kiana, says Dr. Cairncross, is very good at experiment organization and problem-solving challenges. “Kiana is a is a very dedicated and enthusiastic researcher. She asks lots of questions and is good about planning experiments.”

Nurs, he adds, has an energy an entrepreneurial perspective that could very well help him start a future business enterprise.

“I think STAR helped him build skills of planning, execution and documenting results that will be really useful for his future,” Cairncross says.

Since the October launch, the pair have been prepping for another eclipse in April. This time, the launch path is in Old Forge, New York near the Adirondacks. Just a car trip away, Kiana and Nurs did a practice launch, finishing finals on a Friday afternoon and driving six hours to reach their destination and do a test launch the next morning.

Kiana and Nurs each came to the balloon project with research experience — Kiana worked at Penn Medicine with a medical imaging team, Nurs explored heat engines. But now they are floating in different research directions: Kiana has been doing research in environmental microbiology; Nurs is passionate about polymers and plastics. The pair would still love to parlay their engineering design research into a ballooning club at Drexel like those at other universities.

Below: A payload camera captures Earth from the atmosphere; Right: Drexel and Springside Hill Chestnut Academy students stargazing.

with an opportunity to measure stratospheric ozone "The rare astronomic occurrence provided the group concentration in response to a rapid change in sunlight."

P utting Her Future on the Map

By Erica Levi Zelinger

Jade Umstead had hopes of using her 2024 degree in criminology and justice studies to produce crime maps to build safer communities.

But since finishing her coursework, Jade, criminology and justice studies ‘24, is reorienting her career path and taking an alternative route. She’s now working toward becoming a diplomat.

“No matter how many times I change my course or make a stop along the way, I know my destination remains the same: opportunity.”

Jade isn’t quite sure where the GPS of life is taking her, but she is pretty good at mapping things out. Receiving the Gilman, Freeman-ASIA, and Boren Scholarships, and Rangel Graduate Fellowship during her time at Drexel has been the (plane) ticket

to South Korea, Taiwan, grad school and even her first job.

“This is my 10-year plan,” she says. “I have already mapped out 10 years — two years of grad school and five years in the foreign service. Elementary school taught me to round up so that’s 10 years for me.”

says, offered a less conventional route to a first job in the federal government.

“I didn’t want a stepping-stone job — these fellowships offer a more direct route into federal service.”

Just reaching out to Undergraduate Research & Enrichment Programs about fellowship opportunities is a big step, but so worth it, Jade says; the benefits from the staff’s years of experience hosting mock interviews, going through tens of essay revisions with applicants, brainstorming and bouncing ideas. “I sing Kelly [Weissberger’s] praises since I haven’t lost once.”

“This is my 10-year plan. I have already mapped out 10 years – two years of grad school and five years in the foreign service. Elementary school taught me to round up

Jade knew she didn’t want to start off working at a police department or security company, so fellowships, she

“Jade has worked with me on so many applications throughout her time at Drexel,” says Kelly Weissberger, associate director of Undergraduate Research & Enrichment Programs.” Some were

Jade poses at the Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul, South Korea.

Left: Jade strolling the Beitou District in Taiwan.

opportunities she discovered at the last minute, and she forged ahead without hesitation, undaunted by the short turnaround time. I have so much admiration for her ability to leap into new things confidently; it has definitely paid off.”

For an overachiever with high academic integrity, her mapped-out plan not only included criminology and community-based courses, but also learning foreign languages. At first, she was dead set on taking Spanish and going to school in Spain. Then she started with Korean.

“I thought studying abroad was the main reason I came to college,” Jade says.

But as a COVID college kid, “trying to make sure I even had a career track while the world was ending,” was challenging. Receiving the Gilman Scholarship and Freeman-ASIA award to Korea allowed her to escape life.

“When I went to Korea, I was only 19,” she says. “I went out there with false hope that it would solve my dilemma of who I was and what I wanted to get out of life.”

She found herself having an identity crisis as an exchange student at a cut-throat and academically

overwhelming, STEM-heavy institution. Though she enjoyed her numerous elective classes in Korean fiction, Korean law, Korean film and Korean language, her poor judgment and sometimes confrontational ways landed her in some dangerous situations. There was a xenophobic and anti-Black sentiment in Korea that was so overt, she asked herself, “Why am I doing this for the sake of cultural exchange? Everything was not what I wanted it to be.”

She came back to Philly with some new goals: prioritizing her mental health, being more intentional about how she chose her friends, and reevaluating whether she still wanted a career with a global component. Jade credits the supervisors she worked under as a resident advisor in the residence halls, and to Drs. Cyndi Rickards, Ashley Dickinson Kris Unsworth and Robert Kane, because they believed in her.

“Even before I saw myself as anything, they saw the potential in me. They took it upon themselves to nurture that.”

Not sure if returning to Asia was right for her but tempted by Kelly’s pitch to apply for Boren, which invests in linguistic knowledge for aspiring federal government

employees, she went for it. For her final six months at Drexel, she studied the Mandarin language in Taiwan.

“I keep getting lucky,” she says.

“With Gilman, I took a baby step — I go abroad, I have a tumultuous time. That transitioned to Boren, and I wondered, ‘Can I do the international shebang again?’”

She had to come at it from a different attitude.

你不是我的菜.

That’s Jade Umstead’s favorite Chinese expression. It means, “You’re not my cup of tea.”

That’s an indirect way to say, “I don’t like it,” and Jade has discovered in her travels abroad there is plenty that she doesn’t like.

She’s prioritizing stability, learning to let go, and now with Rangel, which funds two years of grad school, offers two internships and asks for a five-year commitment to foreign service, having these fellowships rounds out her resumé in a way that one co-op couldn’t.

She completed her degree while abroad in Taiwan, so when she returned, she went to live with her sister in Maryland before starting a Congressional internship. She’ll then head to Johns Hopkins for grad school.

Above and right: Jade at National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei, Taiwan.

Shifen Waterfall, Pingxi District, Taiwan

“No matter how many times I change my course or make a stop along the way, I know my destination remains the same: opportunity. ”

Nurturing Passion into Purpose

Calvin Keeys' journey from Wild Kratts to wildlife conservation

By Erica Levi Zelinger

From a 52-meter observation tower at the Tiputini

Biodiversity Station in remote Ecuador, Calvin Keeys and a few of his 12 classmates watched the sun rise over the Amazon basin. With the naked eye, he only saw endless trees. But Calvin, environmental science ’25, observed much more:

“I was able to appreciate the Earth’s most biodiverse area and the importance of protecting environments in danger to ensure their wildlife is protected,” he says.

With assistance from a Gilman International Scholarship, which offers financial assistance to students to study abroad, Calvin was able to go on a Drexel intensive course abroad last fall to Ecuador to study the ecology of tropical rain forests at different elevations.

When Calvin was younger, he loved reading animal books and going on outings to places such as the Philadelphia Zoo and Franklin Institute with his father, a science teacher.

Captivated by the use of live-action and animation to teach children about animals, Calvin was also mesmerized by PBS Kids’ show Wild Kratts. He can still proudly recall several

Calvin Keeys, environmental science '25, gains international perspective as a Gilman Scholar studying abroad in Ecuador.

animal facts he absorbed while watching the show with his sister at his grandmother’s apartment in Delaware County: The peregrine falcon is the fastest animal. The sex of crocodile offspring is determined by the temperature of egg incubation. The platypus lays eggs.

Calvin parlayed his passion for the show and his love of animals into career intentions: His goal is to become a wildlife biologist with a focus on conservation and the protection of endangered species. He is now one of four Drexel students selected as nominees for the 2024 Udall Scholarship, which supports students in careers related to the environment, tribal public policy or Native American healthcare. With support from Pennoni Honors College, the Delaware County resident has already earned himself the Gilman and several other accolades and experiences for his efforts.

In the summer after his first year at Drexel, Calvin participated in the STAR Scholars Program, doing research with Dr. Jason Weckstein at the Academy of Natural Sciences Department of Ornithology on whether the bird species white-winged becard (Pachyramphus polychopterus) follows

Gloger’s Rule, an ecogeographical rule that dictates the more heavily pigmented forms of a species are found in more humid environments.

The STAR Scholars Program, Calvin says, catapulted him to continue his research. He was invited to apply to a student poster competition at the 2023 American Association for Advancement of Science annual meeting, and though he wasn’t selected as a finalist, the organization provided him a ticket to attend to the event.

A STAR info session with Undergraduate Research & Enrichment Programs (UREP) also encouraged him to apply for Pennoni’s Aspire Scholars Program.

“I applied wanting to develop my goals and realize my full potential,” Calvin says. “Being a person of color, I began to realize the lack of diversity and opportunities for underrepresented communities in my career field.”

Growing up with an African-American father and a Sierra Leonean mother, Calvin wants to help provide resources to these communities and recognize each other’s differences to create a healthier world. He applied to Aspire Scholars to gain mentorship and interact with other like-minded people and help his fellow students reach their goals.

During his time in Aspire, he was asked to reflect on his commitment to his field of interest. Up until that point, he admits, he had a basic idea of his field, but he was unsure of his exact goals. He was anxious and lacked confidence.

“I was new to this whole adulting thing,” he jokes.

Among his favorite assignments were creating a personal strategic plan, developing a Padlet calendar, and creating a final project using his skillset to help him clarify his goals. Employing his graphic design minor and his interest in video games, he wanted to make a parallel between his hobbies and pursuing his career goals.

“One of the things I enjoy about gaming is not just how diverse and expansive the industry and community is, but also how you can use resources in a game to accomplish what you need to do.”

So, Calvin created a video game-themed inventory of resources in Adobe Illustrator, including a daily planner; Notion, an organizational app for tracking tasks; Fastweb,

an online resource for finding scholarships; the Pomodoro studying technique; OneNote digital note-taking software; Google Tasks; technological resources like headphones; lyric-less music which helps him stay focused.

Calvin then used his own organized library of resources to refine his Gilman application.

“I created checklists of all the materials I needed to get and the prerequisites I needed. I split up larger tasks into smaller tasks and made it more approachable.”

Additional advice for other fellowship applicants? Don’t procrastinate. Talk to the folks at UREP who are skilled and knowledgeable about the awards process. Talk to students who’ve received the fellowships already. They have been in your position.

And recognize that this process is anxiety-inducing. “It’s going to feel overwhelming … but still go for it. Even if you don’t get it, you can at least say you tried. But if you don’t apply at all, you are guaranteeing yourself a chance not to get it.”

Calvin’s dream job would be to help with the research and recovery of endangered species in biodiversity hotspots like Ecuador. He hopes to use his graphic design skills for freelance work and to promote scientific organizations, events and initiatives. He also wants to inform the public about environmental science using informational graphics for science education.

After he graduates, Calvin plans to do some conservation internships with organizations, such as American Conservation Experience, Alliance for Watershed Education and Student Conservation Center. He plans to use these opportunities to learn more about different environments throughout the United States and work as part of a team.

Somewhere in his Aspire Program toolkit, he’s already outlined additional career goals: I plan to apply to the Fulbright U.S. Student Program and the Smithsonian Student Tropical Research Institute, to learn more about biodiversity hotspots abroad, specifically in African and Latin American countries. Ultimately, I hope to do conservation research for the government, such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, or a non-profit such as the World Wildlife Fund and The Nature Conservancy.

Traveling to Ecuador confirmed Calvin's career goals of researching endangered species in biodiversity hotspots.

A Custom Community

By Dr. Katie Sullivan Barak, Associate Director, Center for Interdisciplinary Inquiry, Academic Programs

Students in the Custom-Designed Major are perpetually curious which means they are comfortable asking questions and engaging in discussions about unfamiliar topics. They are earnest about their interests, keen to share what they know and explore possible connections. They care a lot about the world and see themselves as active agents of change, responsible for making a difference and accountable to future generations.

Pennoni Honors College, home to the Custom-Designed Major (CSDN) for going on 13 years, provides space for students to build their own major, forging an academic path that brings together multiple disciplines without mirroring existing combinations of majors and minors. Recent graduates have created majors called “NatureIntegrated Design,” “Social Activism,” and “Food History and Nutritional Anthropology.”

But sometimes going off the beaten path and carving an individualized plan of study can be alienating. Dr. Kevin Egan, who helped launch the major in 2011, jokingly calls CSDN “the island of misfit toys,” referencing the 1964 holiday film Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The phrase, used metaphorically, now describes a situation where people don’t fit in elsewhere. While I agree that we host a motley crew of creative thinkers, the “island” part of the comparison always gives me pause. I have been working with these students for the past five years, serving as their advisor and professor. In this role, I support them from the inception of their major through their senior capstone project. On the one hand, our academic island provides CSDN students with support and space to conduct their interdisciplinary exploration. On the other hand, an island is isolated. Because each student’s path is unique, they take most of their classes in multiple colleges across Drexel but exist outside those student cohorts. It can be hard to feel connected when each person in the major is striking out on an individualized path. Which is why those of us working with these remarkable students have been intentional in fostering a CSDN community.

CSDN alumni and current students network and build community.

Core courses and milestones offer structural points to bring CSDN students together. These shared experiences have been central to the major since its inception. One such experience is the senior year capstone project. Every student in the major conducts a self-directed, nine-month-long project; the topic and related deliverables must encapsulate the knowledge, skills, and experiences they cultivate during their time at Drexel.

During the first two terms of capstone work, students must present their in-progress work at a Crit Session. They are tasked with explaining their project, detailing the work they did over the term, and tying it back to their overall custom major. The audience is intentionally general, coming from across Drexel’s faculty, staff, and current students. This means students must consciously speak accessibly to people they may or may not know who may or may not know anything about any of their disciplines. It is challenging, but the ability to communicate efficiently and tailor messaging to an audience are hallmark requirements of the major.

Again, given the highly individualized nature of their

“There is a commonality of being a CustomDesigned student that creates an immediate bond that transcends time and the diversity of things they pursue.”

research, no two capstone projects are alike. The student studying “Nature-Integrated Design” designed a chandelier with algae living inside of ornamental beakers hung on its perimeter; her goal was to infuse biophilic design in spaces where nature is often absent. The culminating project for the “Social Activism” student was to create a zine to spread awareness about relational activism, which uses relationships, local communities, and daily practices as foundations for long-term social and environmental change. The student investigating “Food History and Nutritional Anthropology” researched, developed, and prepared a historical tasting menu based on the different people and cultures in the Philadelphia area, starting with the Lenni Lenape. As you can see, these projects are rich, interesting, and deeply personal.

The crit sessions are milestones, marking the student’s progress through their capstone project as well as their proximity to graduation. There is vulnerability because the work is in early or mid-stages, just taking shape or barely a revised draft. There is frenetic energy as the audience offers comments, asks questions, and possibly opens new paths of inquiry previously unexplored. And there are nerves because public speaking makes most of us sweat. It is an intense set of peaks building toward the final summit, and it is a climb that every CSDN student must make.

With all of this in mind, we decided to make the end-of-term Crit Session, held in early December, a mooring point for community building. We invited CSDN alumni back to campus to provide feedback and share their expertise with current students. The intent was three-fold: First, we hoped alums would feel celebrated for their impact on the evolution the major has undergone. Second, we wanted current students to see they are part of a growing Custom-Designed network that extends beyond their time in undergrad. The third intention was to kick off an annual tradition focused on intergenerational community, service and connection.

Eleven seniors conducted poster presentations in the classrooms and surrounding area. Eighty-five guests, including faculty, staff, and current students, attended the Crit Session. Of those, 21 were returning alums.

Ariana Scheuer, class of 2024 and one of the seniors who presented at the Crit Session, remarked with similar sentiments, “Having an event that celebrated our in-progress work, while surrounded by our Drexel community and supported by past Custom students offered a sense of connection that is sometimes lost during the process of working on a project independently.”

Ta'Liyah Thomas presenting at the end-of-term Crit Session.

“Having an event that celebrated our in-progress work, while surrounded by our Drexel community and supported by past Custom students offered a sense of connection that is sometimes lost during the process of working on a project independently.”

CSDN alum Isabella Morse gathers with other alumni and students at the afterparty.

The Crit Session Mingle Zone

As a thank you to the alums for their return to campus and to celebrate the seniors’ hard work on their capstone projects, we hosted an afterparty with food, drink and Pennoni-branded gifts. Kevin wrote trivia questions about Custom-Designed history and pop culture. Current students and alums teamed up and attempted to best each other for the grand prize of bragging rights and a certificate confirming their awesomeness. Chelsea Amanatides, class of 2014, was one of the first students to graduate from CSDN. "It was so inspiring to see all the people at this event, both current and past students. When I graduated, there were just a few of us, and now there are so many! I'm proud to be an alum of this program that continues to grow and continues to inspire learning across disciplines."

Looking around the room, Kevin noted there were times he would see an alum talking with a current student, and it felt like they had always known each other. “I didn't give it a second thought — it didn't even register with me that they weren't from the same year. Seeing that made me realize that the commonality of being a Custom-Designed student creates an immediate bond that transcends time and the diversity of things they pursue.” The newest academic advisor, Charlotte Shreve, joined the staff in late 2022. For her, seeing a budding community alongside prevailing camaraderie years after their graduation was particularly moving.

“As someone who feels like they always stick out, the afterparty felt like a big family reunion.”

Crafting a paper quilt provided guests the chance to express their feelings about CSDN through color and shape on small squares of cardstock. Individual 2-by-2 squares tell one person’s story, but together the full-sized mosaic showcases the cultivation of careers, ornamented by themes of warmth, growth and silliness. That same vitality spilled out into the Bentley stairwell, where the group packed in for a photo, capturing 10 years of students and alums smashed into the space and yelling the word “Party!”

The Custom-Designed major may indeed be an “island of misfit toys,” but it doesn’t have to be isolated. Diraya Serrano-Geigel, class of 2024 and one of the seniors who presented at the Crit Session, shared, “As someone who feels like they always stick out, the afterparty felt like a big family reunion. Even though I didn’t know everyone, every person I met had stories to tell about their time in CustomDesigned.” We consider this event a success and are already planning Winter 2024’s Crit Session and afterparty. We haven’t yet graduated our 14 seniors, but I’m already looking forward to welcoming them back as alums to support the next generation of Custom-Designed seniors.

Current CSDN student Jafaru Levere and alumna Alexandra Jerez forge a connection.

When pieced together, a custom-designed major paper quilt tells the tale of the CSDN experience.

Alumni News

Drexel Magazine’s most recent 40 Under 40 issue celebrates accomplished individuals who have achieved significant professional success at a young age and show a willingness to impart their insights and knowledge. Several of these Drexel grads have passed through the hallowed halls of Pennoni Honors College. These include:

Seth Jacobson, MS global and international education ’13, PhD educational leadership ’17, is the executive director of the Octavius Catto Scholarship at the Community College of Philadelphia. Seth received the William Penn Fellowship in 2017-18.

“[Working with the now-Lindy Center for Civic Engagement] gave me a stronger understanding of universities’ responsibilities, a recognition of all the different ways in which colleges and universities can and should support their surrounding communities,” he says.

Vaughn Shirey, environmental science ’17, is a David H. Smith Postdoctoral Conservation Research Fellow at the University of Southern California. Vaughn worked with Pennoni Honors College as a fellowships ambassador from 2017-2020. Vaughn received a Fulbright study/research grant in 2017 to study spiders at the Laboratory of Integrative Biodiversity Research in Helsinki, Finland. Vaughn was also the recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship from 2019-22.

Kara Spiller, BS/MS biomedical engineering ’07, PhD biomedical engineering ’10, is now the Urban Endowed Professor of Biomedical Innovation at Drexel’s School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems.

Kara was in the very first cohort of STAR Scholars. She also received a Fulbright research grant to Portugal; the NSF GRFP and NSF International Research Experiences for Students (IRES) program. She has gone on to mentor nine STAR Scholars — not including Summer 2024!

“Drexel taught me how to seize opportunities to chart my own course,” Kara says. “I tried out many new things as a Drexel student, and now as a faculty member, and the Drexel community has been continuously supportive.”

Matthew J. McBride, chemistry ’14, is an assistant professor of chemical biology at Rutgers University. He completed a postdoc at Princeton University after earning a PhD at Harvard in 2019. In 2016, he was an honorable mention to the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship. His career in research was nurtured in the 2012 STAR Scholars Program, and he later presented research at the 2012 American Chemical Society meeting in Philadelphia. As a rising senior, he participated in the Amgen Scholars program, which helped pave the way for Harvard’s doctoral program. He also received a DAAD RISE Fellowship, though declined in order to accept the Amgen.

“None of that happens,” he tells Drexel Magazine, “if Drexel doesn’t emphasize undergraduate research from day one.”

Edward A. Waddell, BS biological sciences ’14, MS education ’19, PhD biological sciences ’19, is an assistant professor of biology at Holy Family University in Philadelphia. Edward worked with Pennoni Honors College in 2016 on his NSF GRFP application and received an honorable mention.

“My time at Drexel taught me how not only to be a critical thinker, a curious scientist and a committed educator, but it also taught me to be a good, respectful and compassionate citizen of our amazing country. These characteristics have allowed me to explore my fields of study and my faith with a clear and logical mindset to promote both scientific and civic literacy within my community.”

To read the 40 Under 40 issue in full:

Greg in den Berken, economics ’12, recently became an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He was previously an associate with Latham & Watkins LLP in Washington, DC, where he focused on appellate and complex commercial litigation.

Danielle Schroeder, BS/MS civil engineering ’17, transportation staff engineer at Gannett Fleming, made the list of 2023’s Women of Influence: Rising Stars, announced by the Philadelphia Business Journal. This award is given to Philadelphia-area businesswomen 35 years of age or younger that have demonstrated excellence early in their careers, and 2023 marked the 30th anniversary of the program.

Mwanasha VanWright , (neé Mwanasha Warrakah), environmental science ’06, went on to receive her master’s of public administration from University of Pennsylvania and is currently working as associate director of admissions and financial aid liaison for University of Pennsylvania Admissions. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and three children.

Justin Yuen, health sciences ’21, is a second-year dental student (DMD candidate) at the University of Louisville School of Dentistry.

Spread the News!

Please send your alumni announcements to pennoni@drexel.edu and let us know what you’ve been up to. Include your name, major, graduation year, and share with us your career stories, promotions, marriages, births, etc.

Alumni Spotlight

In a tribute to the way Jasmine Timar and Asher Timar (née Matthew Miller) met — sorting hundreds of vials of dead bugs to research the impact of fires on beetle diversity in New Jersey’s Pine Barrens — the couple celebrated their 2022 nuptials with a classy, spooky vibe and surrounded by collected curiosities.

Jasmine Timar, custom-designed major, environmental marketing ’21 and Asher Timar, environmental science ’17, paired their scavenged natural collection with upscale renaissance faire vibes for a pre-Halloween ceremony and reception at the Fonthill Castle in Doylestown. Several Drexel Dragons attended the wedding, including 15 graduates and four professors and staff members.

Each had strong ties to Pennoni — Jasmine started at Drexel as a High School Scholar (once part of the College), spent the summer after her first year as a STAR Scholar, and both were part of the Honors Program. The couple met during a pivotal Pennoni period for Jasmine. She was starting her STAR research in the lab next to his, and they wound up spending most of their time together throughout that summer.

“Getting to meet so many fascinating people who were as passionate about their topics of study as I was in mine – and all being in a space where we were taught to speak to those topics created a really special space for discourse.”

Jasmine started out studying environmental science but noticed working in the labs how scientists have a hard time taking their research and putting it into a scope that is not only impactful to the non-science world, but also to those who can financially support them. Pulling from marketing, communications, and environmental science, Jasmine created a major to fully understand where researchers were coming from as well as marketing tactics that could be used in science communications.

“Getting to meet so many fascinating people who were as passionate about their topics of study as I was in mine — and all being in a space where we were taught to speak to those topics created a really special space for discourse,” Jasmine recalls fondly. “Everyone who was in the program worked really hard to be there — and you felt that when interacting with each other.”

After graduating, Jasmine ran a small marketing agency and is now looking to transition into social good marketing and help non-profits with their social change initiatives. Asher pivoted from the biology space into database automations for a company selling equitable hiring software.

The couple now resides in Pitman, New Jersey.

Above: Prior to the ceremony, Jasmine and Asher braided each other’s hair and read their vows privately. Below: The couple held a pre-Halloween ceremony and reception at Fonthill Castle in Doylestown.