Dragons on Fire: Kudos for Student Achievement: Spring 2025

Here's a snapshot of awards, scholarships, publications and fellowships Drexel University students have earned in the past term, courtesy of the Office of the Provost.

Scholarships, Fellowships and Publications

Andrew McCoy, PhD candidate in ecology, evolution and earth systems ’28 from the College of Arts and Sciences, presented a poster at the annual American Geophysical Union conference in Washington, D.C., titled, “Building a Community-led Online Resource for Global-scale Marine Analyses. American Geophysical Union.”

Jon Merwin, PhD candidate in biodiversity, earth and environmental science ’26, from the College of Arts and Sciences, gave three talks in the fourth quarter of 2024 and was awarded $1,595 for travel in 2025 to work at the Field Museum of Natural History for their Science Visiting Scholars program. He was also awarded $600 for 2024–2025 GSA Graduate Student Domestic Travel Subsidy Award from the Drexel Graduate Student Association, $1,000 for a Sue Kilham Award and a Charlotte Mangum Housing Award to attend the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology annual meeting.

Jenell Collins, BA entrepreneurship and innovation ’25 from the Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship and founder of Affirmation Friends, took home $30,000 from the school’s Startup Fest 2024 for her business that focuses on providing a positive, supportive space for people to connect and share affirmations. Her win will allow her to continue scaling her business.

Andrew DeLuca, BS electrical engineering ’26 from the College of Engineering and founder of engineering and defense startup Raptor Engineering Co., received $20,000 at Startup Fest 2024. DeLuca’s ability to combine technical expertise with his company’s future growth goal impressed the judges. The funding will help him maintain the growth Raptor has already accomplished.

Onisha Rahman, BS psychology ’25 from the College of Arts and Sciences, presented her poster, “Looking at Relationship Between Internet Usage, Non-Suicidal Self-Injury, and Emotional Regulation Difficulties,” at the National Collegiate Research Conference at Harvard University.

Peter Elliott, MFA creative writing ’26 from the College of Arts and Sciences, published a short story, “The White Inferno,” in Pipeline Artists.

Rayan Alaufey, PhD candidate in chemical engineering from the College of Engineering, has developed a groundbreaking co-doping strategy for tin oxide to enhance electrochemical ozone production. Published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, Alaufey’s research introduces a novel approach to creating efficient catalysts for ozone generation, potentially revolutionizing water treatment technologies with a more sustainable alternative to chlorine-based methods.

Jaxon Weiss, BS/MS materials science ’27 from the College of Engineering, received a Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship to fund his study abroad in electro-chemistry at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. His career goal is to enter the battery manufacturing industry.

Lindsay N. Barger, PhD candidate in microbiology and immunology; Olivia S. El Naggar, PhD candidate in molecular and cell biology and genetics; Binh Ha, PhD candidate in pharmacology and physiology; and Gabriele Romano, PhD, assistant professor of pharmacology and physiology, all from the College of Medicine, published “Melanoma in People Living With HIV: Immune Landscape Dynamics and the Role of Immuno- and Antiviral Therapies” in Cancer Metastasis Reviews.

Damaris Lopez Mercado, PhD candidate in health management and policy ’25 from the Dana and David Dornsife School of Public Health, co-led research published in the Med Care Journal titled “American Rescue Plan Act and Access to Health Care for Latinos According to Citizenship Status.” The study found that the American Rescue Plan Act may have helped increase white citizens’ insurance coverage, but this benefit did not extend to Latinos, regardless of citizenship status.

Pooja Doshi, PhD candidate in health management and policy ’26 from the Dornsife School of Public Health, published a piece about emerging global eye health research for the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness. The piece aimed to shed light on global disparities of eye diseases and visual impairment. 

Sidrah Arshad, MS accounting ’25 from the Bennett S. LeBow College of Business was awarded a Chartered Management Accountant (CMA) Scholarship from the college’s Department of Accounting. The department is one of fewer than 80 universities endorsed by the Institute of Management Accountants and can award up to 10 CMA scholarships annually.

Rex Hutchinson, BA art and art history ’25 from the Westphal College of Media Arts & Design, received an undergraduate research mini-grant through the Pennoni Honors College to continue furniture conservation work started while they were a co-op at the Drexel Founding Collection in summer 2024.

Ada Mac, BS information systems ’26; Lynelle Martin, BS/MS biomedical engineering ’26; Hmo Tu, BS finance, management systems & business analytics ’28; and Jaxon Weiss, BS/MS materials science & engineering ’27, are recipients of the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship to support study and co-op abroad.

Martin also became the first Drexel student to receive a Gilman STEM Supplemental Award. This award, introduced in 2023, offers additional funding to students planning to conduct STEM-related research while abroad. Martin is only one of 40 students to be selected for this award in this application cycle.

Seventeen students and recent alumni from across eight colleges were selected as semifinalists for Fulbright US Student Program. It’s Drexel’s largest class ever, and final decisions will be announced in the summer.

Monica Blaisdell and Sinead Meehan, both PhD candidates in education from the School of Education, co-wrote an article titled, “Teaching for Sustainability and Altruism through Project-Based Learning: A Framework and Case Study,” that was published in the Journal of Moral Education.  

Nevaeh Hearn, fashion industry & merchandising ’25 from the Westphal College of Media Arts & Design, was selected as a Top Five Finalist for the 2025 NRF Foundation Next Generation Scholarship. As a finalist, she received a $10,000 scholarship toward her education in the retail field.

Emma Barnes, BS/MS ’25; Lorelei Booth ’26; Tom Donahue BS/MS ’26; Audrey Greenip ’27; Kylie Irvine ’26; Jasmin Jerry, BS/MS ’26; Amal Mathew ’25; Michael Nieves ’28 and Abigayle Weagraff ’27, all from the School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems, are 2024–25 BIOMED Diversity Scholarship Awardees, a Drexel scholarship program in the School.

College of Medicine students Deepa Reddy, PhD candidate in pharmacology and physiology, and Jason T. DaCunza, PhD candidate in molecular and cell biology and genetics, partnered with faculty and alumni from the college, as well as professors from the School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems, to author “Inflammatory Pain Resolution by Mouse Serum-Derived Small Extracellular Vesicles,” which appeared in Brain Behavior and Immunity.

The Aspire Scholars program selected 15 students out of 51 for their 2024–25 cohort. These students include: Ella Adams, BA communication ’27; Caitlin Benson, BS psychology ’28; Kate Buskirk, BS economics ’28; Atoishy Dayve, BS public health ’27; Afomiya Esayas, BS biomedical engineering ’28; Sparsh Gadkari, BS nutrition and foods ’28; Kimmie Huynh, BS computer science ’28; Jamee Islam, BS biomedical engineering ’28; Zakir Jiwani, BSCE computer engineering ’28; Sonya Kalianda, BS biomedical engineering ’27; Timothy Lao, BS psychology ’27; Emily Liz, BA law ’28; Promise Nkhono, BS product design ’27; Paige Quigley, BS biological sciences ’28; and Baden Stickley, BS civil engineering ’28.

Zakir Jiwani, computer engineering ’28, and Josiah Saddick, mechanical engineering ’28, both from the College of Engineering, won first place in the 2025 Johnson & Johnson Engineering Showcase in the Student Category for their poster on 3D printing bone scaffolds. They were selected out of 75 participants from Johnson & Johnson teams and university students and were one of nine teams to present their research.

Academic Accolades and Other Achievements

Joel Thomas, BS data science ’27 from the College of Computing & Informatics, completed a co-op at PECO and was named a Top Presenter at PECO’s Co-Op Day event. Thomas created an interactive dashboard that tracks job completions and manages how new business tasks are distributed across different work areas. This tool will help PECO’s New Business teams allocate resources and capital more efficiently, improving their workflow. 

Gabby Sisselberger, Sydney Wessner, Katie Watkins, Rachel Ackerman, Hayley Lampert and Shari Zhang, all BSN nursing ’25 from the College of Nursing and Health Professions, competed and won against other student nurses associations in NCLEX-style questions in the NCLEX Bowl at the 2024 Student Nurses’ Association of Pennsylvania’s 72^nd Annual Convention. Watkins, Sisselberger and Wessner also presented a poster on “Enhancing Health Equity: The Role of Sexual Assault Care and Forensic Exams in Patient Advocacy, Justice, and Wellbeing.” Watkins received the Jamey Thiel Miller Legislative Award and Wessner received the SNAP Community Health Award. Emily Huang, BSN nursing ’28, spoke on the resolution she authored, “Increasing Research and Awareness of American Society of Addiction Medicine Criteria for Substance Abuse Disorder,” which was later passed at the convention.

College of Medicine students organized the 32nd annual Pediatric AIDS Benefit Concert. The annual event, which supports the Dorothy Mann Center at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, has raised more than $765,000 for children living with HIV and AIDS to date.

Arianna Cabrera, BSBA finance ’26; Mukhtar Yusuf, BSBA business analytics and marketing ’27; Angie Escalante, BSBA management information systems ’27 and Chloe Mshana, BS economics ’28, all from the LeBow College of Business, entered the 14th annual National Diversity Case Competition, hosted by the Kelley School of Business at the University of Indiana, earning second place and a $5,000 prize.

A group of digital media undergraduate students from the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design, developed a series of digital interactive projects for the Philadelphia Revealed exhibition with the Atwater Kent Collection at Drexel, which was featured, at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts from July 2024 to April 2025).

The Environmental Collaboratory’s three Nina Henderson Provost Scholars presented their projects at the Nina Henderson Provost Scholars Winter Presentations and Reception. Alyssa Kemp, BS/MS environmental engineering '25 from the College of Engineering, presented “Integrating Climate Change Education as a Core Competency” which shared findings from a survey of engineering students regarding their interest in environmental and social justice issues in engineering courses. Anh Nguyen, BS computer science ’26 from the College of Computing & Informatics, presented, “Evaluating the Impact of Drexel’s Climate Hub Grant Program,” which shared feedback from faculty interviews regarding the program's impact on faculty collaboration, interdisciplinary connections and circular design.

Sanjana Bandi, biomedical engineering ’27 from the School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems, was one of four Pennoni Honors College students who were selected to pilot a new Community Fellows program for academic year 2024–25.

Students and staff from the School of Education hosted mini courses for students at Science Leadership Academy Middle School during the fall and winter quarters. Tasneem Motan, BS elementary education ’26, led a course on mindfulness, and Melina Galias, BS secondary education ’26, both from the School of Education, led a mini course on film analysis. 

Felix Agbavor, PhD candidate from the School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems, along with Hualou Liang, PhD, professor in the school, won second and first, respectively, at the INTERSPEECH 2024 TAUKADIAL Challenge for Dementia Prediction, an international competition for dementia prediction using Large Language Models for speech-based cognitive assessment in Chinese and English.

Maya Hills, PhD candidate in environmental engineering and The Environmental Collaboratory’s student worker, organized the January Regional Convening for Increasingly Severe Weather Preparedness. Attendees worked to identify community-level priorities and needs for climate emergency preparedness and recovery, which will be published in a report by TEC. Other students were involved in the working groups and took away learnings for the policy papers they will be writing.