Dragons on Fire: Kudos for Student Achievement: Summer 2025

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Campus & Community Research

Dragons on Fire: Kudos for Student Achievement: Summer 2025

• Heard Around Campus - October 2025
• Drexel Transfer Student Association Helps Foster Community
• Drexel Researchers Gain New Insights from Malaria-Causing Parasite That May Support Development of Future Antimalarial Drugs
• Jon Chase Appointed Vice President of Real Estate and Facilities

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

Three Drexel students and recent alumni were selected as alternates for 2025-26 Fulbright U.S. Student Program grants as alternates for 2025-26: Katelynn Rudolph, BS psychology '24 from the College of Arts and Sciences, selected as an alternate for a Study/Research Grant to the UK; Kate Singh, BS/MS environmental engineering '25 from the College of Engineering, selected as an alternate for Fulbright/NAF Fellowship in Flood Management in the Netherlands; and Cassidy Joyce, BS environmental science '25, Honors, from the College of Arts and Sciences, selected as an alternate for a Study/Research Grant to Ireland.

A record 17 students received the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship in spring 2025. From the College of Arts and Sciences: Sajda Adam, psychology '26, who will study in South Korea, and Sienna Cushing, political science '27, who will study in Ireland. From the College of Computing & Informatics: Boris Bespartochnyy, computer science '28, who will study in Japan; Katie Le, computer science '28, who will study in South Korea; Kfir Peri, software engineering '27, who will study in Italy; Kyle Vong, computer science '27, who will study in South Korea; and Samiha Zarin, computer science '27, who will study in Ireland. From the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design: Hala Idrees, fashion industry and merchandising '26, who will study in Spain; and Jacqueline Lara, BS architectural studies '24, architecture '26, who will study in South Korea. From the Bennett S. LeBow College of Business: Sabrina Ngo, accounting '27, who will study in Italy; Christine Nguyen, management information systems & business analytics '27, who will study in Singapore and also received a scholarship from the Freeman Awards for Study in Asia (Freeman-ASIA) to support her study abroad; Lena Tran, finance '26, who will study in South Korea; and Bernice Yu, management information systems '28, who will study in Singapore. From the College of Nursing and Health Professions: Sarah Sikder, health sciences '26, who will study in Costa Rica. From the College of Engineering: Tim Sol, mechanical engineering '27, who will study in South Korea.

Dejenae Smith, biological sciences '27 from the College of Arts and Sciences, was selected as a 2025 Udall Scholar in recognition of her commitment to a career focused on the environment.

Four Drexel students and recent alumni received the prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, and five received Honorable Mentions. Drexel's Graduate Research Fellows all hail from the College of Arts and Sciences, including Tiara Bounyarith and Lotus Shareef-Trudeau, both PhD students in clinical psychology; Hunter Cheng, BS psychology '25; and Sky Harper, BS chemistry '24, Honors. Honorable Mentions include Yoongyeong Baek, PhD student in chemistry; Sneha Boda, BS psychology '23, Honors; Owen Goodchild, BS geoscience '23; and two others who declined publicity.

Zarah Malik, BS data science '28, and Ruhma Hashmi, BS computer science '29, both from the College of Computing & Informatics, are recipients of the 2025 WICT Network: Greater Philadelphia Chapter Undergraduate STEM Scholarship.

Olivia Guard, game design and production '26 from the Westphal College of Media Arts & Design; Alexa Parker, entrepreneurship and innovation '26 from the Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship; and Tavin Staber, entrepreneurship and innovation '26 from the Close School of Entrepreneurship, were awarded the Entrepreneurship Co-op stipend from the Close School in partnership with the Baiada Institute. In lieu of a traditional co-op placement, they received $19,000 to launch or grow their own business over six months, with mentorship from Close School faculty and seasoned entrepreneurs and access to workspace in the Baiada Institute.

Vincent Intersimone, MFT (family therapy) '26, and Gabrielle Maloney, PhD candidate in couples and family therapy, both from the College of Nursing and Health Professions, have been accepted into the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) Minority Fellowship Program. This distinguished fellowship is funded in part by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and is part of a national workforce development initiative aimed at increasing the number of culturally competent researchers, educators and practitioners in the field of marriage and family therapy.

Moselle Jules, MSN '26 from the College of Nursing and Health Professions, was selected for the American Association of Colleges of Nursing's (AACN) Digital Innovators Program. This team-based program for graduate students who are interested in becoming future nursing faculty focuses on developing digital creators through modern approaches and creative methods.

Alison Bashford, a PhD candidate in neuroscience from the College of Medicine, received first place in a contest by life science magazine The Scientist that focused on communicating scientific findings to the public in an accessible and engaging way for her essay, "Marathon Running Linked to Short-Term Brain Structure Changes."

Rhythm Osan, BS/MS '26 in civil, architectural and environmental engineering from the College of Engineering, co-authored a paper published in the Journal of Building Engineering that suggests a new approach to passive heating and cooling, inspired by the veinous ears of jackrabbits and elephants, that could one day make buildings more energy efficient.

Keith Truongcao, BS/MS '26 in electrical and computer engineering from the College of Engineering, co-authored a paper presented at the 2025 IEEE Wireless and Microwave Technology Conference (WAMICON) about using Stable Diffusion to turn short text prompts into visual maps of radio signals so researchers can quickly imitate and study wireless interference. Truongcao, along with fellow student researchers Matthew Tylek, BS computer science '26 from the College of Computing & Informatics, and Md Shakir Hossain, PhD candidate in machine learning engineering from the College of Engineering, found evidence the method can stand in for real jamming and guide future wireless research.

Akhmad Dyussembayev, BS economics and data science '28 from the LeBow College of Business, was named a NABE Scholar by the NABE Foundation, the charitable arm of the National Association for Business Economics. The scholarship is awarded annually to early career economists and economics students from underrepresented groups and includes complimentary registration for four NABE events during 2025-26 and a Certified Business Economist course.

Xinge Li, PhD candidate in marketing from the LeBow College of Business, co-authored the paper, "How Anthropomorphism Impacts Users' Self-Disclosure and Evaluation of Empathetic Conversational Agents," in the journal Interacting with Computers.

Lourdes Moore, English and law '27 Honors, leveraged her STAR research into a publication with faculty mentor, Clare Strange, PhD, assistant research professor of criminology and justice studies, College of Arts and Sciences, "Rewriting the Record: A Qualitative Analysis of Race, Criminal History, and Sentencing Policy Reform in Pennsylvania," which was published in the journal Race and Justice in July 2025.

Kiana Ahmari, BS mechanical engineering '27 from the College of Engineering; Kelly Baran, BS biological sciences '26 from the College of Arts and Sciences; Saffron Buscemi, custom-designed major '27 and Sydney Rowley, custom-designed major '27, both from the Pennoni Honors College; and one other student were selected as recipients for the 2025 DAAD Research Internships in Science & Engineering (RISE) and spent the summer conducting research at universities across Germany. Undergraduate Research and Enrichment Programs (UREP) in the Penonni Honors College and the Steinbright Career Development Center provided funding for the students to work in research co-op positions on campus before going to Germany.

Jessica Merzy, a PhD candidate in molecular and cell biology and genetics from the College of Medicine, was selected to participate in the 2025 Community Engaged Research Training for Emerging Scientists program at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center. Merzy will work closely with African American churches to offer educational and/or screening events focused on breast cancer.

Amirali Sajadi and Ramtin Ehsani, both PhD candidates in computer science from the College of Computing & Informatics, had papers accepted to Empirical Software Engineering and the International Conference on Mining Software Repositories, respectively.

Cassie Huang, PhD candidate in computer science from the College of Computing & Informatics, had a paper accepted by the Association for Computational Linguistics' main conference, which is the most prestigious organization for researchers on Natural Language Processing.

Riley G. Young, PhD candidate in molecular and cell biology and genetics, and Nusaiba N. Ahmed, PhD candidate in biochemistry of health and disease, both from the College of Medicine, co-authored "New Job for an Old Tool: PI3Kβ Phosphorylates OGT to Regulate Acetyl-CoA in Glioblastoma" in the May 2025 issue of the journal Trends in Cell Biology, along with Mauricio J. Reginato, PhD, professor and chair of biochemistry and molecular biology.

Bengucan Gunen, MSPH, PhD '27 from the Dana and David Dornsife School of Public Health, and Ann Klassen, PhD, research professor, Dornsife School of Public Health, reviewed Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) coverage in the media from 1997 to 2022 and highlighted key takeaways. They analyzed 84 news stories about a key measure of SNAP eligibility: the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), and found that local news throughout the U.S. covered this issue consistently. This helps to raise public awareness of the importance of state-level SNAP policies because many people may not realize these determine who in their state can have access to this federal benefit. The review was published in the journal called Health Affairs Scholar.

Academic Accolades and Other Achievements

Andrew DeLuca, BASc electrical and electronics engineering '26 from the College of Engineering, and his company Raptor Engineering, which is focused on defense technology, were nominated to represent the Charles D. Close School of Engineering and the Baiada Institute at the UAS7 "Pitch Across the Ocean" Competition in June 2025 and won the U.S. category. The competition featured AI-focused university startups from the U.S. and Germany, and DeLuca was ranked highest amongst all participating startups. He will attend the Bits & Pretzels Founders Festival, a three-day startup festival, in Munich this fall.

Sonika Lamichhane, PhD candidate in communication, culture and media from the College of Arts and Sciences, received the Emerging Scholar Award at the 23rd International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities.

Julie Schaub, PhD candidate in neuroscience from the College of Medicine, received an F31 award from the National Institutes of Health for the project "Splice Variants of Microtubule-Associated Protein 4 Regulate the Efficiency of Organelle Transport in Dendrites."

Kwang-Seok Kang, MS '26 from the Dornsife School of Public Health, was presented with the Emerging Leader in Infection Prevention Award by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) at the APIC Annual Conference an Expo in June 2025. This award recognizes new infection preventionists who have demonstrated commitment to the field and their professional growth and provides a year of leadership mentoring for Kang to further advance.

Stacy Jimenez, MPH '25 from the Dornsife School of Public Health, worked as a research assistant on the CRiSOL Mente project throughout the spring quarter. This project aims to improve mental health outcomes and promotes access to culturally appropriate mental health treatment within the Latino community in Philadelphia. Leading the project's social marketing campaign, Jiminez supported "promotoras de salud" (community health workers) by developing culturally tailored outreach materials and engaged Latino communities through in-person events, radio and social media to reduce stigma around mental health care.

Drexel Founding Collection co-op student Emma Johnson, BA history '26 from the College of Arts and Sciences, curated Building Men: Philadelphia College Students as World War I Military Engineers, an exhibition on display in the Rincliffe Gallery in Main Building from Aug.14-Dec. 19, 2025. It includes artifacts from the Atwater Kent Collection at Drexel and others.

University Archives co-op student Erin White, BA history '26 from the College of Arts and Sciences, curated an exhibit featuring Drexel student handbooks (called D-Books) from 1944 to 2005. Beyond the Rules: The Hidden Life within Student Handbooks is on display outside the Drexel University Archives' Reading Room in W.W. Hagerty Library.

Ten students were selected as finalists for the Students Tackling Advanced Research (STAR) Scholars Quick Pitch competition.

• 1st Place: Chi Nguyen, product design '28 from the Westphal College of Media Arts & Design
• 2nd Place: Jae Walsh, biological sciences '29 from the College of Arts and Sciences
• 3rd Place: Graciella Laird, mechanical engineering '28 from the College of Engineering
• Payton Huber, biomedical engineering '29 from the College of Engineering
• Hani Pham, animation & visual effects '28 from the Westphal College of Media Arts & Design
• Faris Dababneh, computer engineering '29 from the College of Engineering
• David Diabene, mechanical engineering '29 from the College of Engineering
• Bao Vuong, computer science '29 from the College of Computing & Informatics
• Trace Cassidy, music industry '28 from the Westphal College of Media Arts & Design
• Taslim Sabil, education '27 from the School of Education

Natalie Smolin Dyll, PhD candidate in the School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems, received the 2025 Drexel University Teck-Kah Lim Graduate Student Excellence Award for showing promise of future meaningful contributions to local, national or global communities.

Mae Merkle, BS costume design '25 from the Pennoni Honors College's custom-designed major program, produced "Mortal: In Honor of Being Human," a dance performance at Old City's Neighborhood House as part of their capstone. Merkle collaborated with Sydney Schulze, entertainment and arts management '25 from the Westphal College of Media Arts & Design, to produce a show that walks audiences through stages of life to encourage them to contemplate that small and unnoticed moments that construct our memories and lives. They recruited 12 dancers, five crew members and two musicians, and Merkle designed all the costumes for each dancer and performance. Proceeds from the performance went to the Alzheimer's Association.

students graduate students research School of Biomedical Engineering College of Engineering School of Education Pennoni Honors College College of Medicine College of Nursing and Health Professions College of Computing and Informatics College of Arts and Sciences LeBow College of Business Close School of Entrepreneurship Dornsife School of Public Health LeBow College of Business Westphal College of Media Arts and Design

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