Research and Faculty Affairs Newsletter

April 22, 2020

A Message from the Associate Dean

The flexibility that all of you have exhibited during this time has been tremendous. From online classes to remote research, you all are doing your part to keep our students engaged and learning, pushing the boundaries of innovation.

I am particularly grateful to all of our faculty and staff who have donated, and are continuing to donate, PPE to area hospitals. Please reach out to me if you have masks or gowns in your lab to donate to those in need. Thank you also to our faculty who are looking at the challenges of COVID-19 as a way to put our engineering skills to good use, problem solving solutions to help society during this crisis.

I am proud of the work that all of you are doing.

Caroline Schauer, PhD

Associate Dean, Research and Faculty Affairs

COVID-19 Research Awards

College of Engineering faculty, in collaboration with colleagues from the College of Computing and Informatics, Westphal College of Media Arts & Design, and the School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems, are leading coronavirus projects which have received support from Drexel’s COVID-19 Rapid Research & Development Fund. Read more about these projects .

Faculty Senate Elections Update

Electronic ballots to vote-in Drexel Engineering representatives to the Faculty Senate and their committees will be sent to all full-time faculty by Friday, April 24. Voting will close one week later on Friday, May 1 at 11:59 p.m. A short announcement regarding the Faculty Senate and the current nominees will be shared during the CoE Faculty/Staff Meeting this Wednesday, April 22.

Apply to be a Dean’s Fellow 2020-2021

In an effort to further develop our talented faculty, Dean Walker is seeking applications for the Dean’s Fellowship Program for 2020-2021. The one academic year appointment, beginning on September 1, will include $5,000 for each fellow's discretionary or overhead account.

Tenured faculty interested in working on strategic planning priorities, including curriculum and pedagogy, graduate programs, research and innovation, and space and culture, are asked to self-nominate by sending the following to Dr. Caroline Schauer by April 30 :

CV
Personal statement describing which strategic priority (curriculum and pedagogy, graduate programs, research and innovation, space and culture) is of interest and why – two-page maximum
Brief support letter from relevant Department Head (emailed separately)

Genetic Tracing of COVID-19

Dr. Gail Rosen and PhD student Zhengqiao Zhao propose a way to track the spread of viruses like the novel coronavirus.

New NSF REU Site Award

Masoud Soroush (PI) and Maureen Tang (co-PI) of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering

NSF-REU Site: Smart Manufacturing Research Experiences for Undergraduates (SMREU)

This nine-week program will familiarize undergraduate students with smart manufacturing concepts to inspire them to pursue research careers, develop graduate student educational and mentoring expertise, and create collaborations on many educational levels.

Congratulations Masoud and Maureen!