Winter 2020

Department Newsletter

Drexel Winter Break in Israel 2019: Ecological Design and Sustainable Building By Dr. Patricia Gallagher

During winter break 2019, Drexel students traveled to the Negev desert in southern Israel for the inaugural Ecological Design and Sustainable Building Intensive Course Abroad. The course provided students with an intensive hands-on training integrating ecological design, natural building, alternative technologies, and community living. The program was held at Kibbutz Lotan in Lotan, Israel, in partnership with the Center for Creative Ecology (CCE), which is a research, training, and demonstration center for sustainability that focuses on energy efficient construction using natural materials. Students from numerous majors participated in the course, including environmental engineering, mechanical engineering, materials science and engineering, electrical engineering, business operations, and architecture. During the course, students participated in classes and hands-on workshops on topics including ecological design, natural building, community building, renewable energy, and natural wastewater treatment. Students learned about designing, building, and running sustainable projects and linked together ecological, social, economic and cultural aspects of sustainability. A highlight of the course was a community design project that applied ecological design in desert community. Through this experience students developed an understanding of to apply ecological design in different contexts. Field trips included visits to the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation, a Bedouin community, the ancient city of Avdat, which practiced water harvesting and storage, and an oasis in Maktesh Ramon (the world’s largest erosion crater in the Negev Desert). Desert hikes were another highlight of the trip. While abroad, students lived in the Eco-Campus at Kibbutz Lotan, which is a prototype model for sustainable community. Living quarters are passive design, super-insulated, straw-bale and earth-plastered geodesic domes that use 70% less energy than similar structures built using conventional construction. The mission of the Eco-Campus is to teach and empower program participants to live an ecological lifestyle, to maintain a low carbon footprint and to advance environmentally appropriate housing and technologies. During their stay, students monitored their energy usage and cooked in an eco-kitchen using biogas and solar ovens.

Picture number one shows students and faculty of Drexel Winter Break in Israel 2019: Ecological Design and Sustainable Building Rear, from left: Maya Galimidi (faculty CCE), Drexel students Ally Pyrih, Serena Park, Sarah Andrieux, Emily Collier, Sebastian Carta, Greg Stathis, Monica Huang Front, from left: Drexel students Gus Quiles and Bradley Winograd, Alex Cicelsky (faculty, CCE), Mike Kaplan (faculty, CCE), Trish Gallagher (faculty, Drexel CAEE), and Mark Naveh (faculty, CCE) Picture number two shows Professor Gallagher with her students in a circle. Picture number shows three students building arches. From left, Monica Huang, Gus Quiles, and Serena Park. The last picture shows Professor Gallagher and her class with the Kibbutz Lotan in the background. From left, Serena Park (Business Administration, Sebastian Carta (MEM), Emily Collier (ENVE), Greg Stathis (ECE), Professor Gallagher (CAEE), Bradley Winograd (Architecture), Ally Pyrih (MSE), Sarah Andrieux (MEM), Monica Huang (MEM), and Gus Quiles (ECE).

ASCE 2019 Region 2 Assembly The Drexel ASCE executive board (pictured right) planned the spectacularly successful ASCE Region 2 Assembly on November 2, 2019 at Drexel's Behrakis Hall. The 2019 Region 2 Assembly theme focused on Leadership and Professional Development through presentations and activities and offered a chance for interaction between students, alumni, professors, practitioners, and employers. College of Engineering Dean Sharon Walker (second picture, right) welcomed the participants to Drexel. She was then followed by Kenneth Fulmer, CEO of Urban Engineers, who gave the keynote address. For the remainder of the day, the participants attended team building activities and sessions on leadership training, design thinking, life after graduation, future world vision, meet and talk with ASCE president-elect, Dr. Jean-Louis Briaud, entrepreneurship in engineering, engineering marketing - speed interviews, and civic engagement and community engineering corps. The conference concluded with closing remarks from Khaled Alamdeen, P.E., F.ASCE, Governor of the ASCE National Capital Section since 1993.

Gallagher Receives CoE Outstanding Teaching Award Professor Trish Gallagher received the 2020 College of Engineering "Outstanding Teaching Award." Dr. Gallagher has been teaching in the CAEE Department at Drexel for almost 20 years and teaches the undergraduate courses "Incorporating Sustainability Principles in Design," "Geologic Principles for CAE Engineers," and graduate courses in geotechnical engineering, including "Ground Modification and Soil Behavior." As noted above, she also taught a study abroad course this Winter in Israel, "Ecological Design and Sustainable Building" for the first time. Congratulations Trish!!!

Burj Khalifa Lecture  By Wendy Plump As if anyone at the College of Engineering needs reminding of what engineers can accomplish, along comes Larry Novak with a presentation on the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, an astonishment of glass and embossed stainless-steel soaring half-a-mile above the city of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Read More

Student News Marina D'souza , a senior in environmental engineering and president of the Drexel chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), presented a research poster on the regeneration of PFAS contaminated granular activated carbon using non-thermal plasma at the 2019 AEHS Solids, Sediments, Water, and Energy Conference in Amherst, MA . While there, Marina had the opportunity to talk to leading industry professionals about the novelty of the technology she is studying and discussed the future implications of her work. She also made several important connections and gained insight that will help her approach her research topics with a different perspective.

Congratulations to Elvira-Marie Mikhael, a BS/MS junior civil engineering student, who has received a scholarship from the Arab American Association of Engineers & Architects. She is pictured here with the scholarship chair at the award ceremony. Elvira is president of the Drexel Society of Women Engineers and the Drexel Middle Eastern and North African Club and is also the Event Coordinator for the Drexel American Society of Civil Engineers.

Congratulations to the 2019 recipient of the $5,000 George P. Kelley Memorial Scholarship at Drexel University, Andrew David Risser . The Langan Engineering & Environmental Services Legacy Scholarship was awarded through the Deep Foundations Institute (DFI) Educational Trust. The fund, which provides scholarships to civil engineering students focusing on geotechnical and/or environmental engineering, includes four scholarships honoring former distinguished members of Langan Engineering. Andrew is a junior in civil engineering and plans to pursue a MS in geotechnical engineering when he graduates.

Dienye Tolofari, a PhD student in environmental engineering, was elected as a student representative to the Microbial Risk Assessment Specialty Group (MRASG)  at the Society for Risk Analysis annual meeting in December 2019. The group focuses on public health risks associated with a variety of biological hazards. These hazards generally share many common features, such as the ability to grow, reproduce and die; to disperse both actively and passively; to interact with other biological populations in the ecosystem; and to evolve and adapt.