Keeping Philly Cool

November 23, 2021

A Message from the Associate Dean

As we prepare to gather with friends and family, in person or from afar, I extend to you a warm and Happy Thanksgiving from your Drexel family. Amid the hustle and bustle of the fall term, it is important we pause and make time for ourselves. I encourage you to take the long weekend to relax and unwind.

Best wishes for good health and joy.

Caroline Schauer, PhD

Associate Dean, Research and Faculty Affairs

News

In one of Philadelphia’s hottest neighborhoods, a Drexel-led project is seeking sustainable cooling solutions. Read more.

For more stories from our new publication Dragon Discoveries, visit the website or download the PDF on Teams.

Gogotsi Awarded 2021 Materials Research Society Medal

The 2021 Materials Research Society Medal recognizes a specific outstanding recent discovery or advancement that is expected to have a major impact on the progress of a materials-related field. Read more.

Remembering ECE Professor Suryadevara Basavaiah

Basavaiah led a distinguished career as an engineer at IBM for over thirty-three years, and he served with equal distinction on the Drexel Engineering faculty for nearly twenty years. Read more.

Announcements

Nominate your Colleagues for the College of Engineering Awards

Nominations are now open for the 2022 Drexel University College of Engineering Awards. Award categories, descriptions, and links can be found online. Nominations may be submitted by any faculty member or professional staff member. Deadline for nominations is Monday, November 29, 2021.

CONGRATULATIONS

Yury Gogotsi, PhD, Distinguished University and Charles T. and Ruth M. Bach Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Steven May, PhD, Department Head and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering received additional funding from the U.S. Department of Energy to continue work on a project entitled “Compositional Control of Fundamental Electronic and Magnetic Properties of Ordered Layered Multielemental MXenes.” This project aims to provide fundamental insights into the relationships between MXene chemistry and their electronic, optical, and magnetic properties and potentially enable new synthetic strategies for 2D materials.

Associate Professor of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental engineering Christopher Sales, PhD; Director of the C.J. Nyheim Plasma Institute and John A. Nyheim Chair Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics Alexander Fridman, PhD; and Associate Director of the C.J. Nyheim Plasma Institute Alexander Rabinovich, PhD are the recipients of funding from the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) for a project entitled “Application of non-thermal plasma technology for the removal of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances from investigation-derived waste.” This project involves research into the development of non-thermal plasma treatment technologies to degrade a class of environmental contaminants called poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which is found on many US Department of Defense (DoD) sites primarily due to its use in fire-fighting foams.

Seen and Heard

Abieyuwa Aghayere, PhD, professor of civil, architectural and environmental engineering, was quoted in a Nov. 8 Miami Herald story about NIST's investigation of the collapse of the Champlain Towers South condo complex. The story was picked up by a number of outlets across the country via the Tribune News Service. He also spoke about the collapse in a Nov. 21 Miami Herald story and a Nov. 19 story for the Associated Press. He was also quoted in a Nov. 15 New York Times story about what would happen if a tornado hit New York City.

Shannon Capps, PhD, assistant professor of civil, architectural and environmental engineering, was interviewed in a Nov. 10 KYW-TV (CBS-3) segment about the possible health effects of smoke from a large fire in southwest Philadelphia that lingered over the city and into New Jersey.

Matthew Stamm, PhD, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, was featured in a VICE “Super Users” video on Nov. 21 about his research on AI algorithms that can detect deepfakes.

Research by Michel Barsoum, PhD, Distinguished professor of materials science and engineering, was mentioned in a Nov. 19 American Ceramic Society Ceramic Tech Today post about new research on self-healing ceramic materials.