The Arts and Sciences Innovation Incubator brings together faculty members in diverse areas of expertise to collaborate on research projects that find creative ways to address some of our society's most challenging obstacles.

The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University recently hosted its annual Research Day, where scientists shared brief, engaging summaries of their research and discoveries from throughout 2023.

As the oldest natural history museum in North America, the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University has a long and varied history. And even with the many well-known figures, works and stories found in its phenomenal Library and Archives, there are more that need to be researched, uncovered and revealed to help shape a brighter, more equitable future.

The College of Arts and Sciences is excited to welcome 14 new faculty members to our learning community this fall. 

A childhood love of birds inspired Emily Griffith to pursue a career in ornithology. As she enters her third year in Drexel’s Ecology, Evolution and Earth Systems PhD program, Griffith has been awarded over $10,000 in grant funding to further her research on the differences in plumage between male and female ducks.

Daouda Njie, BS environmental science '22, was awarded a study/research grant to Fiji. Neha Chongtham, biological sciences '23, will serve as an English teaching assistant in Malta.

Professor of Biodiversity, Earth and Environmental Science and Biology Sean O'Donnell, PhD, regularly works as an expert science consultant with natural history film crews. He shares more about his recent experience working in the rainforest of Costa Rica in this blog post. 

As the Department of Biodiversity, Earth and Environmental Science (BEES) celebrates its 10th anniversary, we spoke with department head David Velinsky, PhD, about the history of the department, its many success stories and how it has grown over the last decade in this Q&A. 

A co-op in the Academy of Natural Sciences' ornithology department has allowed environmental science major Abigail Del Grosso to more deeply explore her interest in birds. She shares her more about what her work entails and why it's important in this Q&A. 

Throughout their co-op this spring and summer, environmental science major Kris Freyland worked with Beth Watson, PhD, associate professor of biodiversity, earth and environmental science and senior scientist at the Academy of Natural Sciences’ Patrick Center for Environmental Research, to study the impact of saltwater intrusion into coastal forests. 

Things are getting wild in the West. Free-roaming horse populations have existed in western states for centuries, but the conflict surrounding them is entirely human. Christian Hunold, PhD, professor of politics, and environmental studies major Cassidy Ellis discuss their research on the politics of wild horse management through a feminist science studies lens.

Jakes Landing is a centuries-old access point to Dennis Creek in Cape May, New Jersey, where the forest landscape abruptly drops into a tidal saltwater marsh. Near the marsh, row after row of dead Atlantic white cedars juts out of the ground like spikes. Just beyond those are swaths of statuesque loblolly pines that are healthy now, but these are at risk of becoming ghost forests. LeeAnn Haaf, a PhD candidate in Drexel University’s Biodiversity, Earth and Environmental Science (BEES) Department, studies the effects of climate change and sea-level rise on low-lying tree growth in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States.

Lately, there has been a lot of talk all over the world about the birds and the bees — that is, how they are impacted by the environmentally devastating effects of climate change and how humans play a role in this process. Many of us want to know how we can voice those scary feelings about the health of our planet and then transform them into positive action. While it is an important and timely topic to discuss, sometimes having this talk can be a challenge, especially with children. So, the Academy reached out to children’s book authors Lena Champlin and Jeremy Wortzel to learn more about their work, Coco’s Fire: Changing Climate Anxiety Into Climate Action, and how we can start this very important conversation with our peers and young friends.

When people think of their childhood, they often remember their time spent outside. For many of us, that looked like wading in creeks, playing outdoor games like tag and baseball, riding bikes and finding fireflies. For Akilah Chatman, BS environmental science ’22, every day was a new adventure: climbing waterfalls, jumping from cliffs, exploring rainforests, befriending frogs and lizards, inspecting flora, gardening with their mother and so much more. Their grandparents’ beachfront restaurant offered ample time for Chatman to learn the ways of seaside life—catching fish, frying them—and between their two homes in Jamaica and Florida, they essentially grew up outside. Now, as a Drexel alum and Fulbright Fellow, Chatman is about to begin their next journey—to create and uplift a new green space in Cambodia.

Mary Donnelly –who recently earned her Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science from Drexel’s Biodiversity, Earth and Environmental Science (BEES) department — loves fieldwork. But instead of marshlands, forests, plains or deserts, Mary has been busy working right here in Philadelphia. Besides getting out into the field, her interests lie particularly in wildlife conservation. So, for her senior research project, Mary found a fun, collaborative way to do both while also sharing her findings with the community.

On Tuesday, June 8, 2021, the College of Arts and Sciences will celebrate the achievements of the Class of 2021 with a virtual commencement. The ceremony will be live-streamed from Mandell Theater, where a small party of dignitaries and speakers will gather.

Climate change is one of the most serious challenges facing humankind today, and in the coming decades it will impact every aspect of people’s lives and careers. Even though actions are being taken to reduce global emissions, today’s students will live through a period of rapid climate change that is without precedent in human history. To help prepare students to face these problems, the Department of Biodiversity, Earth and Environmental Science (BEES) will offer a new minor in Climate Change beginning in Fall 2021.

On June 10, the Drexel Libraries welcomed Ted Daeschler, PhD, Curator of Vertebrate Zoology at the Academy of Natural Sciences and Professor in Drexel’s College of Arts and Sciences, to discuss the importance of communicating geosciences research to inspire citizen engagement during the final ScholarSip event of the 2018/2019 academic year.

In her second post, Professor Stefanie Kroll, Phd recounts her travels from the capital of Equatorial Guinea, Malabo, to the small town of Moka (population around 200) on Bioko Island. This unassuming place has been the home base for the Bioko Biodiversity Protection Program for over 20 years and where she and other Drexel faculty and students do research year round.

The continued discovery and documentation of new species shows life on Earth can still surprise us – and it’s clear that conservation and proper cohabitation of this world is increasingly important. Scientists at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University helped discover and recently published a few new slimy, shelled and fossilized species within the past 445 days, and each instance serves as a reminder of just how important biodiversity is.

We caught up with professors in the College of Arts and Sciences who recently won awards through the Fulbright U.S. Scholar program. From Mexico to Montpellier, these four profs are taking their research and teaching abroad.

We are pleased to recognize the recent grants, publications, presentations, awards and honors of the members of the College of Arts and Sciences.

The greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere make our planet habitable, taking it from an average global temperature of -18 degrees C (zero degrees F) to a balmy 15 degrees C (60 degrees F). Current human activities, such as fossil fuel burning and deforestation, are increasing the concentration of these greenhouse gases, increasing the amount of the sun’s energy that is getting trapped.

Ted Daeschler, PhD, professor in the Department of Biodiversity, Earth & Environmental Science, reports on his fourth week in Antarctica...

The Drexel University Center for Public Policy debuted the latest edition of Drexel Policy Notes titled Climate Change and the Future of the North American City at the Philadelphia Citizen's Ideas We Should Steal conference on November 30, 2018. The Issue brings together 15 of Drexel's environmental experts to weigh in on what Philadelphia may look like in 2100.

“Ant-Man and The Wasp,” sequel to Marvel Cinematic Universe’s 2015 “Ant-Man,” is in movie theaters this summer. Wondering how the superheroes compare to real insects, we checked in with the Academy’s Entomology Department, which houses 3.5 million insect specimens – a treasure for researchers around the world.

There we found Robert Conrow, an affable Drexel PhD student and teaching assistant who studies crane flies with Entomology Curator Jon Gelhaus, PhD, a world expert. Gelhaus  also is a professor in Drexel’s Department of Biodiversity, Earth and Environmental Science. Conrow says crane flies would make terrible superheroes “because their long legs easily fall off in the slightest breeze.”

Freshwater mussels and shad were once plentiful in the Delaware Estuary and its tributaries, providing a range of natural benefits to people and waterways. Today they face an uncertain future in local streams and rivers, creating a serious disadvantage when it comes to ecological health.

Now, the Academy of Natural Sciences, the College of Arts and Sciences of Drexel University, the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, Philadelphia Water Department and Department of Parks and Recreation, Bartram’s Garden, and the Independence Seaport Museum have come together to develop the Aquatic Research and Restoration Center to coordinate large-scale restoration efforts that do not currently exist in the Philadelphia region.

For most people, the thought of camping conjures images of leisurely hikes and starry nights cozied up to a campfire. For geoscience prof Ted Daeschler, PhD, it resembles something more like a two-day flight, followed by a noisy jaunt via military cargo plane, culminating in a 100-mile helicopter ride into the remote terrain and sub-freezing temperatures of Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valleys.

A sixth-grade science fair project in 2014 led to the discovery that erythritol, the main component of Truvia, is a natural insecticide. Today, that discovery is the basis of a new Drexel-backed startup, BioLogic Insecticide. Simon D. Kaschock-Marenda, now a freshman at Drexel in the College of Engineering, was 11 when he noticed that Drosophila melanogaster, commonly known as fruit flies, died much quicker when they fed on Truvia than on other sweeteners. His father, Daniel Marenda, PhD, professor of biology in the College of Arts and Sciences, was unconvinced at first.

The typical images that “climate change” conjures include disappearing coastlines and melting polar ice. But what about animals’ brains — including our own? Can they be affected by the changing climate? Sean O’Donnell, PhD, professor in the College of Arts and Sciences, argues that they absolutely can.

Water scarcity is one of the greatest challenges of our time, according to the United Nations. For the Dolan family of Philadelphia, water runs deep and personal. Almost 90 years ago, Philadelphia-area naturalist/adventurist, Brooke Dolan II, led expeditions to western China and Tibet and collected the Asian mammals on exhibit in the dioramas of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University. He and his colleagues also brought back thousands of other specimens to study at a time when the world looked to natural history museums for information on countless little-known species.

The fires now ravaging North California have been particularly bad this year because years of drought have left the area much like a tinderbox. One way to combat this build-up of “fuel load” is a controlled burn.

Amanda Lough, PhD, assistant professor in the College of Arts and Sciences, is a geologist who focuses on seismology, the study of earthquakes. She explains that although there are some rare cases where one earthquake might lead to another, that is almost certainly not the case in Mexico.

Since Friday, Houston and its surrounding area has been hammered by more than 40 inches of rain, with more set to come. Flooding related to Hurricane Harvey has water cresting dams and forcing people to their rooftops all across the area.

Hiding inside a hard shell that’s up to four feet long and resembles an elephant tusk, there’s a dark-colored earthworm-like creature. At one end, the creature’s body forms a slight bulb. At the other, claw-like appendages. It doesn’t really eat on its own, but ingests products made by bacteria that live within it.

Graduate and undergraduate students in Drexel's Biodiversity, Earth and Environmental Science (BEES) received an impressive number of awards, scholarships, grants and fellowships for 2017-18. Their academic prowess also earned the department the record for the highest number of honorees for major scholarships/fellowships out of any department in the University!