Meet Our Team

Valdijah Ambrose Brown

EdD Candidate
​EDUCATION LEADERSHIP & MANAGEMENT
FALL 2020 - CURRENT

Research Interests
  • ​​Neuroconstructivism
  • Arts Integration and Creativity
  • Embodied Cognition 
  • Neurophysiological & Psychological Implications of Racial Stress
  • ​Neuroprotective Embodied Practices 

Kate Hayes Hoffman

PhD Candidate
​EDUCATION LEADERSHIP & POLICY
​FALL 2022 - CURRENT

Research Interests
  • ​​Sustaining innovative school models
  • Leadership & creativity
  • Competency-based learning & leadership

Elaine Perignat, PhD

Former Graduate Researcher
​FALL 2015 - Spring 2019
​

Research Interests
  • STEAM pedagogy
  • Fostering creative learning environments 
  • Development of creative & critical thinking through arts-integration 
  • Former PhD Student under the supervision of Dr. Katz-Buonincontro 

Tajma Cameron

PhD Candidate
EDUCATION LEADERSHIP & POLICY
​FALL 2020 - CURRENT

Research Interests
  • Culturally affirming, sustaining, and creative instructional practices
  • Curriculum development
  • Black girls' STEAM identity
  • Formal learning environments
  • Informal learning environments

Talia Hurwich, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow
​​CREATIVE INTERDISCIPLIARY RESEARCH IN GRADUATE EDUCATION (CIRGE) PROGRAM
FALL 2021 - CURRENT

Research Interests
  • Comics and graphic novels in STEAM, ELA, L2, and religious education
  • Empowering students’ creativity and agency 
  • Critical literacies, multiliteracies, and gender equity
  • Bilingualism and heritage language learning

Brian McCommons, PhD

Former Graduate Researcher
​FALL 2018 - CURRENT
​

Research Interests
  • CIRGE - Creative Interdisciplinary Research in Graduate Education

Christine Chesebrough

PhD Candidate
​APPLIED COGNITIVE & BRAIN SCIENCES
FALL 2018 - CURRENT

Research Interests
  • Reward and motivational mechanisms that can promote (and hinder) conceptual learning and creative behavior
  • Relational and analogical reasoning
  • Creativity in the classroom and workplace
  • Application of EEG to study creative cognition
  • Psychophysiological correlates of creativity 

Vida Manalang

Former Undergraduate Researcher
​B.S. PSYCHOLOGY '21
FALL 2018 - SPRING 2021

Research Interests
  • Theater & drama-based arts-integration
  • Creative engagement & embodied learning
  • Dynamic creativity 
  • Current Masters student at New York University

FACULTY COLLABORATORS

Research in partnership with a wide network of dynamic experts from Drexel University, the Philadelphia community, and beyond.

Lutfi Agartan, PhD

Assistant Teaching Professor
Mechanical Engineering & Mechanics
Drexel University

Evangelia Chrysikou, PhD

Director, Applied Cognitive & Brain Sciences PhD Program
Associate Dean for Research
Associate Professor
Department of Psychology & Brain Sciences
Drexel University

Fraser Fleming, PhD

Professor
​Department of Chemistry
Drexel University

Richard Hass, PhD

Program Director, PhD, Population Health Science
Lecturer
Population Health Science
Public Health
Thomas Jefferson University

Lisa Min Tang, PhD

Professor, International Management
​Director, The Institute for Creativity & Innovation
University of Applied Management, Germany

Elaine Perignat, PhD

Assistant Professor
​Business, Fashion & Leadership
Immaculata University

Jennifer Atchison, PhD

Assistant Teaching Professor
Mechanical Engineering & Mechanics
Drexel University

Melissa Clemmer

Associate Director
​Lenfest Center for Cultural Partnerships
Drexel University

Rajashi Ghosh, PhD

Associate Professor
Department Chair, Policy, Organization & Leadership
​School of Education
Drexel University

Todd Kettler, PhD

Associate Professor
Department Chair
Gifted Education Program Coordinator
Department of Educational Psychology
Baylor University

D. S. Nicholas, NCIDQ, AIA, LEED GA, EDRA

Director, MS Design Research
Associate Professor
Coordinator, Sustainability in the Built Environment Minor
Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design
Drexel University

Rosalind Remer, PhD

Senior Vice Provost, University Collections & Exhibitions
​Executive Director, Lenfest Center for Cultural Partnerships
Drexel University

Megan Atha, PhD

Assistant Professor
Department of Leadership, Technology & Research
Florida Gulf Coast University

Allan Edmunds, MFA

Community Partner
​Founder & CEO, Brandywine Workshop & Archives

Paul Gondek, PhD

Adjunct Teaching Professor, Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences
Visiting Research Professor, Department of Chemistry
Drexel University

Daniel King, PhD

Associate Professor
Associate Department Head
​Department of Chemistry
Drexel University

Sue Hyeon Paek, PhD

Assistant Professor
Psychological Sciences
Education & Behavioral Sciences
University of Northern Colorado

Neville Vakharia, PhD

Associate Dean for Research & Planning
Associate Professor, Arts Administration & Museum Leadership
Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design
Drexel University