Design Research News | Drexel Westphal

Design News

Highlighted Articles
- April 29, 2026
- March 27, 2026
  Hosted by Westphal’s Associate Director of Communications and successful podcast producer Laurel Hostak Jones, Iterations features conversations with Drexel faculty, researchers, and community partners whose work bridges disciplines and demonstrates the impact of creative practice in addressing social and environmental issues.
Highlighted Articles
- June 10, 2025
  Celebrate the students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design in this round-up of recent accomplishments.
- May 05, 2025
  
  Drexel’s Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design is pleased to announce that the keynote speaker for our 2025 Commencement ceremony will be Grammy Award-winning musician, producer, and composer James Poyser.
- March 31, 2025
  Celebrate the students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design in this round-up of recent accomplishments.
Highlighted Articles
- October 22, 2024
  Celebrate the students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design in this round-up of recent accomplishments.
- May 31, 2024
  The Drexel Faculty Recognition Awards (formerly the Provost Awards for Teaching, Scholarship and Professional Service) allow 91��Ƭ�� to honor full-time and part-time faculty for their demonstrated excellence in serving the educational and scholarly missions of the University. The Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design leads the University in Faculty Recognition Awards with five of our colleagues recognized.
- May 24, 2024
  Drexel’s Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design is pleased to announce its keynote and student speakers for Commencement 2024.
- April 17, 2024
  Celebrate the students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design in this round-up of recent accomplishments.
- March 12, 2024
  Celebrate the students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design in this round-up of recent accomplishments.
- February 13, 2024
Highlighted Articles
- November 14, 2023
  
  Celebrate the students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design in this round-up of recent accomplishments.
- October 17, 2023
  Celebrate the students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design in this round-up of recent accomplishments.
- May 09, 2023
  Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson, Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) will serve as the keynote speaker for the 2023 Commencement ceremony of 91��Ƭ��’s Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design on Friday, June 16, 2023.
- April 18, 2023
  Celebrate the students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design in this round-up of recent accomplishments.
- March 15, 2023
  Celebrate the students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design in this round-up of recent accomplishments.
- March 06, 2023
  Westphal DEI is proud to honor 10 transformative, resilient, innovative, creative, entrepreneurial, and inspiring women to commemorate and celebrate the movement of all women towards equity, equality, and full agency.
- February 14, 2023
- February 09, 2023
  
  The Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design is excited to introduce our inaugural Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Francis Tanglao Aguas. Joining us from William & Mary College in Williamsburg, VA, Francis has already brought energy and ideas into our community as we strengthen a culture of belonging.
- February 02, 2023
  We, members of the Westphal community, with roots, family, friends, and colleagues in California or who belong to the Asian American Pacific Islander community, and the dance community share in the grief and pain suffered by our fellow humans in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay.
- January 10, 2023
  Celebrate the students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design in this round-up of recent accomplishments.
Highlighted Articles
- November 15, 2022
  Celebrate the students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design in this round-up of recent accomplishments.
- October 18, 2022
  Celebrate the students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design in this round-up of recent accomplishments.
- August 23, 2022
  The spring 2022 recipient of the Raizman Award is Mark Brack, associate professor in the Department of Architecture, Design & Urbanism.
- August 01, 2022
  As part of their annual , has featured Drexel student work from graduate and undergraduate Interiors, as well as Architecture and Design Research.
- June 16, 2022
  Through the spring 2022 Aging & Design course, Drexel students worked side-by-side with, and cultivated empathy for, older adults in their communities.
- May 24, 2022
  Celebrate the students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design in this round-up of recent accomplishments.
- May 16, 2022
  Drexel’s Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design is thrilled to announce it 2022 Commencement speakers.
- April 18, 2022
  
  Celebrate the students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design in this round-up of recent accomplishments.
- February 10, 2022
  Celebrate the students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design in this round-up of recent accomplishments.
- February 09, 2022
  It is with great sadness that we need to inform the Drexel Design community that Peter Arfaa has died. Peter Arfaa joined the Drexel Architecture faculty in 1972 and served there for 39 years, including 9 years as Department Head (1976-1985). In 1992 Peter and his wife Anne endowed The Farajollah & Maryam Badie Arfaa Lecture Series that was named in honor of Peter’s parents.
- January 11, 2022
  Wanda Dalla Costa AIA presented the winter Arfaa lecture entitled, “Indigenous Design: New Meaning, Methodologies and Responsibilities.”
Highlighted Articles
- December 07, 2021
  Celebrate the students, faculty, staff, and alumni of Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design in this round-up of recent accomplishments.
- August 13, 2021
  
  Six faculty from Westphal College of Media Arts & Design are recipients of 2021 faculty research awards from the 91��Ƭ�� Office of Faculty Advancement. Funding from the Faculty Scholarly & Creative Activity Award and Summer Research Award support tenure/tenure track faculty development of research, scholarship, and creative activities.
- June 28, 2021
  
  Celebrate the students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the Westphal College of Media Arts & Design in this round-up of recent accomplishments.
- June 02, 2021
  
  Celebrate the students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the Westphal College of Media Arts & Design in this round-up of recent accomplishments
- March 09, 2021
  Celebrate the students, faculty, staff and alumni of the Westphal College of Media Arts & Design in this round-up of recent accomplishments.
- February 19, 2021
  Emergency Information Systems (EIS) is proud to share that they have been recognized by the , receiving second place in the “Innovation in Social Mobility: Education Entrepreneurship” category for the Project S•A•F•E (Stand Apart, Fight Exposure) Initiative.
- February 09, 2021
  The Westphal College of Media Arts & Design is committed to creating a better Westphal. In an effort to increase transparency, open lines of communication, and advocate for the student experience at Westphal, we have established our first Westphal College Student Council, comprised of 25 students representing various student organizations and all seven departments in Westphal.
Highlighted Articles
- October 30, 2020
  The Westphal College of Media Arts & Design is looking forward to welcoming many of our undergraduate students back in January, and we are working to ensure the safest and most engaging educational experience possible for our community, whether you are taking courses remotely or face-to-face.
- October 15, 2020
  
  Celebrate the faculty, staff, students, and alumni of the Westphal College of Media Arts & Design in this round-up of recent accomplishments.
- July 20, 2020
- May 19, 2020
  Long-standing Dean of the 91��Ƭ�� Westphal College of Media Arts & Design, Allen Sabinson, reflects on his 15 years of leadership of one of the best Applied Art and Design schools in the nation.
- April 23, 2020
  
  In the Department of Architecture, Design & Urbanism, exploration of space and materials are essential, so moving to an entirely virtual environment is, in the words of Interior Design Assistant Professor Frances Temple-West, “challenging yet oddly liberating. It has opened up new opportunities to learn about materials and materiality.”
Highlighted Articles
- August 14, 2019
  The 2019 Design Research Symposium: Design For Living will take place on October 11, 2019 in the URBN Annex and URBN Center. This year’s symposium will examine health, urban living, and design through presentations, panel discussions, and a design sprint hosted by the Penn Medicine Center for Health Care Innovation.
- May 28, 2019
  As an end to our Spring term, we want to take a look back at this academic year 2018-2019 and mention all the accomplishments from our amazing faculty and students at Westphal College of Media Arts & Design. It has been a busy year with students studying abroad, faculty research, visiting artists and collaborations without outside companies. We are excited for the year to come to an end and appreciate the hard work of our community at Westphal.
- March 11, 2019
  Over the past several years, the Department of Architecture, Design, and Urbanism and the Department of Design have hosted a series of weekend charrettes aimed at engaging students with the ways in which design can address both public space and community dynamics at a both local and global scales. This year, the Interdisciplinary Design Charrette, set to take place on April 12-15, 2019, will be led by Lim Hyeung-Nam and Roh Eun-Joo, partners in the award-winning design firm studio GAON.
- February 08, 2019
  
  Fashion is signified and utilized across the globe. The second annual Fashion, Style & Global Culture Conference will focus on how fashion is portrayed in all types of popular and global culture. This conference aims to push the envelope of scholarship to gain new understandings about the visual expression of fashion, lifestyles, global culture and textiles through all forms.
- January 29, 2019
  Nicholas St. Angelo, a graduate student in the 91��Ƭ�� Design Research program, presented his thesis at the Fifteenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability in Vancouver, Canada this past January.
Highlighted Articles
- November 28, 2018
  Nicole Feller-Johnson, a ’18 alum of the Design Research and Fashion Design graduate programs, debuted her collection in Moscow at the ContrFashion SS 2019. Feller-Johnson’s avant-garde collection, “Lit From Within,” features various knit textile innovations, including the first-ever knitted dress of garment-capable 3D printed yarn.
- September 27, 2018
  , Make Lab Manager and faculty at Westphal has been selected to teach at MIT's Architecture Program for Experiments in Pedagogy in celebration of .
- September 21, 2018
  This year’s Design Research Symposium, on Friday October 12^th, focuses on Design & Change: Health, Technology, and Environment and is part of 2018 DesignPhiladelphia, which spotlights Philly designers with more than 120 events over nine days.
Highlighted Articles
- November 15, 2017
  The ArtistYear program provides a unique opportunity for Westphal students graduating this year and alumni up to the age of 28 to make a difference by creating unique arts programs and classes in nearby, underserved Philadelphia public schools.
- October 30, 2017
  
  BioDesign Challenge is a special topics course that will be offered this winter term and is open to all undergraduate and graduate students. Participants will work towards a coveted spot in the annual , an annual competition held in conjunction with the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA).
- September 27, 2017
  
  The , organized by the graduate program in , part of this year’s Intersections in Process, returns again this October with . The symposium features a day of free programming that explores the emerging field growing out of collaborations between artists, designers and interdisciplinary collaborators who push the boundaries of traditional disciplines unearthing solutions to practical and aesthetic problems through the mastery of new technologies and intensive research.��
- September 22, 2017
  
  Elena Sabinson joins our Interior Design Program as an Assistant Teaching Professor.��
- May 22, 2017
  The 2017 Product Design senior class, the fourth graduating class from this top-ranked program, will present their thesis work on Friday, June 2nd in the Leonard Pearlstein Gallery (3401 Filbert Street) from 4:30-7:30PM.
- March 13, 2017
  
  Nicole Koltick is an Assistant Professor in and Director of the , where she leads graduate research groups in critical design practices and speculative proposals focused on three main areas of inquiry: tangible interaction in the built environment, the incorporation of novel advancements in science and computation into our built environments, and new models for ambient communication. We sat down with Nicole to learn more about her work, process and perspectives.
- February 13, 2017
  The has recently acquired the Digital Clothing Suite (DCS), several new state of the art 3D fashion design computer programs from Professor Hyeong-Seok Ko, Director of the Digital Clothing Center in the Graphic and Media Laboratory, Seoul National University, and the Physan company. DCS is utilized by the industry to create and simulate fashion design on a virtual model, creating savings in costs and freeing up time for designers to explore and create.
- January 10, 2017
  This February Alan Greenberger, Distinguished Teaching Professor, will take the reins as Department Head of the newly named Department of Architecture, Design & Urbanism (formerly the Department of Architecture & Interiors).
- January 10, 2017
  Curious as to how design research can further your career goals? Join us on Wednesday, January 18th in URBN Room 239 from 6:30-8pm to learn more about our creative and innovative two-year .
Highlighted Articles
- October 05, 2016
  
  On Thursday, October 13th, The Department of Architecture & Interiors’ Arfaa Lecture will feature Harris Steinberg, Distinguished Teaching Professor and the Executive Director of the Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation, and Gerard Sweeney, President of Brandywine Realty Trusts for a panel discussion entitled , focusing on the major development plans for West Philadelphia being led by Drexel in partnership with Brandywine.
- October 05, 2016
  
  On Friday, October 14th we’ll host the , a series of events that explore the emerging field growing out of the work of artists, designers and interdisciplinary collaborators whose investigations push the boundaries of traditional disciplines, requiring interdisciplinary approaches, the mastery of new technologies, and intensive research to unearth solutions to practical and aesthetic problems.
- September 21, 2016
  
  The Westphal College will be quite active in this year’s , the annual citywide celebration of design and creative activity. Our participation will include the on Friday October 14^th in the .
- September 21, 2016
  For the academic year 2016-2017, we’re pleased to host six exciting residencies which will bring talented artists and designers to campus to teach, demonstrate, run charrettes and give public performances and lectures.
- May 02, 2016
  
  Nurturing Emergent Synthetic Life (NESL), a 6-minute short film by Professor Nicole Koltick, Director of the Design Futures Lab, produced in collaboration collaboration with Film & Television Professor Jocelyn Tarquini-Motter and Dragon Productions, will premiere on Wednesday, May 4^th at 6pm in the URBN Annex Screening Room.

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