For a band whose music relies so heavily on themes of sex, drugs and the sort of volatility that comes from a life of rock n’roll, the Kills are surprisingly consistent. In fact, their newest album is almost predictable. “Ash and Ice,” the gritty rock duo’s fifth album, is another iteration of their formula for raunchy guitar riffs, smoky vocals and suggestive lyrics. That isn’t to say “Ash and Ice” is stale. Rather, the album has a welcome familiarity, considering it’s been five years since the release of their last album.

The Kills are good at what they do. And what duo members Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince do is craft the perfect blend of rock, blues and electronic drum machines for a sound that’s uniquely theirs. It’s a sound that’s not at all contrived, marked by the authenticity of a duo that’s oozed grit since its conception. That Mosshart and Hince are quickly approaching 40 and 50 years of age, respectively, adds to rather than detracts from the persona that is the Kills.

“Ash and Ice” begins with the almost explicit “Doing It to Death.” Mosshart’s breathy vocals and Hince’s hammering guitar make for a perfect opening track, though not as strong as albums before. Nothing can really beat the opening lyrics of the Kills’ 2005 “No Wow” (“You’re gonna have to step over my dead body, before you walk out that door”), but this one tries.

The album’s most memorable songs have already been marked as singles. “Heart of a Dog” follows the first track and radio cut. In it, Mosshart proposes utterly dog-like loyalty to the subject of her affections, juxtaposed with the infidelity so common in rock music. If the band needs another single, my money’s on “Hard Habit to Break,” the next track. But from there, the songs begin to blend together. With little deviation from their formula for blues rock success, it becomes clear that “Ash and Ice” is just another Kills album. To an extent, then, the album’s biggest weakness is that it plays it a little too close to the chest. It’s exactly what you’d expect of the Kills.

But this may be for the better.

“Ash and Ice” is free of any of the gimmicky, cringe-inducing musical “exploration” you might find in an album by one of the band’s contemporaries — Jack White being the most glaring example. White’s last album had many of the Kills’ same blues and rock elements, but an artificial vintage theme made it sound more like a wild west saloon straight out of Disneyland.

But like White, whose work is separated by years of silence, “Ash and Ice” comes five years after the Kills’ last album. Despite the five-year separation, “Ash and Ice” could have been released five days after 2011’s “Blood Pressures.” The album’s’ only differences are in their release dates — much of “Ash and Ice” fits in better with the indie landscape of popular music today than any of their previous albums would. “Days of Why and How” and “Echo Home” could easily fit in on any alternative rock playlist on Spotify.

Considering that the band formed in 2000 and last released an album in 2011, it’s odd that anyone under the age of 18 listens to them. But they do. During their March stop in Philadelphia for a show that had been postponed roughly by six months, this became incredibly clear. Countless high-pitched — likely millennial — screams from the audience declared their love for Alison throughout the night, much to the chagrin of the significantly older audience members.

That the Kills can attract such a wide audience with a style and discography that’s largely stayed the same speaks volumes: they’re doing it right. But if their new album comes out sooner than five years from now, maybe it’ll be time to try something a little different.

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Photo credit: the School of Public Health

Drexel’s School of Public Health relocated to its new University City home in Nesbitt Hall after a $13 million overhaul and renovation of the building’s interior over the past year. Formerly located on the Center City Campus, the School of Public Health now finds itself at 33rd and Market streets.

The School of Public Health previously shared the Ballet Building in Center City with the College of Nursing and Health Professions. The school occupied the building on scattered floors with minimal collaboration space for students or staff.

“It became obvious to us that the best way to become more successful as a school was to grow, and that was something we couldn’t do very well in Center City. We are extremely excited to now be a part of the University City Campus community,” Perry W. McFarland, the associate dean for finance and administration who directed the renovation project and subsequent move, said. “There’s a certain energy here on campus, and I think that moving to the busiest corner of campus says a lot about the School of Public Health.”

Nesbitt Hall, a seven-story, 78,000-square-foot building best known by students for its two lecture halls on the ground floor, received a massive renovation and modernization of its upper six floors to fit the needs of the School of Public Health. Construction of the first floor is set to begin in the spring.

“My impression of Nesbitt was always really dirty. I had class in the big lecture hall there, and it was rough. The trashcans were always overflowing — you’d find garbage in the corners of the rooms. I was always too afraid to even try the bathrooms,” Suzanne Canfield, a sophomore business major, said. She also expressed her surprise at the construction and optimism for the space’s future: “It’s good to hear that they’re doing something with the building. I’m pretty excited to see what they can do with the first floor.”

Nesbitt’s new design was created by Philadelphia-based firm Strada / UJMN with both practicality and timelessness in mind. Borrowing from the familiar outward appearance of the 1960s-constructed building, the new interior of Nesbitt creates an undeniably mid-century mod feel with bright colors, open spaces and large, high windows.

“You would almost expect to see Don Draper and the cast of ‘Mad Men’ sitting there as you exit the elevators,” McFarland said.

Brought together by unique furnishings, terrazzo flooring and wood-paneled elevators, Nesbitt’s renovation looks less like a dramatic overhaul and more like a welcoming restoration of what it once was.

The renovation process included gutting the entire building from the second floor up and removing every structure, including walls and floors, before building a unique space for the school. This includes brand new laboratories, offices, conference rooms and spaces specifically for research and collaboration. During construction, the building was fitted with new heating, ventilation, and air conditioning; mechanical; fire; electrical; and plumbing systems.

“My favorite part of the new building is definitely the collaboration space. It’s very important for us to have that place where we can make bonds between students and staff, or where students can collaborate with each other,” Warren Hilton, associate dean for student and external affairs, said.

Working on the project was lead architect and Drexel alumnus George Poulin, ’07, whose role added to the inclusion of green and environmentally friendly features to the building’s renovation. In a series of videos released by the School of Public Health during Nesbitt’s renovation, Poulin describes the greenest feature of the renovated building as the use of its pre-existing shell. Rather than constructing an entirely new building, the school was able to save on energy and material expenditures by using what was already there.

In addition to its environmental considerations, Nesbitt will also create some progressive, social firsts for the University. When construction on the first floor is complete, the lobby will include a gender-neutral bathroom for use by all Drexel students, faculty and staff. In addition, the school will provide a nursing mothers’ room on the first floor, a safe and hygienic place for members of the Drexel community who are nursing. These firsts introduce the School of Public Health’s new role as a prominent member of the University City Campus community.

“My hope is that Drexel students from all majors will use the ground floor facilities that we are going to provide for them, and I would love for students to end up in our classrooms taking public health electives. We want all students to be proud of the new building and of the school itself,” McFarland said. “We wanted the new building to reflect the faith that the University had in our school to give us the chance to make this move.”

Much of the project was financed by the University, but the school also received a number of grants and gifts. A $350,000 grant from the Connelly Foundation will fund a public health graduate student collaboration and learning space in the first floor lobby, while the renovation also received $1 million toward construction costs from University board member Earl Stafford.

While renovations to the upper six floors of Nesbitt are complete, students will have to wait for construction of the ground level facilities to begin in the spring.

Nesbitt Hall was previously home to the Antoinette Westphal School of Media Arts & Design.

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A collaboration between the Pennsylvania Ballet and the Philadelphia History Museum is showing what happens when the ingenuity and creativity of Drexel students and staff collides with one of Philadelphia’s oldest and most beloved holiday traditions.

Five Drexel students created a behind-the-scenes exhibit celebrating the 45th anniversary of George Balanchine’s “The Nutcracker.” On display from Nov. 14 to Jan. 31 in the Philadelphia History Museum’s Community History Gallery, “Behind the Scenes of the Nutcracker” coincides with the annual winter presentation of the classic ballet.

“We are so glad that we got the chance to work on such a rich project. ‘The Nutcracker’ is such a Philadelphia institution,” Jody Graff, assistant professor and the project’s director, said.

Behind the project are four senior graphic design majors: Niki Benedetto, Tawona Chimimba, Soha Qadir and Avery Sohn. The fifth member of the team, Kristen Beck, also a graphic arts and design major, graduated this past year.

The exhibit opened with a reception Nov. 14. Members of the Pennsylvania Ballet were present to interact with visitors, including the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Mouse King themselves.

“It was a completely different space after seeing it in nothing but pieces for so long. When the gallery was finally installed and full of visitors enjoying our work, just as much as we did when we were making it, the space became magical,” Qadir said.

The opening reception was the first time that the students who worked on the project were able to see it in use and interacting with the public.

“Actually seeing everything we envisioned come to life was the best part of the entire experience,” Chimimba, a senior on the project, said.

“As an educator, it was so important to see my students witness other people interacting with what they had designed,” Graff said.

“Behind the Scenes of the Nutcracker” consists of 30 square feet in the Philadelphia History Museum’s Community History Gallery. A 10-foot Christmas tree, ornate with the pointe shoes of ballerinas and the slippers of children and male dancers, greets guests at the exhibit’s entrance. Visitors can watch a video created for the exhibit, which features past performances and interviews with those involved in the creation of the production. Children and adults alike can use a 4-by-8 mirror to learn the five basic ballet poses. Various panels throughout the exhibit focus on the history of the Pennsylvania Ballet and “The Nutcracker.”

“My main job was to work on the infographic snowflake panel, which reflected on the history of ‘The Nutcracker.’ Each snowflake represents a person. I cut out 124 snowflakes representing 124 dancers and 50 snowflakes for the 50 members of the orchestra,” Qadir said.

Key pieces of history on display include a program from the very first performance of “The Nutcracker” and sketches from the 2007 redesign of the ballet’s costumes. The exhibit also features many iconic costume pieces, including the Mouse King’s head, the grandmother’s necklace and a tiara worn by the Sugar Plum Fairy, offering viewers a chance to see them up close in detail for the first time.

The project began as an independent study course in the 2013 winter term. The students met with members of the ballet to discuss potential ideas for the exhibit before proposing three different concepts to the Pennsylvania Ballet and Philadelphia History Museum. After a period of storyboarding and conceptualizing, the project was stagnant until the beginning of the fall term, when it picked up momentum. The majority of the exhibition was then conceptualized, created and installed over a period of six weeks.

“We had so many late nights together that we started to get delirious, but for all our complaining, it was an awesome experience,” Qadir said. “We got to work with so many professionals. I’d tell my ideas to Jody, and she would really incorporate our thoughts into the project. It was great to know we were working with a professor as [equals]. It was a really grown-up moment for us.”

Graff, who is also the director of Drexel’s graphic design program, will continue to work with the Pennsylvania Ballet and Drexel students to create a new exhibit at the Free Library Main Branch. Featuring glass cases filled with artifacts from “The Nutcracker,” this exhibit will begin in March 2014 after the current “Behind the Scenes of the Nutcracker” ends.

“Giving students the chance to work with an organization that is such a cultural treasure to the City of Philadelphia is so unique and wonderful. No matter who you talk to, someone always has a story to share about their experience with ‘The Nutcracker.’ There’s just an incredible connection in the Philadelphia area to that production,” Graff said.

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The Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design presented the panel “Time Stands Still,” Oct. 17 which included a guest appearance from playwright Donald Margulies as well as two veteran conflict journalists, Sheila MacVicar and Brian Palmer.

“Time Stands Still,” a Pulitzer Prize-winning play written by Margulies, explores the lives of two journalists who covered war and conflict abroad and their attempts to settle back into a life free of gunfire. Between discussions led by Karen Curry, executive director of the Kal and Lucille Rudman Institute for Entertainment Industry Studies, faculty and students from Drexel’s own theater program presented scenes from the play.

“This play came out of a particular period during the war in Iraq when every day, the news was plagued with another car or market bombing. It haunted my days, just trying to function as a creative writer when this was going on somewhere else,” Margulies said during the panel. “The juxtaposition of my comfortable life to these horrors and that chaos was absurd. I thought there was a play there — that there was some way for me to capture that.”

After sustaining debilitating injuries from a roadside bomb in Iraq, the play’s protagonist, Sarah, a conflict photojournalist, returns home to heal. Her arm in a sling, leg in a cast, and face mutilated by shrapnel scars, Sarah has to deal with the limitations of her body and mind. As she is plagued by flashbacks and crippling guilt, Sarah’s mood swings and outbursts find a victim in her boyfriend of many years, James. However, James, a fellow wartime correspondent, has his own fair share of wounds to heal.

“I thought it would be kind of fresh and interesting to portray the life of journalists. Journalists never appear in plays. They’re only ever depicted stereotypical ways in various movies,” Margulies said.

As the actors performed selected scenes between Sarah and James, real-life conflict journalists MacVicar and Palmer expressed how they related and reacted to the character of Sarah.

“I remember coming back and being angry. You’re returning from this place where people were picking up pieces of their friends, to a world of lattes,” Palmer said. “I’d be sitting at my desk with my double latte after teaching a class at NYU, and I would have this crushing sense of guilt and anger. The anger destroyed relationships. I reacted a lot like Sarah.”

A turning point in the play occurs with the introduction of Richard, a close friend of Sarah and James, who works as a photo editor for a news magazine. In what seems to be a grave lapse of judgment, Richard brings his new love interest, Mandy, a shamefully young and pretty party planner, with him to visit Sarah.

During the visit, Richard chastises Sarah for her desire to return to conflict photojournalism, stating that she must have a death wish. This was a sentiment that hit close to home for both Palmer and MacVicar.

“There was merit in bearing witness to these events. I was covering something that I thought no one else would talk about if I didn’t,” MacVicar said. “At the end of the day, I had a passport. I could have called home and left any time I wanted. But the people I was doing this for, the ones living there, they couldn’t leave.”

“I remember family members who just held their tongues after my first and second trips. When I came home the third time and was getting ready to leave again, they just exploded. They asked me, ‘How can you do this to us?’” Palmer said.

Working independently as a freelance journalist, documentarian and photojournalist, Palmer has written for and contributed video reporting to various news media outlets. His documentary, “Full Disclosure,” based on his experience spending three embedded media assignments with a U.S. Marine infantry unit in Iraq, premiered in 2010.

MacVicar’s experience as an international correspondent with news outlets like CNN and ABC includes coverage of some of the world’s most dangerous and troubled regions. She has reported on the conflicts in Bosnia, Iraq, Israel, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo while investigating terrorism and security issues throughout Europe and the Middle East.

“How do you change your life? How do you do anything else?” MacVicar asked.

Nick Anselmo, associate teaching professor and theater program director at Drexel, played James and directed the scenes performed during the panel. Teaching professor Bruce Graham performed as Richard. Annette Kaplafka played Sarah.

Alaina Beaver, a junior nursing major who played the role of Mandy, said that the panel was much more than she had expected.

“I had no idea it would be like this. Sitting onstage and listening to the reporters’ stories after each performance really brought their experiences to life,” Beaver said. “It was amazing that I could hear and connect what they had to say with what we had just performed. Part of me wanted to get the performances over with so I could listen to them instead.”

The panel was presented as part of a new fall course, “Imaging War,” which looks at how war and conflict are portrayed in media. The course utilizes guest speakers and lectures, all of which are free and open to the public.

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October marks the beginning of flu season, and for the next few months, Drexel students will have to be especially aware of the risks of contracting the influenza virus. Combined with classes, work, and the stresses of living away from home, possibly for the first time, potential illness becomes a worry for Drexel students.

Students living on campus have to be particularly careful during this time of year — living in close quarters with one another, sometimes with several roommates, makes these students part of a very at-risk demographic. However, students can eliminate one major stressor and significantly lower their risk of contracting the flu very easily.

“Students getting the flu vaccine is the best thing. It’s the starting place for protection against the flu,” Dr. Esther Chernak of the Drexel University School of Public Health said.

“As a parent, I’m obsessive about my children getting vaccinated,” Chernak said. “My son is in college, and it’s hard to be sick when you’re alone. I don’t think most students realize just how awful the flu is. It’s not just a cold. Those who have had the flu never want it again.”

Symptoms of the flu can include anything from fever, headache and cough, to chills, nausea and vomiting. In general, it is significantly worse than contracting the common cold.

“Influenza is spread through droplets expelled when you cough, and these droplets are filled with viral particles,” Chernak said, explaining that coughing can expel these droplets up to six feet.

She advises that the best way to prevent the spread of these viral particles is through regular hand washing and covering your cough, ideally with your upper arm or inner elbow. Only ever cough into your hands if using a tissue, and dispose of this tissue immediately. Do not put it down on any surfaces like a table or desk, as this is a common mistake that spreads the viral particles onto those surfaces. Instead, throw it into a trash can, where it cannot be touched.

Chernak also stressed the importance of resting and refraining from attending classes when sick. Not only is rest a vital part of the recovery process, but more importantly, isolation stops the flu from spreading.

“When you get sick, you blame the person who came to class sick. So if you get sick, you shouldn’t come to class. It’s just better to practice what you preach,” Chernak said.

However, for some students, taking a sick day simply isn’t an option.

“Going to class is really important since all of my classes take attendance. I try to stick it out and go to classes even when I’m sick,” Allison Campbell, a sophomore entertainment and arts management major, said.

As a part of the 2-Year Residency Program, which demands that all noncommuter students must live on campus for their freshman and sophomore years, this is Campbell’s second year in on-campus housing.

“Last year I tried to wash my hands a lot, and I was careful not to touch my eyes or mouth, but there’s not much you can do when you’re constantly around people who are sick,” Campbell said. “The dorms are definitely not the healthy environment students would hope to have, and I didn’t notice any extra effort on the school’s part to try and keep the dorms sanitary [during flu season]. Our bathrooms didn’t even have soap for most of the year.”

In these sorts of environments, the best method to prevent the flu is receiving the flu vaccine. Drexel performs yearly flu vaccination clinics that provide vaccines for students, staff and faculty.

Under Drexel’s student health insurance plan, vaccinations are free, while otherwise there is a flat fee of $28. Receipts are given for reimbursement to those not covered by Drexel’s insurance if flu shots are an expense covered by their health insurance company. The 2013 clinic occurred Oct. 8, but students can still receive flu vaccines through Student Health Services.

“I didn’t know that Drexel gave flu shots until my professor told our class that we should get one. I hadn’t heard any other information about them until then,” Campbell said. “I’ve never gone to Drexel’s Student Health Center, either. I normally just go to CVS and get some cough drops and hope I get better.”

In addition to supplying students with medications after they have already contracted the flu, pharmacies like CVS administer flu shots every year.

Chernak also dispelled a commonly held myth about flu vaccines, that getting the vaccine can cause contraction of the disease. She said that because influenza strikes around the same time of year as many other seasonal illnesses, it’s those that people are contracting after vaccination, not the flu. In fact, getting vaccinated can actually help students fight those illnesses.

“That’s the beauty of the flu vaccine. While it is meant to prevent people from getting the flu, it can also help protect against other illnesses. You generally get less sick from other illnesses when you do contract them if you have had a flu shot,” Chernak said.

While flu vaccinations can cause some side effects, such as redness, soreness and swelling at the site of injection with the possibility of nausea or body aches, these subside a few days after the injection. They are are not in any way comparable to the severity of symptoms upon contracting the flu.

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“So, I’ve got the feeling that this night might be the best night of some of your young lives,” Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz said to the audience May 30 at the band’s sold-out Electric Factory show.

Returning from a nearly four-year hiatus with their newest album, “Save Rock and Roll,” the pop-punk veterans played a mix of both old and new favorites with verve and excitement. However, even though the crowd of mostly diehard fans received them warmly, they had a clear message — they’re not the FOB you used to know.

Joined by alternative rock band New Politics, Fall Out Boy set out on a small-scale spring and summer club tour before the album-supporting “Save Rock and Roll” arena tour this fall. New Politics’ performance style was unconventional; lead vocalist David Boyd was breakdancing and headstanding while singing at the top of his lungs. Then again, every band member had a level of energy and enthusiasm that had the whole crowd fist-pumping and head-banging.

Although their set was surprisingly short, this went fairly unnoticed because the audience was getting more and more antsy for the long-awaited return of their beloved icons.

Finally, Fall Out Boy appeared behind a large white curtain, and as soon as it was lifted, the crowd turned into a madhouse. With the first few notes of “Thriller,” the opening track off their 2007 album “Infinity on High,” fans began pushing, shoving and dancing all while attempting to get closer to the front. By the end of the second song, the band had seen enough.

“We have an odd request,” Wentz began before asking the crowd to ease up by taking a few steps back for the sake of those in the front. Similar conditions during past shows on the tour had led to countless injuries among fans, and Wentz’s request was becoming a familiar one. When the crowd failed to comply, guitarist Joe Trohman interjected, demanding his fans to “back the f— up, please.”

Nevertheless, the energy in the packed-to-capacity Electric Factory remained. Instruments and vocals were often drowned out by the crowd’s own gusto. Every song had its lyrics sung back to the band, no matter how new. “The Phoenix,” the first track on Fall Out Boy’s new album, sent the crowd into a frenzy of passionate screams and dancing as frontman Patrick Stump sang the band’s new mantra of “put on your war paint” into the microphone with vigor and scenes from the song’s graphic music video played on the screens behind them. However, it was old hits like “Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down,” “This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race” and “Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy” that sent the crowd over the edge, moshing and dancing as though it were Warped Tour 2006.

A dramatic change from the arenas that the band used to sell out, the intimacy of the venue allowed the band to interact with the audience. The band members themselves had a goofy attitude with not only the crowd but also each other. A previously passive and shy Stump joked with Wentz onstage and performed with a self-confidence entirely unseen before, likely brought on by his new fit appearance and brief tour as a solo artist. Trohman and drummer Andy Hurley, members of the same heavy-metal band during Fall Out Boy’s hiatus, were as intense as ever. Then the kicker to the reunion was the apparent coordination of outfits with an emphasis on gray skinny jeans.

“Where are all my dudes at?” Wentz asked, receiving a low rumble from the Electric Factory’s surprising amount of male patronage. “It’s been a long while since we’ve written a song for the f—ing dudes. So this one’s for you.” He then dedicated the band’s latest single, “Young Volcanoes,” an acoustic guitar-driven tune almost overwhelmed by the crowd’s rhythmic clapping and chanting, to his dudes.

Upon leaving the stage after performing “My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark,” the first song that the band released post-hiatus, the crowd’s continuous chants of “Fall Out Boy” faded into a chilling repetition of the song’s chorus. Saving the album’s namesake track for the encore that followed, “Save Rock and Roll” was performed with Stump at piano, perfectly mimicking the part of the track’s guest vocalist, Elton John. The triple-split screen behind the band displayed pictures of famous musicians as they performed, adding an extra layer of mysticism and nostalgia.

The night came to an end as Wentz jumped into the audience to scream the end of “Saturday,” a fan favorite that sent the audience into a pandemonium even stronger than it was when the band had first taken the stage. The song, however, was largely a wall of noise and fast-paced instrumentals, reflective of Fall Out Boy’s earlier years, further mottled by the audience’s own screaming.

“Music never leaves you alone, and punk rock will always be there when nothing else will,” Wentz reassured the audience before the band’s departure from the stage.

Fall Out Boy will return to Philadelphia Sept. 8 at the Liacouras Center, backed by the band’s old friends Panic At the Disco and Twenty One Pilots.

Additional reporting by Azwad Rahman

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A doctor at Drexel’s College of Medicine has helped to create the first cesarean section “manikin” that will save lives through realistic C-section simulation training in developing countries. The simulation, dubbed “C-Celia,” will teach health professionals how to perform emergency surgical interventions in areas of the world where neonatal and maternal mortality rates are extremely high.

“This is truly a first-in-the-world simulation and a design to save lives,” Dr. Owen Montgomery, chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Drexel’s College of Medicine, said. “There are birthing simulators, which are not very lifelike, but there are no other simulators that allow you to do what we do.”

C-Celia was brought to Montgomery by colleague Dr. Robert Buckman in February 2011, who created the prototype and asked Montgomery if he could train people to use it. In July of that year, the simulation won first place in the Saving Lives at Birth category for the Grand Challenges in Global Health Grant.

As a lifelike model of a pregnant woman in need of a C-section, C-Celia prepares health professionals for what they will see in the operating room. An operator will need to cut through C-Celia’s abdomen, uterus and placenta to retrieve the model infant inside. C-Celia is also designed so that a single person can perform the operation alone, which may be the case in areas of the world where trained professionals are scarce. This is done with the use of a plastic ring retractor that keeps the abdominal incision open.

People are trained on C-Celia in small tasks. An operator will first be taught to make a skin incision and do so multiple times until he or she is proficient. Only after mastering skin incisions will the operator be able to move onto the next step of the surgery. Once proficient in all steps involved in performing a C-section separately, the operator will actually get to deliver the baby on C-Celia. Training in this way cuts down on costs, as the parts of C-Celia that get destroyed by incisions need to be replaced.

This simulated operation will need to be done while wearing gloves because the model features fake blood and amniotic fluid. Additionally, C-Celia can be adjusted to create difficult birthing situations.

“We can actually teach complicated deliveries by putting a baby in the uterus in different positions, so you have to know the different mechanisms to try to get a difficult baby out. We can make the model bleed, requiring the surgeon to know how to repair ruptures and bleeding lacerations,” Montgomery said.

C-Celia can also train an operator on how to perform a hysterectomy, a feature that will be used primarily in the U.S. The simulation’s main purpose is to instruct nonobstetricians, such as midwives and other health technicians, on how to carry out a lifesaving emergency C-section.

According to the World Health Organization, over half a million women die every year in pregnancy and childbirth in the developing world, and many of these deaths occur in Africa. This is where Montgomery saw a need for intervention in maternal and neonatal care, citing what he referred to as the three delays in delivery that lead to these subsequent deaths — the delay in deciding to seek care, reaching care and receiving care.

Reaching care proves extremely difficult in some countries where the two- to four-hour ambulance ride increases the mortality rate up to 50 percent. Though these countries often have small, local hospitals and clinics, distant university hospitals are the only places that offer emergency measures such as C-sections.

“We had resources and needs that weren’t mixed well. I believed I could train whoever was there rather than putting a woman into an ambulance and having her bleed to death on the way to the hospital. There are a couple of small hospitals around [The Gambia], but there are no providers of emergency obstetrics. They have midwives, and they can do routine obstetrics, but not complicated obstetrics,” Montgomery said. “So if we could teach one of the providers right there how to do a lifesaving cesarean delivery, even if they’re not an obstetrician, we could save two lives —the mom’s and the baby’s.”

Teaching local village technicians how to perform C-sections with the simulator has additional benefits. Nonphysicians trained locally have a much higher chance of remaining with the village clinic or hospital than do physicians, who will often leave after being trained.

“You’re not maintaining the ability to perform lifesaving deliveries by training the very few physicians there are because they go back to the capital or the United States to do something else,” Montgomery said.

In a country like the U.S., where the infant mortality rate is only 14 per every 100,000 births, teaching physicians to deliver with C-Celia is less purposeful. However, these skills, when taught to midwives and other nonphysicians, can be used when they go to developing countries.

“You have to go to where it is that you’re doing the most good. You can help women in Philadelphia, and we do every day, but we can’t have the same level of impact in Philadelphia by adding this technique because every hospital in Philadelphia is already fully capable and ready to go. Of course I can train the doctors here better, and I can train them in emergencies they don’t see all the time. But if 99 percent of the deaths occur in Africa, you have to go to Africa,” Montgomery said.

C-Celia has been used in simulations of natural disasters and extreme emergencies to prepare operators for worst-case scenarios. During an on-campus simulation day April 30, teams of students had to deliver a baby with C-Celia after the event of a simulated car accident. The objective of the operation was to intervene and save both mother and child at a time when the mother’s vital signs were fine and encouraged teamwork among the students.

“We teach as a team because when you go into the world, you’re going to practice as a team. So it’s entirely possible for medical students to learn all of their medical stuff and nurses to learn all their nursing stuff, and the first time they ever work together, they’re actually treating real patients. Well, that’s not the best method,” Montgomery said. “So what we want to do is to train people to work in the teams they’ll be working in later on because that will actually improve quality and satisfaction and safety. We use simulation as a vehicle to put teams together to train.”

Montgomery has met with several universities abroad that wish to work with C-Celia. He has also spoken to world leaders such as the first lady of Zambia, Dr. Christine Kaseba-Sata, who is an obstetrics and gynecology specialist herself and wants the model to be used for training in her country.

“Every once in a while, what I’ve learned and how I practice will save a life, and that is the absolute most rewarding thing. I can’t save lives if I’m not there, but I can teach people who can save lives every day,” Montgomery said.

Montgomery predicted that C-Celia will be ready to use for training in Africa within the next 12 months.

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Drexel’s Expressive and Creative Interaction Technologies Center received a $75,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation April 29. ExCITe’s proposal, an initiative to engage people in the arts by creating media technology such as visuals and mobile apps to integrate into live concerts, was an entry in the 2013 Knight Arts Challenge.

Three initiatives of the proposal focus on the creation of music technology and engaging audiences, including a hack-a-thon, a musician residency program and a series of live concerts. The new residency program will bring local artists to campus to create new works with ExCITe, while the hack-a-thon will develop innovations in media technology.

“We are trying to highlight the great virtues of music technology and how intersecting the two can do so many things. For one, it can lead to more interesting and expressive performances, and it can help engage audiences in something that they might not be that familiar with, like jazz or classical or even some genres of pop. And then, we’re really just trying to get the community involved in music making,” Youngmoo Kim, director of the ExCITe Center, said.

The first of ExCITe’s concert series, “The Science of Jazz,” took place April 23 during the Philadelphia Science Festival. The set utilized a smartphone application that would allow users to change the image displayed on screens behind the musicians. However, the app serves as more than just aesthetic appeal, as it also lets users see some of the physical aspects of the music such as frequency, wavelength, harmony and timbre.

The next part of ExCITe’s initiative takes place May 18 and 19 during Music Hack Day, when programmers, designers and artists will work together to create everything from instruments and art to hardware and apps to benefit the future of music. The event will be sponsored by big names in music like Spotify and SoundCloud. Music Hack Day is free for students to register online at philly.musichackday.org. There will also be a demonstration session May 19 for students to see the hackers’ creations.

“This initiative is really just showing some of the possibilities when you cross music and technology. People think that these are different things, but historically, music and technology have been symbiotic. Innovation in music drives through technology,” Kim said.

Kim cited the modern piano we use today, created over hundreds of years of technical innovations, as proof that musical technology is constantly developing. Further evidence of this innovation was showcased at the “Science of Jazz” concert with a magnetic resonator piano. Using electromagnets, the performer can create unique sounds and continuously shape each note.

Kim was involved in another project funded by the Knight Foundation in 2011, a collaborative effort with the Philadelphia Orchestra to create iNotes, an iPhone app that provides real-time notes about orchestral pieces, which appear on your mobile device during the live performance.

Like iNotes, Kim says that this year’s proposal is another initiative to engage audiences who may not be familiar with a genre of music. “Everyone loves music, but not everyone has learned an instrument or feels comfortable doing that. So we, through this project and others, have tried to develop ways that people can be musically expressive without necessarily having years of training,” Kim said.

One of the requirements of the Knight Arts Challenge is that the proposal must take place in and benefit Philadelphia in some way. This fits in with the purpose of the ExCITe Center, as its self-declared mission is to serve as a space for creative people who want to work together on innovative projects benefiting the Philadelphia region and beyond.

“In Philadelphia specifically, we focus on the arts, arts and culture and on digital access and literacy. We look for programs that bring new audiences to the arts or engage communities in the arts,” Donna Frisby-Greenwood, Philadelphia director of the Knight Foundation, said. “We think that the work that Drexel is doing with civic engagement is very important. [The school is] trying to be a great neighbor to the community that it lives in and give back to the neighborhood.”

The 43 winning ideas from across Philadelphia, chosen from an original pool of 1,200 submissions, won more than $2 million total. This was the last year of the three-year, $8 million art initiative that the Knight Arts Challenge launched in 2010. It has since awarded grants to 114 ideas for enriching Philadelphia’s communities and art scenes. In total, the Knight Foundation has invested over $100 million in the city’s art scene since 1970.

“Philadelphia has a rich arts and culture history, and those things are a huge part of what we are in Philadelphia. When students start to visit them, they really start to get a sense of what Philadelphia is all about. They see how huge the creative community is here and what a huge amount of opportunity there is here to take part in the arts,” Frisby-Greenwood said.

“Creativity is not a gift given to select individuals. Creativity is in everyone. A lot of it comes from when you bring people together from different disciplines like scientists, engineers, artists and designers. Once we all get started talking, we realize that there are so many things we can accomplish, so many things we can do. Everyone can create things,” Kim said.

The ExCITe Center is not the only Drexel program that has worked with the Knight Foundation. Drexel’s Pennoni Honors College was awarded a $20,000 grant in 2011. That grant created a program for students to write as journalists for art coverage in the Philadelphia Daily News.

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Drexel psychology professor John Kounios presented a seminar titled “‘Aha!’ Moments in the Brain” April 10 regarding two forms of human thought processes used to solve problems. Kounios focused on the differences between analytic thought, which is a deliberate and methodical way of solving problems; and what humans have come to know as the “Aha!” moment, a sudden burst of creative insight. Kounios presented his own research and collaborative efforts with other psychologists to explain these forms of thought as well as what they mean for people in their daily lives.

Kounios began his seminar with an extraordinary example of an “Aha!” moment. Surrounded by flames during the Mann Gulch Fire of 1949, firefighter Wagner Dodge decided to burn the grass surrounding him in an effort to avoid being killed by the approaching wildfire. It worked, and Dodge survived. Events like this make psychologists such as Kounios wonder what causes humans to solve complex problems suddenly.

“What went on in Dodge’s brain to make him do this? What was he thinking? What happens in your brain? We want to know what happens in a brain when someone has a moment of creative insight,” Kounios said.

Researchers found a distinct difference between humans’ conscious method of analytical thought and their insightful, creative “Aha!” moments. Kounios, who specializes in electroencephalography technology, the recording of electrical activity in the brain, scanned and tracked the brain activity of people who had been asked challenging, “outside-the-box” questions. These were questions that could not be solved through a series of analytical steps. What he found was that certain parts of the brain were more active in the seconds leading up to the moment of insight. In addition, problems that did require analytic thought caused increased activity in separate regions of the brain.

Kounios explained when and why these two methods of problem solving might appear. He said that thinking of events in the future allows for more insightful, abstract thought, whereas events with an impending deadline squash creativity and cause one to think more analytically and realistically.

“If I were to tell you that one year from now you’re going to go on a business trip to Tokyo, what would you think?” Kounios asked. “You would probably start wondering if you were going to receive a promotion or if your boss was trying to get you out of the office. But if I told you that you’re going on a business trip to Tokyo tomorrow, you would probably wonder if your passport is up to date, remind yourself to cancel your dentist appointment or do your laundry. You would think of the more concrete things instead of the abstract things when you’re told it’s a year away.”

This theory caused students and faculty to raise questions about the effects of procrastination and the use of drugs such as Ritalin on analytic and insightful thought. Kounios said that the productivity many students feel as a result of working under pressure comes from increased effort, not from increased analytic thought. Likewise, Kounios said that the use of ADHD medications such as Adderall is likely to decrease creativity rather than improve it.

Kounios also explored the origins of the term “thinking outside the box” and explained the purpose of this “box” in people’s daily lives.

“Why do we have to think outside the box? Why are we in the box to begin with?” Kounios asked. “It seems as though that restriction is necessary for us to get through life on a daily basis. If you think about all of the possibilities in a given situation, if you think about all of the information around you, you would be overwhelmed. Your brain is not big enough and fast enough to process all of the possibilities. You need blinders. The blinder is the ‘box.’”

However, Kounios explained that these “blinders,” which make it easy for people to complete basic everyday tasks, are what make it hard for us to solve more complex problems. Getting rid of these blinders is what is referred to as insight.

The lecture was part of the Dean’s Seminar Series.

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The Goodwin College of Professional Studies has created a program to help female veterans re-enter and succeed in the workforce after returning from military service. The program, which consists of a series of five free Saturday workshops from March 6 to May 4, emphasizes transferring military skills to civilian life and providing a safe haven for a growing group of underrepresented veterans.

Through the workshop, women will learn how to transfer skills learned in the military into everyday life and a potential job. They will also learn how to obtain this job through resume building with one-on-one career coaches and preparation for job interviews. This will include insight on how to answer frequently asked and unexpected questions and how to monitor body language and close an interview.

One focus will be on running a business and will feature visits from both potential employers and representatives from growing employment sectors. They will speak to the veterans about employment options, their respective industries and how veterans’ post-military skills can benefit these jobs.

“They tend to think about their militant skill sets as only for the military. They understand hierarchy and how to work within the rules but be creative, and these less obvious skills are very translatable to the world of work. These are things that veterans don’t think of as real skills, and we want to show them with these workshops that all of the things they learned to do in the military are useful,” Rosalie Guzofsky, director of Drexel’s adult education program, said. “It’s not just what they did in the military, such as being an auto-mechanic, though veterans often don’t realize that there is an equivalent to these jobs in the civilian world.”

These skills have the potential to make a veteran a “highly sought-after employee,” according to Guzofsky. However, veterans can also have a hard time translating these skills and their military experience into something they can write on a resume. Military jargon that makes sense to a fellow veteran is often lost on employers, which can cost them the job. The workshops hope to overcome these hardships and turn a veteran’s experience into something that can forward her career.

Guzofsky also hopes that the program will serve as a sort of safe haven for these women, who are largely outnumbered by their male counterparts. This causes problems when women try to talk about experiences they have had in the military, which often differ greatly from men’s.

“They don’t identify themselves necessarily as veterans, and they don’t particularly care to be involved in veteran events. Women veterans fear joining any sort of veteran group, so we tried to make it so specific that [this workshop] was just for women,” Guzofsky said. She also cited the prevalent issue of sexual abuse in the armed forces as a reason for women’s reluctance to take part in post-service events and organizations.

The only area where female veterans surpass male veterans in numbers is in their levels of unemployment. While male veterans have lower unemployment rates than non-veteran males, female veterans have higher rates of unemployment than both male and female non-veterans. These numbers are only increasing as more women return from the service.

Drexel, with its interest in and relationship with veterans, did not ignore this fact. Plans for the program began last fall.

“Drexel is very pro-veterans and educating veterans, so this really fits in with Drexel’s values and what Drexel stands for,” Guzofsky said.

Previously, through the Collegiate Consortium, a nonprofit organization that partners with Drexel, veterans who had served after 9/11 were eligible for a $3,000 scholarship. This was an award administered through Guzofsky’s office at Drexel, but after these grants came to an end, she used what was left of the funds to propose the program for female veterans. Many of the women who received this scholarship are now involved in Drexel’s upcoming workshops, creating a very friendly, informal atmosphere for those involved.

The program has partnered with the Veterans Multi Service Center of Philadelphia and other veteran groups to advertise and create these workshops. Many vendors appearing at the upcoming women’s workshop showed interest in the program after Drexel held a military career fair, an event largely dominated by male veterans.

Guzofsky hopes that female veterans will take advantage of this opportunity to push their careers forward and civilianize their military experience.

“If anybody needs to build confidence, it’s this group of women,” she said. The program has her looking forward to the possibility of teaming up with others on campus who work with veterans to brainstorm new ideas.

The workshops are open to women of all military branches who have been on active duty at least once.. Unlike many other veterans’ programs, women do not need to have served after 9/11 to participate. If interested in taking part in these free workshops, contact Adult Education Program Assistant Patricia Gremmel at 215-895-2154 or at patricia.gremmel@drexel.edu.