Author: Fernanda Cruz Rios
-
CIRCLE Lab awarded PA Manufacturing Innovation grant
Happy to announce that the Drexel University College of Engineering ‘s CIRCLE lab received a PA Manufacturing Innovation award from the PA DCED Department! The award will fund a partnership with industry to improve the circularity of prefabricated façade systems. Congratulations to my colleagues at COE who also received the award: Arvin Ebrahimkhanlou, PhD, PE…
-
Cagla Keles, PhD candidate at CIRCLE lab, presents research at the Architectural Engineering Institute conference
Today Cagla Keles represented our Department of Civil, Architectural & Environmental Engineering at Drexel University and presented her CIRCLE lab research at the #AEI2025 conference. I couldn’t be prouder of her! She absolutely killed it. Cagla talked about her post-demolition materials flow analysis in Philadelphia — the first study of its kind in the U.S.…
-
CIRCLE Lab awarded ASEE-EOP grant to infuse sustainability into engineering education
I’m excited to announce that our CIRCLE lab at Civil, Architectural & Environmental Engineering at Drexel University was just awarded an ASEE grant to infuse sustainability in engineering education! The grant is based on the Engineering for One Planet framework (see figure below), and it will help us lead an initiative to create a sustainability…
-
CAEE students present their senior design projects
First time advising Senior Design, and I couldn’t be prouder! My students delivered sharp, visually compelling presentations backed by thoughtful design decisions. Congratulations to all CAEE seniors at Drexel—and a special shoutout to my teams and co-advisors Matthew Reichenbach and L. James Lo!
-
Dr. Cruz Rios attend KEEN National Conference 2025
Great experience as a first-time attendee at KEEN2025 with my colleagues from Drexel University College of Engineering! Learning about entrepreneurial mindset in engineering education, growing my social network, and making connections with sustainability, social justice, and inclusion, as in everything I do. Next: Faculty development workshop in June!
-
New publication by CIRCLE Lab on digital technologies and circular economy in the built environment
Congratulations to Cagla Keles, PhD candidate at our CIRCLE lab at Drexel University College of Engineering on our most recent publication on Digital Technologies and Circular Economy for the built environment! Thanks Simi Hoque, Ph.D., P.E., LEED A.P. for all the support. Happy to be a part of this effort and proud of Cagla for…
-
ENVE 571 students learn with guest lecture from environmental historian Jay Turner
Today I’ve witnessed the power of bringing different disciplines to the classroom, especially bridging engineering and social sciences to explore eye-opening perspectives. I had the pleasure of hosting Jay Turner as a guest lecturer in my environmental life cycle assessment class for engineers. Jay is an environmental historian who writes on policy and environmental politics…
-
Dr. Cruz Rios talks about the CIRCLE Lab at the 2025 BIPOC-STEM Summit at Drexel University
I had the honor of participating in the 2025 BIPoC-STEM Student Summit organized by the Louis Stoked Alliance for Minority Participation under the FANTASTIC leadership of Marisol Rodriguez-Mergenthal! I represented the department of Civil, Architectural & Environmental Engineering at Drexel University and the Latinx community together with Amanda Carneiro Marques, Ph.D. Together with colleagues from…
-
CIRCLE Lab represents Drexel University at the REMADE conference
I had the chance to represent Drexel University College of Engineering at the REMADE Institute conference in Washington DC. It was amazing to learn more about the innovations in materials, systems, and processes to enable a circular economy in the United States. The conference brought together industry, academia, and government to discuss the state of…