Edward A. Waddell

My Greatest Accomplishment

Having my research on Black Soldier Flies (BSF) used and cited by the European Union in reports that will inform policymaking decisions was pretty mind blowing. Insect farming is growing rapidly for the production of animal feed, so to explore ways to limit the suffering of these sentient beings, I created one of the only research labs in the U.S. to study BSF welfare. The lab has been awarded more than $100,000 in grant funding for research since it opened in 2021. I never imagined that any data I generated would be interesting to local government or policy makers, let alone a supranational political and economic government agency, so that has been the coolest moment of my scientific career thus far. On a personal level, my roles as a father to my three beautiful daughters and as a husband to my loving wife are the greatest accomplishments and honors I will ever achieve within my life.

How Drexel Helped Me

My time at Drexel taught me how not only to be a critical thinker, a curious scientist and a committed educator, but it also taught me to be a good, respectful and compassionate citizen of our amazing country. These characteristics have allowed me to explore my fields of study and my faith with a clear and logical mindset to promote both scientific and civic literacy within my community. My time at Drexel also allowed me to lay down strong roots in Philadelphia, ensuring my commitment to serving this great city for years to come.

Where I Hope to Be in Five Years

My greatest hope is that I get to spend as much time with my family as possible. I also hope to have earned the rank of associate professor. I hope that I am still finding new and innovative ways to serve my community. And I really hope that I still love teaching and working with undergraduate students as much as I do now.

How I Pay It Forward

I’ve focused on translating novel authentic research experiences into high school and undergraduate classrooms ever since my post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. There, I began developing Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences for students at Rutgers University Camden. I was also part of a team that developed outreach experiences, called DrosoPHILA, to link scientists to their communities while expanding students’ awareness of scientific research and promoting scientific literacy. Currently, I am developing new academic programs to train STEM undergraduates to become STEM educators and bringing undergraduate students from Holy Family University into K-12 classrooms to improve STEM preparation for students from under-resourced schools in Northeast Philadelphia. Having been aided by wonderful, kind, caring and challenging mentors while I was in school, it is now my turn to support the next generation of scientists, clinicians, thinkers and citizens.