Author: Diana Lutz

Photo by David KilperMary Sansalone, dean of the School of Engineering, visits with state Rep. Allen Icet (R-84th), chairman of the House Budget Committee, shortly before her presentation at the BIO Benchmarking program held Sept. 5 in the Knight Center.

Sexton observes a flooded Marais Temps Clair.In science, it’s best to be good, but sometimes it’s better to be lucky. Ecologist Owen Sexton, professor emeritus of biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, had just completed a census of snakes at a conservation preserve northwest of St. Louis, when the great flood of 1993 deluged the area, putting the preserve at least 15 feet under water. The flood provided Sexton with a rare opportunity: his collected data and the flood would combine to make “the perfect study” of how an area rebounds from natural disaster.

The opportunity to work on a cutting-edge research project from day one with a faculty member from Engineering or Medicine is one of the School of Engineering’s exciting new initiatives for undergraduates. In fact, 17 members of the class of 2011 have received these awards. Inspired by the legacy of former Dean James M. McKelvey and now funded in part by a grant from the Clare Boothe Luce Foundation, these new undergraduate research awards give students the opportunity to find out what makes a research university special.

Software developed using a concept discovered at WUSTL may be used to optimize high-speed machining processes, leading to lighter, stronger, and more accurate parts for the aircraft or medical device industry.An engineer at Washington University in St. Louis has helped find a way to “cut the chatter” in high-speed machining of aluminum and titanium aircraft parts. Chatter in milling is an instability that arises because the cutting tool vibrates, making oscillating patterns on the work piece. Now researchers including Philip V. Bayly, Ph.D., Washington University Hughes Professor of Mechanical Engineering, have developed software that predicts when chatter is going to occur as well as the accuracy of the cut.

The International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability (I-CARES) is initiating a seminar series aimed at providing a forum for diverse disciplines in the area of renewable energy.

A software program developed by Washington University researchers is allowing viewers access to data and some early images from the most powerful spectral camera ever sent to Mars. The information is now available on NASA’s online planetary data archive.

Researchers inspect a Lahar flow – a mix of water and rock fragments that looks like moving concrete – near the Tungaruhua volcano close to Banjos, Ecuador. The flow killed three people and shut down access to the road to Banjos in a 2006 eruption.A geologist at Washington University in St. Louis is doing his part to make sure that the small Latin American country of Ecuador follows the Boy Scout motto: Be prepared. Robert Buchwaldt, Ph.D., Washington University lecturer in earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences, is the only scientist from America who sits on an international committee that is seeking ways to address the volcanic threat in Ecuador, especially in Quito, a city of five million nestled against the volcano Guagua Pichincha, which erupted just two years ago.

A University team took fifth place in the national CanSat competition June 8 in Amarillo, Texas.

The coconut has been popular in lore and on palates for centuries, yet little is known about the history of this palm’s domestication and dispersal around the world. Now, Kenneth M. Olsen, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, is embarking on the task of understanding the plant’s history by exploring the genetics of the coconut.

Caves are in trouble, at least in St. Louis County, Missouri, says Robert Criss, Ph.D., professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, co-author of a scholarly paper that documents, archives and describes the status of all the known 127 caves found in the 508 square mile county.