Author: Susan Killenberg McGinn

Rafia ZafarRafia Zafar, Ph.D., professor of English, of African & African American studies and of American culture studies, all in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to lecture abroad during the 2007 spring semester. She has been awarded the distinguished Walt Whitman Chair, which includes teaching an advanced undergraduate course and a graduate seminar at Utrecht University in the Netherlands.

VIDEO AVAILABLE: Stardust, the NASA spacecraft mission, was given that name in hopes that the seven-year journey to capture comet samples would bring back to Earth, well, stardust. In an article coming out in the Dec. 15, 2006, issue of the journal Science, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis are the first to report that a sample they received from the mission actually does contain stardust — particles that are older than the sun.

Frank J. Stadermann, Ph.D., senior research scientist in physics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University and a sample adviser for NASA’s Stardust mission will discuss his research team’s significant find from the Stardust mission, the first U.S. space mission dedicated to the exploration of a comet, and the first robotic mission designed to return extraterrestrial material from outside the orbit of the Moon.

Photo by Mary ButkusJeremiah M. Giles, a master of engineering management degree candidate from the School of Engineering & Applied Science, receives a WUSTL memento from Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton during the December Degree Candidate Recognition Ceremony Dec. 3 in Graham Chapel.

Poet Carl Phillips, professor of English and of African & African American studies, both in Arts & Sciences, has won the 2006 Academy of American Poets Fellowship, given in memory of James Ingram Merrill. The fellowship is awarded annually to a poet for distinguished poetic achievement at mid-career and provides a stipend of $25,000. The academy’s board of chancellors, a body of 15 eminent poets, elected Phillips.

If a severe snow or ice storm causes the University to alter the normal work and/or class schedules, an announcement will be posted on the University’s home page (wustl.edu) and a number of media outlets will air an announcement.

A current student and a recent alumnus from Washington University in St. Louis have been named Rhodes Scholars. They are Aaron F. Mertz, 22, and Leana S. Wen, 23. The two were among 32 U.S. students chosen for graduate study at the University of Oxford in England. Winners of the highly acclaimed award were selected based on high academic achievement, personal integrity, leadership potential and physical vigor.

In conjunction with Einstein expert Clifford Will’s 60th birthday, the Gravity Group in Arts & Sciences’ physics department at Washington University in St. Louis is hosting the 16th Midwest Relativity Meeting (MWRM-16) Nov. 17-18 as well as the CliffFest Dinner Nov. 18 and the Cliff Will Birthday Symposium on Gravitational Theory and Experiment Nov. 19. The three events are expected to bring more than 200 physicists from around the country and the world to campus.

Gerald L. Early, Ph.D., the Merle Kling Professor of Modern Letters and director of the Center for the Humanities in Arts & Sciences, received the Phi Beta Kappa Award for Distinguished Service to the Humanities on Oct. 28. Early, who is professor of English, of African & African American Studies and of American culture studies, all in Arts & Sciences, received the award during the 41st Triennial Council of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, which met Oct. 25-29 in Atlanta.

Writing center administrators and tutors from all around the Midwest will come together to explore a variety of ways to encourage and support student writing.