Author: Susan Killenberg McGinn

In recognition of the Sesquicentennial theme “Treasuring the Past, Shaping the Future,” Arts & Sciences is hosting four “Conversations.”

Independent 529 Plan responds to a national call to make higher education more affordable and more accessible to students.

FriedmanSome of the nation’s top scholars will gather in the coming academic year at Washington University to have “Conversations” on such topics as: What kind of international borders will exist in the 21st century? What is the future of freedom? Who are “public intellectuals”? And what purpose do they serve? Where did modern humans come from? In recognition of the sesquicentennial theme, “Treasuring the Past, Shaping the Future,” Arts & Sciences is hosting a series of four “Conversations” among scholars whose disciplines range from anthropology and biology to law and women’s studies. Thomas L. Friedman, a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner, best-selling author and foreign affairs columnist for The New York Times, will participate in the first “Conversation,” to be held from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Sept. 17 in the university’s Graham Chapel.

Washington University in St. Louis is participating in Independent 529 Plan, a new prepaid college tuition plan tailored specifically for private colleges, announced Benjamin S. Sandler, the university’s special assistant to the chancellor. Independent 529 Plan responds to a national call to make higher education more affordable and more accessible to students, Sandler said. Washington University has joined with more than 200 other private colleges and universities across the country to offer this tax-advantaged way for families to save for tuition.

September Culture & Living Tip Sheet

Culture & Living Tip Sheet

A levitated droplet during heating by a laser to just above the melting temperature.Using the Electrostatic Levitator at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, a physicist at Washington University in St. Louis led a research team that validated a 50-year-old hypothesis explaining how liquid metals resist turning into solids. The research, led by Ken Kelton, Ph.D., a professor of physics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University, is featured in the July 2003 issue of Physics Today, including an image on the magazine’s cover of a solid drop of metal suspended inside the levitator. The NASA-funded research challenges theories about how crystals form by a process called nucleation, important in everything from materials to biological systems.”Nucleation is everywhere,” says Kelton. “It’s the major way physical systems change from one phase to another. The better we understand it, the better we can tailor the properties of materials to meet specific needs.”

Using the Electrostatic Levitator at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, a physicist at Washington University in St. Louis led a research team that validated a 50-year-old hypothesis explaining how liquid metals resist turning into solids. The research, led by Ken Kelton, Ph.D., a professor of physics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University, is featured in the July 2003 issue of Physics Today and includes an image on the magazine’s cover of a solid drop of metal suspended inside the levitator. The NASA-funded research challenges theories about how crystals form by a process called nucleation, important in everything from materials to biological systems.

David Kilper / WUSTL PhotoEliot Residence Hall during implosionIt took two years to build and mere seconds for it to come down, floor by floor. The last remaining high-rise on Washington University’s South 40, Eliot Residence Hall was demolished just after 10 a.m. Saturday, June 21, to make way for new student housing. As hundreds of Washington University students, faculty, staff, neighbors and alumni — including some who once lived in Eliot — watched, the 12-story, 38-year-old brick structure was imploded, leaving behind a dust cloud that quickly dissipated and a heap of rubble. A new residential hall will be built in the same place and will retain the Eliot name, which honors William Greenleaf Eliot, the university’s co-founder.

WUSTL archivesEilot Residence Hall, 1965Eliot Residence Hall on Washington University’s South 40, the student residential area between Forsyth and Wydown boulevards, will be imploded by Spirtas Wrecking Co. at 10 a.m. June 21 to make way for new student housing. The new residence hall to be built in the same location will retain the Eliot name and comprise 53,500 square feet as part of the Phase II B housing construction on the South 40. The new hall, which will be four stories tall and include 170 beds, will be ready for the fall 2004 semester.