Author: Talia Ogliore

Peter Riesenberg, professor emeritus of history at Washington University in St. Louis, died in his sleep May 14, 2018, in Maine. He was 92. A beloved member of the faculty from 1960 until his retirement in 1993, Riesenberg was the mainstay of “History 101,” the history of Western civilization, for generations of students.

Washington University Libraries has awarded the inaugural Newman Exploration Travel Fund scholarships and grants to seven members of the university community for international travel experiences.

Gerry Rohde, stockroom manager and laboratory safety officer in the Department of Biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has died. He was 55. Outside of the biology department, Rohde also was known across the region as the evening host of St. Louis Public Radio.

For Tim Briscoe, JD candidate in the School of Law, the Interdisciplinary Environmental Clinic offered a unique opportunity to learn about the Missouri River — and make a case for “two birds and a fish.”

Emily Haussler has been awarded the 2018 Harrison D. Stalker Award from the Department of Biology in Arts & Sciences. The award is given annually to a graduating biology major whose undergraduate career combines outstanding scientific scholarship with significant contributions in the arts and humanities.

Alex Chen and Yixi Wang, seniors majoring in biology in Arts & Sciences, have been awarded the 2018 Ralph S. Quatrano Prize.

Three scientists at Washington University in St. Louis were elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS): Sarah C.R. Elgin, Jonathan B. Losos and Richard D. Vierstra, all members of the Department of Biology in Arts & Sciences. Election to the academy is considered one of the highest honors accorded a U.S. scientist or engineer.

Each year, the Department of Biology in Arts & Sciences awards a prize to a graduating senior in memory of Marion Smith Spector, a 1938 graduate who studied zoology under the late Viktor Hamburger. This year’s recipient is Jordan Shaker, who worked in the laboratory of Michael R. Bruchas at the School of Medicine.

Christine Floss, research professor in the Department of Physics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, died April 19, 2018, in St. Louis. She was 56. Floss was a leader in the university’s Laboratory for Space Sciences.

Warmer summer and fall seasons and fewer winter freeze-thaw events have led to changes in the relative numbers of different types of bugs in the Arctic, says Amanda Koltz, a postdoctoral fellow in Arts & Sciences. The study relies on the longest-standing, most comprehensive data set on arctic arthropods in the world today: a catalogue of almost 600,000 flies, wasps, spiders and other creepy-crawlies collected at the Zackenberg field station on the northeast coast of Greenland from 1996-2014.