Science & Technology

Marcus Foston, an associate professor of energy, environmental and chemical engineering at the McKelvey School of Engineering, is exploring how to add value to lignin, a type of polymer found in wood.

With $1.5 million from the U.S. Department of Energy, a collaborative team of researchers led by the McKelvey School of Engineering is working toward creating efficient and reliable batteries for transportation use.

Two teams of engineers led by faculty in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University will work toward developing products to monitor drinking water quality and to detect explosives with an electronic nose with one-year $650,000 Convergence Accelerator Phase 1 grants from the National Science Foundation.

The new Center for the Environment serves as a hub for cross-disciplinary collaboration, which is central to solving complex environmental problems.

For years, Gateway STEM High School students have read Pulitzer Prize-winning climate journalist Elizabeth Kolbert. On Feb. 12, they got to meet her at a special science storytelling program at Washington University in St. Louis. The event was sponsored by WashU’s Climate Across Curriculum program, which connects Gateway STEM in St. Louis Public Schools to faculty experts, campus tours and learning resources.

Environmental engineers at the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis have been studying dicamba drift to understand why the herbicide vaporizes and migrates to other crops.

Researchers in Arts & Sciences discovered that a common mineral called goethite, found in red soils all over the Earth, tends to naturally trap trace metals over time, locking them out of circulation.

“Santiago Sierra: 52 Canvases Exposed to the Mexico City Air” will open Feb. 23 at the Kemper Art Museum. The installation highlights the contaminants — the ozone, carbon monoxide, and sulfur and nitrogen oxides — that can slowly but surely poison urban environments.

A team of researchers in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis has established the Synthetic Biology Manufacturing of Advanced Materials Research Center to work across disciplines to find nature-inspired alternatives to plastics.