Science & Technology

At the bottom of plants’ ability to sense touch, gravity or the proximity of a nearby trellis are mechanosensitive channels, pores through the cells’ plasma membrane that are opened and closed by the deformation of the membrane. Elizabeth Haswell, PhD, a biologist at Washington University in St. Louis, is studying the roles these channels play in Arabidopsis plants by growing mutant plants that lack one or more of the 10 possible channel proteins in this species.

WUSTL geophysicist Michael Wysession is leading a team of scholars who are helping the nation’s top science agencies develop national standards for K-12 science education. The core disciplines covered by the new standards include engineering and Earth and planetary sciences, which have never before been a standard part of the K-12 curriculum. Wysession currently co-leads the team writing the Earth and planetary standards, and a key focus of his mission is ensuring that students gain a solid grasp of the Anthropocene, loosely defined as the period in Earth’s history during which human activities have had a significant impact on Earth systems.

Pratim Biswas, PhD, is the new Lucy & Stanley Lopata Professor at Washington University in St. Louis. Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton installed him in a ceremony Monday, Oct. 10, in Whitaker Hall. Biswas, chair of the Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering (EECE), is one of the world’s leading experts in aerosol science.

Jerome R. Cox Jr., ScD, senior professor, and Jonathan S. Turner, PhD, the Barbara J. and Jerome R. Cox, Jr. Professor, both in the Department of Computer Science & Engineering in the School of Engineering & Applied Science, will receive the 2011 Chancellor’s Award for Innovation and Entrepreneurship during the Faculty Achievement Awards ceremony at 6 p.m. Dec. 3 in Simon Hall Auditorium.

The Department of Energy has funded a three-university collaboration led by Washington University in St. Louis to approach the problem of algal fuels systematically.In a two-step project, the team will first attempt a comprehensive understanding of the metabolic machinery of selected cyanobacterial strains and then implement that understanding by assembling a novel bacterium with the machinery needed to produce fuel molecules. They will be bringing to bear on the problem of algal fuels the most sophisticated approaches contemporary biology now has to offer: systems biology and synthetic biology.

Cultivars of popular ornamental woody plants that are being sold in the United States as non-invasive are probably anything but, according to an analysis by a Washington University in St. Louis botanical researcher published in the October issue of BioScience.

The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education will name Washington University in St. Louis as the winner of its “Best Lessons Learned Case Study Award” on Tuesday, Oct. 11, during the AASHE 2011 Conference in Pittsburgh. The award, for the case study, “Getting to Net-Zero: Lessons Learned from a Living Building Challenge,” which outlined “the mistakes, corrections, and lessons learned that ultimately led to successful certification” of WUSTL’s Living Learning Center at Tyson Research Center as one of the first net zero energy “living buildings.”

The VERITAS array of telescopes has detected pulsed gamma rays from the pulsar at the heart of the Crab Nebula that have energies far higher than the common theoretical models can explain. The finding is one of the most exciting in the telescope’s history, according to consortium members at Washington University in St. Louis.

Charles F. Kennel, PhD, chair of the National Academy of Sciences’ Space Studies Board, will deliver the fourth annual Robert M. Walker Distinguished Lecture at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 19, in Room 100, Whitaker Hall, at Washington University in St. Louis. Kennel will discuss “Managing Climate Risk: Precarious Decades Ahead” during the free lecture that is open to the public.

The White House announced Sept. 27 that Lan Yang, PhD, assistant professor of electrical and systems engineering in the School of Engineering & Applied Science of Washington University in St. Louis has been named a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers.The early career award is the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers.