Science & Technology

In her research, Jennifer R. Smith, PhD, associate professor of earth and planetary sciences and of environmental studies, both in Arts & Sciences, uses the tools of classic earth science to address questions of archeological interest.

An international team of researchers based at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, including a physical anthropology professor at Washington University in St. Louis, has discovered well-dated human fossils in southern China that markedly change anthropologists perceptions of the emergence of modern humans in the eastern Old World.

Scientists from across Missouri will gather Wednesday, Oct. 27, at Washington University in St. Louis to learn — in one jam-packed day — about the latest advances in nanotechnology and opportunities for commercializing them. Co-organized by seven Missouri universities, the 2nd Annual Missouri NanoFrontiers Symposium is co-hosted by Washington University and the University of Missouri-St. Louis and begins at 7:45 a.m. in Whitaker Hall on the Danforth Campus. The meeting is free and open to the public. 

Washington University in St. Louis alum Robert L. Behnken, PhD, a NASA astronaut who has completed two missions to the International Space Station, returns to campus for two lectures Wednesday, Oct. 20, and Thursday, Oct. 21. Behnken will deliver the third annual Robert M. Walker Distinguished Lecture at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 21, in Room 300, Laboratory Sciences building. He also will deliver a colloquium titled “Astronaut Training” at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 20, in  Room 245, Compton Hall. WUSTL’s McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences is sponsoring the lectures.

David Fike, PhD, assistant professor of isotope biogeochemistry in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences in Arts & Sciences, was named a Packard Fellow Oct. 15, a prestigious distinction awarded to only 17 top young researchers nationwide this year.

Klaus R. G. Hein, PhD, of the University of Stuttgart, Germany, gives a European perspective on the future of global energy at the “McDonnell International Scholars Academy Symposium: Global Energy Future” held Oct. 1-5 at Washington University in St. Louis. At the meetings, participants reviewed the progress in research collaborations and identified new research opportunitites that might reduce carbon dioxide emission, improve efficiency of energy utilization or lead to more rapid deployment of renewable energy sources.

Frank J. Stadermann, PhD, senior research scientist in physics, member of the Laboratory for Space Sciences and director of the NanoSIMS and Auger laboratories at Washington University in St. Louis, died of a cerebral hemorrhage Oct. 4, 2010. He was 48. “He never uttered an angry word in all his years at the university,” said a friend, “always seeking to use patience, humor and reason to undermine conflict and promote harmony. He was a true friend and beloved colleague.”

Tyson Research Center’s Living Learning Center has achieved full certification under the Living Building Challenge run by the International Living Building Institute. The challenge, launched in November 2006, is widely recognized as the world’s most rigorous green building performance standard.

Dreadful zoonoses — animal diseases that now infect people  — have jumped species in distant parts of the world, such as Asia or Africa. But Missouri has its own zoonoses, as well: tick-borne diseases whose spread is encouraged by pest species such as white-tailed deer and invasive plants such as bush honeysuckle. In Missouri, as in Africa or Asia, the loss of a biodiversity takes a toll in human health.

The St. Louis section of the American Chemical Society (ACS) and Washington University will hold a symposium from 2-5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 15, to celebrate William E. Buhro’s receipt of the St. Louis Award, which is presented to an individual who has made outstanding contributions to the chemistry profession. Buhro, PhD, the George E. Pake Professor in Arts & Sciences, is chair of the Department of Chemistry and a Fellow of the American Chemical Society.