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The Washington University Symphony Orchestra will present “OrganFest,” a concert showcasing the university’s recently refurbished Graham Chapel organ, at 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 19.

Photo by Mary ButkusThe campus Knit-In brings together knitting enthusiasts from across campus and the community.

Jerry BauerOrhan PamukTurkish writer Orhan Pamuk, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature, will receive Washington University’s inaugural Distinguished Humanist Medal as part of “Celebrating Our Books, Recognizing Our Authors,” the university’s fifth annual faculty book colloquium. The award — which includes a cash prize of $15,000 — is supported by the Center for the Humanities and the Office of International and Area Studies, both in Arts & Sciences. It will be given biannually to a distinguished scholar, writer or artist whose career merits special recognition for excellence and courage.

Robert Heider, Ph.D., adjunct professor of chemical engineering, and Milorad P. Dudukovic, Ph.D., the Laura and William Jens Professor and director of the Chemical Reaction Engineering Laboratory, have received a two-year, $111,650 grant from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville for research titled “Utilizing the National Corn to Ethanol Pilot Plant to Develop a Predictive Model for Distillers Dried Grain for the Fuel Ethanol and Animal Feed Industries.” … Roger J. Phillips, Ph.D., professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences, has received a three-year, $238,002 grant from NASA for research titled “Tharsis and the Geodynamical and Hydrogeological Evolution of Mars.” … Ibrahim M. Saeed, M.D., clinical cardiology fellow in internal medicine, received the 2006 Leadership Award from the American Medical Association Foundation. The award provides special training to develop their skills as future leaders in medicine. Saeed was one of 55 individuals, residents and fellows to receive the national award, which recognizes those who show outstanding non-clinical leadership skills in advocacy, community service and education, and provides special training to medical students, residents, fellows and physicians to develop their skills as future leaders in organized medicine. … Jacob Schaefer, Ph.D., the Charles Allen Thomas Professor of chemistry in Arts & Sciences, has received a four-year, $420,000 grant from the National Science Foundation for research titled “Solid-state NMR Analysis of Chain Packing and Dynamics in Polycarbonates.”

The Office of Human Resources has announced the introduction of the Health Savings Account (HSA) and Retirement Medical Savings Account (RMSA) for eligible faculty and staff. These new savings accounts, a major component of the Benefits Plan for the Future, will be effective Jan. 1.

The Concept of Constituency by Andrew Rehfeld, Ph.D., assistant professor of political science in Arts & Sciences, takes on the origins of the country’s electoral districts and how they came to be.

Robert W. Sussman, Ph.D., professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences, has been awarded the 2006 W.W. Howells Book Prize from the American Anthropological Association for best book in biological anthropology written for a wide audience.

Kathryn Davis, the Fannie M. Hurst Senior Fiction Writer in The Writing Program in Arts & Sciences, has won a $150,000 Lannan Foundation Literary Award. Presented annually, the Lannan Literary Awards honor “both established and emerging writers whose work is of exceptional quality.”

Photo by Robert Boston

Cynthia White has been selected to receive The National Council of University Research Administrators 2006 Distinguished Service Award. The award is way to recognize members of NCURA who have made sustained and distinctive contributions to the organization.