Newsroom Stories

Photo by Robert BostonWomen in Science Day brings about 100 St. Louis city high school students to campus for hands-on activities and career advice.

Vladimir B. Birman, Ph.D., assistant professor of chemistry in Arts & Sciences, has received a two-and-a-half-year, $35,000 grant from the American Chemical Society for research titled “Total Synthesis of Kinamycin Antibiotics.” … Roberto Civitelli, M.D., the Sydney M. and Stella H. Schoenberg Professor of Medicine, professor of orthopaedic surgery and of cell biology and physiology, was elected to the board of counselors of the American Society of Bone and Mineral Research, and Keith Hruska, M.D., professor of medicine, of cell biology and physiology and of pediatrics, was elected secretary-treasurer. Both started serving three-year terms in September. … Gruia-Catalin Roman, Ph.D., chair and the Harold B. and Adelaide G. Wedge Professor of Computer Science, has received a three-year, $300,000 grant from the National Science Foundation for research titled “NeTS-NOSS: Fluid Software Infrastructure for Wireless Sensor Networks.” In addition, he has another NSF grant, for three years and $754,000, for research titled “Adaptive Systems for Collaboration in Multi-mode Mobile Environments.” … Shelly Sakiyama-Elbert, Ph.D., assistant professor of biomedical engineering, has received a two-year, $240,000 grant from the Coulter Foundation for research titled “Rationally Designed Delivery Systems for Nerve Injury.”

A lecturer from Rwanda is at the School of Medicine learning how to improve care for Rwandans who suffer from the metabolic syndromes associated with HIV/AIDS.

Photo by Mary ButkusStudents volunteer to help construct a Habitat For Humanity house in St. Louis.

Photo by David KilperLong-overlooked research from the 19th-century explorers provides a benchmark that helped create a composite record of the Missouri River that could aid in flood control.

Nov. 15-28 Nov. 15 8:23 p.m. — A student reported the theft of his iPod and several DVDs from his locker in his workspace in Givens Hall. The incident occurred over the weekend. Total value is estimated at $470. Nov. 16 9:18 a.m. — A contractor working in the Stix International H ouse reported that a finish nail gun was taken from the basement between 3 p.m. Nov. 15 and 8:30 a.m. Nov. 16. Totall value is estimated at $350. University Police also responded to two assaults, two auto accidents, two reports of larceny and one report each of trespassing and drug possession.

Poet Carl Phillips, professor of English and of African & African American studies, both in Arts & Sciences, has won the 2006 Academy of American Poets Fellowship, given in memory of James Ingram Merrill. The fellowship is awarded annually to a poet for distinguished poetic achievement at mid-career and provides a stipend of $25,000. The academy’s board of chancellors, a body of 15 eminent poets, elected Phillips.

The following are among the new faculty members at the University. Others will be introduced periodically in this space. Robert E. Blankenship, Ph.D., joins the departments of Biology and Chemistry in Arts & Sciences as professor. He earned a doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley and a bachelor’s from Nebraska Wesleyan University. Blankenship spent the past 21 years at Arizona State University and was chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry from 2002-06. His research interests center on the molecular mechanisms of energy storage in photosynthesis. Blankenship and his group investigate this process using an interdisciplinary approach that emphasizes studying the complete range of types of organisms that do photosynthesis, with the goal of discovering the essential aspects of how light energy is stored, as well as elucidating the origin and early evolutionary development of photosynthesis. Herman Pontzer, Ph.D., joins the Department of Anthropology in Arts & Sciences as assistant professor. He earned a doctorate in 2006 from Harvard University and a bachelor’s (with highest honors) from Pennsylvania State University in 1999. Herman is interested in linking functional morphology to ecology, and his research uses a combination of modeling and experimental approaches to test hypotheses linking limb design, locomotor performance (especially locomotor energetics) and ranging ecology. He is participating in ongoing excavations at the lower Paleolithic site of Dmanisi in the Republic of Georgia, where fossils dated to 1.8 million years provide evidence of the earliest human ancestors outside of Africa. Alicia Walker, Ph.D., joins the Department of Art History and Archaeology in Arts & Sciences as assistant professor of medieval art and architecture. She earned a doctorate and master’s from Harvard University and a bachelor’s from Bryn Mawr College. From 2004-06, she was a Mellon Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Art and Architectural History at Columbia University. At WUSTL, Walker will teach courses about Byzantine, medieval Islamic and Western medieval art. Her primary fields of research include cross-cultural artistic interaction in the medieval world from the ninth-13th centuries and gender issues in the art and material culture of Byzantium. She recently completed articles on the material and intellectual culture of divination in medieval Byzantium and the expression of romance culture in works of middle Byzantine courtly art. She is working on a book-length study of Islamic impact on middle Byzantine imperial imagery and is co-editing a volume of essays titled “Negotiating the Secular in Medieval Art.”

Through Dec. 3, the WUPD office on Shepley Drive in the South 40 will serve as a drop-off location to donate new or gently used winter coats for disadvantaged St. Louisans.

Medical and graduate students who volunteer for science outreach programs don’t just help underrepresented public school students consider careers in science, according to a survey published last week in Science. They also help themselves.