Newsroom Stories

A page from *Selected Poems* by MorrisAmerican poet John N. Morris never achieved widespread public acclaim in his lifetime, but those who knew him well — including some of the nation’s most distinguished poets and critics — expect his star to rise with publication of two books showcasing both his life and his life’s work. “Read him and you cannot live your own life innocently again,” suggests Helen Vendler, one of the nation’s leading literary critics. Morris, who died in 1997, was a professor of English literature in Arts & Sciences for 30 years at Washington University in St. Louis.

Kastor is editor of *The Louisiana Purchase: Emergence of an American Nation*.The challenges faced by today’s U.S. government officials in Iraq are plentiful. Having ejected the government of Saddam Hussein, U.S. representatives must now spearhead the organization of a new system led by Iraqis to meet the needs of their country’s multi-religious and multi-ethnic population. This effort comes at the bicentennial of America’s first effort to govern foreign peoples. Two hundred years ago — with the end of negotiations for the Louisiana Purchase in Paris on April 30, 1803 — a fledgling U.S. government faced similar circumstances and even greater challenges, according to Peter J. Kastor, Ph.D., assistant professor of history and American Culture Studies in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.

Valencius unearths a common theme among early settlers in *The Health of the Country*.Poring over stacks of yellowed aging letters and other documents from the 19th century while researching American western expansion, Conevery Bolton Valencius, Ph.D., an environmental historian at Washington University in St. Louis, noted a common theme. Assessments of the “sickliness” or “health” of land pervade settlers’ letters, journals, newspapers and literature from that time. Valencius says that the numerous references throughout 19th-century writings to “healthy country,” “sickly” countryside, or “salubrious” valleys reveal the importance settlers placed on the connections between their bodies and their land. One of the main criteria for choosing where to farm and where to raise a family for the early settlers was whether or not the area would be a healthy place to live.

KouvelisDetermining the right mix of products to offer in the marketplace has long been considered the purview of a firm’s marketing team. Research conducted by Panos Kouvelis, Ph.D., a professor of operations and manufacturing at the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis, reveals that operational implications of product line decisions are not to be overlooked. Kouvelis shows that integrating marketing strategies with manufacturing and supply chain efficiencies serves to maximize profitability. His model for product line selection accounts for both diverse customer preferences and manufacturing costs that vary with product line composition.

ChenIn the age of SARS, what the world needs is a better respirator, or breathing mask. As hospitals worldwide face major shortages of masks, Da-Ren Chen, Ph.D., assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, has developed material for a breathing mask using nanofibers so tiny and skinny that the entry of harmful particles as minute as viruses and bacteria is nearly impossible. Comprised of just less than two percent material, it is inexpensive to mass-produce, allowing companies a good profit opportunity.

Eighty percent of the United States soybean crop is genetically modified (GM).The clear, cold logic of science is the only approach that can take the hysteria out of the hot debate over genetically modified (GM) crops, says a biologist at Washington University in St. Louis. Barbara Schaal, Ph.D., Washington University professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, told an international gathering of biotechnology researchers at Washington University that GM crops need more close scrutiny and less fear.

Da-Ren Chen, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and environmental engineering science at Washington University in St. Louis, has developed material for one using nanofibers so tiny and skinny that the entry of harmful particles as minute as viruses and bacteria is nearly impossible.

Photo by Andrew Cutraro / Post DispatchApril, 6, 2003 — Embedded Post-Dispatch Journalists Andrew Cutraro, right, and Ron Harris pose after filing stories with the Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines in Salman Pak, Iraq.St. Louis Post-Dispatch journalists Ron Harris and Andy Cutraro worked together as a team of journalists embedded with the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, as the unit fought its way from Kuwait to Baghdad in the recent war with Iraq. Their reports and photographs appeared frequently in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Join them as they share stories and photographs about coverage of the war at 7 p.m. May 8 in Brown Hall, Room 100.

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The award is considered one of the most prestigious honors in literature — on a level with the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.