Newsroom Stories

Roger J. Phillips, PhD, a scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., and director emeritus of the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences, will deliver the McDonnell Distinguished Lecture on Wednesday, April 15, at Washington University in St. Louis. The lecture, titled “No Denying Climate Change on Mars,” will begin at 7 p.m. in Room 100 of Whitaker Hall.

The Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts will recognize seven outstanding alumni and friends of the school at its seventh annual Awards for Distinction dinner April 9.

The 13th Relay For Life, the annual fundraiser for the American Cancer Society at Washington University in St. Louis, begins at 6 p.m. Saturday, April 11 and runs through 6 a.m. Sunday, April 12. Highlights include performances from Mama’s Pot Roast, WU Sauce and the Stereotypes, and games such as tug of war, Twister and dodgeball. In the past 12 years, Relay For Life has raised $2 million for cancer research and support. 

The Brown School’s Douglas A. Luke, PhD, professor and director of the Center for Public Health Systems Science at Washington University in St. Louis, was on an Institute of Medicine committee which recently released guidelines to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on using agent-based models to improve the effect of tobacco control policy on public health.

Students on the Medical Campus will present their 10th annual musical, “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” at 8 p.m April 16, 17 and 18 in the Olin Residence Hall Gym on the Medical Campus.

As part of her series of Senior Listening Sessions across Missouri, Sen. Claire McCaskill held a roundtable discussion with experts on retirement security, elder justice and healthy aging March 31 at the Brown School’s Goldfarb Hall. Among the roundtable participants were seven from Washington University in St. Louis.


Author and veteran journalist Carla Power will deliver the Rabbi Ferdinand Isserman/Phi Beta Kappa Lecture for the Washington University in St. Louis Assembly Series at 5 p.m. Tuesday, April 14, in Umrath Lounge on the Danforth Campus.

Beatriz Carreno, PhD, was featured Friday, April 3, on the syndicated radio show “Science Friday,” where she talked about School of Medicine research involving personalized melanoma vaccines. Carreno is the fourth faculty member in recent months to appear on the show.

Soprano Kate Reimann, a cofounder of Gateway Opera, and tenor Keith Boyer, named Best Male Opera Singer for 2014 by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, will join the Washington University Symphony Orchestra and the Washington University Choirs for the annual Chancellor’s Concert April 12.

​A collaboration of researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and Korea University used copper oxide nanowires as a catalyst to convert carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide, which can then be used as a feeder material to create plastics and higher-carbon polymers. The reduction of carbon dioxide is a very energy-intensive process, so the researchers have developed a method to tap solar energy to allow the conversion.