Newsroom Stories

Himadri Pakrasi, PhD, director of the International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability, sat down recently with Peter Raven, PhD, the George Engelmann Professor of Botany Emeritus in Arts & Sciences and president emeritus of the Missouri Botanical Garden, for a conversation about the Washington University Climate Change Initiative.

The Department of Anthropology is widely recognized as a gem, with a reputation for excellence among top institutions. Yet housed in one of Washington University in St. Louis’ oldest and most revered buildings — McMillan Hall — the Arts & Sciences department had been challenged by an infrastructure ill equipped to support the research and teaching needs of the highly regarded department, with its growing numbers of undergraduate and graduate students. Until now, that is.

Gerald Early, PhD, the Merle Kling Professor of Modern Letters in Arts & Sciences, has been appointed to the National Council on the Humanities, the 26-member advisory board to the National Endowment for the Humanities. Early is one of five new members nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

A team of Olin Business School graduate students recently won the $5,000 first prize in the 18th annual International Case Competition organized by Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business. In addition, the team of four MBA students and one master’s in supply chain management student tied with MIT for the “Best Presentation” Award.

The Washington University in St. Louis football team has received a bid to the 2013 NCAA Division III football championship. WUSTL will make its first NCAA appearance since 1999 and second all-time.

A temporary seismic array in Marie Byrd Land in West Antarctica recorded two bursts of activity in 2010 and 2011. Careful analysis of the events shows they originate from a subglacial volcano at the leading end of a volcanic mountain chain. The volcano is unlikely to erupt through the kilometer of ice that covers it but it will melt enough ice to change the way the ice in its vicinity flows.

“John-John,” a new aria by playwright Carter W. Lewis and composer Kamala Sankaram, debuted recently as part of “November 21, 1963: The Day Before,” a multidisciplinary event marking the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination.

Holobaugh Honors is an annual LGBTQIA community recognition and awards ceremony that honors undergraduate and graduate Washington University students, staff, faculty and area community members who have contributed to LGBTQIA visibility, equality and community.

A Washington University ophthalmologist was one of 31 finalists for the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal. David E. Vollman, MD, and the other finalists recently were honored in a White House ceremony praising the country’s civil servants.

Washington University in St. Louis School of Law’s trial competition team placed first at the National Institute of Trial Advocacy 2013 Tournament of Champions, held in Birmingham, Ala.