Newsroom Stories

More than 1,000 science researchers from around the world descended upon St. Louis during the second week of August for what Provost Holden Thorp, PhD, wittingly referred to as “Photo-palooza” for the gathering’s focus on photosynthesis research. Washington University’s International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability (I-CARES) served as host to the 11th Workshop on Cyanobacteria and the Photosynthetic Antenna Research Center (PARC) hosted the Light Harvesting Satellite Meeting 2013.

Philip Bayly, PhD, the Lilyan and E. Lisle Hughes Professor of Mechanical Engineering and chair the Department of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science, has received a three-year, $429,222 grant from the National Science Foundation to study mehanical properties in the brain.

The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum will launch its 2013-14 exhibition season with Rashid Johnson: Message to Our Folks and American Places: Painting the Landscape in the Nineteenth Century, both opening Sept. 20. Next spring, the museum will feature In the Aftermath of Trauma, a survey of contemporary video installations, and On the Thresholds of Space-Making, which explores the work of the influential architect Shinohara Kazuo.

Think of it as reverse camouflage. In the wild, animals use color and pattern to disguise themselves from predators. But last spring, a team from the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts flipped the calculus. How, they asked, do we keep human observers from disturbing animals in their natural environments?

H. James Wedner, MD, (left) has been installed as the Dr. Phillip and Arleen Korenblat Professor at the School of Medicine, where he serves as chief of the division of allergy and clinical immunology. The named professorship, a gift from Jess and Alice Yawitz, honors their longtime friend and physician, Dr. Phillip E. Korenblat, and his wife, Arleen.

​Anti-abortion groups are well known for demonstrating and sidewalk counseling at women’s reproductive health facilities, but a Massachusetts statute criminalizes even peaceful expression on public sidewalks near these clinics. An upcoming U.S. Supreme Court case will determine the constitutionality of Massachusetts’ selective exclusion law, which applies only to streets and sidewalks near reproductive health-care facilities. “If Massachusetts can close off the sidewalks surrounding reproductive health centers to peaceful expressive activity, then the government can prohibit expression in a wide range of circumstances,” says John Inazu, JD, First Amendment expert and associate professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis.​

During her recent visit to campus, First Year Reading Program author Eula Biss had many opportunities to discuss her book of essays, Notes from No Man’s Land, with students. Here, she leads an informal discussion at Ursa’s Fireside on the South 40.

Washington University in St. Louis will host environmental engineering students and faculty from Missouri and Illinois Sept. 20-21 to learn the latest in environmental engineering technologies and to share research. The 18th Annual Mid-American Environmental Engineering Conference will be held Sept. 21 in the Stephen F. & Camilla T. Brauer Hall and is sponsored by the Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering in the School of Engineering & Applied Science.

Leigh E. Schmidt, PhD, delivered the following address during his Sept. 3 installation ceremony as the Edward Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professor at Washington University in St. Louis. 

Chinese search engine conglomerate Baidu Inc. leads the pack in a new ranking of the 50 most innovative companies in the world. The RQ50 ranking is based on the research quotient (RQ), developed by Anne Marie Knott, PhD, professor of strategy at Washington University in St. Louis’ Olin Business School.