Washington People

Tom Bernatowicz, PhD, professor of physics in Arts & Sciences, began at WUSTL studying stardust, tiny crystals of material that formed around dying red giant stars or in exploding supernovae. While he remains interested in these tiny grains, lately he has been devoting much of his time to creating an introductory physics course that is so lively and engaging the students leave understanding why physicists are so passionate about their work.

Jack Engsberg, PhD, took his love of track and field into a study of movement that helps people with cerebral palsy regain mobility. He uses video games as therapy and has been working to teach therapists to create customized games for clients.

Many modern copies of Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene, Book I, Canto IV, include the phrase “glitter and light” when describing the beauty of Queen Lucifera. But is that the phrase Spenser intended to depict the self-proclaimed monarch? This is one of many questions that Joseph Loewenstein, PhD, tackles as an editor of a new Oxford Edition of the Collected Works of Edmund Spenser.

Raphael Kopan, PhD, professor of developmental biology in the School of Medicine, is addicted to discovery. Growing up on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel, he discovered snakes, butterflies and bits of ancient pottery. Today, his discoveries continue in his lab, working to understand how cells communicate.

Location. Budget. Materials. Architecture is the art of negotiating constraints — to say nothing of clients, zoning and the unique history and particular characteristics of a given place. “There’s no such thing as a blank slate,” says Kathryn Dean, a principal of Dean/Wolf Architects in New York and director of the Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts. 

Peter Burgers, PhD, the Marvin A. Brennecke Professor of Biological Chemistry at the School of Medicine, is an expert in DNA replication and repair — fundamental cellular processes shared across organisms, from yeast to humans.

Collaborating with researchers in NASA, Daren Chen, PhD, has used the miniature particle size that he had developed as a part of a special smoke detector that was tested by the National Institute of Standards and Testing on more than 200 different kinds of fires and found to be 100 percent accurate. “I’m very interested in making this better sensor cheap enough to eventually allow networks in large buildings and ultimately save human lives,” Chen says.

Most people don’t think highly of pond scum, but for Susan Dutcher, PhD, professor of genetics and of cell biology and physiology at the School of Medicine, the single-celled green algae Chlamydomonas are incredible creatures worthy of her life’s work.

Growing up in Maryland, Shanti A. Parikh, PhD, knew early on she wanted to be an anthropologist. But at the encouragement of her p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:10.0pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:115%;font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Calibri;} .MsoChpDefault {font-size:10.0pt;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in;margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} mother, Parikh majored in finance at the University of Virginia. A stint in the Peace Corps following graduation returned Parikh to her original passion and to the area of study that would remain her lifetime focus.

For someone who grew up on the East Coast and spent much of his career on the West Coast, George Van Hare, MD, certainly seems at home in the Midwest.