Perspectives

As the nation undergoes rapid and profound policy shifts, we encourage leaders in government and academia to take action to ensure that Main Streets across America not only endure but thrive, writes Peter Boumgarden.

Arts & Sciences’ Gerald Early takes part in a podcast to discuss his research and new book about the history of Black baseball, “Play Harder,” touching on race, history and resilience.

Research engineer Jon Elson has worked on projects involving air pollution, chemistry and much more over the decades. Read about how Elson became “a cornerstone of the university’s research ecosystem” in Human Resources’ staff spotlight.

Anthropologist Theresa Gildner, in Arts & Sciences, challenges longstanding misconceptions about multiple sclerosis in a perspective piece published in the journal Nature Reviews Neurology.

Ronné Turner, WashU’s vice provost for undergraduate enrollment and student financial aid, discusses her professional journey; increasing access to a WashU education; and preparing students for success after college.

In this Q&A, author and poet Mary Jo Bang, in Arts & Sciences, explains her process of translating Dante’s “Paradiso,” the last of three volumes that together form “The Divine Comedy.”

The inaugural A&S Innovates Research Pitch Competition this spring featured three-minute lightning pitches from Arts & Sciences faculty members presenting bold ideas on topics ranging from smart textiles to ChatGPT.

The Sam Fox School’s Pablo Moyano Fernández writes about the advantages of concrete for single-family home construction. Though wood still dominates the U.S. market, Moyano and WashU architecture and engineering students have explored concrete housing through models, prototypes and design competition entries.

Cultures differ around the world, meaning each city has its own set of variables that shape the evolutionary processes of wildlife. Understanding how these human cultural practices shape evolutionary patterns will allow people to better design cities that support both humans and the wildlife that call these places home, writes Elizabeth Carlen.

Translating these men’s writing is not just a matter of bringing a text from one language into another. It is also a deep reflection on the complex position of Jews and conversos in those years. Their unique vantage point offers a window into the intertwined histories of Europe, the Americas and the in-betweenness that marked the Jewish experience in the early modern world, writes Flora Cassen.