The Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research (OVCR) has announced the six winners of the 2013 University Research Strategic Alliance (URSA) grants. URSA grants provide one-year, $25,000 seed funding to full-time WUSTL faculty members. The URSA program aims to encourage researchers to collaborate across disciplines and schools.
Scientists at The Genome Institute at Washington University School of Medicine helped lead an international team of researchers who have identified a genetic mutation linked to age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of blindness in Americans over age 50. Shown is an eye with signs of macular degeneration.
The Gephardt Institute for Public Service invites students, faculty and staff to apply for the Civic Engagement Fund. The fund provides support for civic engagement, community service, and community-based teaching and learning projects throughout the year. Students, faculty and staff can apply for up to $500 grants. The deadline for the next funding round is Oct. 4.
Leigh E. Schmidt, PhD, was installed as the Edward Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professor during a Sept. 3 ceremony in Holmes Lounge, Ridgley Hall. Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton places a medallion on Schmidt, who delivered a talk, titled “Mystics, Cranks, and William James.” A historian of American religion, Schmidt joined the John C. Danforth Center on Religion & Politics in 2011.
Some wild clones of social amoebas farm the bacteria they eat, but this is a losing strategy if nonfarming amoebas can steal the farmers’ crops. To make the strategy work, the farmers also carry bacteria that secrete chemicals that poison free riders. The work suggest farming is complex evolutionary adaptation that requires additional strategies, such as recruiting third parties, to effectively defend and privatize the crops, the Washington University in St. Louis scientists say.
Whether it’s Edgar Degas sketching ballerinas or Lou Reed singing about “Romeo and Juliette,” the arts don’t exist in a vacuum. Lines get blurred, influences get shared, inspirations get gloriously tangled. This fall, four WUSTL areas have banded together to create Arts First, a multidisciplinary, campus-wide subscription package.
In a few days, a balloon-borne telescope sensitive to
the polarization of high-energy “hard” X-rays will ascend to the edge of
the atmosphere above Fort Sumner, N.M. Once aloft, the telescope will stare at black holes, neutron stars
and other exotic astronomical objects that shine brightly in the X-ray part of the spectrum in order to learn about their nature and structure. After years of preparation, the X-Calibur team is racing to get the experiment mission-ready in time for the stratospheric wind event they hope to ride.
This fall, Hold That Thought, a weekly podcast series from Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, will continue to delve into current academic research by teaming up with WUSTL’s American Culture Studies program. Together, they are exploring the question of what it means to be an American, today and throughout the country’s history.
Carey-Ann Burnham, PhD, assistant professor of pathology and immunology and of pediatrics, has been awarded the American Society for Microbiology/Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics Young Investigator Award.
A search committee to identify candidates for the position of director of WUSTL’s prestigious John B. Ervin Scholars Program has been appointed by Sharon Stahl, PhD, vice chancellor for students. The late James E. McLeod, beloved vice chancellor for students and dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, was the only person to have served as director of the Ervin Program from its inception in 1986 until his death Sept. 6, 2011.
