Arts & Sciences

With her pink suits, chippy chihuahua and Greek chorus of sorority sisters, Elle Woods seems to have it all. But when her well-bred boyfriend, Warner Huntington III, leaves UCLA for Harvard Law, Elle’s dreams for the future come crashing down. So begins “Legally Blonde,” a musical adaptation of the 2001 film, which explores themes of personal identity, social expectations and what it means to be authentic.

While evidence for dark matter is strong, the nature of dark matter has remained a mystery. James H. Buckley, professor of physics in Arts & Sciences, is part of a research team searching for axions — very light, invisible particles streaming through the cosmos.

Norman Schofield, the William Taussig Professor of Political Economy in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, died Saturday, Oct. 12, 2019, in St. Louis, surrounded by family. He was 75.

Arpita Bose, assistant professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, was awarded a second “Changing the Face of STEM” mentoring grant from L’Oreal USA to continue a summer laboratory research program for low-income high school students in St. Louis.

Bronwen Konecky, assistant professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences, is among 22 early-career scientists and engineers across the United States honored Oct. 15 as a 2019 Packard Fellow.

A memorial service is planned Nov. 18 at Washington University in St. Louis for Harold L. Levin, professor emeritus of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences, who died July 16, 2019, in St. Louis. He was 90.

Himadri B. Pakrasi, professor of biology in Arts & Sciences and director of InCEES, was recently awarded a $1.2-million grant for a collaborative study of cyanobacteria with the ultimate purpose of producing nitrogen-fixing crop plants.

Stan Braude, professor of practice in biology, is a talented teacher who instills in his students the skills they need to prepare for life outside of Washington University. Take it from his students, though — because if you ask him, he will give all the credit to Joe (his St. Bernard).

New research from Washington University in St. Louis confirms that the brain tunes itself to a point where it is as excitable as it can be without tipping into disorder, similar to a phase transition. The new research from Keith Hengen, assistant professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, is published Oct. 7 in the journal Neuron.

New research from Washington University in St. Louis realizes one of the first parity time-symmetric quantum systems, allowing scientists to observe how that symmetry — and the breaking of it — leads to previously unexplored phenomena. These and future PT symmetry experiments have potential applications to quantum computing. The work from the laboratory of Kater Murch, associate professor of physics in Arts & Sciences, is published Oct. 7 in the journal Nature Physics.