Arts & Sciences

Politicians often claim to know what kind of government the founders would have wanted. Presidential historian Peter Kastor was struck by the relative lack of scholarship around an obvious follow-up question: What kind of government did the founders actually create?

Chemists in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis have received a $1 million contract from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency to develop a quicker way to detect mustard gas and prevent exposure.

Research from biologist Susanne Renner in Arts & Sciences reveals the function of red stigmas in wind-pollinated flowers.

Two WashU sophomores are among the 12 scholars chosen nationwide to participate in the Institute for Responsible Citizenship Washington Program, a highly selective initiative for talented Black male college students.  

Two WashU faculty members have been appointed to leadership posts supporting the university’s Digital Intelligence & Innovation Accelerator.

Two WashU faculty members will receive Outstanding St. Louis Scientist awards: battery engineer Peng Bai, at the McKelvey School of Engineering, and biologist Ram Dixit, in Arts & Sciences.

Abram Van Engen, chair of the Department of English in Arts & Sciences, has been named the next director of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics. Van Engen has published widely on religion and literature.

WashU senior Elijah Darden, in Arts & Sciences, has been selected for the prestigious Gates Cambridge Scholarship, which fully funds postgraduate study and research at the University of Cambridge. There, he plans to earn a master’s in population health sciences.

Mark Valeri, director of WashU’s John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics, received the American Society of Church History’s annual award for best book on Christianity’s history by a North American scholar.

WashU biology graduate student Jhan Carlos Salazar, in Arts & Sciences, has made high-impact — and high-altitude — discoveries about the adaptations of lizards in his home country of Colombia. He works with Jonathan Losos, the William H. Danforth Distinguished University Professor.