Arts & Sciences

Michael L. Gross, professor of chemistry in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has been named recipient of the 2018 American Chemical Society Award in Analytical Chemistry, sponsored by the Battelle Memorial Institute.

Researchers in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis are challenging the notion that environment drives the evolution of brain size. A new study was released Sept. 25 in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution.

This year’s winners of the Dean James E. McLeod Freshman Writing Prize have been recognized. They are are Gabriella Ruskay-Kidd and Ella-Marie West, and Luka Cai Minglu received an honorable mention. The prize awards students in Arts & Sciences who engage in research that explores an aspect of race, gender or identity.

In “Raindropped,” playwright Scott Greenberg, a senior in Arts & Sciences, explores the idea of falling from grace, both figuratively and literally. This weekend, “Raindropped” and two other student plays will receive their world premiere staged readings as part of Washington University in St. Louis’ annual A.E. Hotchner New Play Festival.

Legendary saxophonist Freddie Washington will launch Washington University in St. Louis’ fall Jazz at Holmes series Thursday, Sept. 21. The series will include 10 performances by locally and nationally known musicians, including Italian guitarist Filippo Cosentino and the university’s director of jazz performance, William Lenihan (pictured).

In “Borgia Infami,” St. Louis composer Harold Blumenfeld (1923-2014) combines historical fact and dramatic legend to investigate the nature of power and how secrets echo across the generations. On Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, Winter Opera Saint Louis and the Department of Music in Arts & Sciences will present the world premiere of Blumenfeld’s two-act opera in Edison Theatre at Washington University in St. Louis.

Scientists at Washington University estimate that the number of metabolites present in a data set could be 90 percent smaller than previously estimated.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded an eight-year, $5.85 million grant to Gary Patti, associate professor of chemistry in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, for research.

The tomb of a Maya ruler excavated this summer at the Classic Maya city of Waka in northern Guatemala is the oldest royal tomb yet to be discovered at the site, the Ministry of Culture and Sports of Guatemala has announced.

Douglas Wiens, the Robert S. Brookings Distinguished Professor in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, and Patrick Shore, staff scientist and lecturer in earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences, will collaborate with eight other institutions on a $4.5 million National Science Foundation study of a volatile volcano and earthquake zone on the sea floor off the Alaskan Peninsula.