Arts & Sciences

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has added a newly formed collaboration between Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Pennsylvania to its list of Science and Technology Centers (STC). The new center, one of just 12 nationally, will be supported by a $23.6 million NSF grant to study the mechanics of plant and animal cells. This deeper dive into how single cells function could transform both medicine and plant science.

Elizabeth Haswell, associate professor of biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, was named a Faculty Scholar by a trio of major philanthropies Sept. 22.

The winners of the annual Dean James E. McLeod Writing Prize are Adon Wade-Currie and Olivia Crow, who shared first prize, and Emily Wyland, who received an honorable mention, announced Jennifer Smith, dean of the College of Arts & Sciences.

On Sept. 19, Washington University scientist Henric Krawczynski, announced that the X-Calibur X-ray telescope had landed safely near the border between Arizona and New Mexico, completing a long stratospheric balloon flight with disks full of data about neutron stars and black holes.

What gives Mordor Macula, the red dusted polar region of Pluto’s moon Charon, its color? New Horizons scientists, including Washington University’s Bill McKinnon, answer the question in the current issue of Nature.

Liviu Mirica, professor of chemistry in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has won the American Chemical Society’s St. Louis Section’s 2016 Saint Louis Award.

What have plant scientists learned in the laboratory in the past three to five years that could be used to reduce inputs of water, chemical fertilizers and herbicides to agricultural fields?

In a landmark national study, scientists will use advanced brain imaging on more than 10,000 children, along with interviews and behavioral tests, to determine how experiences, together with a child’s changing biology, affect brain development.

Mark Sparks, principal flute for the St. Louis Symphony, and pianist Peter Henderson will launch the Danforth University Center’s fall Chamber Music Series Sept. 27 with music of Max Bruch, Gabriel Fauré and Claude Debussy.

Henry L. “Roddy” Roediger III, an internationally recognized scholar of human memory and the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor in Arts & Sciences, has received the 2016 Mentor Award from the Association for Psychological Science.