Arts & Sciences

Using computer models, New Horizons team members have been able to determine the depth of the layer of solid nitrogen ice within Pluto’s distinctive “heart” feature — a large plain informally known as Sputnik Planum — and how fast that ice is flowing. “For the first time, we can really determine what these strange welts of the icy surface of Pluto really are,” said William B. McKinnon, who led the study.

Washington University in St. Louis is one of 10 American higher education institutions chosen to host the EducationUSA Academy this summer. The initiative, sponsored by the State Department and its cooperative partner, World Learning, provides an immersive environment designed to prepare high school students from around the globe who aspire to attend an American college or university.

Heralded on the cover of Time magazine in 2000 as a genetically modified (GMO) crop with the potential to save millions of lives in the Third World, Golden Rice is still years away from field introduction and even then, may fall short of lofty health benefits still cited regularly by GMO advocates, suggests a new study from Washington University in St. Louis.

Seven Washington University in St. Louis students successfully completed the Certificate in Renewable Energy and the Environment this year, the largest group to date.

Maggie Ryan, 22, died in a car accident Sunday, May 22, 2016, in Wayne County, Ind., on her way home to Boston, just two days after earning degrees in anthropology and in women, gender and sexuality studies from Washington University in St. Louis. Ryan was deeply committed to helping the Washington University community, serving as a leader of both Dance Marathon and Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity.

Michael Wysession, professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences, has been recognized for his exceptional leadership in geosciences education by the Seismological Society of America with the 2016 Frank Press Public Service Award.

Jack Terschluse, who just earned a bachelor’s degree in political science in Arts & Sciences, received the university’s Grossman-Alexander Prize. The competitive award is presented each year to an outstanding graduating senior with an emphasis on American politics.

Mike and Tana Powell, who have been actively engaged at Washington University in St. Louis since their daughter Landis enrolled in the Arts & Sciences Class of 2016, have committed $8 million to match gifts for endowed professorships in the Department of Chemistry and other critical disciplines.

A new era of scientific discovery is being launched at Washington University in St. Louis that will transform teaching, research, faculty and facilities in Arts & Sciences. Driving Discovery is an ambitious multiphase project in Arts & Sciences that will create new research and teaching facilities for the sciences.

The text of the Commencement speech by graduate student Ashley Macrander, who earned a doctorate in education. 2016 marked the first time a graduate student gave a speech at the universitywide Commencement.