Washington People: Mark Rollins

For Mark Rollins, PhD, professor of philosophy and chair of the Performing Arts Department (PAD), both in Arts & Sciences, a guiding principle throughout his distinguished career at Washington University in St. Louis has been making connections in the search for answers. This principle has proved useful in his administrative work for the university and as an educator and researcher whose focus is on making connections between science and art.

Thorp installed as Levi-Montalcini Distinguished University Professor

H. Holden Thorp, PhD (left), provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs, was installated by Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton as the inaugural holder of the Rita Levi-Montalcini Distinguished University Professorship during a ceremony held Oct. 14 in Knight Hall’s Emerson Auditorium. Thorp’s installation address was titled “Back to the Future: Accomplishment and Aspiration at Washington University.” 

Major Indo-U.S. Advanced Bioenergy Consortium launches

The government of India’s Department of Biotechnology, Indian corporate leaders and Washington University in St. Louis have invested $2.5 million to launch the Indo-U.S. Advanced Bioenergy Consortium for Second Generation Biofuels (IUABC). The goal of the center is to increase biomass yield in plants and algae, enabling downstream commercial development for cost-effective, efficient and environmentally sustainable production of advanced biofuels.

Physics graduate student receives NASA fellowship

Josiah Lewis, a graduate student in physics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has received a NASA Earth and Space Sciences Fellowship for 2014–15. The fellowship is for research titled “Atom-Probe Studies of the Origins of Meteoritic Nanodiamonds and Silicon Carbide.”

Seth Carlin in concert Oct. 26

Clarinetist Nicolas del Grazia and St. Louis Symphony violinist Jooyeon Kong will join Washington University in St. Louis pianist Seth Carlin for works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Robert Schumann, Sergey Prokofiev and Igor Stravinksky Oct. 26.

Irmscher to examine influential — and racist — figure in science for Assembly Series

The problems of racism in America have deep roots. That’s what literary critic and biographer Christoph Irmscher, PhD, will remind the Washington University in St. Louis Assembly Series at 4 p.m. Monday, Oct. 27. Irmscher’s lecture,”Talking About Race in 19th-Century American Science: Louis Agassiz and His Contemporaries,” is the annual Thomas Hall Lecture in the History of Science. It is free and open to the public and will be held in Rebstock Hall, Room 210, on the university’s Danforth Campus.

A showcase for undergraduate research

More than 170 undergraduate students showcased their research projects through poster and oral presentations at the fall Undergraduate Research Symposium, held Oct. 11 in Olin Library. Arts & Sciences sophomore (far right) Jesse Kao explains his research to Ari Gao, a fellow sophomore and presenter, at the event designed to give students experience discussing their research projects with a wide audience while honing their presentation and communication skills. 
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