Arts & Sciences

The International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability (I-CARES) has announced the award winners from its 2014 call for proposals.

One of the first U.S. artists to hold an academic appointment in a scientific unit, Patricia Olynyk has collaborated with particle physicists and biologists; investigated anatomical models and medical devices; and displayed at the National Academy of Sciences. We sat down to discuss Washington University in St. Louis’ new Art|Sci Initiative and Fellows Program, which she launched earlier this spring.

Kevin Crouch, a senior in Arts & Sciences, reads to a Holman Elementary class during “On the Move: Encouraging Literacy,” a service project by Washington University in St. Louis’ Kappa Delta Pi chapter. Students in KDP, the international honor society in education, recently donated and delivered more than 330 books to Holman students and teachers.

Jean Allman, PhD, and Tabea Linhard, PhD, both in Arts & Sciences, each have been awarded a 2014 American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship. It provides salary replacement for scholars who are embarking on six to 12 months of full-time research and writing.

More than 170 Washington University in St. Louis undergraduates showcased their research projects through poster, visual and oral presentations during the 2014 Spring Undergraduate Research Symposium, held April 28 in Bauer and Knight halls.

David Balota, PhD, a leader in the study of cognitive breakdowns that occur in Alzheimer’s, and Steven L. Teitelbaum, MD, a world-renowned bone biologist, will receive Washington University in St. Louis’ 2014 faculty achievement awards, Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton announced.

Arts & Sciences recognized a beloved faculty member, a Pulitzer Prize winner, a driving force in continuing education, a devoted advocate, and entrepreneurs in energy and public relations during its 16th Annual Arts & Sciences Distinguished Alumni Awards ceremony, held April 24 at the Hilton Frontenac Hotel.

Washington University in St. Louis is moving forward with a bold and impactful plan to increase solar output on all campuses by 1,150 percent over current levels by this fall. The project demonstrates the university’s commitment to sustainable operations and to reducing its environmental impact in the St. Louis region and beyond.

Scientists are beginning to talk about re-engineering crop plants so that, like legumes, they will have on-site nitrogen-fixing systems, either in root nodules or in the plant cells themselves. The structure of a protein called NolR that acts as a master off-switch for the nodulation process, published in the April 29 issue of PNAS, brings them one step closer to this goal. 

An interdisciplinary group of graduate students including Washington University’s (from left) Anurag Agarwal, Whitney Grither and Hirak Biswas was one of 10 winning teams in the Breast Cancer Startup Challenge. The international competition aimed to bring breast cancer discoveries out of the lab and closer to market to help patients.