Arts & Sciences

Biology researchers at Washington University in St. Louis are placing their bets on the wild side as they prepare a pack of social amoeba for competition Friday, May 16, in the first-ever Dicty World Race, an international science competition that carries a $5,000 prize for the single-celled organism deemed to be the “smartest and fastest” in negotiating a microscopic maze.

Project ARK, with support from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s new media project, will mark National Prevention Week with a screening of the documentary “You Are Not Alone” at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, May 18, at the Missouri History Museum, 5700 Lindell Blvd., in Forest Park.

The Gephardt Institute for Public Service selected eight sophomores for its fourth cohort of the Civic Scholars Program. Civic Scholars enroll in two years of academic coursework related to civic leadership and are mentored to prepare for a life dedicated to public service. They also carry out a civic project the summer before their senior years.

More than a dozen distinguished individuals will speak at Commencement-related events later this month for graduates and their friends and families. The weeklong celebration culminates at 8:30 a.m. Friday, May 16, with WUSTL’s 153rd Commencement ceremony in Brookings Quadrangle.​​

An undergraduate success story: Jolijt Tamanaha spent her last weeks of junior year at Washington University in St. Louis making a deal to sell a startup she co-founded called Farmplicity — an online marketplace that matches restaurants with local farmers — founded in a course through Olin Business School called The Hatchery.

Richard J. Smith, PhD, dean of the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, presented the school’s Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence to 17 teaching assistants for exemplary performance. Stacy Davis, a fifth-year PhD candidate in Spanish, was among those recognized during an April 24 ceremony.

The Spector Prize, first awarded in 1974, recognizes academic excellence and outstanding undergraduate achievement in research. Students are nominated by their research mentors for outstanding research that has made substantial contributions to a field. This year, the prize has been awarded to Deborah Huang, who plans to graduate this month with a major in biochemistry and molecular biology and a minor in public health.

Four students in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis have won important honors and fellowships this spring. They include the Carnegie Junior Fellowship, the Beinecke Scholarship, the Newman Civic Fellows Award and the Gates Cambridge Scholarship.

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

Last week, the university dedicated the Grossman Family SIMS Laboratory in Rudolph Hall. The build-out of the lab was funded by a gift from the family of WUSTL alumnus Matthew Grossman. The space houses a state-of-the-art secondary-ion mass spectrometer that will be used primarily for the analysis of geological samples but also will be available to members of the newly founded Institute of Materials Science and Engineering to study problems in the analysis and design of materials.