Arts & Sciences

Academic leaders from some of the world’s premier universities will gather at Washington University in St. Louis Oct. 1-5 to discuss the world’s energy future at the “McDonnell International Scholars Academy Symposium: Global Energy Future.”

Nicholas Kristof, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the New York Times and best-selling author, will present “Half the Sky: From Oppression to Opportunity for Women Worldwide” at 4 p.m. Monday, Oct. 4, in Graham Chapel. Kristof’s talk, the Benjamin E. Youngdahl Lecture in Social Policy, is free and open to the public.

Three aspiring playwrights will present staged readings of their works Oct. 1 and 2 as part of the 2010 A.E. Hotchner Playwriting Festival, sponsored by the Performing Arts Department (PAD) in Arts & Sciences. Named in honor of alumnus A.E. Hotchner, the festival consists of an intensive two-week workshop that culminates in the staged readings. This year’s workshop is led by dramaturg Allison Horsley, assistant professor of dramatic literature at the University of Denver

A novel design for a catalytic converter disperses nanoparticles of the catalytic noble metal platinum on nanowires and then sheaths the wires is a layer of silica pierced with holes. The silica prevents the platinum catalyst from aggregating, while the pores allow gases to reach the platinum catalyst. The design might one day reduce the amount of platinum needed to  detoxify exhaust gases.

Dear Mr. President: With your economic team in transition, Murray Weidenbaum thought you could use some advice. Weidenbaum is an economist who has wrestled with federal budgets for six decades during a long career in public service and as an advisor to two presidents. Weidenbaum has prepared a list of budget cuts that calls for a new approach to fiscal restraint.

Hillel Kieval, PhD, the Gloria M. Goldstein Professor of Jewish History and Thought, has spent the past 25 years studying European Jews in the 19th and 20th centuries. His chief focus is the various ways in which they identified with, and struggled against, their European environment.  

An investigation by an international consortium of scientists, including an anthropologist at Washington University in St. Louis, has discovered the origin of the world’s deadliest form of human malaria, Plasmodium falciparum.

Mr. Smith went to Washington, again. Instead of staging a filibuster, Steven S. Smith, PhD, political science professor and parliamentary procedure expert  testified Sept. 22 before the U.S. Senate Committee on Rules and Administration on proposed rule changes governing debate and cloture.

Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons is among the best-loved works in the classical repertoire and a foundation of the Baroque concerto. In 2002, celebrated violinist Robert McDuffie approached Philip Glass, arguably the most acclaimed composer working today, about writing a companion piece. The result is Glass’ Violin Concerto No. 2, The American Four Seasons, which McDuffie debuted last year. Now McDuffie and the Venice Baroque Orchestra, one of the world’s finest period instrument ensembles, will perform both works back-to-back as part of the Edison Ovations Series at Washington University. 

Jose Mestre, PhD, a distinguished scholar of physics learning and a highly regarded researcher in physics education, will deliver a talk titled “Physics Learning and Classroom Practice: Clinical and Classroom-Based Studies of Physics Cognition” on Wednesday, Sept. 29, at Washington University in St. Louis. The talk will take place at 4 p.m. in Crow Hall, Room 201.