Arts & Sciences

The Center for the Humanities and the Department of African and African American Studies, both in WashU Arts & Sciences, will launch a yearlong Sawyer Seminar on “Black Studies and the Future of the American University” Sept. 10.

Sociologist Elizabeth Chiarello, in WashU Arts & Sciences, was honored by both the American Sociological Association and the Institute for Advanced Study for her work at the intersection of patient care and criminal justice.

WashU researchers are working on ways to use machine learning to not just make predictions about potential chemical compounds but also to model out the synthesis of those materials.

Scheduled to launch Aug. 30, scientists will use Roman to settle essential questions in the areas of dark energy, exoplanets and astrophysics. WashU plays a key role in four new projects.

Biologist Keith Hengen, in WashU Arts & Sciences, is applying lessons from the brain to next-generation quantum sensors through a U.S. Department of Energy-funded project.

Marilyn and Gary Ratkin are the recipients of the 2026 Jane and Whitney Harris St. Louis Community Service Award. The award recognizes couples who contribute to the culture and welfare of the greater St. Louis community in an outstanding manner.

Joanna Dee Das, an associate professor of performing arts in WashU Arts & Sciences, has won the 2026 Book Award from the International Society for the Study of Musicals.

Now married 21 years, Danielle Dutton and Martin Riker are a literary power couple. Both serve in the English Department in WashU Arts & Sciences and run Dorothy, a publishing project, a small feminist press they founded in 2009. They also are writers themselves.

In honor of National Book Lover’s Day, celebrated annually on Aug. 9, the Record asked librarians to share some of their favorite titles. The result: a tour de force by a WashU alumna, a sweeping epic of German history and one of the globe’s most beloved fantasy novels. All of these titles are available at Olin Library.

The silkworm moth, whose caterpillars have been used in silk production since antiquity, may have been brought to southern Central Asia 4,000 years ago — nearly 2,000 years earlier than previously assumed — according to new research from WashU.