Arts & Sciences

Senior Alex Baron, majoring in philosophy-neuroscience-psychology and in political science, both in Arts & Sciences, has won a prestigious Luce Scholarship. He is one of 18 scholars chosen nationwide.

Over the past two decades Jolly Stewart has been a force in St. Louis opera. Friday and Saturday, March 19 and 20, the Washington University Opera will celebrate Stewart’s upcoming retirement with an “all-star” performance of Die Fledermaus, the beloved operetta by Johann Strauss II. The production will feature nine returning alumni — all of whom sing professionally — as well as celebrated baritone Ian Greenlaw, teacher of applied music in Arts & Sciences.

The Earth and Planetary Remote Sensing Laboratory has received a grant of $1.8 million per year for the next five years to extend and improve the Geosciences Node of the Planetary Data System, a distributed data system that archives and distributes planetary data from space missions. 

The Brookings Institution and Washington University in St. Louis announce the first recipients of grants from the Academic Venture Fund, the purpose of which is  to support collaboration between the two institutions, particularly long-term projects that impact research, education and policy. Grants are available in amounts from $20,000 to $50,000. Interested fellows, faculty, staff, centers, institutes and programs can submit proposals by June 1 for review in July 2010. 

A new test allows scientists to discover whether ticks are carrying disease-causing bacteria and which animals provided their last blood meal. Results suggest three emerging diseases in the St. Louis area are carried by lone star ticks feeding on record-high populations of white-tailed deer.

The gift of “seeing ourselves as others see us” comes in handy when judging how we’ve made a first impression. Yet many come away with little or no clue about how that first impression was perceived. A new study suggests confidence is a key indicator of how well we’ve assessed impressions left behind.

John W. Lowe, Ph.D., a noted Americanist specializing in Southern literature and studies, is the visiting Hurst Professor in the Department of English in Arts & Sciences the week of March 1. Lowe will give two public lectures: one on “The Haitian Revolution’s Effect on Southern Literature”; the other on William Faulkner.

Following carbon monoxide poisoning from a furnace at his work place on May 31, 1926, Franz Breutel was unable to remember anything for more than about a second. An interdisciplinary panel will discuss this forgotten amnesic case study at 3 p.m. Friday, Feb. 26, in Wilson Hall, Room 214. The lecture, “Remembering Mr. B: The Man with a Two-Second Memory,” is sponsored by the WUSTL Center for Programs.

Baritone Ian Greenlaw, teacher of applied music in Arts & Sciences, will join members of The Kingsbury Ensemble, St. Louis’ leading early-music group, for a concert titled “Music of Classical Vienna” at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 28. 

Anthropology professors Peter Benson and Carolyn Sargent will travel to Washington, D.C., Tuesday and Wednesday, Feb. 23 and 24, to speak with U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan of Missouri about the recently convened Healthcare Reform Task Force and new ways to link academic research and policy development.