Arts & Sciences

The profitability of corn ethanol processing, the costs and benefits of ethanol as a fuel source, the impact of the ethanol boom on rural America and the future of the biofuel industry will be among topics explored at a free public forum on the economics of ethanol to be held on campus from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Nov. 14.

Wind power is one practical alternative to petroleum.The director of a sustainable energy research center at Washington University in St. Louis is challenging President-elect Barack Obama to set goals in energy research and implementation. “I would like to see the next president of the United States set a similar goal to President Kennedy’s from 1961 — to put a man on the moon and to bring him back to Earth by the end of the decade,” says Himadri B. Pakrasi, Ph.D., the George William and Irene Koechig Freiberg Professor of Biology in Arts & Sciences, and Professor of Energy in the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

CrissIt’s a 500-pound gorilla that Robert Criss, Ph.D., professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, sees standing on the speaker’s dais at political rallies, debates and campaigns. Its name is population growth. And sometime during President-elect Barack Obama’s first several months in office, he will have to factor it into future environmental policy, says Criss.”Population growth is driving all of our resource problems, including water and energy. The three are intertwined,” Criss says. “The United States has over 305 million people of the 6.7 billion on the planet. We are dividing a finite resource pie among a growing number of people on Earth. We cannot expect to sustain exponential population growth matched by increased per capita use of water and energy. It’s troubling. But politicians and religious leaders totally ignore the topic.”

Washington University’s Jazz at Holmes series will present two internationally known musicians in free concerts at 8 p.m. Nov. 6 and 13. This Thursday, Nov. 6, Austrian pianist Elisabeth Harnik will perform in Holmes Lounge in Ridgley Hall. Though perhaps best known for her improvisations, Harnik also composes chamber music and music for the theater, […]

Eight faculty members from the Department of Music in Arts & Sciences will present a showcase recital in conjunction with the Missouri Music Teachers Association’s (MMTA) annual instrumental and vocal competitive auditions. The program — which begins at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 8, in the 560 Music Center — will feature music of Frederic Chopin, […]

© Disney/Pixar*Pixar Shorts*Washington University’s Center for the Humanities and Program in Film & Media Studies, both in Arts & Sciences, will host their Fifth Annual Children’s Film Symposium Friday and Saturday, Nov. 21 and 22. Presented in conjunction with Cinema St. Louis, the festival will feature five screenings as well as introductions and post-show discussions by a half-dozen of the films’ creators.

Eight faculty from the Department of Music in Arts & Sciences will present a showcase recital in conjunction with the Missouri Music Teachers Association’s (MMTA) annual instrumental and vocal competitive auditions.

Douglas A. Wiens, Ph.D., professor and chair of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences, will head the seismology research team of an ambitious international effort to map and analyze an unknown part of Antarctica.

The Jazz at Holmes Series will present two internationally reknowned musicians, pianist Elisabeth Harnik and saxophonist David Liebman, in free concerts Nov. 6 and 13.

Award-winning writer and critic Daniel Mendelsohn, Ph.D., will give this year’s annual Holocaust Memorial Lecture at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 12, in Graham Chapel.