Arts & Sciences

In this election year and with the Vice Presidential Debate Oct. 2, a host of programs, projects and panels have been developed to engage students, faculty, staff, alumni, friends and neighbors in the electoral process.

Clarinetist Scott Alberici and his quartet will launch Washington University’s Jazz at Holmes Series from 8 to 10 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 11. The series, which was launched in 1996, features professional jazz musicians from around St. Louis and abroad performing in Holmes Lounge — a casual, coffeehouse-style setting — most Thursday evenings throughout the fall and spring semesters.

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis are proposing to borrow a process used in breweries and wastewater treatment facilities to make corn ethanol more energy efficient. They are exploring the use of oxygen-less vats of microorganisms that naturally feed on organic waste produced from the ethanol fermentation process.

Physics has a reputation for being the toughest of the high school science courses. But visual models of motion, acceleration, waves, projectiles and other principles help students of all ages build an understanding of physical science concepts. For Jack Wiegers, biology instructor, and Patrick Gibbons, Ph.D., professor of physics, these ideas are a key part of science for students from kindergarten through grade 12. The pair instructs four Science Outreach graduate courses in physical science designed for K-8 teachers. They’ve also worked with high school teachers in short workshops and in year-long professional learning communities.

Martin ChalifourCelebrated violinist Martin Chalifour, principal concertmaster for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, will join musicians from Washington University and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra for a chamber music recital at 7 p.m., Monday, Sept. 22. The program, titled “The Four B’s,” will feature music of Bach, Beethoven, Brahms and Bartok.

Photo by David MarchantModern solos and structured improvisation will share the stage with classical Indian and contemporary Chinese dance Sept. 4-6 in “Dance Close Up,” the biennial concert of new and original choreography by dance faculty in the Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences.

Modern solos and structured improvisation will share the stage with classical Indian and contemporary Chinese dance in “Dance Close Up,” the biennial concert of new and original choreography by dance faculty in the Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences.

James WertschRussia’s leaders and its population tend to view current developments in Poland through the lens of a basic Russian national narrative that focuses on Russia as a target of invasion by foreign enemies, claims James V. Wertsch, an expert on post-Soviet democracy movements at Washington University in St. Louis. Wertsch was interviewed on this subject and on the Georgia/Russian conflict recently on KMOX radio. The interview is available here.

Despite popular theories to the contrary, early humans evolved not as aggressive hunters, but as prey of many predators. “Humans are no more born to be hunters than to be gardeners,” argues Robert W. Sussman, Ph.D., professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences, in the newly-updated version of the controversial book “Man the Hunted: Primates, Predators and Human Evolution.”

Interdisciplinary cooperation is at the heart of the Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences’ 2008-09 season, which will explore connections between theater and contemporary cultural and political issues.