Arts & Sciences

David Kilper/WUSTL Photo ServicesThe combination of beer, wastewater, microbes, fuel cells, high-school students and teachers sounds like a witches’ brew for an old-fashioned, illicit 1960s beach party. Instead, these are the components of a new high-school science curriculum being developed by researchers at Washington University and two St. Louis area high-school teachers.

David Kilper/WUSTL PhotoLars Angenent, Ph.D., assistant professor of energy, environmental & chemical engineering, with a microbial fuel cell.The combination of beer, wastewater, microbes, fuel cells, high school students and teachers sounds like a witches’ brew for an old-fashioned, illicit ’60s beach party. Instead, these are the components that comprise the heart and soul of a new high school science curriculum being developed by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and a couple of St. Louis area high school teachers. Video available.

Werner Ploberger, Ph.D., was installed as the first Thomas H. Eliot Distinguished Professor in Arts & Sciences on October 30 in Holmes Lounge. Ploberger, who joined Washington University’s Department of Economics last year, is internationally renowned for his contributions to the fields of econometrics and the theory of estimation.

Pratim Biswas has a method that controls the size of the nanoparticles he makes, opening up possibilities for new nanotechnology applications and different techniques.In a world that constantly strives for bigger and bigger things, WUSTL’s Pratim Biswas, Ph.D., the Stifel and Quinette Jens Professor and chair of the Department of Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, is working to make things smaller and smaller. Biswas conducts research on nanoparticles, which are the building blocks for nanotechnology. For the first time, Biswas has shown that he can independently control the size of the nanoparticles that he makes, keeping their other properties the same. He’s also shown with his technique that the nanoparticles can be made in large quantities in scalable systems, opening up the possibility for more applications and different techniques.

Fengtao Wu, a senior lecturer in Chinese in Arts & Sciences, offers one of the nation’s “very best” university courses in Chinese, according to a recent College Board Advanced Placement World Languages Best Practices Course Study. Conducted by the Eugene, Ore.-based Educational Policy Improvement Center (EPIC), the College Board study identified Wu’s third-level “Modern Chinese […]

A $10 million commitment has been made to Washington University by alumnus and philanthropist Harry Seigle, and his wife, Susan, according to Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. It is the lead gift for the building currently under construction on the western end of the Danforth Campus that will serve academic functions for the three social science departments in Arts & Sciences and for the School of Law. When it opens for the fall 2008 semester, it will be known as Harry and Susan Seigle Hall. The name is significant, for it represents the first academic building on the Danforth Campus to be named for an alumnus living outside of St. Louis.

Fengtao Wu, a senior lecturer in Chinese in Arts & Sciences, offers one of the nation’s “very best” university courses in Chinese, according to a recent College Board Advanced Placement World Languages Best Practices Course Study.

Washington University Dance Theatre, the annual showcase of professionally choreographed works performed by student dancers, will present its 2007 concert “rEvolutions,” Nov. 30-Dec. 2 in Edison Theatre.

Joyce Carol Oates, one of America’s most distinguished authors, will deliver the keynote address, “The Writer’s (Secret) Life: Woundedness, Rejection, and Inspiration,” as part of Washington University’s sixth annual faculty book colloquium “Celebrating Our Books, Recognizing Our Authors.” Her talk will be held at 5 p.m. Monday, Dec. 3, in Holmes Lounge.

Washington University alumna Kathleen Finneran, author of the memoir “The Tender Land: A Family Love Story” (2003), will read from her work at 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 29, in Duncker Hall, Room 201, Hurst Lounge. The talk, part of The Writing Program in Arts & Sciences’ fall Reading Series, is free and open to the […]