Arts & Sciences

With NASA’s latest balloon technology, Johanna Nagy in Arts & Sciences is looking 13 billion years into the past, using the oldest light in the universe, to precisely measure the polarization of the microwave sky.

Collaborators from eight St. Louis area institutions will investigate the microbiomes of local box turtles; the diversification of flowering plants in the Gulf of Guinea; and adaptation to climate change and biodiversity loss in Madagascar, among other projects.

Brian Rauch, research assistant professor of physics in Arts & Sciences, co-authored a study in Physical Review Letters that suggests that certain cosmic rays move through the galaxy differently. The research addresses fundamental questions about how matter is generated and distributed across the universe.

“We often think about genres of love narratives, whether they’re films or novels, as frivolous,” said Jessica Rosenfeld, of Arts & Sciences. “But in the Middle Ages, love stories, love narratives, love songs, were invested with the highest seriousness.”

With the publication of her first novel, “The Kimono Tattoo,” Rebecca Copeland moves from translation to fiction writing and brings a literary perspective to the cultural history of kimonos.

Jim Brock and Kevin Hammerschmidt began their college careers with the Washington University Prison Education Project. This spring, both were among the first PEP alumni to earn their bachelor’s degrees on the Danforth Campus.

Three graduates document their final days as Washington University students.

As co-founder and executive director of Action St. Louis, Kayla Reed, AB ’20, is committed to fighting injustice in her hometown.

In a business famed for slow and patient aging, it’s been a meteoric rise. Just six years ago, former WashU roommates David Mandell and Daniel Linde stood on a rolling cornfield at the eastern edge of Bardstown, Kentucky. Today, the 100-acre site is home to their Bardstown Bourbon Company, already one of the world’s largest bourbon distilleries.

When COVID-19 upended the season, WashU’s Performing Arts Department turned to alumni playwrights.