McKelvey School of Engineering

Guy M. Genin, PhD, professor of mechanical engineering in the School of Engineering & Applied Science at Washington University in St. Louis, has been named a Yangtze River Scholar by the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. The prestigious award is the highest award issued to an individual in higher education by China’s Ministry of Education. Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton attended the installation June 29.

Jessica Wagenseil, DSc, associate professor of mechanical engineering in the School of Engineering & Applied Science at Washington University in St. Louis, and Robert Mecham, PhD, the Alumni Endowed Professor of Cell Biology and Physiology at the School of Medicine and professor of medicine, of pediatrics and of biomedical engineering, received a four-year, $381,250 grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for research titled “Vessel Stiffening, Hypertension and Vascular Extracellular Matrix.”

At the Washington University in St. Louis Board of Trustees meeting May 1, several faculty members were appointed with tenure or promoted with tenure, effective July 1 unless otherwise indicated.

​​Chenyang Lu, PhD, has been named the inaugural Fullgraf Professor at Washington University in St. Louis. He was installed at a ceremony held on campus March 16.

​Two computer scientists from Washington University in St. Louis, Robert Pless and Roman Garnett, are part of a research team that will use big data to accelerate breeding and the commercial release of sorghum crops that can be used as a renewable energy source.​

Two vastly different but innovative business startups with direct ties to Washington University, Applied Particle Technology and Invisible Girlfriend, have been awarded $50,000 in extra capital funding thank Arch Grants. The grants provide equity-free cash awards and free support services to startups willing to headquarter their businesses in St. Louis.

​Raymond Kline, PhD, professor emeritus of electrical engineering, died May 31, 2015.  He began his career ar Washington University in 1962.

Rohit Pappu, PhD, the Edwin H. Murty Professor of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, has learned from his students as well as his mentors. He can name every researcher he has worked with throughout his career. Pappu studies intrinsically disordered proteins and their role in neurodegenerative disorders such as Huntington’s, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.

​To the nearly 2 million people in the United States living with the loss of a limb, prosthetic devices provide restored mobility, yet lack sensory feedback. A team of engineers and researchers at Washington University is working to change that so those with upper limb prosthetics can feel hot and cold and the sense of touch through their prosthetic hands.

Fuzhong Zhang, PhD, of the School of Engineering & Applied Science at Washington University in St. Louis, has received a Young Investigator Program award from the Office of Naval Research to fund his synthetic biology research.