McKelvey School of Engineering

Richard L. Axelbaum, PhD, professor of energy, environmental & chemical engineering in the School of Engineering & Applied Science, is the new Stifel & Quinette Jens Professor in Environmental Engineering Science. Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton installed him in a ceremony Oct. 31 in Brauer Hall.

Washington University’s Bear Cub Fund is soliciting grant applications from WUSTL researchers who want to move inventions from their laboratories toward commercialization.The application deadline is Nov. 30.

Pratim Biswas, PhD, is the new Lucy & Stanley Lopata Professor at Washington University in St. Louis. Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton installed him in a ceremony Monday, Oct. 10, in Whitaker Hall. Biswas, chair of the Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering (EECE), is one of the world’s leading experts in aerosol science.

Jerome R. Cox Jr., ScD, senior professor, and Jonathan S. Turner, PhD, the Barbara J. and Jerome R. Cox, Jr. Professor, both in the Department of Computer Science & Engineering in the School of Engineering & Applied Science, will receive the 2011 Chancellor’s Award for Innovation and Entrepreneurship during the Faculty Achievement Awards ceremony at 6 p.m. Dec. 3 in Simon Hall Auditorium.

The Department of Energy has funded a three-university collaboration led by Washington University in St. Louis to approach the problem of algal fuels systematically.In a two-step project, the team will first attempt a comprehensive understanding of the metabolic machinery of selected cyanobacterial strains and then implement that understanding by assembling a novel bacterium with the machinery needed to produce fuel molecules. They will be bringing to bear on the problem of algal fuels the most sophisticated approaches contemporary biology now has to offer: systems biology and synthetic biology.

WUSTL will celebrate Campus Sustainability Week Monday, Oct. 17, through Saturday, Oct. 22, on the Danforth and Medical campuses. WUSTL’s Campus Sustainability Week — along with national Campus Sustainability Day, Thursday, Oct. 20 — is held to bring attention to the achievements and challenges for students, faculty and staff in working to instill sustainability principles in higher education institutions and their surrounding communities.

The White House announced Sept. 27 that Lan Yang, PhD, assistant professor of electrical and systems engineering in the School of Engineering & Applied Science of Washington University in St. Louis has been named a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers.The early career award is the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers.

Preston M. Green Hall, a new engineering building on the Danforth Campus of Washington University in St. Louis, was dedicated Friday, Sept. 23. The keynote speaker at the dedication was be Charles M. Vest, PhD, president of the National Academy of Engineering and president emeritus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Nancy Green, widow of WUSTL benefactor Preston M. Green, for whom the building is named, also spoke.

Mary C. Molloy, secretary and receptionist in the Department of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science since 1981, died Sept. 3, 2011, of a stroke. She was 81.

The School of Engineering & Applied Science at Washington University in St. Louis will dedicate a new building, Preston M. Green Hall, Friday, Sept. 23, and in conjunction will hold the symposium “Challenges & Opportunities in Engineering Education & Research.” The symposium, which will feature National Science Foundation Director Subra Suresh, DSc, is open to the public. It will be held from at 2:30 p.m. in Room 300 of the Laboratory Sciences building on WUSTL’s Danforth Campus.