McKelvey School of Engineering

Students, faculty and alumni from the School of Engineering & Applied Science participate in the WUSTL chapter of Engineers Without Borders Service Project Day rehabbing a home in St. Louis’ North Grand Neighborhood. The project to help develop affordable housing was part of Engineers Week: February 14-20, the school’s week of special events to inspire current and future engineers.

Christopher I. Byrnes, Ph.D., dean of the School of Engineering & Applied Science at Washington University in St. Louis from 1991 to 2006 and the Edward H. and Florence G. Skinner Professor Emeritus of Systems Science and Mathematics, died unexpectedly last week in Stockholm, Sweden. He was 60.

Ralph Quatrano, immediate past dean of the faculty of Arts & Sciences, has been named dean of the School of Engineering & Applied Science at Washington University in St. Louis.

Younan Xia, Ph.D., the James M. McKelvey Professor of Biomedical Engineering, has been ranked as one of the top 10 chemists in the world by The Times Higher Education, a magazine based in London. 

Undergraduate tuition at Washington University in St. Louis will be $39,400 for the 2010-11 academic year — a $1,600 (4.2 percent) increase over the 2009-10 current academic tuition of $37,800. The required student activity fee will total $394, and the student health fee will be no more than $580. Barbara A. Feiner, vice chancellor for finance, made the announcement.

A tiny sensor that exploits the same physics as the whispering gallery in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London will help make nanotechnology safer.

The Center for Innovation in Neuroscience and Technology brings scientists together from different backgrounds to solve challenging medical problems.

A tiny cage of gold covered with a smart polymer responds to light, opening to empty its contents and resealing when the light is turned off. The smart nanocages could be used to deliver drugs directly to target sites, thus avoiding systemic side effects.

John Maeda, Ph.D., one of the pioneers in integrating technology and the visual arts, will give a presentation on “Creative Leadership” for the Assembly Series. The program will begin at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 4, in Graham Chapel and is free and open to the public.

America has the potential to solve its energy crisis over the next decade, but doing so will require immediate investment in clean energy technologies, says Mark S. Wrighton, chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis and vice chair of a National Resource Council report on America’s energy challenges. The report will be the topic of a symposium to be held from 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 2, in the May Auditorium in Simon Hall on the Danforth Campus of Washington University in St. Louis.