McKelvey School of Engineering

Timothy Trinidad leads a discussion with classmates (from left) David Schainker, Helena Wotring and Mamta Datwani. The students are part of a computer science engineering course taught by Burchan Bayazit, Ph.D., assistant professor of computer science and engineering. The course stresses “active learning,” and features group work, presentation skill and critiques.Kenneth J. Goldman, Ph.D., associate professor of computer science and engineering, is the recipient of a $562,000 grant from the National Science Foundation that will enable his department to transform undergraduate teaching methodology. Goldman and his fellow principal investigators are working to cultivate “active learning” in the classroom, with a significant increase in studio courses that involve team projects and interdisciplinary collaboration. In a culture marked by frequent critique, students will refine their design skills, as well as improve their ability to present and justify their designs and work in groups. Passive learning, typified by the traditional lecture, will be put on the backburner, though the flame will still burn low.

Photo by David KilperLarry A.Taber, Ph.D., (left) the Dennis and Barbara Kessler Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and Philip Bayly, Ph.D., the Hughes Professor of Mechanical Engineering, employ a microindentation device to measure the mechanical properties of embryonic hearts and brains. The researchers are examining mechanical and developmental processes that occur in the folding of the brain’s surface, or cortex, which gives the higher mammalian brain more surface area (and more intellectual capacity) than a brain of comparable volume with a smooth surface.

It’s been almost 100 years since Oxford University Press published the collected works of Edmund Spenser. A Washington University English professor and a team of Arts & Sciences undergraduate and graduate students are involved in a major project to publish a new edition for Oxford University Press — which will be complemented by an even more substantial digital archive.

Engineers at Washington University in St. Louis are finding common ground between the shaping of the brain and the heart during embryonic development. Larry A.Taber, Ph.D., the Dennis and Barbara Kessler Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and Philip Bayly, Ph.D., the Hughes Professor of Mechanical Engineering, are examining mechanical and developmental processes that occur in the folding of the brain’s surface, or cortex, which gives the higher mammalian brain more surface area (and hence more intellectual capacity) than a brain of comparable volume with a smooth surface.

David Kilper/WUSTL Photo(L-R) Larry Taber, postdoctoral researcher Gang Xu and Philip Bayly examine brain and heart cells to learn something of the mechanics involved in brain folding.Engineers at Washington University in St. Louis are finding common ground between the shaping of the brain and the heart during embryonic development. Larry A.Taber, Ph.D., the Dennis and Barbara Kessler Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and Phillip Bayly, Ph.D., Hughes Professor of Mechanical Engineering, are examining mechanical and developmental processes that occur in the folding of the brain’s surface, or cortex, which gives the higher mammalian brain more surface area (and hence more intellectual capacity) than a brain of comparable volume with a smooth surface.

Below is a link to the Washington University news release about the U.S. News & World Report undergraduate rankings for 2004-05: http://news-info.wustl.edu/news/page/normal/3627.html To view a full listing of U.S. News magazine, book and Web-only rankings for 2004-05, please visit the U.S. News & World Report site: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/rankindex_brief.php

On June 5, Larry A. Taber, Ph.D. became the first Dennis and Barbara Kessler Professor of Biomedical Engineering (BME) in the School of Engineering. The ceremony, which capped the department’s 10th anniversary celebration, was held in Uncas A. Whitaker Hall.

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have discovered through genetic analyses a metabolic pathway in bacteria comprised of just three genes, all known to be players in metabolism. This pathway was previously shown to be involved in synthesizing modified membrane lipids but data from Petra Levin’s lab indicate that it also has a major role in cell division. This is the first identification of a pathway responsible for regulating bacterial cell size.

Jeffrey MarlowJeffrey J. Marlow, a senior in Arts & Sciences, is one of 20 students nationwide named to the 2007 All-USA College Academic First Team, USA Today’s recognition program for outstanding undergraduates. Two other Washington University students were named to the third team and one student received honorable mention, resulting in WUSTL tying with the University of Alabama for the most students selected in the newspaper’s competition.

Yixin Chen, Ph.D., assistant professor of computer science and engineering, is one of five faculty nationwide to receive a 2007 Microsoft Research New Faculty Fellowship. The fellowship is one of the most prestigious awards for young computer scientists, and Chen is the first WUSTL researcher to receive the award.