McKelvey School of Engineering

Photo by David KilperSenior chemical engineering major Bia Henriques discusses her research with Robyn Bartosch at a recent poster session at the Knight Center.

David Kilper / WUSTL PhotoFailure at a university is a word with bad connotations, unless you are involved in building experimental satellites that the U.S. Air Force and NASA find interesting. An aerospace engineer at Washington University in St. Louis who works with students building experimental spacecraft says student-built spacecraft, which he calls “university-class,” have a strong advantage over aerospace industry-built spacecraft: the freedom to fail.

A chemist at Washington University in St. Louis has found surprisingly tough enzymes in a bacterium that “just says no to acid.” Acid resistance is a valued trait for both pills and human pathogens. The bacterium Acetobacter aceti makes unusually acid-resistant enzymes in spades, which could make the organism a source for new enzyme products and new directions in protein chemistry.

Washington University in St. Louis has licensed a system developed by Washington University engineers that is meant to detect counterfeit credit cards by reading a unique magnetic “fingerprint” on the stripes of credit cards and other objects that carry magnetic information. The system — called Magneprint — was invented by Ronald Indeck, Ph.D., Das Family Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering at Washington University.

It detects counterfeit credit cards by reading a unique magnetic “fingerprint” on the stripes of the cards and other objects that carry information.

SternThe eyes may well be the window to the soul, but they also are indicators of the mind’s condition. People who have watched the presidential and vice-presidential debates earlier this month and preparing for the final debate on Oct. 13 could gather clues to the candidates’ state of mind by watching the candidates’ eyes. According to John Stern, Ph.D., professor emeritus of psychology at Washington University in St. Louis, and pioneer of blinking research, there is solid evidence that people blink frequently at points in time when they momentarily stop taking in and processing information.

Photo by David KilperCrystal Ripplinger and Igor Efimov discuss their work on implantable defibrillators in Efimov’s laboratory.Smaller devices would free cardiac patients from the discomfort and danger of having to have it replaced frequently.

What’s in a flame? That basic question has driven Richard L. Axelbaum, Ph.D., associate professor of mechanical engineering, for more than 20 years in his career as teacher and researcher in combustion, materials and environmental sciences. Thanks to his pursuit of understanding the phenomena of fire and light, Axelbaum and colleagues have discovered a wealth […]

He was in charge of setting up the environmental engineering department when he came to the University in 1956.

A biomedical engineer at WUSTL has determined love taps are better than love jolts in addressing defibrillation.When it comes to affairs of the heart, love taps are preferred over love jolts. That is the result of a team of heart researchers including Igor Efimov, Ph.D., associate professor of biomedical engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, trying to effect a better implantable heart defibrillator. Efimov and his colleagues have modeled a system where an implantable heart defibrillator focuses in on rogue electrical waves created during heart arrhythmia and busts up the disturbance, dissipating it and preventing cardiac arrest.