McKelvey School of Engineering

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

How exactly does the human brain react to a fall or an automobile accident? Researchers at Washington University are working to answer that question through a new computer model based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data. Learn more in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch article.

Photo by David KilperLars Angenent (right) and Jason He examine the upflow microbial fuel cell, which can turn wastewater into electricity.The upflow microbial fuel cell is fed continually and works with chambers atop each other rather than beside each other.

David Kilper / WUSTL PhotoAngenent and He’s microbial fuel cell may be scaled up for industrial use.An environmental engineer at Washington University in St. Louis has created a device similar to a hydrogen fuel cell that uses bacteria to treat wastewater and create electricity. Lars Angenent, Ph.D., assistant professor of Chemical Engineering, and a member of the University’s Environmental Engineering Science Program, has devised a microbial fuel cell which he calls an upflow microbial fuel cell (UMFC) that is fed continually and, unlike most microbial fuel cells, works with chambers atop each other rather than beside each other.

One of the most prestigious awards in the field of differential equations and control theory, the Reid Prize was established in 1993.

A team of engineers from Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Colorado at Boulder has removed bioaerosols – airborne biological particulate matter — from the air of a hospital therapy pool using a new generation of hybrid filters. The bioaerosols identified in the unnamed Midwestern hospital pool had sickened nine lifeguards who had become ill with hypersensitivity pneumonitis, a lung condition that mimics pneumonia symptoms. This forced the pool to shut down. It is now reopened.

Gamers are faster than you and I.While Mortal Combat, Grand Theft Auto, or Halo may be foreign to aging generations, a new study out of Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Toronto suggests that video games like these promote a kind of mental “expertise” that could prove to be useful in the non-virtual world — potentially in rehabilitation and for the elderly. Alan Castel, Ph.D., Washington University post doctorate fellow in psychology in Arts & Sciences, conducted a study to examine how video games can lead to a degree of expertise in certain domains, and how that might influence video game players’ visual search patterns.

Photo by Joe AngelesJohn Woock was named both an NCAA College Football National Scholar-Athlete and an ESPN The Magazine First-Team Academic All-American.

The School of Engineering & Applied Science is a sponsor of the world’s premier software engineering annual forum May 15-21.

Carinne Blank has a method she uses to date ancient life forms that could be helpful for specimens from Mars.A geologist from Washington University in St. Louis is developing new techniques to render a more coherent story of how primitive life arose and diverged on Earth – with implications for Mars.