The problem solver
				With Square, LaunchCode, Third Degree Glass Factory and more to his name, alumnus Jim McKelvey Jr. is often called a serial entrepreneur. In fact, he has just never met a problem he didn’t want to solve.
			
		
					
			Big Idea: Cortex
				Welcome to Cortex, an innovation community started in 2002 thanks to a lead investment from Washington University. Drone footage takes you through the formerly blighted industrial complex that is now a hip mixed-use space and home to more than 5,800 jobs. This is Cortex. 
			
		
					
			Light-activated nanoheaters may control nerve cells, locust mind
				Engineers from the McKelvey School of Engineering want to know if they can use nanotechnology to control neurons and parse the relationship between neural activity and behavior and disease.
			
		
					
			Chakrabarty wins Schmauss award for aerosol research
				Rajan Chakrabarty, assistant professor of energy, environmental and chemical engineering at the McKelvey School of Engineering, received the 2019 Schmauss Award from the German Association for Aerosol Research (Gesellschaft für Aerosolforschung) at the European Aerosol Conference in Gothenburg, Sweden.
			
		
					
			Helping autonomous vehicles, robots make better plans
				A researcher at the McKelvey School of Engineering is working to improve the way autonomous vehicles make decisions, and the way they relay that information. 
			
		
					
			Environmental racism in St. Louis
				Black St. Louisans are exposed to considerably greater environmental risks than white residents, contributing to stark racial disparities regarding health, economic, and quality of life burdens, finds a new report prepared by the Interdisciplinary Environmental Clinic (IEC) at Washington University School of Law.
			
		
					
			Monitoring bridge safety with wireless sensors
				Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis and Michigan State University are testing innovative sensors on Michigan’s Mackinac Bridge that are powered by traffic vibrations and could detect bridge failures before they happen.
			
		
					
			Zhang wins $2 million NIH grant to study metabolite heterogeneity in bacteria
				Fuzhong Zhang, an expert in synthetic biology at the McKelvey School of Engineering, is investigating how genetically identical cells manage to act so differently. The answer may have implications for antibiotic persistence. 
			
		
					
			New, fundamental limit to ‘seeing and believing’ in imaging
				As researchers probe smaller parts of our world, a “picture” is not always showing what it may seem to show. One researcher at the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis has uncovered a fundamental limit to our ability to trust what we see when it comes to images of molecular motion.
			
		
					
			Sticky proteins help plants know when — and where — to grow
				When it comes to plant growth and development, one hormone is responsible for it all: auxin. New Washington University in St. Louis research has uncovered a mechanism by which it can affect a plant in a myriad of ways.
			
		
					
			View More Stories