McKelvey School of Engineering

A: Ask David Karandish and Chris Sims, two entrepreneurial alumni who have parlayed a love of computer science into a flourishing corporation.

They are the tiny motors present in many of the human body’s most complex systems: cilia and flagella move liquids such as cerebrospinal fluid and mucus past the cell surface, and throughout the body. Both are of vital importance to human health, but how they actually move remains a mystery. A team from Washington University in St. Louis has been awarded a 5-year, $1.25 million grant to study the mechanics of these tiny organelles.

Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis are using science and engineering to fight the heinous crime of sex trafficking. By targeting places where the crimes usually occur, the high-tech approach is as simple as snapping photos on your cellphone and uploading them to a database.

The class of 2020 was chosen among a field of 29,200 applicants and represents the largest class in Washington University’s 163-year history. It also is the most diverse. Some 231 students — 13 percent — are Pell grant-eligible, and 123 are the first in their families to attend college.

Lan Yang, the Edwin H. & Florence G. Skinner Professor of Electrical and Systems Engineering in the School of Engineering & Applied Science, is the principal investigator of a four-year, $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) in which she will oversee the takedown of two venerable physical laws: time-reversal symmetry and reciprocity.

Memento, an interdisciplinary team of Washington University in St. Louis undergraduate, graduate and medical students, has won $10,000 in a national competition for their mobile app designed to help diagnose Alzheimer’s disease more quickly.

The often-maligned E. coli bacteria has powerhouse potential: in the lab, it has the ability to crank out fuels, pharmaceuticals and other useful products at a rapid rate. A team from the School of Engineering & Applied Science at Washington University in St. Louis has discovered a new way to remove a major stumbling block in the process, and boost biofuel production from E. coli.

More than 70 undergraduate engineering students chose their own adventures via three summer mentor and fellowship programs offered by the School of Engineering & Applied Science. The programs ensured a summer of study and enrichment for budding engineers.

A team of engineers at Washington University in St. Louis has found a way to use graphene oxide sheets to transform dirty water into drinking water, and it could be a global game-changer.

Celebrating innovation in St. Louis, the St. Louis Business Journal honored area individuals and companies with the publication’s third annual Innovation Awards in June. Among those honored were Washington University’s student-run IDEA Labs and Sasa Mutic, of the School of Medicine’s Department of Radiation Oncology.