McKelvey School of Engineering

Seven Washington University in St. Louis students successfully completed the Certificate in Renewable Energy and the Environment this year, the largest group to date.

By studying the electric activity that causes uterine contractions in pregnant women, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and their collaborators have developed a multiscale model they believe may aid in predicting preterm birth.

Social venture WOOTA (Water Out Of Thin Air) is the winner of this year’s School of Engineering & Applied Science’s annual Engineering Discovery Competition (EDC) and will receive $20,000 in cash, as well as $5,000 in legal services from Polsinelli for building a device that turns humidity in the air into clean drinking water.

Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis made a discovery that uncovers the molecular logic of how dividing cells are stopped in their tracks. The team zeroed in on a specific protein, whose job is to stop a cell from dividing or to slow the division.

Milorad (Mike) Dudukovic, of the School of Engineering & Applied Science at Washington University in St. Louis, has received the prestigious Neal R. Amundson Award for Excellence in Chemical Reaction Engineering from the International Symposia on Chemical Reaction Engineering.

Medical professionals have long known that the buildup of plaque in arteries can cause them to narrow and harden, potentially leading to a whole host of health problems — including heart attack, heart disease and stroke. While high blood pressure and artery stiffness are often associated with plaque buildup, new research from engineers at Washington University in St. Louis shows they are not the direct causes. Their findings suggest a new culprit: elastic fibers in the arterial wall.

St. Louis’ hazy summers can sometimes be too hot to handle for people with respiratory issues; increased ozone levels can make the air tough to breathe. A team of engineers at Washington University collaborated on a study of St. Louis’ late-summer air quality. They found that naturally occurring compounds processed in the night sky can have a big impact on ozone levels the next day.

Elie Mafolo didn’t know any English when he came to St. Louis from the Congo in 2012. Now, he’s an Elizabeth Gray Danforth Scholar studying computer science in the School of Engineering & Applied Science. Here, he shares how hard work has helped him achieve.

Rohit V. Pappu, the Edwin H. Murty Professor of Engineering in the School of Engineering & Applied Science at Washington University in St. Louis, has received two grants from the National Institutes of Health totaling more than $4.5 million to study the causes behind Huntington’s disease that may ultimately provide clues for a treatment or cure.

Researchers in the School of Engineering & Applied Science at Washington University in St. Louis have discovered a novel route to encode chaos on light in an optomechanical microresonator system.