On May 5,St.Louis became the first jurisdiction in the Midwest—and just the fourth in the country—to adopt acomprehensive new standard designed to reduce its carbon footprint.The Building Energy Performance Standard(BEPS)will apply to all buildings in the city 50,000 square feet and larger and represents atremendous step forward in the city of St.Louis’climate leadership.Getting the BEPS measure passed in St.Louis was atrue team effort.Washington University in St.Louis’Office of Sustainability provided technical expertise to support the development of the new standard,along with government,nonprofit and local stakeholder partners,including city officials,the U.S.Green Building Council-Missouri Gateway Chapter,the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Institute for Market Transformation.“Starting last fall,our staff worked closely with the city of St.Louis to help it develop astrategy to set ambitious,yet achievable,BEPS targets,based on local building energy benchmarking data,”said Phil Valko,the university’s assistant vice chancellor for sustainability.“The BEPS passage is just part of WashU’s broader work to accelerate climate action in the St.Louis region and beyond through cross-sector partnerships.”The measure stipulates that aBuilding Energy Improvement Board,which will include local business and labor leaders,will be established to approve the new standards,review alternative compliance plans and provide technical expertise.A new city office,the Office of Building Performance,will help building owners navigate compliance during each compliance cycle and offer resources aimed at improving abuilding’s energy performance.The policy is set to take effect in 2021,with buildings required to meet the new standards by 2025. 查看详细>>

Washington University in St.Louis now offers amajor in environmental analysis through the Environmental Studies program in Arts&Sciences.The interdisciplinary major is aresponse to global demand for environmental and sustainability experts who can think critically,communicate clearly and solve problems in collaboration with their communities.“When you look at the big issues facing humanity,they are all touching on the environment—climate change,environmental justice,environmental health,”said David Fike,director of environmental studies,professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts&Sciences and associate director of the International Center for Energy,Environment&Sustainability(InCEES).“The new environmental analysis major will provide students afoundation in the natural sciences,the social sciences and the humanities,and give them the skills to put that knowledge into an analysis-forward framework.It’s an interdisciplinary approach that reflects what’s happening in the real world.”Previously,Arts&Sciences students who wanted to focus on the environment were largely limited to three majors:environmental earth sciences in the Department of Earth&Planetary Sciences;environmental biology in the Department of Biology;or environmental policy in the Department of Political Science.This new major provides ahome—literally and figuratively—for students who are seeking both amore applied curriculum and acohort experience.Environmental studies faculty share the second floor of the new Schnuck Pavilion with the Office of Sustainability,where many students work on university sustainability projects such as expanding solar power on campus,inventorying building energy usage and reducing food waste. 查看详细>>

A recently inked agreement between Washington University in St.Louis and Mekelle University in Ethiopia will encourage future collaborations in education,scholarship and research between the two universities.Kurt Dirks,vice chancellor for international affairs at Washington University,and Kindeya Gebrehiwot,president of Mekelle University,have signed amemorandum of understanding that agrees to explore how to foster additional collaborations and strengthen faculty relationships.Lewis Wall,the Selina Okin Kim Conner Professor in Arts&Sciences for Medical Anthropology,served as afaculty bridge between Washington University and Mekelle University.Wall,a Fulbright Scholar at Mekelle in 2014,has worked with that school’s College of Health Sciences to improve residency education in obstetrics and gynecology.In addition to his clinical work there,Wall also worked with Mekelle University on acollaborative project called Dignity Period,which ensures adolescent girls in Ethiopia have the products they need during their periods so they don’t have to skip school and can stay on top of their studies. 查看详细>>

Washington University in St.Louis and Saint Louis University have jointly launched the COLLAB,an innovation center in the Cortex Innovation District.The 7,700-square-foot suite is located in the 4220 Duncan building in the heart of Cortex.Through the COLLAB,Washington University and SLU will pursue joint and separate programs to educate and train students in cybersecurity,entrepreneurship and other high-demand fields;move research discoveries into the marketplace;and build partnerships with industry in areas of common regional interest,such as tech talent,geospatial research,data science and health informatics.In the COLLAB’s shared teaching spaces,Washington University’s McKelvey School of Engineering will conduct classes focused on cybersecurity,IT and engineering management.SLU’s Chaifetz School of Business will teach entrepreneurship.SLU’s Research Strategy and Innovation Group,which builds new research initiatives and partnerships with industry,entrepreneurs and investors,also will be located in COLLAB.The COLLAB also will host collaborative courses as well as events that bring together academic,industry,civic and innovation leaders around topics of shared interest. 查看详细>>

Graduation is still years away,but Washington University in St.Louis first-year student Caroline Foshee said it’s never too early to prepare for life after college.She’s not alone.A growing number of first-year students are seeking career advice and resources early in their college careers.“Being interested in economics and anthropology,I get alot of,‘Well,what are you going to do with that?,’”Foshee said after attending aCareer Early Action workshop with Mark Smith,associate vice chancellor and dean of career services.“So Iwant to expose myself to as many options as possible as early as possible.”To meet growing demand,the Career Center has launched anumber of new career readiness programs specifically for first-year students.At last semester’s 10 Career Early Action workshops,Smith offered practical how-to advice(open aLinkedIn account,tap your parents’friends and your friends’parents for informational interviews)to about 400 first-year and sophomore students.And at this week’s First-Year Exploration Week,the Career Center will host casual drop-in advising sessions,where students can learn how to make the most of summer break. 查看详细>>

Jerry Steiner,EMBA’92,is CEO of CoverCress,a St.Louis-based ag tech startup.The company recently closed another round of financing as it moves toward the commercial launch of anew cash crop in 2021.Steiner has held the post since January 2015,two years after the company was founded as Arvegenix.CoverCress closed its latest$2 million round of funding in November 2018.The funding round was co-led by Bayer Growth Ventures,the venture capital arm of Bayer and formerly Monsanto Growth Ventures;and BioGenerator,the investment arm of local nonprofit BioSTL.The round brings the company’s total funding to nearly$7 million,according to the St.Louis Business Journal.CoverCress is based in the Helix Center,a plant science incubator run by the St.Louis Economic Development Partnership. 查看详细>>

Washington University is launching grants to help low-income students transition to college.(Photo:James Byard/Washington University)As part of an ongoing effort to provide every student the true Washington University in St.Louis experience,Chancellor-elect Andrew D.Martin has launched two new pilot grants that will help low-income first-year students transition to college.The one-time grants are:a$500 grant to cover or offset the cost of acomputer;and a$1,500 startup grant to cover necessities such as books,winter clothing and housing supplies.“At Washington University,we have made great strides recruiting and supporting lower-income students and creating aculture where everyone is welcomed,”Martin said.“But there is more work to do.By removing everyday obstacles like the cost of awinter coat or computer software,we are easing that transition to college and putting our students on the path to success.”The grants are for first-year students entering in fall 2019 from families with less than$75,000 in family income or who are receiving afederal Pell Grant. 查看详细>>

Washington University in St.Louis announced that its X-Calibur instrument,a telescope that measures the polarization of X-rays arriving from distant neutron stars,black holes and other exotic celestial bodies,launched today from McMurdo Station,Antarctica.The telescope is carried aloft on ahelium balloon intended to reach an altitude of 130,000 feet.At this height,X-Calibur will travel at nearly four times the cruising altitude of commercial airliners,and above 99 percent of the Earth’s atmosphere.“Our prime observation target will be Vela X-1,a neutron star in binary orbit with asupergiant star,”said Henric Krawczynski,professor of physics in Arts&Sciences at Washington University.The team hopes to gain new insights into how neutron stars and black holes in abinary orbit with stars grow by gobbling up stellar matter.Researchers will combine observations from the balloon-borne X-Calibur with simultaneous measurements from three existing,space-based satellites.The 2018-19 X-Calibur launch team.Leader Henric Krawczynski is standing at left.(Courtesy photo)“The results from these different observatories will be combined to constrain the physical conditions close to the neutron star,and thus to use Vela X-1 as alaboratory to test the behavior of matter and magnetic fields in truly extreme conditions,”Krawczynski said.X-Calibur will need to spend at least eight days aloft to gather enough data for scientists to consider it asuccess.During this time,the balloon is expected to make asingle revolution around the Antarctic continent.If conditions permit,X-Calibur may be flown for additional days.X-Calibur is designed to measure the polarization—or,roughly,the orientation of the electric field—of incoming X-rays from binary systems.Researchers hope to use the Vela X-1 observations to reveal how neutron stars accelerate particles to high energies.The observations furthermore will test two of the most important theories in modern physics under extreme conditions:quantum electrodynamics and general relativity.Quantum electrodynamics predicts that the quantum vacuum close to magnetized neutron stars exhibits birefringent properties—that is,it affects X-rays in asimilar way as birefringent crystals such as sapphires or quartz affect optical light.The theory of general relativity describes the trajectories of the X-rays close to the neutron stars where the extreme mass of the neutron stars almost curves spacetime into aknot.Learn more about the mission in this blog.Learn more about the physics of the X-Calibur experiment in this story from Arts&Sciences’Ampersand. 查看详细>>

Jesse Herman had been in the U.S.Army for 19 years when doctors discovered clusters of tumors in his thorax.After surgeries,chemotherapy,six months in awheelchair and countless trips to specialists at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota,the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St.Louis,Herman was able to walk again.But his Army career was over.“My doctor said,‘Looks like you’re not going to be shooting cannons anymore.Have you thought about what you are going to do next?’”Herman recalled.“When Itold him that Ihad no idea,he said to me,‘Smart people don’t have ahard time finding things to do.’I recognized right then that Ineeded to get my butt back in school.”Herman is now working toward adegree at the Brown School at Washington University in St.Louis and advocating for student veterans along the way.Growing up in New Orleans,Herman dreamed of being adoctor.But he could see no path to college.His grades were OK,but not great.His parents had some money,but not enough to send him to school.So at 17,he enlisted.“Some people join that Army because their parents were soldiers;others claim to be patriots.I’m neither,”Herman said.“I was akid from New Orleans who didn’t want to work as ahotel custodian or parking lot attendant.The Army was my way out.” 查看详细>>

The zip of electricity in Martian dust storms helps to form the huge amounts of perchlorate found in the planet’s soils,according to new research from Washington University in St.Louis.It’s not lightning but another form of electrostatic discharge that packs the key punch in the planet-wide distribution of the reactive chemical,said Alian Wang,research professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences in Arts&Sciences.“We found anew mechanism that can be stimulated by atype of atmospheric event that’s unique to Mars and that occurs frequently,lasts avery long time and covers large areas of the planet—that is,dust storms and dust devils,”Wang said.“It explains the unique,high concentration of an important chemical in Martian soils and that is highly significant in the search for life on Mars.”The new work is an experimental study that simulates Martian conditions in alaboratory chamber on Earth. 查看详细>>