WHO: U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill will participate in a roundtable discussion with Washington University administrators and energy researchers, and the region’s energy leaders on the nation’s urgent energy needs while addressing important environmental concerns.
WHAT: Roundtable energy discussion and tour of Washington University’s Ultrafast Laser Facility.
WHERE: Washington University’s Brauer Hall, Room 3015, near the corner of Skinker Boulevard and Forest Park Parkway. From Forest Park Parkway, enter Danforth Campus at Hoyt Drive. Turn at first left (east) into parking lot. Brauer Hall, dedicated to teaching and research in energy and environmental engineering at WUSTL’s School of Engineering & Applied Science, is the second building on left.
WHEN: Noon on Monday, Jan. 9, 2012
MEDIA ACCESS: The media are invited to cover the roundtable discussion and the 1 p.m. laser facility tour. McCaskill and other discussion participants will be available for interviews during the tour or immediately following the tour at 1:15.
WHY: McCaskill is visiting WUSTL as part of her statewide Hometown Energy Tour that began Jan. 5, focused on finding “practical, accessible, and affordable” solutions to meet the nation’s energy needs.
As one of the country’s leaders in the development of new energy sources as well as one of the region’s leaders in helping St. Louis become a worldwide center for bioenergy research, Washington University is playing a major role in the effort to provide clean energy resources to the world.
The university is also a leader in sustainability initiatives and programs. Among its notable accomplishments, Washington University is the first university in the country to ban the sale and use of bottled water throughout its main campus and its Living Learning Center shares the world’s first full “Living Building” certification.
The Ultrafast Laser Facility that McCaskill will tour is part of WUSTL’s Photosynthetic Antenna Research Center (PARC), established with a $20 million research award — the largest ever on the Danforth Campus — from the U.S. Department of Energy to do research on novel energy initiatives. PARC researchers are studying forms of energy based on the principles of light harvesting and energy funneling.
PARC comes under the umbrella of WUSTL’s International Center for Advanced Research in Energy and Sustainability (I-CARES), started in 2007 to foster research on energy, environment and sustainability that can contribute to rapid progress in addressing the world’s energy needs.