Breaking the laws of science

Breaking the laws of science

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.

Biologist Dixit receives CAREER award from NSF

Ram V. Dixit, PhD, assistant professor of biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, received a five-year, $1,163,940 Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award from the National Science Foundation to study mechanisms underlying plant cell morphogenesis.

Engineering faculty receive NSF CAREER awards

Faculty members in the School of Engineering & Applied Science at Washington University in St. Louis have received prestigious CAREER awards from the National Science Foundation.

Washington University part of group awarded $20 million for climate variability research

As part of a multi-institutional $20 million effort, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis will conduct several studies, including one that uses medical imaging on plants to see what’s broken or about to break inside (pictured). Four university researchers will receive funding from the National Science Foundation to support work aimed at helping Missouri plants and crops adapt to climate variability.
Vaporizing the Earth

Vaporizing the Earth

A team of WUSTL scientists have vaporized the Earth — if only by simulation, that is, mathematically and inside a computer. They weren’t just practicing their evil overlord skills. By baking model Earths, they are trying to figure out what astronomers should see when they look at the atmospheres of super-Earths in a bid to learn the planets’ compositions.

How smart is your company?

Which companies get the biggest bang for their buck when it comes to R&D? Olin Business School professor of strategy Anne Marie Knott believes there is a strong correlation between certain characteristics of companies and their R&D practices.  Effective R&D is a sign of firm with high IQ.  But just what makes a company smart?  Professor Knott is on a mission to measure firms’ IQ and how to improve it.  Video included.