News

He broke barriers as the first Black physicist in nearly every role. But his identity made him reach for dreams beyond his career as a scientist.

Charlie Fallon, class of 2025, has been awarded the Baines Family Planetary Sciences Scholarship this year.

Before earning a 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemisty, W. H. Moerner was a WashU undergraduate researcher

Nara Higano, PhD ’17, is using her knowledge of physics to help the smallest patients.

Dante Lauretta, PhD ’97, principal investigator of NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission, returned to WashU last month to deliver the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences’ 2022 Robert M. Walker Distinguished Lectures.

Kevin McKeegan, PhD ’87, has had a notable, storied career measuring the tiniest particles of the solar system.

David Sloop, PhD '84, Research Professor of Chemistry at Washington University, died Saturday, Dec. 11, 2021, after a long illness. He was 80 years old.

Alumnus Colonel Bob Behnken sends a welcome message to students from the International Space Station.

Dr. Jennifer Dionne will discuss her storied career and share advice for students looking toward a career in STEM in a 15-minute pre-recorded interview. Dr. Dionne will be chatting with live viewers to share additional insight and answer more questions.

On May 30, 2020, WashU alumnus Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley became the first astronauts in NASA’s history to launch from a commercially built and operated spacecraft, the SpaceX Crew Dragon. For the Demo-2 mission, the two are testing the spacecraft’s transportation system for future missions.

SpaceX is scheduled for lift off on May 27. Washington University physics alum Robert Behnken, BS 1992, is one of the two astronauts on this mission.

The Iranian-American Physicist (IrAP) Network Group announced that Mahdi Naghiloo, PhD 2019, is the winner of the 2020 Biruni Award.

Several former graduate students spent a few days together at Wash U, touring the Physics Department on October 7, 2019.

University of Maryland Physics Professor, Peter Shawhan, BA '90, has been elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society. He was cited for the “development of techniques and algorithms to search LIGO data for transient signals, and for realizing the important future scientific implications of gravitational wave observations by looking for other signals developed by electromagnetic observations.”

Marc Kamionkowski (BA, 1987) is a member of the National Academy of Sciences Steering Committee for its Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Astro2020).

Adam Q. Bauer, PhD 2009, assistant professor of radiology at the School of Medicine, received a $2.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke for a research project titled “Optogenetic Mapping of Cell Specific Connections in the Mouse Brain After Stroke.” Stroke is the leading cause of adult disability in the U.S. The project will study how changes in the brain following ischemic stroke may influence recovery.

Bill Sutherland, BA '63, was one of three theoretical physicists awarded the 2019 Dannie Heineman Prize.

In 1989, alumnus W. E. ­Moerner, AB ’75, BS ’75, BS ’75, became the first scientist in the world to measure the light absorption of a single molecule, a task long thought to be impossible. Twenty-five years later in October 2014, Moerner won the Nobel Prize for chemistry for his breakthrough.

“I wasn’t supposed to like math because I was a black girl, but I would dream square roots,” said Jordan, a student in the Brown School working toward dual masters degrees in social work and education. “It could feel isolating, but math was what I loved.”