Wrighton addresses congressional panel

Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton was one of three university chief executives to address the U.S. House of Representatives Science Committee Thursday, Sept. 24. Wrighton spoke at a breakfast meeting in the Rayburn House Office Building in the nation's capital.

Wrighton joined George Rupp, Ph.D., president of Columbia University, and Michael Aiken, Ph.D., chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, on the occasion of the release of the Science Coalition's Great Advances report, a sampling of thousands of scientific advances achieved during the 105th Congress. More than a dozen members of Congress attended, as did many administrators of U.S. universities.

The Science Coalition is an alliance of more than 400 organizations, institutions and individuals including public and private universities, scientific societies, Nobel laureates, businesses, voluntary health organizations, medical groups and health care providers dedicated to sustaining the federal government's historical commitment to U.S. leadership in basic research. Washington University is a coalition member.

The Science Coalition report highlights advances across a myriad of scientific fields and disciplines. The report features advances from more than 50 universities, including Washington University.

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Arvidson named McDonnell Professor

Raymond E. Arvidson, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences in Arts and Sciences, has been appointed the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor at Washington University.

Arvidson's research is in the area of Earth and space sciences, particularly the inner solar system planets of Mars and Venus and environmental studies of Earth.

In announcing Arvidson's appointment, Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton said: "Professor Arvidson is one of the world's leading scholars in his field and a great academic leader. We are fortunate to have him at Washington University and to be able to recognize his extraordinary achievements."

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Bill Gates to address students, promote computer careers

Microsoft Corp. chairman and chief executive officer Bill Gates will deliver an address Oct. 13 in the Field House at the Athletic Complex during a visit to St. Louis in a program open only to St. Louis area college students, at the company's request. Washington University students must have a ticket to hear Gates' talk.

Other members of the University community may view the Gates address at remote closed-circuit TV locations, still to be announced.

In conjunction with Gates' address, there will be a separate Universitywide Career Fair sponsored by the Washington University Chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers (SOBE). The Career Fair will be held in the recreational gymnasium of the Athletic Complex from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Oct. 13 and will be open to any current student with a valid I.D.

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Microprobe coming to McDonnell Center

The National Science Foundation's (NSF) Major Research Instrumentation program has awarded $500,000 to a research group in the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences in Arts and Sciences to complete the purchase and installation of a NANOSIMS, a one-of-its-kind ion microprobe. When completed, the NANOSIMS will be the only instrument in the world that will allow researchers to analyze cosmic dust particles so small that they can't even be seen with an optical microscope.

The NSF grant complements $1.1 million already committed by NASA and $500,000 awarded by the McDonnell Center toward the purchase of the NANOSIMS, according to Robert M. Walker, Ph.D., McDonnell Professor of physics and director of the McDonnell Center. The grants have been awarded to the center's extraterrestrial materials group headed by Walker.

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