Vol. 23 No. 8 October 15, 1998

Walker gift funds new chair in engineering

Jerina named to professorship

By Barbara Rea

(From left) Kenneth L. Jerina, D.Sc.; his wife, Sally;
and Myrtle and Earl Walker enjoy the festivities at Jerina's
Oct. 6 installation as the first Earl E. and Myrtle E. Walker
Professor of Engineering in the School of Engineering and
Applied Science.

A gift from St. Louis industrialists Earl and Myrtle Walker to Washington University has established an endowed professorship in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, according to Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. Kenneth L. Jerina, D.Sc., professor of mechanical engineering, was installed as the first Earl E. Walker and Myrtle E. Walker Professor of Engineering in a ceremony Oct. 6.

"We are delighted to receive this support from Earl and Myrtle Walker," Wrighton said. "They have built a great company in St. Louis and they are wonderful people who have shared their success with others. Washington University is fortunate to receive this farsighted gift for a professorship in engineering."

William H. Danforth, chairman of the University's Board of Trustees, also expressed his gratitude for the Walkers' gift.

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Genome project gets boost with $26.8 million grant

By Linda Sage

Robert H. Waterston, M.D., Ph.D., the James S. McDonnell Professor and head of genetics at the School of Medicine, has received the largest single-year grant in Washington University history -- $26.8 million in funding from the National Human Genome Research Institute. The grant will enable the Genome Sequencing Center, which Waterston directs, to forge ahead with sequencing human DNA.

"We are in a unique situation at this time," Waterston said, "because the human species is reading its own blueprint."

This blueprint, housed in almost every cell, is written in code -- four types of building blocks called bases. There are 3 billion bases in the human genome -- all of our chromosomal DNA -- and collaborators around the world are working out their sequence. This sequence can reveal the locations and identities of genes and other genetic features.

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Waterston: Reading human blueprint

Burton M. Wheeler, Ph.D., professor emeritus of
English in Arts and Sciences, receives a framed
picture of the newly christened Wheeler House
from Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton, while James
E. McLeod, vice chancellor for students and dean
of the College of Arts and Sciences, looks on.
The ceremony, held Saturday, Oct. 10, on the
South 40, was part of the dedication of William
Greenleaf Eliot College, which includes the
newly constructed Wheeler, Ethan A.H. Shepley
and Elizabeth Gray Danforth residential houses.

New Loop Arts District launched

By Liam Otten

The arts took center stage Saturday, Oct. 10, when Washington University, the Center of Contemporary Arts (COCA), Craft Alliance and the Saint Louis Symphony Community Music School announced the creation of a new arts district in University City.

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Biological differences among races do not exist, WU research shows

By Tony Fitzpatrick

Race doesn't matter.

In fact, it doesn't even exist in humans.

While that may sound like the idealistic decree of a minister or rabbi, it's actually the conclusion of an evolutionary and population biologist at Washington University.

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