The Eliot Society Seminar Series...
The Research University in the 21st Century: Global, National, and Local Challenges

October 6, 13 and 20, 2009
Charles F. Knight Executive Education Center
5:30 PM dinner Anheuser-Busch Executive Dining Room, 3rd Floor
7:00 PM seminar Room 200


Co-Moderators
Professor Jim Davis
Professor Andrew Sobel

Tuesday, October 6, 2009 -- Washington University Meets Globalization
Washington University in St. Louis serves society through its programs of education, research, and service. The McDonnell International Scholars Academy at Washington University in St. Louis nurtures the development of international cooperation in education and research among the partner universities and sponsoring corporations with the purpose of addressing global challenges and opportunities such as those related to environment and sustainability, international peace, food and energy production, human health, and economic and business prosperity.




Edward S. Macias The Age of the International University

Edward S. Macias became Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs on January 1, 2009. Provost Macias has been at Washington University since 1970 when he joined the faculty of the Department of Chemistry in Arts & Sciences. He has held various positions including professor and department chair of chemistry, director of the summer school, and Dean of Arts & Sciences. In 2004, he was named the Barbara and David Thomas Distinguished Professor in Arts & Sciences.

Provost Macias earned his undergraduate degree in chemistry from Colgate University and a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a thesis on Nuclear and Atomic Structure. Provost Macias’ research interests include environmental and nuclear chemistry focusing on the chemistry and physics of atmospheric particles and the effect of these particles on haze and air pollution. He serves as a member of The Center for Research Libraries Board and on the Shakespeare board of St. Louis, in addition to other volunteer work.




Frank Yin Building Bridges from St. Louis to Asia

Frank Yin is a founding fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering and a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He has recently served as president of the Biomedical Engineering Society, editor-in-chief of the ASME Journal of Biomechanical Engineering, and a member of the national advisory council fo the National Institute of Biological Imaging and Bioengineering. Additionally, Professor Yin is a member of numerous academic and industrial advisory boards. Professor Yin came to Washington University from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine to lead the biomedical engineering department in 1997. From 1978-1997 at Johns Hopkins, he had appointments in medicine (cardiology), physiology, and biomedical engineering departments.


Priscilla Stone

Priscilla Stone is Director of Overseas and Undergraduate Programs in International and Area Studies at Washington University in St. Louis. She also directs the undergraduate major in International and Area Studies, as well as the International Leadership Program for first-year students. Dr. Stone is a cultural anthropologist who has conducted research on agricultural development in Africa. She completed her undergraduate work at Princeton University and her graduate work at the University of Arizona.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009 Sufficient Sustainable Energy: Different Paths, A Common Goal
The University encourages and coordinates University-wide and external collaborative research in the areas of global renewable energy and sustainability. A key goal is to foster institutional, regional, and international research on the development and production of biofuels from plant and microbial systems and the exploration of sustainable alternative energy and environmental systems and practices.




Pratim Biswas The Energy-Environment-Development Nexus: What Is the World doing About It?

Pratim Biswas joined Washington University in St. Louis in August 2000. In 2006, he became chair of the Department of Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis. His research work is in the area of energy and environmental engineering. He is currently working on building synergistic efforts at tackling some of the crucial problems that face the world today. He is the director of the McDonnell Academy Global Energy and Environment Partnership (MAGEEP) and has played a leading role at the national and international arena in the field of aerosol science and technology.




Himadri B. Pakrasi Energy, Environment, and Sustainability: An International Collaborative Initiative

Himadri B. Pakrasi, Ph.D., is currently the director of the International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability at Washington University in St. Louis. He is also the George William and Irene Koechig Freiberg Professor in Arts & Sciences and Professor of Energy in the School of Engineering & Applied Science. Pakrasi is a biochemist recognized for his work on photosynthesis and bioenergy production. He has a keen interest in bridging the differences between the biological and physical sciences, and leads large-scale multi-institutional systems biology projects. Pakrasi has been an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at Munich University, Germany; a Distinguished Fellow at the Biosciences Institute, Nagoya University, Japan; and a Lady David Visiting Professor at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Pakrasi serves as the Washington University ambassador from the McDonnell International Scholars Academy to Jawaharlal Nehru University in India.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009 And Here in St. Louis...University and Community Partnerships
From our beginnings in 1853, Washington University has had strong educational, economic, and cultural ties to St. Louis. Along with our commitment to teaching and research, Washington University values service to the community. Our contributions to the community's education, health, public service, culture, and economy, as well as the relationships that are evolving with St. Louis, its people, and its institutions, illustrate that our roots remain firmly in our community.




Edward F. Lawlor Washington University Engagement in the Community

Edward F. Lawlor was named dean of the Brown School in 2004, and is the founding director of Washington University’s Institute for Public Health. Dean Lawlor researches and writes on access to health care health care reform, policy analysis, and aging. He is the author of Redesigning the Medicare Contract: Politics, Markets, and Agency. He also teaches classes on health care policy and services, and policy analysis. Prior to joining the Brown School he served as dean at the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago from 1998 to 2004. From 1990-1998, he was the director of both the Center for Health Administration Studies and the Graduate Program in Health Administration and Policy at the University of Chicago. He is founding editor of the Public Policy and Aging Report. For ten years Dean Lawlor was a member and secretary of the Chicago Board of Health.
 




Victoria L. May K-12 School-Community-University Partnerships

Victoria L. May is assistant dean of Arts & Sciences and director of science outreach at Washington University in St. Louis. She leads successful university-community-business partnerships that enhance and support K-12 science education. Washington University Science Outreach provide3s graduate courses for teachers, science materials for classrooms, and enrichment programs for students, impacting nearly 3,000 teachers and over 22,500 students each year. Under May’s leadership, Science Outreach has secured more than $10 million in National science Foundation funding. The MySci program is an example of May’s skills in partnership development. In 2009, the Academy of Science of St. Louis presented May with the Science Educator Award, based on her outstanding contributions to science education and public understanding of science. May has taught chemistry at the high school and college levels, and has participated in research at Washington University School of Medicine. She is a doctoral candidate in science education at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
Co-Moderators
Jim Davis, professor emeritus of political science, joined the Washington University Political Science Department in 1968. He received his A.B. degree from Harvard in 1957, and, after three years in the U.S. Army, received M.P.A. (1962) and Ph.D. (1964) degrees from the University of Michigan. For several years Jim served in the Washington University administration as a vice chancellor, returning to full-time faculty status in 1986. He served as acting dean of the School of Art in 1988-89 and from 1996 to 2002 Jim was director of the Washington University Teaching Center. During 2005-2006 Jim was the first director of the Richard Gephardt Institute for Public Service. Throughout his teaching career Jim was particularly interested in American politics, the American presidency, and various aspects of American public policy. For several years Jim taught a course on American military history, and has also taught politics and policy courses in the School of Business, Engineering, and Social Work. Since moving to emeritus status Jim has undertaken a variety of projects for the vice chancellor for students.




Andrew Sobel is a professor in the Department of Political Science and a Resident Fellow in the Center in Political Economy at Washington University. He is currently Chair of the Faculty Senate Council at Washington University. He specializes in the politics of global finance with a focus upon domestic explanations of international behavior. He is the author or editor of four books and numerous articles. His first book, Domestic Choices, International Markets (1994), examines the politics underpinning the liberalization and globalization of national securities markets in Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. His second book, State Institutions, Private Incentives, Global Capital (1999), explores the extraordinary transformation and reawakening of global financial markets, systematic differences in access for borrowers in the global capital pool, and the effects of national political institutions in explaining the metamorphosis and the differential access. Congressional Quarterly Press published his third book, Political Economy and Global Affairs (2006). In his fourth book, The Challenges of Globalization (2009), he edited a volume of papers from a conference on Globalization, State and Society hosted by the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies and Institute for Global Legal Studies at the Washington University School of Law. Sobel is currently working on another book, Domestic Finance, Hegemony and Globalization, which is under review at several presses.


Questions about the program should be directed to Annual Giving Programs at (314) 935-4281.