New and exciting activities in the
McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences
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2025 McDonnell Distinguished Lectures will discuss
breakthroughs in understanding supermassive black holes
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From a once static and ordinary view, we now perceive a Universe that is expanding at an accelerating pace, driven by dark energy and structured by dark matter.
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The James Webb Space Telescope is on a mission to revolutionize our understanding of the universe by focusing on several key objectives. Designed as the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, the JWST is equipped with advanced instruments and capabilities that enable it to peer deeper into space and time than ever before.
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More than a decade ago, Priyamvada Natarajan developed a novel approach to understand a basic mystery in astronomy: How do the supermassive black holes at the centers of most galaxies form? She speculated that they might have gotten a jump start in the very early universe if clouds of gas collapsed to form massive black-hole “seeds” that then grew within their host galaxies over billions of years.
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MCSS 50th Anniversary Symposium
May 20-22
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In May 2025, the Center will be celebrating fifty years of playing a key role at Washington University through endowed professorships, acquisition of sophisticated instrumentation, support of faculty involvement in space science missions, supporting postdoctoral and graduate student fellowships and undergraduate interns, seeding innovative research, administering visiting scientist programs, and fostering wide-reaching collaborations.
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Join us as we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences and look ahead to new opportunities to advance knowledge of our Solar System and our universe.
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Recent News from McDonnell Center Fellows
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What makes a 1-in-1000-year storm, really?
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In July 2022, dramatic thunderstorms swept across the central United States, drenching the region and causing historic flash flooding. The heaviest rain fell on the greater St. Louis metropolitan area July 26 and then moved to eastern Kentucky July 28. In both areas, the storm set all-time records for total rainfall in a 24-hour period.
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Bronwen Konecky, an assistant professor of earth, environmental and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences said, “In the news, meteorologists were saying this was a 1,000-year flood.”
But a new study from the Konecky laboratory shows that was not likely the case and that a storm like this was closer to a 1-in-500-year event.
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MCSS teamed up with WashU Wellness to organize a couple of activities for the latest Star Trak Challenge. On Monday, April 7, attendees were invited to the Crow Observatory to view Mars, Jupiter, and the Moon. On Wednesday, April 9, Scott VanBommel delivered a presentation titled "The Life of a Mars Rover: WashU's Connections to Past and Present Missions to the Red Planet."
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McDonnell Center Fellows in the News
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Recent Publications by McDonnell Center Fellows
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Baines Family Planetary Sciences Scholarship
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The nomination period for the Baines Family Planetary Sciences Scholarship is now open. The preference for selection of this scholarship shall be based on:
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- An undergraduate student who is pursuing or who has completed research in the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences,
- An undergraduate pursuing a major in Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences, Physics, or Chemistry, or
- An undergraduate pursuing a minor in one of the above departments.
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We invite MCSS fellows to nominate students, preferrably currently in their sophomore or junior years but outstanding freshman will also be considred, who have shown strong academic performance and dedication to these fields of study.
Please send your nominations, including a brief supporting statement, to Vickie Gee. The deadline for submissions is TODAY, April 11, 2025.
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Revealing the Most Extreme Accretion Disk Winds with XRISM
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Space Sciences/Astrophysics Seminar
Joseph Neilsen
Villanova University
Friday, April 11
9:00am, Compton 241
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| Center for Quantum Leaps Symposium
Bhupal Dev & Karthik Ramanathan
WashU
Tuesday, April 15
9:00am, Knight Center 220
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| Science Results from the Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE)
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Space Sciences/Astrophysics Seminar
Phil Kaaret
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center
Wednesday, April 16
3:00pm, Crow 204
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Kinetic and Two-Temperature Physics of Black Hole Accretion Disks and Coronae
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Space Sciences/Astrophysics Seminar
Lia Hankla
University of Maryland
Friday, April 18
9:00am, Compton 241
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| Beyond Particles:
The Elegant Universe of Strings
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St. Louis Astronomical Society April Meeting
Megan Dickson
St. Louis Astronomical Society
Friday, April 18
7:30pm, McDonnell 162
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2025 McDonnell Distinguished Lecture Series
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Joseph S. and Sophia S. Fruton Professor of Astronomy and Physics
Yale University
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#SciComm Seminar: Communicating Effectively with Policymakers
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| April 17, 2025 2:00-3:00pm on Zoom
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#SciComm Seminar is a free seminar series featuring expert guests from the WashU community and beyond, discussing topics related to all aspects of science communication.
Ross C. Brownson, WashU Public Health, will discuss the basic principles for effective communication with policymakers, including core concepts from communication science, ways of bridging political divides, the application of a useful communication model, and elements of an effective policy brief.
This event is open to all, but registration is required.
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Submit Videos for the New 3D Monitor
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Have you seen the new holographic fan on the first floor of Rudolph Hall? It's located in an alcove across from the Grossman Mineral Museum.
Thanks to a generous donation from Jerrold and Marsha Grossman, EEPS has acquired this advanced technology. The plan is to highlight students engaged in research.
We would love to have your help with video creation!
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Subscribe to the MCSS Messenger
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Did someone forward this MCSS Messenger to you? Would you like to be added to the email list?
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| McDonnell Center Contacts |
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Compiled and edited by Alison Verbeck. Please send any contributions to alison@wustl.edu.
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© 2025 All rights reserved
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