Arts & Sciences

The Center for the Literary Arts is a transformational hub for creative writing and translation, as well as different forms of literary arts and creative practice across Washington University and the St. Louis community. As an initiative of the Arts & Sciences Strategic Plan, the Center explores all the ways in which literary art and creative practice can change the world around us. It seeks to unite communities within and beyond academia by reimagining vital literary art-making for the 21st century locally and globally.

Advancing Secondary Science Education through Tetrahymena (ASSET) is an NIH SEPA funded science education outreach program at Washington University in St. Louis. ASSET has developed a variety of modular science education materials designed to stimulate hands-on, inquiry-based learning of fundamental biological concepts for all grade levels. Among the aims outlined in the grant for the program is reaching populations traditionally underrepresented in science in the St. Louis area.

The mission of the Transdisciplinary Institute in Applied Data Science (TRIADS) is to explore new datasets and new techniques to understand better and address critical problems facing society today. TRIADS creates and supports transdisciplinary collaborations among scholars to connect big data to big questions.

The St. Louis Policy Initiative brings diverse theoretical and methodological perspectives to study policy in our region. Substantively, its research agendas engage with the most pressing policy challenges in society today. The initiative explores the relationship between racial segregation, political representation, housing policy, public health outcomes, and environmental outcomes in urban cores and their suburbs. For example, how does political representation translate into improved public health outcomes? To what extent do environmental factors drive disparities in home prices in Black and white neighborhoods?

Beginning Spring semester 2023, the Civil Rights & Restorative Justice (CRRJ) Action Research Lab at WashU will work with the award-winning CRRJ Clinic at Northeastern University Law School and other local and regional initiatives to research and redress histories and legacies of racial violence and repression in Missouri. The WU-CRRJ Action Research Lab at WashU is co-led by WashU faculty members and long time CRRJ research collaborators David Cunningham (Sociology) and Geoff Ward (AFAS).

“The Divided City” works to bring humanities scholars into interdisciplinary dialogue with architects, urban designers, landscape architects, legal scholars, etc. This initiative includes a number of different projects such as the Sumner Studio Lab, a lab that runs through the academic year to bring together Sumner High students, WashU students, and Ville residents.

Niños Cambios Puertas is a volunteer program that provides tutoring and mentoring to Latino children in St. Louis. Niños tutors work with elementary school students with homework and reading and math exercises. Cambios tutors work with middle and high school students. While Puertas tutors function as a college preparation program helping students study for the ACT, find scholarships, and create resumes.

The Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity (CRE^2) provides an opportunity for three high school students in the St. Louis area to win $500 for their essay on why the study of race and ethnicity is important and for the study of race and ethnicity can benefit students.

The environmental studies impact internship offers WashU students the opportunity to work with St. Louis organizations to positively improve and impact the quality of life through an environmental justice lens.

In early 2018, the Living Earth Collaborative: Center for Biodiversity was launched. WashU partners with the Missouri Botanical Garden and the Saint Louis Zoo to advance the center’s mission. The mission includes advancing the knowledge of biodiversity and ensuring the future of the diverse species of earth. Students within the center can participate in research courses and internships that further accelerate the biodiversity work and the relation with these St. Louis areas.