Month: May 2016

Social venture WOOTA (Water Out Of Thin Air) is the winner of this year’s School of Engineering & Applied Science’s annual Engineering Discovery Competition (EDC) and will receive $20,000 in cash, as well as $5,000 in legal services from Polsinelli for building a device that turns humidity in the air into clean drinking water.

Bobby Golliday, coordinator of special programs for the Office of Undergraduate Admissions at Washington University in St. Louis, won the Gloria W. White Distinguished Service Award at the annual Staff Day celebration May 23 at Edison Theatre.

Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis made a discovery that uncovers the molecular logic of how dividing cells are stopped in their tracks. The team zeroed in on a specific protein, whose job is to stop a cell from dividing or to slow the division.

Morvarid Karimi, MD, a tenacious researcher, committed teacher and compassionate clinician in the Department of Neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, died May 21, 2016, of a brain hemorrhage. She was 44.

Michael Wysession, professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences, has been recognized for his exceptional leadership in geosciences education by the Seismological Society of America with the 2016 Frank Press Public Service Award.

The current U-Pass — allowing faculty and staff free use of Metro, the region’s public-transportation bus and light-rail system — expires June 30. Benefits-eligible employees now may request a new U-Pass for the 2017 fiscal year through Parking & Transportation Services.

People who suffer itching with no clear cause may have previously unrecognized immune system defects. In a small study of such patients, researchers from the Center for the Study of Itch at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis identified immune system irregularities that may prompt the urge to scratch.

Martha N. Ozawa, former Bettie Bofinger Brown Distinguished Professor of Social Policy and professor emerita at the Brown School, died May 3, 2016, at her home in St. Louis. She was 82.

Milorad (Mike) Dudukovic, of the School of Engineering & Applied Science at Washington University in St. Louis, has received the prestigious Neal R. Amundson Award for Excellence in Chemical Reaction Engineering from the International Symposia on Chemical Reaction Engineering.

Jack Terschluse, who just earned a bachelor’s degree in political science in Arts & Sciences, received the university’s Grossman-Alexander Prize. The competitive award is presented each year to an outstanding graduating senior with an emphasis on American politics.