Year: 2020

While the Supreme Court decision limits the independence of electors and prevents a potential source of uncertainty in the upcoming presidential election, it contradicts the Constitution framers’ intentions for the Electoral College, according to a political science expert at Washington University in St. Louis. 

Ranen Miao, a rising sophomore studying political science and sociology in Arts & Sciences, has been named a Point Foundation national scholar. The honor supports outstanding lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer student leaders. 

Leon E. Ashford, an early advocate for first-generation and Black students at Washington University in St. Louis, died March 28, 2020. He was 90. Ashford worked for the university for 39 years, retiring in 1995 as director of Student Educational Services, a precursor to The Learning Center. 

While COVID-19 has impacted all individuals, the impact has not been equal. In a new national Socioeconomic Impact of COVID-19 survey, the Social Policy Institute at Washington University in St. Louis found that liquid assets increased the likelihood that an individual could practice social distancing.

Americans across the nation are documenting today’s protests through photography and video, often posting their content on Instagram, Twitter and other social media platforms. But is that the safest way to preserve these historic images? Miranda Rectenwald, curator of local history at University Libraries at Washington University in St. Louis, created a list of resources to help protest participants preserve their content for the long term. 

The School of Medicine’s Jennifer A. Philips, MD, PhD, has set up a screening platform to test compounds for activity against the COVID-19 virus. Her lab has screened dozens of compounds and is prepared to accept more suggestions of promising candidate molecules.

With a three-year, $453,000 grant from the Office of Naval Research, Chien-Ju Ho, assistant professor of computer science and engineering at the McKelvey School of Engineering, and his co-investigator, Yang Liu, assistant professor of computer science and engineering at the University of California, Santa Cruz, will study AI-augmented human decision-making. Read more on the engineering website.

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling June 29 won’t alter the fledgling Consumer Financial Protection Bureau because it already morphed during the first decade of its existence to where it falls under the philosophical whim of each presidential administration, says an Olin Business School scientist at Washington University in St. Louis.

Kimberly Norwood, the Henry H. Oberschelp Professor of Law, is being honored by Missouri Lawyers Media for her work on diversity and inclusion.

Given that universal mask wearing might be the next step for the country’s fight against Covid-19, it is in all of our best interests if we help each other learn to tolerate and then overcome our anxieties about wearing them.