The McDonnell Genome Institute at the School of Medicine will receive $60 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study the genetics of common diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, stroke, autism and epilepsy.

Mahendra R. Gupta, PhD, dean and the Geraldine J. and Robert L. Virgil Professor of Accounting and Management at Olin Business School, will conclude his deanship June 30.​ Gupta will remain as a member of the accounting faculty and continue his research.

Monica J. Allen, JD, associate vice chancellor, deputy general counsel and chief litigation counsel at Washington University, has been appointed vice chancellor and general counsel, announced Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. Allen will succeed Michael R. Cannon, JD, who will conclude his tenure June 30.

Curious seismologists looked at the recordings made by a seismic station 4 miles from the “cook-off” of an ammunition holding area in Iraq in 2006. They found they could distinguish mortars, rockets, improvised explosive devices, helicopters and drones. The team’s principal investigator was Ghassan I. Aleqabi, PhD, of Arts & Sciences.

Charles L. Roper, MD, a groundbreaking cardiothoracic surgeon and a professor emeritus of surgery at the School of Medicine, died Dec. 17, 2015, in Kirkwood. He was 90.