Erik Trinkaus, PhD, considered by many to be the world’s most influential scholar of Neandertal and early modern human biology and evolution, and Wayne M. Yokoyama, MD, an internationally renowned immunologist and arthritis researcher, will receive Washington University’s 2011 faculty achievement awards, Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton announced. FULL STORY

URL: http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/22262.aspx

Beginning today and for the next 11 issues, the Record rolls out its annual Gallery of Outstanding Graduates leading up to Commencement May 20. First up from the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences: Tim Bono, who could very well be the model of an engaged WUSTL student as both an undergraduate and a graduate student.  FULL STORY

URL: http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/22259.aspx

Higher levels of cellular chatter boosts levels of amyloid beta in the brain regions that Alzheimer’s hits first, researchers at the School of Medicine report. Amyloid beta is the main ingredient of the plaque lesions that are a hallmark of Alzheimer’s. The finding may help explain why areas that are most active when the brain rests are often among the first to develop these plaques. FULL STORY

URL: http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/22250.aspx

Annelise Mertz, professor emerita in the Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences, died April 28 at her home in Clayton of pancreatic cancer. She was 93. A force on the St. Louis dance scene for more than five decades, Mertz was a celebrated teacher, performer, choreographer and champion for the arts. FULL STORY

URL: http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/22260.aspx

Four students have been named winners of the 24th annual Neureuther Student Book Collection Essay Competition, sponsored by Washington University Libraries. The competition offers prizes to two undergraduate students and two graduate students who write short essays about their personal book collections. FULL STORY

URL: http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/22239.aspx

• Noon. Barnes-Jewish Hospital Ethics Committee Lunch and Learn Brown Bag Forum. “Fraud and Abuse in Health Care.” Steven J. Bander, ICTS Bander Program in Business Ethics in Medical Research, and David L. McCune, assoc. general counsel, BJC HealthCare. Free and open to the public. Wohl Hospital, Clopton Aud. (314) 747-5361.

• Save the date: Staff Day May 23. Staff Day, the annual event that recognizes the efforts of WUSTL staff throughout the year with a day dedicated to recognition and recreation, has been set for Monday, May 23. Visit staffday.wustl.edu for all of the information on this year’s event.

• What a way to end the season. Sophomore Stephen Bonser applied an exclamation point to the end of the regular baseball season by tossing a no-hitter in an 8-0 win over Fontbonne University in the second game of a doubleheader May 1. The Bears will now wait to see if they qualify for an at-large berth into the NCAA Division III tournament. The field will be announced Monday, May 16.