Author: Gerry Everding

Courtesy NASA/JPL/CornellArtist’s rendition of the rover on Mars.Washington University faculty, staff and students are making critical contributions to the success of NASA’s ongoing rover mission to Mars. Visit here for links to the latest news on the 2004 Mars Rover Mission, as well as background on other Mars-related research at Washington University.

NorthDouglass C. North, Ph.D., the Spencer T. Olin Professor in Arts & Sciences and a co-recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science, joined a panel of distinguished economists in Denmark May 24-28th for an intensive forum exploring the costs and benefits of ongoing efforts to address critical global challenges, such as war, famine and disease.

Photo courtesy Dept. of Transportation”Urban Sprawl and Transportation Policy” is the topic of a Weidenbaum Center “St. Louis Series” forum to be held from 8 a.m. until noon May 7 in Room 300, Arts & Sciences Laboratory Sciences Building at Washington University in St. Louis.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) bills itself as an organization of 184 countries working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty. While the IMF’s objectives are laudable, a study just published in the Journal of Conflict Resolution provides compelling evidence that IMF intervention actually has a substantial negative impact on at least one important indicator of a country’s long-term economic vigor – the level of foreign direct investment in that country by private investors.

*Overcoming Apartheid*South Africans celebrate a decade of democracy this month as they observe the 10th anniverary of the April 1994 elections that brought Nelson Mandela to power and ended years of apartheid and white rule. While many expected South Africa’s transition to democracy to be filled with pain and heartbreak, a new book attributes the nation’s remarkable success to it’s steadfast faith in the power of truth to promote national healing and reconciliation. “Without the truth and reconciliation process, the prospects for a reconciled, democratic South Africa would have been greatly diminished,” concludes James L. Gibson, author of “Overcoming Apartheid: Can Truth Reconcile a Divided Nation?”

“Mitts Across the Pacific: Baseball in Japan and the United States” is the topic of a panel discussion with owners of the St. Louis Cardinals and the Orix Bluewaves of Japan at 2 p.m. April 16 in the Moot Courtroom, Anheuser-Busch Hall. Free and open to the public, the forum features Bluewaves owner Yoshihiko Miyauchi; Frederick O. Hanser, vice chairman of the St. Louis Cardinals; and Timothy Hanser, vice president of community outreach, Cardinals Care. They will discuss the use of performance-enhancing drugs, the internationalization of baseball, new stadiums, salary caps, parity between teams and the future of baseball in Japan and the United States.

Photo courtesy U.S. Army Corps of EngineersBarge traffic makes its way through a lock on the Upper Mississippi.”Our Rivers: A Sustainable Resource?” is the focus of a public education forum that four Washington University faculty will lead as part of a community-wide symposium being held in conjunction with the 5th annual St. Louis Earth Day Celebration, April 22-23. The sustainable rivers program will be held April 22 from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will feature Washington University faculty Charles Buescher, professor of environmental engineering, Robert Criss, Ph.D., professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences and William Lowry, Ph.D., professor of political science in Arts & Sciences. The colloquium will provide a background history of the rivers in our region and their various uses in transportation, agriculture, power production, recreation and public water supply.

What are the origins of intolerance and prejudice? How are intolerance and prejudice similar, and how are they different? Are there certain people who are more intolerant or more prejudiced than others? How can the social problem of intolerance and prejudice be solved? These are among the questions to be addressed by a panel of […]

Myron S. Scholes, co-recipient of the 1997 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, will speak on “Financial Innovation in a Chaotic Environment” at 11:30 a.m. April 8 in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom of Anheuser-Busch Hall. Scholes, the Frank E. Buck Professor of Finance Emeritus at Stanford University, authored the “Black-Scholes Options Pricing Model,” which […]

ScholesMyron S. Scholes, world-renowned financial economist and co-recipient of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Economic Science, will speak on “Financial Innovation in a Chaotic Environment” at 11:30 a.m. April 8 in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom, Anheuser-Busch Hall.