Author: Diane Toroian Keaggy

The New York Yankees have hired Washington University senior Rohan Gupta as a baseball operations associate. He will crunch big data, “Moneyball”-style, to give his team a competitive edge. It’s a dream job for a student who is passionate about sports and statistics.

Personal experience told Lisa Gorham, captain of the Washington University in St. Louis cross-country, track and indoor track teams, that team sports and adolescent mental health are linked. But what would the data say? Gorham has just published her findings in a leading journal — a rare accomplishment for an undergraduate researcher.

The 14th annual African Film Festival invites St. Louisans to see eight of Africa’s most acclaimed films on the big screen. Highlights include two Kenyan films, the controversial “Rafiki,” which was banned in its own country, and “Supa Moda,” a family-friendly film that one critic called “the most important superhero movie you’ll see this year.”

Washington University in St. Louis has been designated a “Voter-Friendly Campus” by the Campus Vote Project and NASPA – Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education for its success in increasing voter registration, education and turnout.

Angela Peacock, a student at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, is among 10 students nationwide to be awarded a Veterans of Foreign Wars-Student Veterans of America Legislative Fellowship, a semester-long academic experience. 

A growing number of first-year students are seeking career advice and resources early in their college careers. In response, the Career Center has launched a number of new career-readiness program specifically for first-year students. The center also collaborated with Arts & Sciences on a pilot program that combines career planning and academic advising.  

The latest edition of WashU Spaces visits the Wigdor Cycling Studio, aka the Dark Room, at Sumers Recreation Center, where indoor cycling instructors use big data and heavy beats to motivate riders.

Women’s basketball head coach Randi Henderson and her husband, assistant coach Duez Henderson, are leading the No. 19-ranked Bears into their 30th consecutive NCAA Division III Tournament appearance. The Bears will play Wisconsin-Whitewater at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 1, at the Athletic Complex. The couple’s small children are the team’s biggest fans.

Tobacco control experts at Washington University in St. Louis would welcome a crackdown on e-cigarette commercials on television and radio. But advertising restrictions, as recently suggested by a member of the Federal Communications Commission, are just one way to curb the vaping epidemic among America’s youth, said Doug Luke, professor at the Brown School and director of the Center for Public Health Systems Science.

The Office of Sustainability at Washington University in St. Louis bestowed Sustainability Leadership Awards on three members of the university community at the annual Green Carpet Awards.