Author: Diane Toroian Keaggy

Three students arrived at Washington University in the fall of 2013 with a desire to do something to help the environment. This month, sustainability champions Nick Annin, Elise Fabbro and Nicola Salzman graduate and are poised to fight the globe’s most pressing problem with a powerful tool: the free market.

Gwendolyn Bolden has been appointed director of Parking & Transportation at Washington University, announced Dedric Carter, vice chancellor for operations and technology management. Bolden is a certified administrator of public parking and has worked at universities and municipalities across the nation.

High school students from across the St. Louis region will launch balsa wood gliders across the Washington University in St. Louis Field House in the Boeing Engineering Challenge. Medals will be awarded to students whose gliders have the farthest flight, straightest path, longest hang time and best quality of flight.

Washington University in St. Louis is providing all students, faculty, staff and basic service contractor employees free activation for SafeTrek, a personal safety app. SafeTrek is essentially a mobile “blue light,” providing peace of mind and protection in potentially unsafe locations, such as parking garages or dark streets.

Engineering student, start-up founder and track star Deko Ricketts calls solar power “the engineer’s energy.” Here is Ricketts’ amazing journey to WashU, how he made the most of it and how he plans to address the global energy crisis after graduation.

Meet a few more of the entrepreneurs and innovators who also happen to be graduating this spring. All of these students have launched businesses and developed innovative technologies that are improving human health, addressing global issues and helping investors achieve their goals.

Washington University in St. Louis is home to more than 4,000 trees. But this Arbor Day, Kent Theiling, grounds and landscape design manager, would like to recognize one special tree: the American basswood in Brookings Quadrangle. With a 48-inch trunk diameter, the tree is an estimated 104 years old, almost as old as Brookings Hall.

Paul Brophy, a leading expert in economic development and the editor of “On the Edge: America’s Middle Neighborhoods” will be at Washington University in St. Louis on Thursday, April 27, to discuss why middle neighborhoods matter. He’ll join with Executive Vice Chancellor Henry S. Webber and author Alan Mallach, who both contributed to “On the Edge,” and a panel of local civic leaders.

All 25 members of the inaugural cohort of the College Prep Program at Washington University have been accepted into college, and the group has received more than $4 million in scholarship offers. Lerone A. Martin, assistant professor, told the scholars: “Do not hide your light to make other people comfortable.”

Stephanie Kurtzman has been named the Peter Sortino Director of the Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement at Washington University in St. Louis. The role will be supported through an endowment established in honor of civic leader Peter Sortino, who died in March.