Author: Leslie Gibson McCarthy

For the second year in a row, Washington University in St. Louis has received the top rating in the LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index, published annually by Campus Pride. WUSTL was one of 33 schools, out of about 300 participants, to receive the five-star rating.

Jerome R. Cox Jr. (right), PhD, senior professor of computer science, describes the interactive display of the Laboratory Instrument Computer, known as LINC, to Brian Smith in the atrium of Brauer Hall. LINC, developed at MIT in 1962 then brought to WUSTL by Cox in 1964, transformed biomedical research by integrating computer science with medicine and allowing researchers to program data analysis on the fly.

More than 1,200 freshmen are expected to participate in this year’s 13th annual Service First event on Saturday, Sept. 3, at 12 St. Louis-area schools. Among the projects Washington University students will be participating in include painting playground maps and indoor and outdoor murals, creating bulletin boards, and assisting teachers in preparing classrooms for the new school year.

Beginning Monday, Aug. 29, the Record will shift into its academic year schedule. Look for emails Monday through Friday throughout the academic year when classes are in session. The Record website, record.wustl.edu, also will be updated daily.

Members of the Class of 2015, new transfer and exchange students, and their parents and family members are arriving on campus this week. They will be welcomed with a variety of activities during Bear Beginnings: New Student Orientation, which begins Thursday, Aug. 25, and continues through Monday, Aug. 29.

Rebecca Dresser, JD, the Daniel Noyes Kirby Professor of Law and professor of ethics in medicine at Washington University in St. Louis, has been appointed to the Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee of the National Institutes of Health. The committee serves a critical role in the oversight of federally funded research involving recombinant DNA.  

St. Louis-area high school student Anjali Fernandes creates a wind turbine during the School of Engineering & Applied Science’s “Explore Engineering” program July 26. The program grew out of a conversation between students who belong to the National Society of Black Engineers and Ralph Quatrano, PhD, dean and the Spencer T. Olin Professor, and seeks to give underrepresented groups exposure to engineering and to the university.

Both the men’s and women’s swimming teams earned 2010-11 Team Scholar All-America honors from by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA). Updates include preseason polls in women’s soccer, men’s soccer and football, as well as the addition of former Olympian Lori Chalupny to the Bears’ coaching staff.

WUSTL women’s basketball coach Nancy Fahey, who has guided the Bears for 25 seasons and won five national titles, has been chosen for induction into Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. Besides Fahey, the Hall of Fame Class of 2012 includes players Nikki McCray, Pam McGee, Inge Nissen, and Dawn Staley, and contributor Robin Roberts. Fahey is the first NCAA Division III player or coach to be chosen for such an honor.

Some 75 K-12 educators from across St. Louis attended a one-day conference June 17 in WUSTL’s Whitaker Hall to explore using LEGOs to engage their students in learning science, technology, engineering and math. The teachers built and programmed robots using LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT software.