Author: Leslie Gibson McCarthy

Within a year of starting classes at WUSTL, Kirsten Siebach, Outstanding Graduate in the College of Arts & Sciences, became the youngest member of the Phoenix Mars Lander science team in Tucson, Ariz. She’ll graduate May 20 with a double major in earth and planetary sciences and chemistry and a minor in English.

Architecture is a global profession. Just ask Aaron Plewke, who will receive his master’s degree May 20 from the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts. In recent months, Plewke, a Danforth Scholar in the Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design, and his fiance, fellow graduate student Meredith Klein, have designed and managed construction of WUSTL’s new East Asian Study Center in Shanghai — all from their studios in Givens Hall.

Jennifer Hoefert always knew she wanted to spend her career helping people. It’s the “how” that changed. Hoefert, 26, a former deaf education specialist and second-grade teacher, will receive a post-baccalaureate certificate in premedical studies at Commencement May 20. The post-baccalaureate program in University College in Arts & Sciences helps adult students who lack an undergraduate background in the sciences earn the requirements needed for medical school.

Frank Yin, PhD (left), the Stephen F. and Camilla T. Brauer Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering in the School of Engineering & Applied Science, presents Yunfei Shi, a PhD student in biomedical engineering, with the grand prize in a Tsinghua University Alumni Photo Contest during a Tsinghua Centenary Celebration, held April 30 in Whitaker Auditorium at Washington University.

WUSTL’s first all-campus food drive set a cash donation record and collected nearly 3 tons of food, much of which will go to the 135,000 St. Louis-area children at risk for hunger this summer. “This amount from the Washington University PB&Joy Food Drive was the second-largest amount collected in the virtual food drive’s five-year history,” says Gary Wells, Operation Food Search general manger.

Jeryl Hayes, Outstanding Graduate in the School of Law, learned at an early age to speak up for her gender, and now she intends to devote her legal career to women’s issues. “Jeryl is passionate, quick, kind, organized, diligent and wholly committed to engagement with issues of power and privilege,” says Laura Rosenbury, JD, professor of law and associate dean for research and faculty development.

Sports updates for the week of May 9, 2011.

Since childhood, Lucy Gellman has been entranced by the world around her. She brought that natural curiosity, and a deep sense of learning through the visual, with her to WUSTL. She already has made a significant impact in art historical research and as a leader both on campus and in the St. Louis community, and now Gellman, Outstanding Graduate in the College of Arts & Sciences, is ready to take what she’s learned and begin to carve out a life and career of impact and meaning.

Samantha Swanson, a senior majoring in music in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, performs with accompaniment on the theorbo by Jeffrey J. Noonan, PhD, teacher of applied music in the Department of Music in Arts & Sciences, during the Spring 2011 Undergraduate Research Symposium April 30 at Whitaker and Brauer halls. More than 170 undergraduate students showcased their research projects through poster presentations and visual and oral presentations during the event sponsored by the Office of Undergraduate Research.

At its spring meeting May 6, the Board of Trustees elected six new members to the board and elected officers, among other actions, according to Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. The six electees are John D. Beuerlein, general partner of Edward Jones; Thomas J. Hillman, founder and managing partner of FTL Capital Partners LLC; Sanford C. Loewentheil, vice chairman of L+M Development Partners; Scott Rudolph, chairman of the board of NBTY Inc.; Gary M. Sumers, senior managing director of Blackstone Group; and Joyce F. Wood, owner of Wood & Associates Management Co.