Author: Susan Killenberg McGinn

Just one second, one heartbeat. That’s what is needed for a new, noninvasive functional imaging technology, developed by a Washington University in St. Louis scientist, to record data for locating the source in the heart of a dangerous cardiac arrhythmia called ventricular tachycardia (VT). WUSTL researchers in biomedical engineering and medicine report in the Aug. 31, 2011, issue of Science Translational Medicine, that the technique would far more quickly find the source and type of VT, saving hours of mapping.  

Washington University’s main move-in day in the South 40 residence halls for freshmen is Thursday, Aug. 25. Nearly 1,500 freshmen are arriving for the 2011-12 academic year that begins Aug. 30. With help from family, friends and upperclassmen, the freshmen will be hauling everything from refrigerators and microwaves to carpets, bicycles and stereo systems into their new homes away from home.

Shelley Milligan, EdD, associate provost, has a broad view of the university through her work in the provost office and previous positions at WUSTL. Whether brainstorming, troubleshooting, advocating or just listening, she always is helping make connections between schools, departments, programs, faculty, staff and students.

After a yearlong renovation, Cupples II is now home to the College of Arts & Sciences, the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences and the Office of Undergraduate Research, as well as eight state-of-the-art pooled classrooms.

Dzenana Mruckovski, former public works director for the city of Crestwood, Mo., is the new director of facilities in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, announced Gary S. Wihl, PhD, dean of the faculty of Arts & Sciences and the Hortense and Tobias Lewin Distinguished Professor in the Humanities.

Up to five PhD students from Taiwan per year will receive full-tuition and living stipend scholarships to attend Washington University because of a recent agreement signed between WUSTL and Taiwan’s Ministry of Education. Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton and Tony W.T. Lin, director general of the ministry’s Bureau of International Cultural and Educational Relations, signed a memorandum of understanding during a ceremony June 24 in Taipei City.

A rare 1950s comic book, titled Negro Romance, that Gerald Early, PhD, the Merle Kling Professor of Modern Letters in Arts & Sciences and director of the Center for the Humanities, bought on Ebay is the focus of a mystery in an upcoming episode of PBS’ History Detectives. Early wants to know: Did black artists create this book? Who was the intended audience? Host Gwendolyn Wright gets the answers. The episode will air locally at 8 p.m. Tuesday, July 12, on Nine PBS. It will be repeated at 1 a.m. Thursday, July 14, and 4 p.m. Sunday, July 17. 

Tiffany L. Stanley, most recently a reporter-researcher at The New Republic magazine, has been named managing editor of a forthcoming online journal from the Danforth Center on Religion & Politics at Washington University in St. Louis. R. Marie Griffith, PhD, the center’s new director and the John C. Danforth Distinguished Professor in Arts & Sciences, announced Stanley’s appointment, which was effective July 1, 2011.

Henry Biggs, PhD, associate dean in Arts & Sciences and director of the Office of Undergraduate Research, welcomes some 150 Council on Undergraduate Research members to the Gateways to Best Practices for Undergraduate Research Program Directors Conference, held June 14-16 at Washington University.

Educators from across St. Louis will build and test robots using LEGOs as they explore teaching science, technology, engineering and math in grades K-12. They will share strategies for using the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT, which can turn the building toys into programmable robots, during an all-day conference Friday, June 17, at Washington University’s Whitaker Hall.