Campus & Community

Welcome to Class Acts, a celebration of remarkable graduating students. In our first installment, Class Acts showcases three incredible makers — artist Erin Lewis, engineer Alex Levy and pop-up market founder Noor Bekhiet.

Macy Sprunger, a graduate student in Meredith Jackrel’s lab in the Department of Chemistry in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, won a three-year $136,560 National Research Service Award from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Such fellowships support predoctoral students conducting research in scientific health-related fields.

Washington University in St. Louis is welcoming alumni from the Class of 2020 back to campus for in-person Commencement ceremonies on May 30. Julie L. Gerberding, MD, the first woman to serve as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will deliver the address to the returning graduates, announced Chancellor Andrew D. Martin.

Larry J. Johnson, a radiation safety specialist for decades in the Office of Environmental Health & Safety at Washington University in St. Louis, died of a heart attack at his home in St. Louis on April 2, 2021. He was 68.

John E. McCarthy, the Spencer T. Olin Professor of Mathematics and chair of mathematics and statistics in Arts & Sciences, received a five-year $450,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to develop new tools to deal with complexity in the design of systems such as those used in automatic pilots and self-driving cars.

Anthony Odibo, MD, an internationally respected maternal-fetal medicine expert, has been named director of the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine & Ultrasound in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology at the School of Medicine.

Students are invited to apply to be a Faith in the Vaccine Ambassador. Student ambassadors will work with local communities to increase vaccine distribution and education. Ambassadors will receive a $1,500 stipend. The application deadline is Friday, April 23.

The Office of Sustainability and the Office of Information Security will be hosting electronic waste recycling drives and confidential paper shredding services at the Danforth and Medical campuses.

Kennedy Young is among 13 members of the Washington University community who will receive a Virgil Ethic of Service Award on Wednesday, April 21. Young is a co-founder of the Reentry Collective, which provides cash assistance to formerly incarcerated people.

Washington University’s East End Transformation recently was honored by the St. Louis Business Journal as part of its 2021 “Building St. Louis” awards.