Campus & Community

Thurtene Carnival, WashU’s student-run carnival, returns to campus this weekend with new attractions, new performances and a number of new safety measures. Minors must now be accompanied by an adult and visitors are asked to leave their bags at home.

Ramesh Agarwal, the William Palm Professor of Engineering in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University, will receive the 2025 John J. Montgomery Award for Distinguished Innovation in Aerospace from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

Aaron Y. Lee, MD, a leader in applying artificial intelligence to ophthalmology research and patient care, will head the John. F. Hardesty, MD, Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences at WashU Medicine.

WashU is among 13 colleges participating in the Campus Compact EnviroCorps initiative, a federal AmeriCorps program to reduce waste, boost energy efficiency and protect natural resources. WashU’s EnviroCorps fellows are planting trees, weatherizing homes and donating items from the WashU Circularity Center to local nonprofits in need.

Simone Biles, widely regarded as one of the greatest athletes of all time, will deliver the May 12 Commencement address at Washington University in St. Louis, according to Chancellor Andrew D. Martin.

WashU has once again been named a Voter Friendly Campus, one of 272 campuses nationwide that have successfully implemented practices that encourage students to register and vote.

Jacob Chacko, inaugural executive director of WashU’s Center for Diversity & Inclusion and interim director of the Spectrum office in the Division of Student Affairs, has been chosen to serve on the Difficult Dialogues National Resource Center’s board of directors.

Images from on and around the WashU campuses.

Steven Bassnett, a national leader in vision research, has been installed as the inaugural Grace Nelson Lacy Distinguished Professor in Ophthalmology at WashU Medicine.

Julian Fleischman, an associate professor emeritus of molecular microbiology at Washington University School of Medicine, died Jan. 18 at his home in Sharon, Mass., from complications following a fall. He was 91.