Newsroom Stories

More than 150 St. Louis-area high school students gathered May 7 in the Field House to launch their custom-built aluminum gliders as part of the Boeing Engineering Challenge Final Flight. The Engineering Challenge — the culmination of a series of technical meetings, design reviews and prototype development activities — is a partnership between Boeing and WUSTL intended to get high school students excited about the engineering field.

The International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability (I-CARES) has awarded 11 faculty members — university professors undertaking innovative and collaborative research in the broad areas of bioenergy and sustainability — grants totaling nearly $300,000.

Victor T. Le Vine, PhD, emeritus professor of political science in Arts & Sciences at Washington University and internationally known expert on terrorism, hostage situations, guerrilla warfare and political problems of the Middle East and Africa, died May 7, 2010, at his home in University City. He was 81.

WUSTL faculty, staff, postdoctoral appointees and clinical fellows soon will be able to enroll in and make changes to their benefits themselves through the university’s new online benefits program, eBenefits.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are studying people age 60 and older to determine whether augmenting medication for depression with a second drug might help older patients break free of clinical depression. Both study drugs are FDA-approved therapies for depression in younger adults, but the benefits need to be examined in older adults. 

James E. McLeod, vice chancellor for students and dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, was presented with the Search Award at the university’s 43rd annual William Greenleaf Eliot gala May 11. McLeod was honored for 35 years of invaluable contributions, inspiration, devotion and guidance to the Washington University community.

Senior Daniel DuGoff (left) surrounds senior Eleanor Ryburn with his book at the Nancy Spirtas Kranzberg Studio for the Illustrated Book Open House May 4. The studio — where students learn hand-sewn bookbinding, traditional letterpress and alternative print processes, and publication design — is a collaboration between the College of Art and University Libraries.

Which companies get the biggest bang for their buck when it comes to R&D? Olin Business School professor of strategy Anne Marie Knott believes there is a strong correlation between certain characteristics of companies and their R&D practices.  Effective R&D is a sign of firm with high IQ.  But just what makes a company smart?  Professor Knott is on a mission to measure firms’ IQ and how to improve it.  Video included.

Sally Elgin wins award for her commitment to finding new, more powerful ways to teach science and to support teachers in the biological sciences.

Scientists regularly discard up to 90 percent of the signals from monitoring of brain waves, one of the oldest techniques for observing changes in brain activity. Now, though, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found evidence that this data may contain significant information about how the brain works.