Newsroom Stories

Photo by Stewart GoldstenThe St. Louis Black Rep will open its 31st season with “Boesman and Lena” at Edison Theatre Sept. 12-23.

The Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts and Laumeier Sculpture Park will launch the school’s fall Architecture Lecture Series Sept. 10. Beginning with talks by three prominent architects — David Lewis, Lawrence Scarpa and Charles Rose.

Sign up today to donate blood or volunteer at Washington University’s first campus-wide blood drive. The event will be held Tuesday, September 11 at 12 locations and a variety of times to fit your schedule. All students, staff, and faculty are invited to articipate in this exciting effort, where one hour of your time as a blood donor can save up to three lives.

More than 30 million Americans suffer from debilitating migraine headaches, but a current worldwide clinical trial may have many on the road to relief. Closing a small hole in the heart has already alleviated migraine symptoms for a group of stroke patients, says WUSM physician John Lasala. Now, a clinical trial of hundreds of patients is trying to better gauge the effectiveness of the procedure.

A psychiatric geneticist at the School of Medicine is one of several principal investigators around the country who will participate in the Genes, Environment and Health Initiative (GEI), a unique collaboration between geneticists and environmental scientists. The $48 million initiative is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Laura Jean Bierut, M.D., professor of psychiatry at the School of Medicine, will head the national study of addiction, looking both at genetic and environmental factors that contribute to the problem.

Software developed using a concept discovered at WUSTL may be used to optimize high-speed machining processes, leading to lighter, stronger, and more accurate parts for the aircraft or medical device industry.An engineer at Washington University in St. Louis has helped find a way to “cut the chatter” in high-speed machining of aluminum and titanium aircraft parts. Chatter in milling is an instability that arises because the cutting tool vibrates, making oscillating patterns on the work piece. Now researchers including Philip V. Bayly, Ph.D., Washington University Hughes Professor of Mechanical Engineering, have developed software that predicts when chatter is going to occur as well as the accuracy of the cut.

In an effort to create more diversity at the research bench, eight college students – all minorities majoring in science – spent their summer in St. Louis, getting their first laboratory research experience as part of the Genome Sequencing Center’s new Opportunities in Genomics Research summer program.

Presentations about Guantanamo and the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy are among the highlights of the School of Law’s tenth annual Public Interest Law & Policy Speakers Series, which begins Sept. 10. All lectures will be held at noon in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom of Anheuser-Busch Hall. They are free and open to the public.

Newark, N.J. Mayor Cory Booker believes passionately that building strong communities takes individual effort and commitment, and he will explore that topic in detail for the Ervin Scholars 20th anniversary celebration at 4 p.m. Friday, Sept. 14, in the Laboratory Sciences Building auditorium. The talk, co-sponsored by the Assembly Series and the Campus Week of Dialogue, is free and open to the public.

Photo by Mary ButkusA student of Liggett Koenig Residential College enthusiastically displays house pride at the Convocation Aug. 23 in the Athletic Complex Field House. The inaugural event of the academic year is Chancellor Mark Wrighton’s opportunity to welcome new students and parents to the University.