Newsroom Stories

The form is thought to have developed in the 16th and 17th centuries as a means of self-defense for slaves brought to Brazil by the Portugese.

Dwight Towler, M.D., Ph.D., professor of medicine, has received a one-year, $215,147 grant from the Barnes-Jewish Hospital Foundation for “Bone and Mineral Diseases Research Operations.” … The Washington University orthopaedics center under construction in west St. Louis County received a $5,000 LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Incentive Grant from AmerenUE. The grants are designed to accelerate green building practices, energy conservation and environmental performance and to encourage construction of LEED-certified green buildings in the St. Louis region. Washington University and Barnes-Jewish Hospital have committed additional funds to obtain LEED certification for the center, a joint project of the University and Barnes-Jewish Hospital, and to adopt best green practices in its operation. … M. Alan Permutt, M.D., professor of medicine, has received a one-year, $165,000 grant from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International for research titled “Notch Signaling in Beta Cell Development and Regeneration” and a one-year, $92,054 grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases for research titled “Metabolic Basis of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: a Genetic Analysis.” … Carter Revard, Ph.D., professor emeritus of English in Arts & Sciences, was recently selected to receive the 2007 American Indian Festival of Words Author Award, which recognizes outstanding American Indian writers of this generation who have made significant contributions to American literature. The award consists of a cash prize of $5,000 and a commemorative medallion. Recently, the book “The Salt Companion to Carter Revard” was published, which features a wide-ranging collection of essays on Revard and his work. … Roberta Faccio, Ph.D., assistant professor of orthopaedic surgery, has received a two-year, $150,000 grant from the Arthritis Foundation for research titled “Role of PLC-Gamma2 in Inflammatory Arthritis.”… Daniel R. Mandelker, J.D., the Howard A. Stamper Professor of Law, has been appointed to a joint committee of the American Bar Association that is studying the administrative and judicial review process in land-use decision-making. His report on city planning reform in New Orleans, which he prepared a few years ago, recently was accepted by the Land Use Committee of the Bring New Orleans Back Commission as the basis for revision of the city’s charter. He is working with the Bureau of Governmental Research on charter revisions that are expected to be submitted at the next election. His co-authored casebook, “State and Local Government in a Federal System,” was published last spring. He has lectured nationally on land-use topics and the National Environmental Policy Act, and spoke on the New Orleans charter reforms at the January meeting of the Association of American Law Schools. …; Audrey McAlinden, Ph.D., research assistant professor of orthopaedic surgery, has received a two-year, $150,000 grant from the Arthritis Foundation for research titled “Regulation of the COL2A1 Alternative Splicing Switch During Chondrogenesis.” … Daniel P. Schuster, M.D., professor of medicine, has received a one-year, $109,468 grant from the Barnes-Jewish Hospital Foundation for research titled “FDG-PET Imaging as a Marker of Anti-inflammatory Drug Effects.” … Muthanna Al-Dahhan, Ph.D., professor of energy, environmental and chemical engineering, has received a three-year, $600,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy under its Nuclear Energy Research Initiative for research titled “Advancing The Fundamental Understanding And Scale-up of TRISO Fuel Coaters via Advanced Measurement and Computational Techniques.” … Samuel Klein, M.D., the Danforth Professor of Medicine, has received a one-year, $104,729 grant for the Obesity Program Fund and a one-year, $54,031 grant for the David A. and Linda S. Yawitz Fund in Geriatrics and Nutritional Science, both from the Barnes-Jewish Hospital Foundation. … Stephen Highstein, M.D., Ph.D., professor of otolaryngology, has received a one-year, $91,291 grant from Mount Sinai School of Medicine for research titled “Chemoanatomic Bases for Peropheral Vestibular Function.”

The University is taking steps to increase security on campus, including adding peepholes in residence hall doors.

Paul DonnellyPaul Donnelly, AIA, PE, the Rebecca and John Voyles Chair in Architecture in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, has received the Distinguished Professor Award from the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture. Donnelly is one of only five professors nationally to receive the honor, which recognizes sustained creative achievement in architectural education.

Courtesy photoOlaf KuhlkeCultural geographer Olaf Kuhlke will speak on competing representations of nationhood in post-Wall Germany March 8 for the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum. Kuhlke, assistant professor of geography at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, investigates the construction of nationalism and its expression in public spaces. His recent study Representing German Identity in the New Berlin Republic (2004) examines how various social and cultural movements have utilized the human body and metaphors of nature to represent German national identity.

Photo by Joe AngelesJewell Thomas (right), a sophomore majoring in English and in math, both in Arts & Sciences, and Kemper Art Museum docent Danika Cooper explain the art in the “Reality Bites” exhibit to University City High School students.

The following are among the new faculty members at the University. Others will be introduced periodically in this space. Bruce Durazzi, Ph.D., joins the Department of Music in Arts & Sciences as assistant professor. Durazzi earned bachelor’s degrees in music composition and in English literature, both from Oberlin College, and a doctorate in music from Yale University. His research interests include politics and musical modernism, the music and aesthetics of Arnold Schoenberg and his school and gender studies in music. Before joining the WUSTL music faculty, Durazzi taught music theory at the University of Arizona and at Northwestern University. His current research in music theory emphasizes the relationship between music analysis and broader social, cultural and historical issues. Matt Gabel, Ph.D., joins the Department of Political Science in Arts & Sciences as associate professor. He earned a doctorate in political science from the University of Rochester and a master’s degree in advanced European studies at the College of Europe in Brugge, Belgium. He spent 1996-98 at the University of Michigan as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Scholar in Health Policy Research. His research interests include the political consequences of electoral laws, comparative democratic processes and American health policy. James Spriggs, Ph.D., joins the Department of Political Science in Arts & Sciences as professor. His research interests are in American politics, with a specific emphasis on the scientific study of law and judicial process and politics. He is especially concerned with how institutions (i.e., formal rules or informal norms) shape the choices that judges make. This perspective focuses on how, in attempting to craft law consistent with their policy preferences, judges are constrained by institutional rules endogenous and exogenous to courts. He earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Westminster College, and master’s and doctoral degrees, both in philosophy, from WUSTL. Melanie Jean Springer, Ph.D., joins the Department of Political Science in Arts & Sciences as assistant professor. She earned a doctorate in political science from Columbia University in 2006 and specializes in American politics and quantitative methods. Her teaching and research interests include voting and elections, political institutions, state politics and policymaking, American political development, Congress, political parties and quantitative methods.

Elizabeth D. Ossorio, Ph.D., an assistant professor at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work from 1963-65, died Thursday, Feb. 1, 2007 in Las Cruces, N.M., following a series of strokes. She was 85.

Robin D.G. Kelley, Ph.D., one of the country’s pre-eminent scholars in African-American history, will serve as a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Washington University Feb. 28-March 1. During his visit, he will give two public talks. Kelley, who is professor of history and American studies and ethnicity at the University of Southern California (USC), is a leading scholar of the modern civil rights movement, jazz studies and African-American music and culture.

The following incidents were reported to University Police Feb. 16-20. Readers with information that could assist in investigating these incidents are urged to call 935-5555. This information is provided as a public service to promote safety awareness and is available on the University Police Web site at police.wustl.edu. Feb. 16 10:21 a.m. — Bon Appetit […]