Newsroom Stories

By peering into the minds of volunteers preparing to play a brief visual game, neuroscientists at the School of Medicine have found they can predict whether the volunteers will succeed or fail at the game.

The winners of the 2005 Olin Cup Competition will be announced Thursday, December 1. Six finalists are in the running to receive a total of $70,000 in seed investments. Additionally, a $5,000 grant will be awarded to the best student-owned venture. The Olin Cup Competition is an annual business formation contest organized by The Skandalaris Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at Washington University in St. Louis.

At the Center for Social Development (CSD) in the George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Michael Sherraden, Ph.D., and his faculty colleagues, staff, and graduate students are dedicating themselves to addressing the root causes of poverty and finding solutions. To this end, CSD has found a partner in the Ford Foundation, a philanthropic organization whose goals include asset building to create better societies.

EllenbergerThomas Ellenberger, D.V.M., Ph.D., has been named the Raymond H. Wittcoff Professor and head of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics at the School of Medicine.

David Kilper/WUSTL Photo ServicesCommunity Music SchoolWashington University has reached an agreement with Webster University to purchase the Community Music School building, 560 Trinity Ave., in University City. Built in 1929, the two-story, 45,000-square-foot former synagogue is located less than a mile from the Hilltop Campus and will provide Washington University with additional — and much needed — performance, rehearsal and teaching facilities.

Fiction writer Scott Heim will read from his work at 8 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 1, for the Writing Program Reading Series. Heim is the author of the novel Mysterious Skin (1995), recently adapted to film by director Gregg Araki. The story is set in the small-town of Hutchinson, KS, where two boys belonging to the same Little League team unknowingly share struggles and obsession — sex, loyalty, first love and aliens — that direct their adolescent lives.

The Financial Times has ranked the professors at the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis tenth in the world in terms of research productivity. The tenth-place designation was announced as part of the Financial Times‘ Executive-MBA rankings in October of 2005.

MayLarry May, Ph.D., professor of philosophy in Arts & Sciences, will deliver a keynote address on “The Moral Writer” as part of Celebrating Our Books, Recognizing Our Authors, Washington University’s fourth annual faculty book colloquium, at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 7, in the Ann W. Olin Women’s Building Formal Lounge.

The Olin School of Business’ non-degree executive education programs ranked tops globally in a survey conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit, a branch of The Economist Group which also publishes the Economist magazine. Olin’s open programs tied for second place internationally (first-place tie nationally) and its customized programs tied for first place among similar programs worldwide.

WUSTL Photo Services*Koto* by Alonzo KingWashington University Dance Theatre (WUDT), the annual showcase of professionally choreographed works performed by student dancers, will present Reach/Rebound, its 2005 concert, Dec. 2-4 in Edison Theatre. The concert will feature close to 40 dancers, selected by audition, performing six works by faculty and guest choreographers, including Alonzo King, founder and artistic director of Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet in San Francisco.