Newsroom Stories

David Kilper/WUSTL photoWashington University’s Katharina Lodders has developed an innovative periodic table slanted toward astronomy.The periodic table isn’t what it used to be, thanks to innovations by a planetary chemist at Washington University in St. Louis. Katharina Lodders, Ph.D., Washington University research associate professor in Earth and Planetary Sciences in Arts & Sciences, has evalutated data from numerous studies including her own and arranged the data into a periodic table slanted toward astronomers and cosmochemists.

Courtesy photoSculpture by Wesley Anderegg, Lompoc, CASo you think you know mosquitoes? Consider the venerable law that rainy weather is the cause of increased mosquito populations. An ecologist at Washington University in St. Louis says if you believe that, you’re all wet.

KouvelisThe concept of hiring another company to handle “non-core” functions has been around since companies began. But it’s only been in the last several decades that the term “outsourcing” has been coined. Selecting which functions to be outsourced is as individual as each company and the goods and services it provides. Panos Kouvelis, a professor of operations and manufacturing management at the Olin School of Business at Washington University, says that it is often argued that outsourcing helps share risks with suppliers, but new risks enter the picture. “Often difficult tasks, if not appropriately managed, can get out of control,” Kouvelis says. “However, these are the tasks in which a firm can build competency and appropriate market value.” Kouvelis explains the pros and cons of outsourcing.

Troubling new evidence on corporate governance and CEO pay.In 1980, the average CEO was paid around 40 times as much as the average worker, but the multiple is now above 400 for the largest U.S. companies. With such increases in top executive pay, including New York Stock Exchange Chairman Richard Grasso’s $139.5 million retirement-pay package, an expert on executive compensation says that corporate governance practices should come under even greater scrutiny. Todd Milbourn, Ph.D., a professor of finance at the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis, has recently documented other troubling evidence with regard to the efficacy of corporate governance and CEO pay.

Marine biologist Jane Lubchenco and atmospheric chemist and Nobel laureate Mario Molina will deliver the second Sesquicentennial Environmental Initiative Lecture at 3 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 9. The lecture, which focuses on science and the impact of human society on ecological systems, is free and open to the public and will be held in Graham Chapel, located just north of Mallinckrodt Center (6445 Forsyth Blvd.) on the Washington University campus. During its Sesquicentennial year, Washington University is launching an initiative to help better understand the role that research universities can play in addressing issues related to the environment.

Author and essayist Richard Rodriguez will deliver the Association of Latin American Students lecture for the Assembly Series at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 8. The lecture, entitled “The Browning of America,” is free and open to the public, and will be held in Graham Chapel, located just north of Mallinckrodt Center (6445 Forsyth Blvd.) on the Washington University campus.

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