Newsroom Stories

Washington University in St. Louis remains committed to supporting faculty and staff as they continue to manage their work-life balance during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Department of Human Resources recently opened an online portal that outlines the scope of the university’s employee benefits, including child care, elder care and also self-care.

Washington University will conduct a national search for its next vice chancellor for student affairs, beginning this fall. The new vice chancellor will succeed Lori S. White, who left the university July 1 to become president of DePauw University. 

Lithium ion batteries that shouldn’t short circuit often do. Now researchers at the McKelvey School of Engineering have figured out why, and they have devised a straightforward way to tell if and when that will happen for individual batteries.

Chancellor Emeritus William H. Danforth, MD, who served as chancellor for 24 of his more than 65 years of service to Washington University in St. Louis, died on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2020, at his home in Ladue, Mo. He was 94.

Working together to develop a collaborative and coordinated response to the climate crisis in the Midwestern region is the top goal of the upcoming Midwest Climate Summit, which Washington University in St. Louis developed in close partnership with many leading Midwestern organizations. The event, which is free and open to the public, is presented with support from Bloomberg Philanthropies.

School of Medicine researchers have discovered that a molecule produced by the immune system acts on the brain to change the behavior of mice. The findings help illuminate a surprising mind-body connection.

Older people without cognitive problems who experience a fall may have undetected neurodegeneration in their brains that puts them at high risk of developing Alzheimer’s dementia, according to a study from Washington University School of Medicine.

A team of engineers from the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis conducted a feasibility study for electrochemical “refilling” of lithium-ion batteries into the spent electrodes to regenerate useful compounds.

With a grant from the USDA, a researcher at the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis works toward a customizable kill switch — a genetic circuit that could tell bacteria to self-destruct.

A search committee comprising faculty and administrators will begin its work to identify candidates to succeed Henry S. Webber, who will transition to the newly created role of executive vice chancellor for civic affairs and strategic planning.