Newsroom Stories

Washington University’s 156th Commencement is at 8:30 a.m. Friday, May 19, in Brookings Quadrangle. The university will award 3,251 degrees to 3,095 undergraduate, graduate and professional students. The university also will bestow honorary degrees on six individuals.

The dream of flight has powered some of the world’s most ambitious feats of design and engineering. Last week, first-year architecture students put their own aeronautical experiments to the test, launching from the top of Art Hill in Forest Park.

Researchers at the School of Medicine in St. Louis and California Institute of Technology have developed a technology to scan a breast tumor sample and produce images detailed enough to check whether a tumor has been completely removed.

Joshua Jackson has been installed as the Saul and Louise Rosenzweig Associate Professor of Personality Science at Washington University in St. Louis. A ceremony and reception were held March 21 in Holmes Lounge in Ridgley Hall to celebrate the occasion.

Senior Class President Reid Petty has spent his time at Washington University making sure his classmates enjoy their experience. The Olin student will address fellow graduates at Commencement on Friday, May 19, sharing about what made this place special for him.

More than a dozen distinguished speakers will take part in Commencement-related events for Class of 2017 graduates and their families and guests this week at Washington University in St. Louis.

The newest computer ransomware to hit on a global scale first appeared late last week. Dubbed “WannaCry,” the malware attacks computers, then demands a ransom in Bitcoin to regain the ability to access files. A cybersecurity expert at Washington University in St. Louis says programmers were aware of the potential trouble months ago, but playing catch-up to remedy the problem is difficult.

No matter how smart, well-prepared or hard-working, many college students struggle with rigorous introductory science courses because their approach to learning fails to provide a working knowledge of abstract concepts that underlie examples presented in the classroom, suggests new research from Washington University in St. Louis.

Architect and urban designer Anu Samarajiva is deeply attuned to the particularity of place and to the ways social networks shape our experience of the built environment. She graduates wanting to help people think about how social, political and economic systems impact their lives.

With a master’s degree in statistics, a PhD in chemical engineering, an MBA and, soon, a JD from Washington University School of Law, Wei Zhu is clearly brilliant. But also, perhaps, a little crazy? “Oh yes,” Zhu said with a laugh. “I am definitely crazy.” She will serve as the graduate student speaker at Commencement on May 19.