Newsroom Stories

The Assembly Series, Washington University in St. Louis’ signature lecture series, will open its fall program Sept. 7 with an event that kick-starts a universitywide, yearlong initiative to inhabit the rich and complex world of the 200-year-old story of “Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus.”

Washington University in St. Louis welcomed the 1,780 members of the Class of 2021 on Thursday, Aug. 24. This year’s class includes six members of the first cohort of the College Prep Program, which prepares talented, first-generation students for life on a college campus.

During the past fiscal year, the Washington University in St. Louis Office of Technology Management reported a number of record figures as a result of the innovative technologies developed by university faculty.

As it approaches the 200th anniversary of publication, Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” remains a cultural touchstone and a powerful metaphor for the dangers of science unchecked by social responsibility. See what Corinna Treitel, associate professor of history in Arts & Sciences, has to say about “Frankenstein’s” continued power to challenge and inform.

The School of Law at Washington University in St. Louis hosts a panel discussion Friday, Sept. 1, to address the NAACP travel advisory in Missouri. Participants include Gerald Early in Arts & Sciences; former Missouri governor Jay Nixon; and the law school’s Peggie Smith and Elizabeth Sepper.

About 300 incoming Washington University PhD and graduate students attended orientation Aug. 21 at a secluded venue in Franklin County, in the eclipse’s path of totality. In between learning about the Graduate School’s many services and organizations, students stopped to marvel at the eclipse.

The “self” part of self-control can be a new concept for many college students. For years, they had parents and teachers to keep them on track. Then college comes, with its many demands and distractions, and students find themselves baffled by their own mistakes. Todd Braver, professor of psychological and brain sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, helps students understand the complicated brain basis for self-control.

The Brown School has been awarded a $1.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to increase sustainability of evidence-based tobacco control programs and policies. Sarah Moreland-Russell, assistant professor of practice and senior scholar to the Clark-Fox Policy Institute, will serve as principal investigator.

In what could be a small step for science potentially leading to a breakthrough, an engineer at Washington University in St. Louis has taken steps toward using nanocrystal networks for artificial intelligence applications. 

Concrete is the most widely used construction material in the world. Billions of tons are produced annually. But for the 2017 Solar Decathlon, Team WashU wanted to demonstrate a new and more sustainable approach.