Newsroom Stories

The Mr. and Mrs. Spencer T. Olin Fellowship Program for Women in Graduate Studies is celebrating its 40 years on Washington University’s campus during the 40th annual Olin Fellowship Conference, “How Climates Change,” Oct. 30-31. Jane Lubchenco, PhD, the first woman to head the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Association, will give the keynote address at 11 a.m. Friday, Oct. 31, in Graham Chapel.

In the digital age in which we live, monitoring, security breaches and hacks of sensitive data are all too common. It has been argued that privacy has no place in this big data environment and anything we put online can and probably will be seen by prying eyes. In a new paper, noted Washington University in St. Louis privacy law expert Neil M. Richards, JD, makes the case that when properly understood, privacy rules will be an essential and valuable part of our digital future.

H. Holden Thorp, PhD (left), provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs, was installated by Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton as the inaugural holder of the Rita Levi-Montalcini Distinguished University Professorship during a ceremony held Oct. 14 in Knight Hall’s Emerson Auditorium. Thorp’s installation address was titled “Back to the Future: Accomplishment and Aspiration at Washington University.” 

Climate change, water shortages and the loss of farmland to pollution and urban sprawl are making it increasingly difficult for farmers to feed the world’s growing population, agricultural scholars from four continents said this week at an international symposium held at Washington University in St. Louis.

The government of India’s Department of Biotechnology, Indian corporate leaders and Washington University in St. Louis have invested $2.5 million to launch the Indo-U.S. Advanced Bioenergy Consortium for Second Generation Biofuels (IUABC). The goal of the center is to increase biomass yield in plants and algae, enabling downstream commercial development for cost-effective, efficient and environmentally sustainable production of advanced biofuels.

School of Medicine scientists have described a way to convert human skin cells directly into a specific type of brain cell affected by Huntington’s disease, an ultimately fatal neurodegenerative disorder. Unlike other techniques that turn one cell type into another, this new process does not pass through a stem cell phase, avoiding the production of multiple cell types.

Janet Owen, technical support specialist in the Sam Fox School​ of Design & Visual Arts, recommends “Rawstock,” a film festival that highlights entertainingly offbeat materials from the University Libraries’ Film & Media Archive. The event takes place at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 24, at Melt, 2712 Cherokee St.

“Long tail” thinking — a strategy employed by many new businesses — might yield greater progress the field of public health by eliminating health disparities, according to a study from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis led by Matthew W. Kreuter, PhD.

Why do works of art move us so powerfully? Nobel laureate Eric Kandel, MD,will share his insight as the Arthur Holly Compton Lecturer for the Washington University in St. Louis Assembly Series at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 28, in Graham Chapel.

People at high risk for psychological distress respond positively to receiving results of personalized genetic testing, according to new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. More than 60 percent of subjects in the genetic study wanted information about their test results, and 95 percent said they appreciated receiving the information, regardless of whether the results were good or bad news.