Newsroom Stories

The City of St. Louis is poised to lead the way in innovative solutions to the national urban issue of vacant land, thanks to a unique partnership between the city and Washington University. Four of the city’s vacant lots will be the new home for five demonstration projects that test new ways to think of vacant space, thanks to the winning teams in the inaugural Sustainable Land Lab Competition.

Winners of the eight annual YouthBridge Social Enterprise and Innovation Competition (SEIC) and $164,000 in awards were announced April 10. Winning teams represented community and WUSTL social entrepreneurs. Their social venture ideas ranged widely, covering youth, teens, homeless and collaboration among all types of social enterprises.

The Institute for Public Health at Washington University in St. Louis has announced the appointment of Richelle Simmons Clark as co-director of the Center for Community Health & Partnerships.

On April 15, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, a case that could answer the question, “Under what conditions, if any, are isolated human genes patentable?” Kevin Emerson Collins, JD, patent law expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis, believes that layered uncertainties make this case an unusually difficult case in which to predict the outcome.

Filibuster has become a popular tool for legislators. “Republicans have held the U.S. Senate hostage despite their minority status and losses in the last election,” says Merton Bernstein, emeritus professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. “Indeed, the threat of a filibuster enables the minority to exact concessions that the electorate had already rejected in several elections. This sabotage of the democratic process not only shuts down the legislative process, short circuits the confirmation of presidential nominees, but also threatens large foreign purchases of U.S. bonds that lower interest rates for federal, state and business borrowing.”

Two WUSTL offices earned gold-level certified in the first year of the Green Offices Program: the Institute for Public Health and Environmental Health & Safety. The program uses a points-based, self-assessment checklist so offices across the university can become sustainability champions. The plaques, made out of reclaimed lumber, embody the values of sustainability.

Either physical therapy or arthroscopic surgery can relieve pain and improve mobility in patients with a torn meniscus and arthritis in the knee, according to researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and six other centers. But the results are not simple because many of the patients assigned to physical therapy eventually had surgery.

The next generation science standards have been released and Washington University in St. Louis is playing significant roles. Michael Wysession, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences in Arts & Sciences, was among the 41-member writing team who helped write the standards. And WUSTL’s Institute for School Partnership (ISP) is poised to help schools implement them in the St. Louis region.

Multicultural Celebration Weekend, April 11-13, welcomes admitted students for a campus visit focused on diverse student life and learning opportunities. Freshman Lela Prichett shows off one of the shirts marking the weekend.

Acclaimed architect Daniel Libeskind discusses the role of drawing in his practice. The conversation centers on a pair of artist’s books he created in the early 1980, which are now in the collection of WUSTL’s Kranzberg Art & Architecture Library.