Newsroom Stories

An executive branch Inspector General played a critical role in exposing the IRS’s practice of targeting Tea Party groups, says Kathleen Clark, JD, anti-corruption expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. “As we see with the IRS controversy, an Inspector General investigation can cause heads to roll. Perhaps that’s why some government agencies have been without an Inspector General for a very long time – measured not in months, but in years.” Clark notes that the State Department has been without an Inspector General for more than five years.

Harrison “Jack” Schmitt, a geologist and Apollo 17 astronaut, will be visiting Washington University in St. Louis the week of May 20 for a round of activities centered on lunar exploration, including a seminar about Schmitt’s geological exploration of the Moon’s Valley of Taurus-Littrow, an “exploration forum” and the review meeting of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera’s team, which is being hosted by WUSTL’s Brad Jolliff.

Engineering students Andrew Brimer and Abigail Cohen have created a low-cost, portable spirometer which they hope will revolutionize the way asthma and other chronic respiratory diseases are diagnosed and treated. They credit the entrepreneurial spirit of Washington University with helping to nuture and push their device along.

​Notes from No Man’s Land, the book selected for Washington University’s 2013-14 First Year Reading Program, examines race in America through the unique perspective of author Eula Biss. Biss weaves her own experiences through essays about mixed families, lynchings, Americans behaving badly in Mexico, being a white reporter at an African-American newspaper, teaching at an inner city school and much more.​

Bethany Ehlmann, who graduated from WUSTL in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in earth and planetary science, has been selected as one of 17 Emerging Explorers by National Geographic. The Emerging Explorers Program recognizes and supports uniquely gifted and inspiring adventurers, scientists and innovators who are at the forefront of discovery, adventure and global problem-solving while still early in their careers.

Three WUSTL doctoral candidates were inducted into the Edward A. Bouchet Graduate Honor Society at the annual Bouchet Conference on Diversity in Graduate Education April 19-20 at Yale University. The Bouchet Society, named for the first African American to earn a doctorate in the United States, recognizes outstanding scholarly achievement and promotes diversity and excellence in doctoral education and the professoriate.

The Washington University School of Law Women’s Law Caucus (WLC) recently gathered with faculty, alumni, judges and attorneys to honor the organization’s 40th anniversary and to observe the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day. As part of the annual celebration, the WLC also presented the International Women’s Day honorary awards.

WUSTL neurologist John C. Morris, MD, has received the Alzheimer’s Association’s Medical and Scientific Award for 2013.

On May 15, the director of the U.S. Army’s Center for Army Leadership will travel from Fort Leavenworth, Kan., to preside over the St. Louis-area Army ROTC commissioning ceremony for graduates from Washington University, St. Louis University, Maryville University, Lindenwood University and Webster University.

The Graduate School of Arts & Sciences recognized 15 teaching assistants for exemplary performance during an April 25 ceremony in the Women’s Building Formal Lounge. Arts & Sciences departments and programs nominate outstanding teaching assistants for the annual award, which includes a $1,500 cash prize and certificate of recognition.