Newsroom Stories

Linda Nicholson, PhD, the Susan E. and William P. Stiritz Distinguished Professor in Women’s Studies in Arts & Sciences, has been named the new ombuds for Danforth Campus faculty at Washington University in St. Louis. The Office of Ombuds was established in September 2010 to provide faculty a confidential, informal place to discuss concerns about the university, its policies or its procedures.

Children who use inhaled steroid drugs for asthma end up slightly shorter at their full adult height than children who don’t use the drugs, new results from a comprehensive asthma study show. The study’s senior author is Robert C. Strunk, MD, the Donald Strominger Professor of Pediatrics.

Despite its midwest location, far away from massive NASA mission control centers in Cape Canaveral, Fla., or Pasadena, Calif., WUSTL can boast at least seven graduates (and one current student) now making key contributions to NASA’s latest mission to Mars, “Curiosity.”

Barak A. Cohen, PhD, and Robi D. Mitra, PhD, have been named Alvin Goldfarb Distinguished Professors of Computational Biology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Soil bacteria and bacteria that cause human diseases have recently swapped at least seven antibiotic-resistance genes, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine report on Aug. 31 in Science.

What’s more important for a child’s success: Learning math or learning resiliency? Veteran journalist and educational reform advocate Paul Tough will discuss his new book, How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity and the Hidden Power of Character at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 11, at Washington University in St. Louis.

Gerald Early, director of the Center for the Humanities at Washington University in St. Louis, and Leslie Berlowitz, president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, will host the third national meeting of the Academy’s blue-ribbon Commission on the Humanities and Social Sciences. The event, which will take place at the Missouri History Museum Sept. 7, will feature more than a dozen  local arts leaders testifying to the importance of the humanities and social sciences in public life and lifelong learning.

Researchers from the new interdisciplinary Center for Biological Systems Engineering at Washington University will host its inaugural symposium, sponsored by Lockheed Martin, from 8 a.m.-3:45 p.m. Friday, Sept. 7, in Whitaker Hall, Room 100. Rohit V. Pappu, PhD, professor of biomedical engineering, directs the new center. Lockheed Martin is sponsoring the symposium.

New freshman Angela Lee wears a crown to signify her Brookings Residential College mascot, the “kings,” during Convocation Aug. 23. Incoming students sit with fellow members of their residential colleges during the annual orientation event, which formally welcomes new students and their parents into the WUSTL community. Festivities include a torchlight procession into Brookings Quadrangle for Ted Drewes.