Newsroom Stories

Innate differences in immunity can be detected at birth, according to new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. First author Kaharu Sumino, MD, and her colleagues say babies with a better innate response to viruses have fewer respiratory illnesses in the first year of life.

Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton will confer degrees at the 151st Commencement ceremony, which begins at 8:30 a.m. Friday, May 18, in Brookings Quadrangle on the Danforth Campus. The 2,760 candidates will receive 2,878 degrees, of which 1,450 are undergraduate and 1,428 are graduate and professional.

Senior class president Alex Cooper views his time at Washington University in St. Louis as truly “transformative.” When he takes the podium during the 151st Commencement ceremony May 18, he will urge fellow graduating seniors to reflect back on their time at the university, paying special attention to the key relationships that have fostered growth.

Washington University’s 151st Commencement will begin at 8:30 a.m. Friday, May, 18, in Brooking Quadrangle. Mike Peters, the 1981 Pulitzer Prize winner for editorial cartooning and creator of the award-winning cartoon strip Mother Goose & Grimm, will deliver the 2012 Commencement address. The university will bestow academic degrees on more than 2,700 undergraduate, graduate and professional students and six individuals, including Peters and Gloria Steinem, will receive honorary degrees.

Rising senior Justin Blau is on a mission. Blau, a finance major at Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, is more widely known by his stage name, 3LAU. He plans to use his status as a rising star in the electronic music world to raise money for schools for underprivileged children in developing nations.

Commuters who normally drive near Washington University in the morning may want to consider an alternative route or take Metro  on Friday, May 18. Traffic around the university will be very heavy Friday morning due to the university’s annual Commencement ceremony, which begins at 8:30 a.m. Traffic backups should be anticipated on streets near the university, especially Forsyth, Big Bend, Forest Park Parkway and Skinker.

Washington University School of Medicine students Nathan Moore and Elisabeth Askin collaborated to produce a clear and concise guide to the U.S. health-care system called the Health Care Handbook. The book is a topical overview of the system, aimed primarily at undergraduate and graduate health professions students.

Tingting Wu, the Record’s Outstanding Graduate in architecture from the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, has a strong interest in blending natural wilderness with man-made wilderness. A native of Shanghai, China, she creates architecture at the intersection of art and landscape.

School of Medicine researchers have found evidence that early drug and alcohol use is associated with lower levels of educational achievement. They found that people who began drinking or using drugs as young teens or who became substance dependent were less likely to finish college.

Marion G. Crain, JD, the Wiley B. Rutledge Professor of Law and a Faculty Fellow in the Office of the Provost at Washington University in St. Louis, has been named vice provost, announced Edward S. Macias, PhD, provost, executive vice chancellor for academic affairs and the Barbara and David Thomas Distinguished Professor in Arts & Sciences.