Newsroom Stories

Brain networks may avoid traffic jams at their busiest intersections by communicating on different frequencies, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, including Maurizio Corbetta, MD, and at other institutions have learned. Examining the temporal structure of brain activity from this perspective may help in understanding depression and schizophrenia.

At its spring meeting May 4, the Board of Trustees of Washington University in St. Louis elected seven new members to the board, re-elected seven members and elected officers, among other actions, according to Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton.

Five Arts & Sciences faculty nominated by undergraduate students in the College of Arts & Sciences were honored at the annual ArtSci Council faculty awards recognition ceremony on April 16 in the Women’s Building Formal Lounge. The ArtSci Council changed the name of the award to the James E. McLeod Faculty Recognition Award to honor the beloved dean of the college and vice chancellor for students, who died Sept. 6, 2011.

Some 80 area high school students will launch gliders they designed across WUSTL’s Field House as part of the Boeing Engineering Challenge to determine which has the farthest flight, the straightest path, the longest hang time, and highest quality of flight. The students created the planes out of balsa wood with consultation from engineers with The Boeing Company. The competition helps the students learn important concepts in physics and aerospace engineering.

Results of a new study from Washington University’s Drug Discovery Center demonstrate the feasibility of a novel strategy in drug discovery: screening large numbers of existing drugs — often already approved for other uses — to see which ones activate genes that boost natural immunity.

A week after transferring into WUSTL as an undergraduate, Todd Coady found himself in a chapter meeting of Engineers Without Borders. As a result, a school for the blind in Ethiopia has a five-year commitment from WUSTL students to help build a water tower. Coady, who will graduate May 18 with a bachelor’s of science degree in mechanical engineering, is the Record‘s Outstanding Graduate from the School of Engineering & Applied Science.

Members of the Class of 2015 enjoy pizza and Ted Drewes frozen custard April 25 outside Danforth University Center, as part of this year’s Freshman Finale. The Freshman Class Council and First Year Center sponsored this signature celebration in Graham Chapel. During the event, awards are presented to people who have had a positive impact on the freshman experience this year.

Mickey Turner and Katie Callaghan, the Record’s Outstanding Graduates from Olin Business School, knew when they met at MBA orientation in fall 2010 that their relationship would be more than a standard business alliance. The couple will be married this July.

A new gift of $5,350,000 from Wells Fargo Advisors to Washington University in St. Louis will support initiatives in the university’s Olin Business School and the Brown School that are designed to enhance and strengthen teaching and research, to apply new knowledge to affect positive societal change and to create pathways for the exchange of ideas between business and academia.

The Women’s Society of Washington University honored the legacy of two of the university’s most revered women at its annual meeting April 26. The society honored four exemplary college students with the Harriet K. Switzer Leadership Award and the Elizabeth Gray Danforth Scholarship at the Women’s Building Formal Lounge.