Newsroom Stories

Applications are being accepted for new internal grant award program that provides seed funding for new interdisciplinary collaborative research projects.

Ron Cytron, PhD, professor and associate chair of computer science and engineering, was named an Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) fellow. The ACM fellowship recognizes the contributions of leaders in the computing field. … Anthony Fehr, a doctoral student in the Molecular Microbiology and Microbial Pathogenesis Program, received the $250 David M. Kipnis Award in […]

Federal investment in biomedical research is a major driver of jobs and economic activity. Two new reports highlight the ripple effects of this investment. One report, by the nonprofit coalition United for Medical Research, concludes that in 2010 alone, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) directly and indirectly supported nearly 500,000 jobs and produced nearly […]

Greece’s credit rating was reduced two levels to BB- by Standard & Poor’s this week, which said further reductions are possible as the risk of the country’s default increases. How can a nation facing its most severe economic crisis since the restoration of democracy in 1974 climb out of this deep recession? Reform may require a substantial weakening of labor unions in Greece, says an economist at Washington University in St. Louis who has studied the Greek economy.

Plants are less efficient at capturing the energy in sunlight than solar cells, mostly because they have to drag along evolutionary baggage. But scientists are already thinking of creative ways to fix the inefficiencies.

Washington University in St. Louis hydrogeologist Robert Criss, PhD, wasn’t particularly surprised by the spring floods on the Mississippi this year. Floods are becoming more frequent and more severe, he says. “We are increasingly constraining the river by building wing dikes and higher levees and then upping the ante by building in the river’s natural flood plains” Criss says. “There are far better ways to deal with this problem than have municipalities compete with one another to build the highest levee and fight over who has the right to be protected in times of distress.”

Within a year of starting classes at WUSTL, Kirsten Siebach, Outstanding Graduate in the College of Arts & Sciences, became the youngest member of the Phoenix Mars Lander science team in Tucson, Ariz. She’ll graduate May 20 with a double major in earth and planetary sciences and chemistry and a minor in English.

Ralph S. Quatrano, PhD, dean of the School of Engineering & Applied Science checks out the hand glider designed and built by Fort Zumwalt West students during the Boeing Engineering Challenge May 6 at the Athletic Complex. About 180 high school students from 10 area school districts launched hand gliders from the Field House balcony in a competition to determine which has the farthest flight, the straightest path, the longest hang time and highest quality of flight.

Commencement week begins with a variety of celebrations and ceremonies designed to warmly send Washington University in St. Louis’ Class of 2011 out into the world. First up: The Chancellor’s Dinner to Honor Graduating Seniors at 6 p.m. Monday, May 16. More than 1,200 are expected at America’s Center ballroom as Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton and the WUSTL community celebrates the accomplishments of the class and acknowledges its positive impact.

Architecture is a global profession. Just ask Aaron Plewke, who will receive his master’s degree May 20 from the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts. In recent months, Plewke, a Danforth Scholar in the Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design, and his fiance, fellow graduate student Meredith Klein, have designed and managed construction of WUSTL’s new East Asian Study Center in Shanghai — all from their studios in Givens Hall.