Mellon Foundation gives WUSTL $550,000 to preserve Eyes on the Prize

WUSTL has received a four-year, $550,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to preserve Henry Hampton’s award-winning civil rights documentary Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965 as well as Hampton’s complete, unedited interviews recorded on film for the documentary.

Despite pivotal post-WWII role in developing legal frameworks, United States appears threatened by international law

With over a dozen states considering banning Sharia (Islamic law) in their courts, laws governing other countries are facing increased scrutiny. “This is emblematic of U.S. fears about international law,” says Leila Nadya Sadat, the Henry H. Oberschelp Professor of Law and director of the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute at Washington University in St. Louis. “International law has become a ‘whipping boy’ for the ills that are being felt because of globalization.” Sadat say that this is unfortunate because the United States proudly led the trial of the major German leaders at the end of World War II at Nuremberg. “In fact, the entire post-World War II framework of modern international law was, if not an American creation, at least American inspired and American driven,” she says.

Notables

Of note Jeffrey G. Catalano, PhD, assistant professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences, has received a five-year, $460,000 grant from the National Science Foundation for research titled “Nanoscale Mineral Transformations During Biochemical Cycling and the Fate of Trace Elements and Nutrients.” … Jeff Gill, PhD, professor of political science in Arts […]

The Aluminum Show at Edison April 30

Pliable, durable and lightweight, aluminum is the most abundant metal in the earth’s crust, used to make everything from soda cans to airplane wings to electrical transmission lines. Yet even this most versatile of elements is put to the test by The Aluminum Show, the international sensation coming to Edison Theatre April 30. Aluminum is puffed into pillows, shot out of cannons, sewn into costumes, wrapped around audience members and transformed into living creatures of astonishing warmth and complexity.

Measuring political bias of network news

That FOX Broadcasting Company has a conservative slant and MSNBC skews liberal may reflect widespread opinion, but a Washington University in St. Louis study suggests that news networks’ biases can be measured. Published in March 2011 in the journal Behavioral Research Methods, the findings are important in their validation of a new research tool developed by Washington University psychologists, according to lead author Nicholas Holtzman, a graduate student in psychology in Arts & Sciences at the university.

Creativity heals

A group of adults meets regularly in a room at the Center for Advanced Medicine at Washington University Medical Center to learn how to shade with charcoals, master watercolor strokes, and mold and shape clay. These students may be rediscovering art after many years or learning techniques for the first time. But they also share another common bond — battling cancer.

Events celebrate week of Earth Day

WUSTL will celebrate Earth Day Friday, April 22, and many sustainability-themed events are planned for the week of April 18-23 throughout the Danforth and Medical campuses, including an owl walk, bike ride, Low-Carbon Cook-Off and Green Cup awards ceremony.

Rescue doctors provide on-scene care

Washington University has the only Emergency Medical Services (EMS) program in Missouri that routinely sends emergency medicine physicians along with its own ambulances to treat trauma patients at disaster scenes.

The role of food in American culture

The role of food, and of meals shared and meals denied in the struggle for American citizenship, will be the topic of Rafia Zafar’s Phi Beta Kappa Lecture at 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 20, in Lab Sciences, Room 300. This Assembly Series event, the final one for this academic year, is free and open to the public.
View More Stories