Newsroom Stories

Shirley Sahrmann, PhD, professor of physical therapy, of neurology and of cell biology and physiology in the School of Medicine, is at the forefront of teaching physical therapy. Her latest textbook teaches physical therapists to use the movement system to classify and categorize musculoskeletal pain problems, make accurate diagnosis and better treat the patient.

The premise behind Tom Bernatowicz’s innovative introductory physics course is that students should understand — even if they sometimes can’t fully share — the enthusiasm physicists feel their work. “We love physics, and we want our students to love it, too,” says Bernatowicz, PhD. “We’re not saying we’ll make it easy just so that they’ll love it, but we do want them to understand because it’s something we ourselves cherish and we want them to see how great it is.”

In Counting from Zero a computer security expert named Mick O’Malley must track down and thwart an enormous botnet, or network of zombie computers organized to receive commands over the Internet and perform the hacker’s bidding. The novel, by Alan B. Johnston, who teaches engineering courses at Washington University in St. Louis, is both a fast read and a chilling tutorial on the the increasingly serious threats to computer security.

Amidst the chaos of the most recent Liberian Civil War, four women are kidnapped and forced to serve as “wives” to a rebel warlord. It is perhaps the unlikeliest community imaginable, and daunting territory for any dramatist. Yet Eclipsed, a recent work by acclaimed actress and playwright Danai Gurira, is at once sharp-edged, humanizing and surprisingly funny — a portrait of resilience in even the most difficult of circumstances. In April, Washington University’s Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences will present Eclipsed for six performances in the A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre.

Renovations to the WUSTL Campus Store, located in the Mallinckrodt Center on the Danforth Campus, continues. Renovations began in December to expand the store, add a new entrance, update interior space and create a more open floor plan. The expansion will provide more space for academic general books, academic course material, clothing, gifts, convenience items and social events.

Jack C. Taylor, philanthropist and founder of Enterprise Holdings, has given Washington University in St. Louis $25 million for undergraduate scholarships on behalf of the company, Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton announced. The gift will be added to the existing endowed scholarship fund that was established in 2001 by Enterprise Holdings, the parent company of Enterprise Rent-A-Car, National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car.

Pan Li, PhD, and Junjie Zhang, both trainees in the laboratory of Yoram Rudy, PhD, the Fred Saigh Distinguished Professor of Engineering, received awards for best poster presentations in the 2011 Gordon Research Conference on Cardiac Arrhythmia Mechanisms in Galveston, Texas, Feb. 13-18. Li received first prize for his project, “A Model of the Cardiac […]

Members of the Japanese Happy Hour (JHH) sold T-shirts in the Shell Lobby March 23 to raise funds for Japanese relief organizations.

Design is a problem solver. Design is a provoker, a test lab for change. Design is a tool for breaking old patterns and discovering new ways of thinking. So argues Alan Webber, cofounder of Fast Company, the pioneering magazine written for and about progressive business leaders. At 6:30 p.m. Monday, April 4, Webber will deliver the annual Eugene J. Mackey Jr. Lecture for the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts. The talk is co-sponsored by the Olin Business School. 

The New York Times will begin charging users for online content March 28. No American news outlet as big as the paper has put its content behind a paywall after offering it for free. Will it be successful? Two marketing professors at Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis debate the merits of a paywall.