Notables

Julia Coric, a rising senior studying chemistry in WashU Arts & Sciences, has been selected as an Astronaut Scholar for the 2026-27 school year. She is among 79 students from 54 universities chosen for the prestigious award. 

WashU Medicine pulmonologist Steven Brody and neurologists Jin-Moo Lee and Timothy Miller have been elected to the Association of American Physicians.

WashU was ranked ninth among U.S. universities in the inaugural Cure Innovation Index, an assessment of how effectively institutions translate research advances into market-ready innovations. The index cited WashU’s biomedical research capabilities and support for commercialization and innovation, among other strengths.

The conclusion of the NCAA season brought success to a number WashU student athletes, including the women’s tennis team and track-and-field athlete Peter Lichtenberger.

The Riverfront Times print editions from 1977–2013 are now available to researchers at WashU Libraries’ Department of Special Collections. WashU curators undertook the project to ensure a valuable local history resource is preserved and usable by researchers.

WashU Medicine researchers Randall J. Bateman, MD, and David M. Holtzman, MD, were honored for their work developing diagnostic blood tests for Alzheimer’s disease with the Bayh-Dole Coalition’s 2026 American Innovator Award.

WashU Law’s national moot court team finished among the top four teams at the ABA National Appellate Advocacy Competition, the largest and most competitive moot court competition in the country.

Joseph M. Jez has been named vice dean of graduate studies in WashU Arts & Sciences, effective July 1, announced Feng Sheng Hu, the Richard G. Engelsmann Dean of Arts & Sciences. He succeeds Sophia Hayes.

Douglas Flowe, an associate professor of history in WashU Arts & Sciences, has been named a 2026-27 fellow of the National Humanities Center.

Natalie Mueller, ​an assistant professor of archaeology in WashU Arts & Sciences, is one of two recipients of the Cromwell Harbor Foundation’s inaugural Chrysalis Prize, which recognizes promising early-career scholars with $250,000 in unrestricted support, mentorship and entry into a growing cohort of multidisciplinary thinkers.