Notables

The Africa Initiative at Washington University in St. Louis recently awarded three pilot grants of $10,000 each to research projects that will help advance health and human development in Africa.

The Dred Scott Heritage Foundation has selected Sowande’ Mustakeem, associate professor of history and of African and African-American studies, both in Arts & Sciences, as a recipient of its 2020 Dred Scott Freedom Award.

Menstruation is considered taboo in Ethiopia, and girls often miss school or drop out because of their periods. Freweini Mebrahtu designed a solution — and, with support from St. Louis-based charity Dignity Period, founded by a Washington University faculty member, it has benefited nearly 800,000 girls and women. Mebrahtu was recently named CNN’s “Hero of the Year.”

Washington University in St. Louis has again earned Tree Campus USA status from the Arbor Day Foundation for its commitment to effective urban forest management. 

The Association for Psychological Science (APS) has named Thomas Rodebaugh, professor of psychological and brain sciences in Arts & Sciences, an APS Fellow.

James Fitzpatrick, professor of neuroscience and of cell biology and physiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been elected biological sciences director of the Microscopy Society of America. He will serve a three-year term on the society’s governing council beginning in 2020.

Wouter Kool in Arts & Sciences was named a “Rising Star” by the Association for Psychological Science, an honor given to outstanding psychological scientists in the early stages of their postdoctoral research careers.

The Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis has received a $40,000 grant from the Art Works program of the National Endowment for the Arts.

Timothy Miller, MD, PhD, the David Clayson Professor of Neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and a group of his colleagues have received the inaugural Healey Center International Prize for innovation in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) research from the Sean M. Healey & AMG Center for ALS at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Nancy Berg, professor of Hebrew language and literature in the Department of Jewish, Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies in Arts & Sciences, has won a National Jewish Book Award for best anthology for the 2018 book “What We Talk About When We Talk About Hebrew (and What It Means to Amer­i­cans).”