Notables

The Mastercard Impact Fund recently awarded the  Social Policy Institute (SPI) at Washington University in St. Louis a three-year, $1.5 million grant. Mastercard’s founding partnership of the SPI will further strengthen the institute’s ability to use research and data science to impact social policy and to promote inclusive growth in the St. Louis community and beyond.

William F. Tate, vice provost and dean of the Graduate School at Washington University in St. Louis, has been recognized by Education Week as one of the 10 most influential sociology scholars who study education in the United States.

Shannon Laine, an adjunct instructor in the nonprofit management master’s program in University College at Washington University in St. Louis, was selected as a 2020 St. Louis Business Journal “40 Under 40” honoree. Laine, president and CEO of HealthWorks! Kids’ Museum St. Louis, also is a graduate of the master’s program.

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.