Record

Andrey Shaw, MD, wanted to be a classical pianist and had just finished his bachelor’s degree in music when he realized that he didn’t like getting up on stage and performing in front of a crowd. Plan B was to study medicine. That didn’t quite work out exactly as planned, either, but it eventually lead him to a successful career researching the immune system, the kidney and anything else that catches his scientific interest.

Washington University’s Bear Cub Fund is soliciting grant applications from WUSTL researchers who want to move inventions from their laboratories toward commercialization.The application deadline is Nov. 30.

Bring your kids to a Safe Trick-or-Treat at 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29, in the South 40. WUSTL students will lead groups of children through the residence halls for an afternoon of trick-or-treating, games and refreshments. RSVP by Wednesday, Oct. 26, at (314) 935-5010.

Summer projects of more than 150 students will be showcased during the Undergraduate Research Symposium Saturday, Oct. 22. Itai Sened, honored as “Mentor of the Year,” will deliver the keynote address at noon in Room 300 of the Lab Sciences Building.

Help Bon Appetit evaluate the level of service and food in the WUSTL Dining Services cafes on the Washington University Campus by partcipating in a short online survey. From among those who complete the survey, two winners will be selected to win a $200 Visa Gift card.

University College, the continuing education and professional studies division of Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, will host a Dec. 1 reception for prospective students of the Master of International Affairs program. The reception will begin at 5:30 p.m. at Jimmy’s on the Park, 706 De Mun Ave. in Clayton.

Amy Kweskin regularly engages in what Barbara Feiner, the university’s CFO, calls “a balancing act.” As university treasurer, Kweskin works to ensure the university has enough liquidity to manage its day-to-day operations. But she also has to make sure the university is not keeping too much extra cash around, missing investment opportunities for longer-term gains. It’s a process that is “critical to the smooth running of our operations,” Feiner says.

Plan to visit this fall’s Health Happening health and wellness fair, titled “Walk this Way.” The fair will be held from 7:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Oct. 28 in the McDonnell Pediatric Research Building atrium. It is open to university faculty, staff and students.

To ensure broad communication, certain key university policies are published on an annual basis in a special policy section of the Record. All members of the university community are essential to the continued endeavor for excellence in WUSTL’s teaching, research, service and patient-care missions.

The Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research has announced the six winning teams of the 2011 University Research Strategic Alliance (URSA) grants. URSA grants offer a one-year, $25,000 award to full-time faculty members at WUSTL who begin a new collaboration with investigators from different disciplines. Researchers who receive the grant work together in a new area of research, or plan to approach a problem in a different way.