Peter Hovmand, PhD, associate professor of practice at the Brown School and founding director of the Social System Design Lab, has published “Community Based System Dynamics” (Springer 2013) for anyone interested in making communities around the world a better place using system dynamics.
A college savings account in a child’s name not only gives parents hope for the future, it also results in improved social-emotional health for their children. That’s the result of a new study released Jan. 27 online in JAMA Pediatrics. The study, led by Washington University in St. Louis’ Center for Social Development in collaboration with the state of Oklahoma, began in 2007 as SEED for Oklahoma Kids, an innovative policy experiment to invest in children at birth. The program automatically opened and deposited $1,000 in an Oklahoma college savings plan account for 1,360 newborns.
Commercials for the commercials? Arnold Schwarzenegger in tennis gear? A “Full House” reunion? Must be Super Bowl time. “It’s
interesting to see the experience of the Super Bowl ads lasting eight
to 13 weeks on average today compared to one day of viewing the ads
years ago,” says Carol Johanek, adjunct professor of marketing at
Washington University in St. Louis’ Olin Business School.
Biologist Joan E. Strassmann, PhD, was installed Jan. 23 as the Charles Rebstock Professor of Biology in Arts & Sciences in a ceremony in Holmes Lounge. Following the formal installation, Strassmann gave an entertaining talk about a high-stakes gamble she and Queller made 15 years ago: to switch from studying cooperation and conflict in social insects, famous for their complex societal arrangements, to studying it in an amoeba, whose claim to fame had been its simple lifestyle.
Lunar New Year festivities kicked off on campus last weekend with fireworks at Mudd Field. Celebrations continue this weekend, when the annual Lunar New Year Festival offers a student showcase of Asian dance and music.
The WUSTL Assembly Series turned 60 in 2013, and to mark the anniversary, we revisit why the lecture series was conceived in the first place. The Assembly Series launched during the institution’s centennial celebration in 1953 as a way to involve the broader St. Louis community in the robust intellectual life on campus.
The Career Center welcomes organizations for two events this week – the Mosaic SLAM, from 6-7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 28, in Tisch Commons, and the Spring Internship & Job Career Fair, from 3-7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 29, in the Athletic Complex.
Happiness will be the focus of Washington University’s Master of Liberal Arts Saturday Lecture Series that runs throughout February. Free and open to the public, the series is sponsored by University College, the professional and continuing education division in Arts & Sciences. All talks are set for 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. in January Hall, Room 110, on the Danforth Campus.
3.5 out of 12 — That is the score the Electronic Frontier Foundation gave President Obama’s highly anticipated address on NSA spying last week. And while lauding Obama for recognizing the dangers of government surveillance and the importance of discussing it, Washington University in St. Louis privacy law expert Neil Richards agrees that the president did not quite go far enough to protect individual privacy.
PB&Joy, WUSTL’s annual food drive, is looking for students, staff and faculty to assist in this year’s effort to collect kid-friendly foods for 135,000 St. Louis-area children.
