WUSTL alumna named 2012 NCAA Woman of the Year

2012 graduate Elizabeth Phillips was named the 2012 NCAA Woman of the Year, as announced at a ceremony Sunday in Indianapolis. Phillips is the third NCAA Division III student-athlete to win the award, joining Ashley Jo Rowatt of Kenyon College (2003) and Laura Barito of Stevens Institute of Technology (2011).

I-CARES Day Oct. 19 to feature talks by Raven, Kidder​​

The International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability (I-CARES) will celebrate its inaugural I-CARES day Friday, Oct. 19. The celebration will feature a talk by Peter H. Raven, former president of the Missouri Botanical Garden, on climate change and its impact on biodiversity, and a presentation by T.R. Kidder, professor and chair of anthropology, on the idea that we may be entering a new geological era, called the Anthropocene, in which humans are the primary geological change agents. There also will be activities for students, including a QR-code scavenger hunt.​

Brown School policy forum: ‘Affordable Care Act — the Evolution Continues’

Just two weeks before the presidential election, the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis puts the Affordable Care Act front and center with a policy forum on the signature legislation of Barack Obama’s presidency. “Affordable Care Act-the Evolution Continues” takes place at 8 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 23, in Brown Hall Lounge on the Danforth Campus. Keynoting Jay Angoff, senior advisor at the U. S. Dept. of Health and Human Services. Angoff is an expert on insurance law and insurance-related issues at both the national and state levels.

Faculty applications sought for community-based teaching and learning grants

The Gephardt Institute for Public Service invites WUSTL faculty to apply for grants to support their community-based teaching and learning (CBTL), also known as experiential education, engaged research and, most commonly, service learning. To support CBTL course development and implementation, the Institute awards up to five faculty grants of $2,500 each.

‘Politics, issues and theatrics’ of 2012 presidential election focus of Arts & Sciences panel discussion

Four Arts & Sciences faculty at Washington University in St. Louis will explore the “politics, issues and theatrics” of this year’s presidential election during a 6 p.m. panel discussion
 Thursday, Oct. 18, in the Laboratory Sciences Building, Room 300. The event, which is part of the Arts & Sciences Connections Series, is free and open to the Washington University community. A
 5:30 p.m. reception in Lab Sciences’ Rettner Gallery will precede the discussion, titled “Decision 2012.” 



A complex logic circuit made from bacterial genes

Engineer Tae Seok Moon has made the most complex logic circuit ever assembled in a single bacterium. The logic circuit, in which genes and the molecules that turn the genes on or off function as logic gates, the simple devices that form the basis for electronic circuits, is one step in an effort to make programmable bacteria that can make biofuels, degrade pollutants, or attack cancer or infections.

‘The Law School in the New Legal Environment Symposium’ is set for Oct. 26​

Academicians, business leaders, judiciary members and a key watchdog group will come together to discuss the future of legal education at “The Law School in the New Legal Environment Symposium” at Washington University School of Law Friday, Oct. 26. The symposium will examine issues such as affordability and access to legal education; faculty; preparation for practice; job placement; and online legal education and how it will change traditional law schools. “Lawyers and law students are facing serious challenges with employment, debt and career satisfaction,” says Kent D. Syverud, JD, dean of the law school. “This symposium will address how American law schools can embrace needed change rather than avoiding it.”