Bear Beginnings: Campus provides welcome to new students

Members of the Class of 2015, new transfer and exchange students, and their parents and family members are arriving on campus this week. They will be welcomed with a variety of activities during Bear Beginnings: New Student Orientation, which begins Thursday, Aug. 25, and continues through Monday, Aug. 29.

Go for the juggler: Mark Nizer in 3-D

He may not run with scissors, but Mark Nizer is the juggler your mother always warned you about. Buzzing chainsaws, electric carving knives, 16-pound bowling balls, even a flaming propane tank — all are tossed aloft and twirled about with gleeful abandon. On Sept. 17, Nizer will launch Edison’s ovations for young people series with 3-D, his latest draw-dropping one-man show. 

Memorial service for Schonfeld Sept. 23

A memorial service for Gustav Schonfeld, MD, the Samuel E. Schechter Professor and former head of the Department of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, will be held at 4:30 p.m. Sept. 23 in the Moore Auditorium in the North Building.

New center fosters bench-to-bedside medicine

Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has launched a new center devoted to turning innovations developed in the laboratory into improved treatments at the patient’s bedside. Led by David T. Curiel, MD, PhD, the Biologic Therapeutics Center will foster translational medicine and support a quicker transition of knowledge from the lab to the clinic.

Corporate political spending must be disclosed, says securities law expert

Investors are highly interested in information regarding corporate political spending, says Hillary Sale, JD, securities and corporate governance expert and the Walter D. Coles Professor of Law at Washington University in St. Louis. “The SEC should address the need for transparency in political spending to better inform shareholders and allow them to protect themselves from hidden political agendas in corporate campaign spending,” she says. 

Sukkah City STL

The Sukkah is an ancient yet ephemeral form of architecture. In Jewish tradition, these small temporary structures — places to share meals, entertain, sleep and rejoice — are erected each autumn during the weeklong holiday of Sukkot. In October, the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, in partnership with St. Louis Hillel at Washington University and The Museum of ImaJewnation, will host Sukkah City STL, a design competition and exhibition that reimagines the Sukkah through the lens of contemporary art and architecture.

WUSTL earns silver rating in AASHE STARS sustainability measurement

Washington University in St. Louis has earned a silver rating in the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) inaugural Sustainability Tracking Assessment and Rating System (STARS) program. STARS is one of the first tools to attempt to holistically measure sustainability efforts on college campuses.

Risk of autism in siblings nearly double prior estimates

Siblings of children with autism are known to be at increased risk for autistic spectrum disorder, but now researchers at the Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine led by John N. Constantino, MD, report the risk is substantially higher than previously believed. Their results show that 19 percent of infant siblings develop the disorder by age 3.