Page 179 – The Source | Washington University in St. Louis

Samuels nominated for book award

“Infrastructural Optimism” by Linda C. Samuels, a professor of urban design at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, has been long-listed for the inaugural Pattis Family Foundation Global Cities Book Award.

Appointments & Promotions

Board of Trustees elects new members

The Washington University in St. Louis Board of Trustees has elected five new trustees to four-year terms, which took effect July 1.

Engineering

Good smells, bad smells: It’s all in the insect brain

Barani Raman and his lab at the McKelvey School of Engineering studied the behavior of the locusts and how the neurons in their brains responded to appealing and unappealing odors to learn more about how the brain encodes for preferences and how it learns.

Law

Trump indictment does not violate First Amendment

Former President Donald Trump was indicted this month over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. He plans to fight the charges by claiming in part that the prosecution would violate his right to freedom of speech. Not so, says First Amendment expert Greg Magarian.

Engineering

Fast ‘yes’ better for brain than slow ‘no’

Research from mechanical engineers Ruth Okamoto and Philip Bayly at the McKelvey School of Engineering finds that the brain’s vulnerability to head motion depends on the direction and frequency, not just impact strength.

Students

Brown students named ‘This is Public Health’ ambassadors

Brown School students Kate Gershwin and Will Hutson have been named to the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health “This is Public Health” ambassador cohort.

Climate & Environment

Fanning the flames

Research from Rajan Chakrabarty and Rohan Mishra at the McKelvey School of Engineering reveals an unexpected impact of wildfires on climate change.

Sociology

Why pay transparency laws alone are not enough

Illustration of a magnifying glass examining a stack of money

Sociologist Jake Rosenfeld has a lot to say about the taboo subject of pay.

Literature

A long night of the scholarly mind

Martin Riker directs the new publishing concentration in the Department of English in Arts & Sciences. Here, he talks about fear, imagination and delivering The Guest Lecture.

Law

Forging a convention for crimes against humanity

Law professor and international criminal lawyer Leila Nadya Sadat explains why she’ll ‘never give up’ in the pursuit of a global treaty to prosecute mass crimes taking place in Ukraine and around the world.