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McLeod honored for contributions to geoscience information

Clara McLeod, earth and planetary sciences librarian for University Libraries, received the 2019 Mary B. Ansari Distinguished Service Award of the Geoscience Information Society at the society’s annual meeting last month in Phoenix. The honor recognizes significant contributions to the field of geoscience information.

Performing Arts

‘She gets to be who she is’

With her pink suits, chippy chihuahua and Greek chorus of sorority sisters, Elle Woods seems to have it all. But when her well-bred boyfriend, Warner Huntington III, leaves UCLA for Harvard Law, Elle’s dreams for the future come crashing down. So begins “Legally Blonde,” a musical adaptation of the 2001 film, which explores themes of personal identity, social expectations and what it means to be authentic.

Physical Sciences

DOE funds new physics research in dark matter

While evidence for dark matter is strong, the nature of dark matter has remained a mystery. James H. Buckley, professor of physics in Arts & Sciences, is part of a research team searching for axions — very light, invisible particles streaming through the cosmos.

Science & Technology

When WiFi is weak, send noise instead

WiFi protocols have a limit to how little data will be transmitted, after which, communication is cut off. Now researchers, including the McKelvey School of Engineering’s Neil Patwari, have found a way around this limitation.

Alzheimer's

Dementia patients’ adult kids diagnosed earlier than their parents

A new School of Medicine study indicates that people with dementia — whose parents also had dementia — develop symptoms an average of six years earlier than their parents.

Mental Health

Suicide attempts among black adolescents on the rise

While suicide attempts decreased overall among U.S. adolescents between 1991 and 2017, they increased by 73% among black adolescents, finds a new study from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.

Orthopedics names new executive vice chair, vice chairs

Regis J. O’Keefe, MD, PhD, the Fred C. Reynolds Professor and head of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, recently selected Charles Goldfarb, MD, as executive vice chair. Six other faculty members also were appointed to serve as vice chairs.

Zhang and Liu discover a new class of circular RNAs

Weixiong Zhang, professor of computer science and engineering at the McKelvey School of Engineering and of genetics at the School of Medicine, along with his doctoral student Xiaoxin Liu, discovered and studied a new class of circular RNAs by analyzing enormous amounts of genetic data from humans, mice and rice. After having biologists at Jianghan University […]

Agonafer receives ASME Early Career award

Damena Agonafer, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and materials science, received the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ Electronics and Photonics Packaging Division 2019 Early Career Award.

Campus & Community

International research proposals sought

Several Washington University centers, programs and institutes are currently offering research funding opportunities — including seed funding — for faculty engaged in international collaborative research. Several have deadlines in November.