Page 664 – The Source | Washington University in St. Louis

Bowen book earns honorable mention for Laura Shannon Prize

A book by John Bowen, professor of anthropology and the Dunbar-Van Cleve Professor in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, received an honorable mention for the 2019 Laura Shannon Prize in Contemporary European Studies.

Operations & Strategy

Kickstarter fundraising and the power of helping projects

New research from Olin Business School on crowdfunding websites discovers that projects actually raise money faster just before they reach their funding goal.

Who Knew WashU? 1.16.19

Question: Famous aviator Charles Lindbergh received an honorary degree in absentia from Washington University in which year? (He planned to attend the ceremony but had to cancel on short notice.)

Campus & Community

Chancellor-elect Martin announces staff

Chancellor-elect Andrew D. Martin has announced three new members of his office staff: Rebecca Brown, Jill Clark and Nancy Lyons. Martin also has launched a new website.

Science & Technology

Traditional farming preserves diversity of Thai purple rice

Purple rice is a whole grain with high levels of antioxidants — and high levels of genetic diversity, thanks to traditional farming practices, according to new research from Washington University in St. Louis.

Elward named Children’s chief medical officer

Alexis Elward, MD, was named St. Louis Children’s Hospital chief medical officer. The appointment became effective Jan. 1.

Engineering

Using bacteria to create a water filter that kills bacteria

Engineers have created a bacteria-filtering membrane using graphene oxide and bacterial nanocellulose. It’s highly efficient, long-lasting and environmentally friendly — and could provide clean water for those in need.

Humanities & Society

WashU Expert: R. Kelly had ‘serious problem with power’

Allegations against R. Kelly have finally exploded into the #MeToo era with Lifetime’s “Surviving R. Kelly.” But the singer’s troubling behavior can be traced back decades. “There was a lot of sexual energy around Kelly that we as young people felt was a little bit dark and a little bit inappropriate and a little bit taboo,” says Jeffrey Q. McCune Jr., who studies race, gender and popular culture at Washington University in St. Louis. In the early 1990s, McCune was a student at Kenwood Academy, the Chicago magnet school Kelly had attended just a few years before — and a classmate to one of Kelly’s earliest accusers.

Medicine & Health

New hope for stem cell approach to treating diabetes

By tweaking the recipe for coaxing human stem cells into insulin-secreting beta cells, a team of researchers at the School of Medicine has shown that the resulting cells are more responsive to fluctuating glucose levels in the blood. The finding may lead to a new approach to treating diabetes.

McBride begins health policy role with HHS

Tim McBride, the Bernard Becker Professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, will begin a part-time contract appointment within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as assistant secretary for planning and evaluation in the Office of Health Policy.