McKelvey School of Engineering

A project to provide low-cost eyeglasses for people in the developing world and one to develop a cell-death detector will share $25,000 to further develop their projects as winners of the 2014 Discovery Competition. Washington University in St. Louis’ School of Engineering & Applied Science created the competition in 2012.

That the WUSTL-connected contingent comprises 40 percent of this year’s Arch Grant winners is no surprise to H. Holden Thorp, PhD, provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs.

Get an up close look at the eight WUSTL-affiliated 2014 Arch Grant winners.

Washington University’s Bear Cub program is funding four innovative projects that have commercial potential. Pictured is William G. Hawkins, MD, who is developing a new treatment for pancreatic cancer.

Interdisciplinary student teams presented innovations designed to solve problems in health care at IDEA Labs’ Demo Day last month. Engineering student Matthew Burkhardt (seated) won a summer internship through the university’s Skandalaris Center to continue developing his team’s invention. His teammates are (from left) Yuni Teh, Katrina Leyden, Adina Stoica and Elizabeth Rosenberg.​

The Gephardt Institute for Public Service selected eight sophomores for its fourth cohort of the Civic Scholars Program. Civic Scholars enroll in two years of academic coursework related to civic leadership and are mentored to prepare for a life dedicated to public service. They also carry out a civic project the summer before their senior years.

More than a dozen distinguished individuals will speak at Commencement-related events later this month for graduates and their friends and families. The weeklong celebration culminates at 8:30 a.m. Friday, May 16, with WUSTL’s 153rd Commencement ceremony in Brookings Quadrangle.​​

Guy Genin, PhD, has been named a 2014 Global Scholars Fellow at Tsinghua University in Beijing. Genin, a professor of mechanical engineering in the School of Engineering & Applied Science, will be part of a team studying how engineers can help older adults make decisions about orthopedic surgeries involving rotator cuff repair.

Three biomedical engineering seniors at WUSTL are gaining national attention for the robotic prosthetic arm they developed for a 13-year-old St. Louis girl. Built on a 3-D printer, the arm  is cheap, functional — and pink.

Students from Eureka High School prepare their plane for launch during the Boeing Design Challenge at the Washington University Field House April 29. They were among 110 area high school students from six school districts on 26 teams who designed and hand-launched balsa wood gliders in different competitions, learning concepts of physics and engineering. The teams were assisted by engineers from Boeing Co.