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IN THIS ISSUE:
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Research
Features
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HEARD ON CAMPUS
"One of the best indications of a good leader is the ability to motivate oneself in the face of frustration, to withstand adversity through trials of fire."
~ Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize-winning presidential historian, during her talk as the featured speaker at Founder’s Day on November 5, 2011, at the St. Louis Union Station Marriott
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KUDOS:
Ashley D. Brosius,
a senior in Arts & Sciences, and Fidel Desir, a 2010 Washington University graduate, were finalists for Rhodes Scholarships. Brosius and Desir were among 210 finalists from across the United States for the scholarship for graduate study at the University of Oxford in England. Rhodes Scholars are selected on the basis of their undergraduate academic achievements, personal integrity, leadership potential and physical vigor. |
Graham Colditz,
M.D., DrPH, the Niess-Gain Professor of Surgery and disease prevention expert at the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center, received the Medal of Honor for cancer control research from the American Cancer Society. Colditz received the society’s highest award along with three other individuals and a family for their contributions to the fight against cancer.
Parinaz Massoumzadeh,
Ph.D., staff scientist in the Department of Radiology, was one of eight American women chosen to participate in a U.S.-Brazil exchange program to recruit, retain and advance women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Massoumzadeh was chosen from among more than 500 applicants by the U.S. Department of State’s Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues.
Leila Nadya Sadat,
J.D., the Henry H. Oberschelp Professor of Law, recently received the 2011 Book of the Year Award from the American National Section of L’Association Internationale de Droit Pénal for Forging a Convention for Crimes Against Humanity.
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University News
Double or Nothing, a new “stickwork” by internationally known artist Patrick Dougherty, was commissioned this fall by the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts. Located on the south lawn of Givens Hall, the piece was constructed by Dougherty and Sam Fox School students and will remain on view through December 2013.
PHOTO: David Kilper
There is an undeniable romanticism to the sculpture of Patrick Dougherty. Working with the simplest of materials — sticks, branches and saplings — the North Carolina-based artist creates playful architectural forms that variously suggest nests, primitive shelters and fairy-tale castles. This fall, Dougherty enlisted dozens of students to help construct Double or Nothing, a new commission for the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts. Located along Forsyth Boulevard, on the south lawn of Givens Hall, the piece consists of two large woven-wood structures, each rising approximately 20 feet in the air. ... more
Washington University has joined 600-plus universities in more than 100 countries as a member of the United Nations Academic Impact. In response to world challenges, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon officially launched Academic Impact at U.N. headquarters in New York in November 2010. The global initiative was formed with the belief that the path to a peaceful, prosperous future is through education. Academic Impact seeks to create a better world by engaging academia and fostering a culture of shared intellectual social responsibility. ... more
With a concentration of high-tech startups second only to America, Israel — which has the second-most number of companies on the NASDAQ stock exchange — is considered the world’s next Silicon Valley. Twelve students from the John M. Olin School of Business will get a chance to view that innovation up close when they travel to Israel this month as part of a venture advising course aimed at exploring the country’s venture capital market. ... more
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Research
A forest of the fruiting bodies of the social amoeba Dictyselium discoideum. An amoeba that must succeed at both single-celled and multicellular living to pass on its genes, Dicty allows scientists to ask questions about cooperation and cheating in multicellular organisms.
PHOTO: Scott Solomon
Any multicellular animal poses a special difficulty for the theory of evolution. Most of its cells will die without reproducing, and only a privileged few will pass their genes. Given the incentive for cheating, how is cooperation among the cells enforced? In the December 16, 2011, issue of the journal Science, Washington University evolutionary biologists Joan Strassmann and David Queller suggest the answer is frequent population bottlenecks that restart populations from a single cell. ... more
New research shows that a legal drinking age of less than 21 is linked to a higher risk of homicides and suicides among adult women. The study, by researchers at the School of Medicine, is available online and will be published in the February 2012 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. “After Prohibition, most states had a drinking age of 21,” says senior author Richard A. Grucza, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychiatry. “In the late 1960s and early 1970s, as voting rights were extended to 18-year-olds, and people of that age were drafted to serve in Vietnam, a lot of states lowered their drinking ages. But by the late 1970s, we saw spikes in deaths related to driving under the influence (DUI) among young people, and states began to revert to a drinking age of 21.” ... more
Traditional product advertising — full-page magazine ads and 30-second television commercials — may be going the way of the rotary phone. Emerging concepts such as crowdsourcing, viral Internet campaigns, product placements and guerilla promotions will dominate the marketing and advertising landscape in 2012 and beyond, says a marketing expert at the John M. Olin School of Business. “Traditional expensive advertising is no longer effective given all the clutter, as well as the emergence of technologies, like digital video recorders, that block the ads from even being viewed, much less absorbed, by consumers,” says Seethu Seetharaman, Ph.D., the W. Patrick McGinnis Professor of Marketing. ... more
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Features
New studies of the brain by Benjamin Shannon, instructor in radiology at the School of Medicine, suggest that juvenile offenders might be able to “outgrow” their impulsivity.
PHOTO: Joe Angeles
Can juvenile offenders “outgrow” their impulsivity? According to new research by Benjamin Shannon, instructor in radiology at the School of Medicine, that might be possible. Shannon and colleagues interviewed incarcerated juveniles to gauge their impulsivity and scanned their brains to assess resting-state functional connectivity. ... more
The Supreme Court will hear several states’ legal challenges to the Affordable Care Act, ensuring that the court — in late June 2012 — will deliver a momentous statement about the ever-contentious constitutional balance between federal and state power. “The key element of the states’ lawsuits targets the act’s requirement that everyone in the country must purchase commercial health insurance,” says constitutional law expert Gregory P. Magarian, J.D., professor of law. ... more
As the holidays approached, many parents scanned the latest “recommended toy” lists as they made their final purchases. While educational toys are a fine idea, children receive the most benefit when their parents play with them and engage them in their new gifts. R. Keith Sawyer, Ph.D., associate professor of education in Arts & Sciences, offers advice to parents worried about making the right toy choices for their children. ... more
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