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 |  SAVORING THE MEMORIES: The day that more than 2,500 students—and even more parents—had been waiting for finally came. Nearly 10,000 people shared in the tradition and excitement of the University's 142nd Commencement May 16 in Brookings Quadrangle.
THE PECK ERA IN MEDICINE: During his 14-year deanship of the School of Medicine, William A. Peck, M.D., has comfortably worn many hats—as businessman, negotiator, political figure, and more. As he steps down, he is most proud that the school is a great institution in every regard.
SARS GENOME SEQUENCED: While the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) virus continues to befuddle many, researchers at the University's Genome Sequencing Center sequenced the poorly understood human pathogen in what is possibly record time—less than a week—as part of an international effort to understand the microbe.
Research
 BREATHE DEEP: In the age of SARS, what the world needs is a better respirator, or breathing mask. A University mechanical engineer has designed a material using nanofibers so tiny and skinny that the entry of minute viruses and bacteria would be nearly impossible, while still allowing for a comfortable mask.
MOSQUITOES BITE: April showers brought not only May flowers, but also a new season of mosquitoes that may carry West Nile Virus. Even now, public health officials are setting mosquito traps to predict how many infected mosquitoes survived the winter and whether their progeny carry the virus.
SURVIVAL GAMES: While the issues confronting the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the U.S. equity markets are highly complex, a University professor of finance says speedy resolution is imperative. He suggests markets must evolve, and regulators must provide an environment in which the fittest survive.
SMOKING AND ADHD: Children and adolescents with a particular type of attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)—specifically, those with severe inattention but not hyperactivity—often do not get treatment and are at increased risk for cigarette smoking as they try to cope with their attention problems.
Features
 HEALTHY LAND = HEALTHY BODY: Early pioneers sought "healthy" places to live, found a University environmental historian while poring over stacks of 19th-century writings. Seeing the human body as linked with its surroundings, settlers set as one of the main criteria for choosing where to farm and raise a family whether the area would be a healthy place to live.
MORE SCIENCE, LESS FEAR: The clear, cold logic of science is the only approach that can take the hysteria out of the hot debate over genetically modified (GM) crops, says a University biologist. GM crops need more close scrutiny, based on scientific principles, and less fear.
GENETIC INTERCONNECTIONS: The notion of race in humans is completely a social concept without any biological basis, according to a University biologist, because there are not enough genetic differences between groups of people. The best predictor of overall genetic differences among humans is how far apart geographically the ancestral populations are.
Heard on Campus
"...baseball is a social institution with enormous social responsibility. [It] is a great game. It is interwoven into the fabric of our great country."
- Allan H. "Bud" Selig, Commissioner of Major League Baseball, speaking at the 36th annual dinner of the William Greenleaf Eliot Society on April 30
Kudos
William H. Gass, Ph.D., the David May Distinguished University Professor Emeritus in the Humanities and founder of the International Writers Center, both in Arts & Sciences, has won the prestigious PEN/Spielvogel Diamonstein Award in the Art of the Essay category for his book, titled Tests of Time. Read more!
Joel D. Cooper, M.D., the Evarts A. Graham Professor of Surgery and chief of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, was recently elected the 85th president of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery. Read more!
Carl M. Bender, professor of physics, and Thomas A. Woolsey, professor of experimental neurosurgery, have been awarded 2003 Guggenheim Fellowships. Read more!
Elected as fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science were Timothy J. Ley, M.D., the Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Professor in Medicine and professor of genetics, and Steven E. Petersen, Ph.D., the James S. McDonnell Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience and director of the Division of Neuropsychology in the Departments of Neurology and Neurological Surgery.
Announcements
Mark your calendars now for FOUNDERS WEEK, September 14-20, which will center around the Sesquicentennial, or 150th anniversary, of the University's founding. For more information about special activities, see http://150.wustl.edu.
WUSTL Links
About @ Washington University in St. Louis
This newsletter is prepared by the staff of the Office of Special Development Communications Projects and the Office of Alumni and Development Programs. It is intended to provide a summary of what is happening at the University. Alumni, parents, and friends of the University for whom we have valid e-mail addresses automatically receive @ Washington University in St. Louis as a service of the University.
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