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 |  CAMPAIGN TOPS $1.3 BILLION GOAL: Gifts and commitments to the Campaign for Washington University, totaling $1,317,387,505 as of February 28, have already made this the most successful fund-raising initiative in University history. The Campaign will be continued until the June 30, 2004, end date to fund remaining key objectives.
125 YEARS... AND GOING STRONG: Student Life, the University's independent student newspaper, recently celebrated its 125th anniversary. The newspaper, which counts as former staff members Michael Isikoff, the Newsweek correspondent who broke the Monica Lewinsky story, and Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Mike Peters, creator of "Mother Goose and Grimm," has documented some of the country's greatest crises and continues to do so. See Student Life newspaper online!
UNTOLD STORIES OF SLAVES WHO SUED FOR FREEDOM: Washington University is part of a collaboration that is preserving and making available online the pleadings of hundreds of African Americans who sued for their freedom in state courts during the early to mid-1800s. The Freedom Suits series includes images of hundreds of original hand-written documents in which black men, women, and children petitioned the court for freedom.
Research
 FLY, FLY AGAIN: A graduate student of evolutionary genetics is part of a research team which discovered that walking sticks regained flight after 50 million years of winglessness. The likelihood that re-evolution of these species may have occurred more than once means that the theory of evolution itself must continue to change.
PINPOINTING EPILEPSY: The source of epilepsy seizures cannot always be detected in the brain through typical imaging techniques. University researchers believe they have found a new way to find the location of the diseased part of the brain and perform accurate surgery.
FLUID INTELLIGENCE: Human intelligence is like a mental juggling act in which the smartest performers use specific brain regions to resist distraction and keep attention focused on critical pieces of information, according to a new brain imaging study conducted at the University.
BIVENTRICULAR PACEMAKER: February, which was Heart Month, brought good news for heart failure patients as University researchers concluded that a newly-developed implantable device, a biventricular pacemaker, reduces the risk of death from congestive heart failure by 40 percent. The two-component device prevents life-threatening heart-rhythm abnormalities.
Features
 SLEEPING ALONE: Infants who share a bed with siblings or adults are at a greater risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). In addition, new research shows that infant deaths due to bed sharing are far more common in African-American populations than in other races.
A DIFFERENT LOOK AT MEDICINE: Although pre-medical education is traditionally packed with the biological sciences, a new program in Arts & Sciences called Medicine & Society introduces biology-minded students to the relationships among culture, behavior, and health.
FROM REFINANCING A MORTGAGE TO PLANNING RETIREMENT: University system and network administrator Hugh Chou has invented a whopping 45 different calculators and put them on his Web site. Use his creations to calculate how long it will take you to earn a million dollars or how much money you can save by kicking the smoking habit.
Heard on Campus
"Not many people in this world love the health insurance industry. HMOs are down there with the tobacco industry in the basement of public esteem."
- Steffi Woolhandler, co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program, at the February 12 Assembly Series lecture
Kudos
Saulo Klahr, M.D., the John E. and Adaline Simon Professor of Medicine and professor of radiology, received the Edward N. Gibbs Memorial Lectureship & Award in Nephrology from the New York Academy of Medicine. The award honors a physician who has made significant scientific advances in kidney disease.
John McCarthy, Ph.D., professor of mathematics in Arts & Sciences, has been elected to the Council of the American Mathematical Society.
Michael Gross, Ph.D., professor of chemistry in Arts & Sciences, received the 2003 Midwest Award at the American Chemical Society's Midwest Regional Meeting for his contributions to the field of mass spectrometry.
Announcements
MARK YOUR CALENDARS now for Reunion Weekend 2003—May 15 - 18.
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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