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 |  150TH BIRTHDAY PARTY: "No one could have wished for a happier 150th birthday party," according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. From Chancellor Mark Wrighton's chemical wizardry to law students' trial of Goldilocks vs. The Three Bears before a jury of children to an evening concert by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in Brookings Quadrangle, everyone had a great time.
BIODEFENSE RESEARCH: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently awarded grants totaling some $350 million over five years to eight Regional Centers of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research. Washington University will anchor the Midwest Center.
NEW NAME, EXPANDED MISSION: The 13-year-old International Writers Center has been renamed the Center for the Humanities. Although it will continue to focus on literature and the act of writing, it will expand its reach within the humanities to be more inclusive of other scholars and various segments of the larger community.
Research
NO MORE BIFOCALS: Scientists at the Veterans Affairs Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine are developing a gel-like material that eventually could be used to replace diseased and aging lenses in the eyes of patients with cataracts, perhaps meaning the end of bifocals and contact lenses for millions of people who suffer from presbyopia ("old vision").
DEALING WITH CARBON DIOXIDE: As global temperatures continue to rise, many methods have been proposed to deal with the excess of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. An environmental engineer at Washington University just wants the problem to go away - out of the atmosphere, into the earth.
TONSILITIS: Infection of the tonsils, or tonsilitis, is one of the most common infectious diseases of childhood, and more than 400,000 tonsillectomies are performed annually in the United States. Now researchers at Washington University School of Medicine may have found out why tonsilitis keeps coming back.
Features
 CHEAPSKATES: Psychologists at Washington University say you may be cheaper than you think. They have found that the larger the bill, the smaller the tip percentage that waiters, waitresses, hair stylists, and cab drivers receive.
ADDICTED TO THE BURN: Since the 1980s, Americans have recognized the importance of exercise as part of a healthy lifestyle. But for some people, exercise can turn into an addiction. George Warren Brown School of Social Work researchers have found that symptoms of exercise dependence are common among college-age adults, and significantly higher in college-age women.
OUCHLESS EMERGENCY TREATMENT: Nobody - especially a child - likes to get pricked by a needle, much less have a broken arm set without anesthesia. At St. Louis Children's Hospital, doctors are taking the national lead for some advances in the management of procedural pain for children.
Heard on Campus
"Our understanding of both universities and freedom of speech derives from the idea that we are engaged in the search for truth."
- Lee Bollinger, president of Columbia University, speaking on the topic "The Foundations of the Principle of Academic Freedom" in the Assembly Series lecture on September 10.
Kudos
Jeff M. Michalski, M.D., assistant professor of radiation oncology, has been inducted as a Fellow in the American College of Radiology.
Richard Chapman, senior lecturer in screenwriting in the Film and Media Studies Program in Arts & Sciences, was nominated for a 2003 Emmy Award for the HBO original film, "Live from Baghdad."
Rebecca Rotello, a May 2003 graduate with a bachelor's degree in biology and the 2002 American Volleyball Coaches Association Division III Player of the Year, has been named the NCAA Woman of the Year for the state of Missouri. The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will select the national winner from 10 finalists. The award honors outstanding female athletes who have excelled in academics, athletics, and community leadership.
Announcements
October 17-19: Parents Weekend and Homecoming
October 20: Dedication of Uncas A. Whitaker Hall for Biomedical Engineering
WUSTL Links
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