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 | WUSTL RANKS 12TH FOR BEST VALUE: Washington University -- consistently ranked among America's 20 best national universities -- is now ranked 12th in the best value category, titled "Great schools at great prices." The University moved up two spots over last year, according to the new undergraduate rankings released by U.S. News & World Report.
CAMPAIGN FOR WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY RAISES $1.55 BILLION: When the Campaign for Washington University was concluded on June 30, the final tally broke all records. Gifts and commitments of $1.55 billion were received from alumni, parents, and friends, making this campaign by far the most successful in University history.
 HEAVENLY SPACE: Faculty, staff, and students have flocked into the new Earth and Planetary Sciences Building -- on Throop Drive, just north of Brookings Hall -- since the beginning of summer. Included in the building are modern laboratories equipped with state-of-the-art fume hoods; superb classrooms and attractive display areas, including a museum on the first floor; a display lobby on the second floor that will soon feature a replica of the Mars rover Spirit; and a gleaming, large library on the third and highest floor.
Research
WHAT DRUG IS RIGHT FOR YOU? Scientists have developed a new screening technique to help them look for genes that change patients' responses to cancer drugs and other medications. "This isn't the answer to everything in terms of finding these links, but it's an important breakthrough," says senior investigator Howard L. McLeod, Pharm.D., associate professor of medicine, genetics, and molecular biology and pharmacology.
 MONEY DOWN THE DRAIN: Paying extra for bottled water? You may be wasting your money, says Daniel Giammar, Ph.D., assistant professor of civil engineering and a faculty member in the Environmental Engineering Science Program: "Any differences between tap and bottled water, in terms of health, are negligible."
FINDING THE ‘WARM GUN’: It's a gruesome phenomenon, one that began in the '90s and has continued at a more rapid pace since: scores of deformed frogs flopping around as best they can, found often near cattle ponds and other wetlands throughout North America. Ecologists at Washington University and the University of Wisconsin point to farming practices and development as factors behind the high incidence of deformed frogs.
Features
 AN EXILE RETURNS: H.W. Janson (1913-1982) is among the 20th century's most influential art historians. Over the next two years, Exile and Modernism: H.W. Janson and the Collection of Washington University, an exhibition organized by the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, will travel to Germany, reintroducing Janson, professor of art history and curator of the University's art collection in the 1940s, to the country he fled to protest Nazi cultural policies.
PROJECT PEANUT BUTTER: Mark J. Manary, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics in the School of Medicine, may have found the solution to world hunger in a common pantry item. He sends starving children home with rations of fortified peanut butter. That technique is gaining acceptance among humanitarian aid groups and could become a new standard of care endorsed by the World Health Organization within two years.
THE POWER OF MATH: As parents are taking advantage of back-to-school sales and stocking up on supplies like calculators, pens and pencils, Jere Confrey, Ph.D., professor of education in Arts & Sciences, suggests they also may want to check out the quality of their children's math education. According to the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, among others, the United States continues to lag further behind other developed nations in mathematics education.
Heard on Campus
"I think I can safely say it's one of the best earth and planetary sciences buildings in the country."
- Raymond E. Arvidson, the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor and chair of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences in Arts & Sciences on the recently completed Earth and Planetary Sciences Building on the Hilltop Campus.
Kudos
Daniel T. Mamah, M.D., a fourth-year resident in the Department of Psychiatry of the School of Medicine, has been elected to the American Psychiatric Association's board of trustees.
John C. Morris, M.D., the Harvey A. and Dorismae Hacker Friedman Distinguished Professor of Neurology and principal investigator of Washington University's Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Alzheimer's Association, one of the most prestigious honors in the field of Alzheimer's research.
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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