In St. Louis, For St. Louis

When a WashU student becomes a St. Louis Fellow, they make a commitment to serve St. Louis effectively and responsibly, immersing themselves in the community and finding ways to contribute to positive progress in the region. As part of this commitment, St. Louis Fellows participate in Engage STL Days, during which they visit local neighborhoods and engage with community members.  

As part of the St. Louis Fellows Program, Harlem Taylor ‘27 and Daniel Niu ’26 worked at Cortex Innnovation Community this summer, supporting the organization’s mission to “accelerate inclusive economic growth in St. Louis.”  

WashU Olin Business School’s entrepreneurship program will award two $25,000 grants in December to WashU-founded or St. Louis-based startups.

In the spring 2024 semester, students in Assistant Professor Kelley Van Dyck Murphy’s Fields + Frames course created temporary public art installations in St. Louis’ Cortex Innovation District. The course was funded by a grant from the Office for Socially Engaged Practice and a teaching grant from the Sam Fox School.

To minimize the impact of man-made climate change, it is essential to significantly and rapidly decrease carbon dioxide emissions while simultaneously meeting the energy and manufacturing needs of a healthy and economically stable society. A powerhouse collaboration of universities and industry, led by the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, is embarking on a bold plan to transform manufacturing toward zero or negative emissions by converting carbon dioxide ultimately into environmentally friendly chemicals and products that create a circular economy.

In Missouri, women hold only two of the 10 seats in the U.S. House and Senate (20%), 55 state legislature seats (28%) and no statewide elected executive seats, according to the Center for American Women and Politics. Illinois fares somewhat better, with seven women among the 19 seats in the U.S. House and Senate (37%), 76 women in state legislature seats (43%) and two women among the six statewide elected executive seats. While both states are in line with nationwide averages, they still have a long way to go to achieve equity in women’s representation. A new program offered at Washington University in St. Louis aims to change that.

Early in the morning of a summer day, high school students Hope Jett and Kari Koerner are counting mosquitoes in a tree-canopied clearing of Tyson Research Center, Washington University in St. Louis’ sprawling environmental field station in west St. Louis County. They are part of the Mosquito Team, a WashU research project to better understand the ecology and evolution of mosquitoes.

This fall, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum at Washington University in St. Louis will present “Design Agendas: Modern Architecture in St. Louis, 1930s–1970s.” With nearly 300 architectural drawings, models, photographs, films, digital maps and artworks, “Design Agendas” is the first major exhibition to examine how interlocking civic, cultural and racial histories, as well as conflicting ideological aims, reshaped the city.

Washington University recently announced that Sandro Galea, MD, DrPH — one of the world’s most influential public health leaders — will become inaugural dean of its planned School of Public Health, effective Jan. 1, 2025. In this critical role, Galea will help shape WashU’s first new school in 100 years. The school is part of “Here and Next,” WashU’s 10-year strategic plan to make both the university and St. Louis a global hub for solving society’s deepest challenges.

The WashU & Slavery Project is an initiative started in spring 2021 to advance scholarship around WashU’s history with slavery. But the project is also reshaping public history in the St. Louis region by striving to add or improve information around slavery and racial discrimination at area historical sites, including the General Daniel Bissell House and the Missouri Botanical Garden.