WashU’s Rural Scholars Academy welcomed its third cohort of 36 incoming high school juniors to campus this month for college classes, admissions workshops and field trips to St. Louis attractions. New this year — the opportunity to meet the first graduates of the academy who will attend WashU.
A new webpage, “From Lab to Real Life: The Impact of WashU Research,” is now available for viewing and sharing. The page highlights how Washington University in St. Louis’ research drives meaningful change in society. The platform showcases groundbreaking discoveries and innovations that improve lives — locally, nationally and globally.
Each year, the Data Management & Analytics team quantifies the university’s economic effects in the St. Louis region by collecting, combining, and analyzing data from several sources. Our work—in collaboration with the WashU Office of Government & Community Relations and other partners across the university—provides a comprehensive, data-driven view of WashU’s impact, published annually in the Community and Economic Benefit report. The most recent edition of the report highlights WashU’s growing role as a regional economic engine.
WashU founders Fortuna Kadima (EN ’26) and Ethan Ng (EN ’27) are building the digital backbone of future-ready school districts with their startup Connect. The startup is actively partnering with schools across St. Louis, including Jennings, Maplewood Richmond Heights, Parkway (Spark), Ritenour, and WashU to pilot tools that enhance safety and strengthen student-teacher relationships, making schools more human-centered and better organized.
Fiancee founders and WashU grads Matthew Bitner-Glindzicz and Danielle Wilder have developed a product to help save lives. It’s called Nalox-1, and their company, nCase Tech, is all in on St. Louis.
Getting more rural kids to college has seen a big push here in St. Louis and at Washington University. WashU has pledged to ramp up its outreach to rural students.
This summer, Civic Scholar Margo Ogrosky ‘26 is making waves by providing mental health rehabilitation through art seminars and young adult programming at the Independence Center. The Independence Center uses the “Clubhouse Model,” a psychosocial rehabilitation program for adults living with severe and persistent mental illness in the St. Louis region. Rather than operating from a clinical perspective, the Independence Center emphasizes community, connection, and empowerment as integral to healing.
This summer, St. Louis Fellow Dalen Ainsworth ‘27 is applying his technical skills in service of community transformation. As an intern at the Cabanne District Community Development Corporation (CDC), Ainsworth supports neighborhood revitalization through solar energy, digital infrastructure and disaster relief efforts. The work at the Cabanne District CDC focuses on addressing energy needs within the district, through innovative and renewable methods. It also has a major focus to prepare the next generation of leaders, by providing educational opportunities for the youth.
On Wednesday, June 11, three St. Louis Fellows in the Goldman Fellows cohort — Jerry Liao ‘26, Jayden Urioste ‘27, and Briannah Anderson ‘26 — joined a community-wide volunteer day in O’Fallon Park to clean up debris following the May 16 tornado and to build new walking trails. The volunteer day was led by St. Louis City Forestry, where Liao and Urioste are both interning this summer as part of the St. Louis Fellows Program, in collaboration with other local non-profits such as The Sierra Club, Open Space STL, and the Ozark Trail Association.
In June, St. Louis Fellows and Gephardt Institute staff contributed hands-on support to tornado recovery efforts in North St. Louis as part of an Engage St. Louis Day. Despite the summer heat, 35 St. Louis Fellows and six Gephardt staff members rose early on Saturday, June 21 to join Black Power Blueprint and lend their labor to recovery efforts that are still underway over a month after a devastating May 16 tornado that ripped through the city.