The Hunt for a Zika Vaccine

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In Zika Hunt, Is Fruit Fly a Missing Link?

Drosophila melanogaster—the common fruit fly—may be best known as the micro-speck pest who spoils summer picnics. But in a SEH biology laboratory, Ioannis Eleftherianos and a team of student researchers are putting the humble insect under the microscope in a global race against time to find a Zika virus vaccine. Read more.

Noted Faculty Join the College Ranks

A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, a Fulbright Fellow in sociology and a bestselling novelist are among the 23 new faculty members welcomed to Columbian College this year, bringing the total number of full-time scholars to 496 and enhancing the college’s strengths in disciplines across the sciences, social sciences and humanities. Read more.

New Research Grants Propel Discoveries

From a search for malaria and tuberculosis treatments to advances in nuclear physics and mathematical knot theory, it has been a banner year for major new research grants at Columbian College. New awards are funding research to chart pulsars, uncover fossils and investigate Arctic climate change. Read more.

GW is ‘Most Politically Active Campus’

George Washington University students were named the “Most Politically Active Students” in the nation, according to a Princeton Review survey of colleges and universities. It was the fourth straight year GW has claimed the top spot. Students were recognized for their heightened political awareness and engaged political organizations. Read more.

Reporter Rezaian Named SMPA Fellow

Jason Rezaian, a Washington Post reporter who spent more than 18 months as a captive in an Iranian prison, was named a Distinguished Fellow to the School of Media and Public Affairs. The acclaimed journalist covered two presidential elections and served as the Post’s bureau chief in Tehran when his family's home was raided and he was imprisoned by Iranian police in 2014. Read more.

Corcoran Class Sculpts 3D Technology

Imagine future artists teaming with surgeons to craft 3D-models of human organs. That’s one of the potential life-changing applications of 3D printing highlighted by Corcoran’s Davide Prete in his class, Sculpture and New Technologies. A multimedia artist, Prete encourages students to experiment with 3D imaging tools and software while honing more traditional skills. Read more.

Making Dreams Come True: Donors and Recipients Stories

Sara Pool’s, MA ’16, dream of studying to be a speech pathologist were nearly derailed by financial woes. Then she met Janet Lambert, who, with her late husband Eugene Lambert, BA ’57, funded a stipend for graduate students in danger of dropping out. The pair and other scholarship recipients tell their inspiring stories. Watch video.

Alumna Soars With ‘Fearless Flying’ Mixed-Media Exhibit

For years after her flight was detoured on 9/11, Marian Osher, MFA ’72, was terrified to step on a plane. But the mixed-media artist crafted abstract paintings and wall hangings to help her overcome her fear of flying. Her exhibition Fearless Flying in 2016! is on display at the Virginia Science and Technology Campus. Read more.

In the Spotlight

Lisa Benton-Short wrote the book The National Mall: No Ordinary Public Space.

Steven Livingston won the Doris Graber Award from the American Political Science Association for his book When the Press Fails: Political Power From Iraq to Katrina.

Jodi Kanter published the book, Presidential Libraries as Performance: Curating American Character from Herbert Hoover to George W. Bush.

Silvio Waisbord wrote the book, Media Movements: Civil Society and Media Policy Reform in Latin America.