Our Commitment to Action
Washington University is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions 22% by 2020. To advance this goal, the university has established an Energy Conservation Investment of $30 million.
CGI U 2013 was at Washington University in St. Louis from April 5-7, 2013, bringing together nearly 1,200 attendees to make a difference in CGI U’s five focus areas: education, environment and climate change, peace and human rights, poverty alleviation, and public health.
WUSTL volunteers pave the way for CGI U large-scale service project
More than 250 students, faculty, staff and friends from across the university gathered at Gateway STEM High School last Saturday, March 30, to help lay the groundwork for this weekend’s… Keep reading →
Photos
To download hi-res images please visit the WUSTL Flickr account.
Why Washington University?
Public service and global leadership are at the heart of the mission of Washington University in St. Louis. Our students, faculty and staff are leading the way to address urgent global challenges in the CGI’s five focus areas: education, environment and climate change, peace and human rights, poverty alleviation and public health.
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Student Commitments
Commitments to Action are new, specific, and measurable initiatives that address social or environmental challenges on campuses, in communities, or in different parts of the world. Proposed by an individual or a group, commitments translate practical goals into meaningful and measurable results. WUSTL is proud of all 200 of our students who have made a commitment to action through CGI U. Here is a sample of the projects our students are working on.
Educational Asthma Management Campaign
Andrew Brimer and Abigail Cohen are the co-founders of Sparo Labs, a company that has invented an award-winning, patent-pending device that revolutionizes the management of chronic respiratory diseases. They believe that the key to better health care is education, and committed to partnering with a national organization to develop a campaign that raises asthma awareness and educates patients on how to best manage their asthma.
Correctional Education Reform Through Technology
The goal of the Correctional Education Reform Through Technology program is to equip the inmates of St. County Jail and St. Louis County Juvenile Detention with the literacy, mathematics, and critical thinking skills necessary in order to obtain their GEDs and reduce their rate of relapse.
Team LumaCure
Team LumaCure has identified one of the most significant factors that contribute towards neonatal deaths — hyperbilirubinemia, or jaundice. The team’s goal is to make a low cost and portable phototherapeutic treatment device that will help treat neonatal jaundice using Electroluminescence instead of the existing LED / halogen lamp phototherapy solutions. The team has been researching and thinking about this problem, and feels it has come up with a better, cheaper solution that is not currently available.
Missouri Regional Science Bowl
The Missouri Regional Science Bowl seeks to facilitate a science education ecosystem in Missouri where resources and organizations from around the state collaborate, and to open the current Science Bowl program to middle school participants.
Science in Everyday Life
The goal of the Science in Everyday Life project is a public event to change people's attitudes and beliefs about the nature of science. Specifically, it will point out how people act as "scientists" in their everyday lives, such as using evidence and drawing conclusions. Through this self-reflection people will be guided to think about a controversial, popular scientific topic (e.g., climate change, renewable energy, vaccines) in a new way. In this way, the event will address people's troubled understanding of the scientific method (i.e., how science is done and what science can tell us) and promote a more science-savvy citizenry.
Mobile Hand Clinic for St. Louisans
This plan aims to bring a mobile hand clinic to medically underserved St. Louisans. It calls for simple tools, treatments and education for those with untreated hand conditions.
Sickle cell education
This plan seeks to address St. Louis' significant prevalence of sickle cell disease through visits to high schools to educate students about how the disease is passed from parent to child and to encourage meetings with genetic counselors.
Barbershop-based health education study
Almost everyone finds time to get a haircut. This project aims to train barbers as peer educators to promote healthy lifestyle changes and to explain metabolic syndrome — a cluster of risk factors linked to high cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes — to their clients.
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Join the Conversation
We are using Storify to curate the preparations, applications, and energy leading up to CGI U at Washington University in April, 2013. Be a part of the conversation! Tweet, post to Facebook and Tumblr, or send us links to blogs. Help us build the story for Washington University and CGI U.
Find Us Online
Participate
While CGI U sessions are not open to the public, everyone has the opportunity to engage in a number of ways. You can:
- Watch sessions live at cgiu.org,
- Follow us on Tumblr to get the the WUSTL Eye View of CGI U,
- Share your thoughts by using #CGIU on Twitter and Tumblr, and
- Participate in WUSTL sustainability efforts.
Campus Viewing Parties
Everyone is welcome to attend a live feed of the CGI U sessions featuring President Bill Clinton and TV personality Stephen Colbert in Tisch Commons on the DUC movie screen. Additional sessions will be presented in the DUC Fun Room.
April 5, 6:30 p.m.
Opening Session by President Bill Clinton
April 6, 3:30 p.m.
Closing Remarks by Stephen Colbert
Media Access
Press registration is now open to members of the media. To apply, please complete the press access form on the CGI U website.
Schedule of Events
CGI U 2013 Meeting Agenda
For the complete participant details and meeting agenda, including plenary sessions, skill and working sessions, and the service project, visit cgiu.org.
