At Stanford 2019: The year in review

In 2019, Stanford opened the doors of a state-of-the-art hospital, a campus in Redwood City, a research complex dedicated to improving human health and a renovated amphitheater. Three campus landmarks were also renamed in honor of three inspirational women, university co-founder Jane Stanford, astronaut and alum Sally Ride and pioneer in Native American health Carolyn Lewis Attneave, MA ’47, PhD ’52. Meanwhile, scientists made discoveries about brains, bots and heartbeats and scholars proposed new ways to understand social and economic problems. The year also saw two students named Rhodes Scholars, among other academic and athletic accomplishments. Here’s a roundup of those and other highlights from the year.

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Research

First-ever recording of a blue whale’s heart rate

With a lot of ingenuity and a little luck, researchers monitored the heart rate of a blue whale in the wild. The measurement suggests that blue whale hearts are operating at extremes – and may limit the whale’s size.

Stanford Athletics

Women win soccer championship

Stanford women’s soccer team beat North Carolina on penalty kicks, 5-4, to win the NCAA championship on Sunday.

Arts & Creativity

Welcome back to Frost!

Stanford’s iconic amphitheater reopens after extensive renovations and upgrades that make it one of the premiere music venues in the Bay Area and a place for university pomp and circumstance.

Medicine

Stanford Health Care opens doors to new Stanford Hospital

Some 200 patients have been moved into the new Stanford Hospital, marking the official opening of the 824,000-square-foot facility.

Humanities

Developing skills for humanities research

A new one-week course, called Humanities Research Intensive, teaches first- and second-year undergraduate students what research in the humanities could be and what skills are needed to do it.

Campus Life

Stanford Commencement 2019

Stanford University’s 128th Commencement weekend, June 15-16, 2019, attracted tens of thousands of visitors to see diplomas awarded to thousands of graduating seniors and graduate students.

Science & Technology

Regular Pokémon players have Pikachu on the brain

Adults who played Pokémon videogames extensively as children have a brain region that responds preferentially to images of Pikachu and other characters from the series.

Humanities

Move responsibly and think about things

In the course CS 181: Computers, Ethics and Public Policy, Stanford students become computer programmers, policymakers and philosophers to examine the ethical and social impacts of technological innovation.

Humanities

Giving voice to Chinese railroad workers

Researchers with Stanford’s Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project detail the story of Chinese migrants who helped construct the First Transcontinental Railroad.

Social Sciences

Cultivating empathy in an unjust world

Stanford psychologist Jamil Zaki examined the different dimensions of empathy – including its positive and in some cases, negative effects – and found that through the right practice, empathy can be cultivated in sustainable ways.

Science & Technology

Dog-like robot jumps, flips and trots

Stanford students developed a dog-like robot that can navigate tough terrain – and they want you to make one too.

Stanford Athletics

Five straight IRA titles

Women’s Lightweight Rowing won its fifth consecutive Intercollegiate Rowing Association team national championship.

University Affairs

Stanford completes the renaming process by dedicating Jane Stanford Way

Stanford dedicated Jane Stanford Way on Thursday, honoring the woman whose vision and leadership had a profound effect on the shaping of the university she co-founded with her husband, Leland. Leaders of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe participated in the ceremony, welcoming the audience with prayer and song.

Medicine

Scientists find potential diagnostic tool, treatment for Parkinson’s disease

In human cell cultures, countering a defect that appears to be nearly universal among patients with Parkinson’s disease prevents death in the cells whose loss causes the disease.

University Affairs

Stanford University launches the Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence

The new institute will focus on guiding artificial intelligence to benefit humanity.

Medicine

Biomarker for chronic fatigue syndrome identified

Stanford scientists devised a blood-based test that accurately identified people with chronic fatigue syndrome, a new study reports.

Stanford Athletics

NCAA volleyball champs

The Cardinal won an unprecedented eighth NCAA women's volleyball championship over the weekend with a victory over Nebraska.

Arts & Creativity

The compelling origin story of the Stanford museum, university and Silicon Valley

The Melancholy Museum: Love, Death, and Mourning at Stanford highlights the impact of the death of Leland Stanford Jr.

Campus Life

What Stanford seniors leave behind: Memories for the time capsule

Rubber duckies, photos, toys, class assignments – the seemingly mundane items Stanford seniors leave in their class time capsule hold treasured memories.

University Affairs

Stanford renames buildings for Sally Ride and Carolyn Lewis Attneave

Based on a process that relied on suggestions and research from the university community, the former Serra undergraduate dormitory and Serra House academic building will now honor two graduates who became world leaders in their fields.

Stanford Athletics

Water polo wins NCAA championship

Stanford jumped to an early lead and never looked back in winning the Cardinal's first men’s water polo NCAA championship since 2002.

Social Sciences

New evidence shows that school poverty shapes racial achievement gaps

Racial segregation leads to growing achievement gaps – but it does so entirely through differences in school poverty, according to new research from education Professor Sean Reardon, who is launching a new tool to help educators, parents and policymakers examine education trends by race and poverty level nationwide.

Humanities

New Stanford Libraries exhibition highlights rare artifacts important to faculty research

Scholars Select highlights rare books and artifacts held in Green Library collections that are valuable to the research of scholars at Stanford. Faculty members share their cherished item.

Awards

Stanford student named 2020 Rhodes Scholar

History major Anat Peled, ’20, will pursue a MPhil at the University of Oxford in England. She is the second Stanford student to receive the prestigious award in the past week.

Social Sciences

Strategies to secure American elections

Stanford scholars outline a detailed strategy for how to protect the integrity of American elections – including recommendations such as requiring a paper trail of every vote cast and publishing information about a campaign’s connections with foreign nationals.

Stanford Athletics