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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Stanford Video

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.

Science & Technology

Touch-based display helps blind people create in three dimensions

Stanford researchers designed a tactile display that aims to make 3D printing and computer-aided design accessible to people who are blind and visually impaired.

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

National golf champions

The Stanford men’s golf team won the 2019 NCAA championship. It’s the Cardinal’s ninth NCAA title and first since 2007.

Science & Technology

Stanford opens ‘team science’ complex for brain research and molecular discovery

The Stanford ChEM-H Building and the Stanford Neurosciences Building are opening this month as part of a new research complex dedicated to improving human health.

Teaching & Students

Stanford’s African and African American Studies program turns 50

Stanford’s first ethnic studies program celebrates its 50th anniversary by bringing leading scholars in black studies to campus for a conference in April.

Science & Technology

Motherly poison frogs shed light on maternal brain

Stanford biologists are using rare poison frogs that nurse their young as a way to help answer a fundamental question: Is there more than one way to build a maternal brain?

Stanford Athletics

Women’s Tennis receives 2019 NCAA title

Stanford captures its 20th NCAA crown with a 4-0 victory over Georgia.

University Affairs

University and civic leaders celebrate the opening of Stanford Redwood City

At Stanford Redwood City yesterday, President Marc Tessier-Lavigne, Provost Persis Drell, Redwood City Mayor Ian Bain and Redwood City Vice Mayor Diane Howard cut a ceremonial red ribbon to celebrate the opening of the new state-of-the-art campus.

Arts & Creativity

Stanford polymath blazes a new trail with his design manifesto

Written as a photo comic book, Ge Wang’s publication charts new ethical and aesthetic territory.

Awards

Five people with Stanford affiliations announced as 2019 Knight-Hennessy Scholars

The 2019 cohort of Knight-Hennessy Scholars includes a senior majoring in chemistry; a coterminal student studying biology, economics and computer science; and three alumni from the classes of 2015, 2017 and 2018.

Medicine

Hormone reduces social impairment in kids with autism

In a Stanford study of 30 children with autism, intranasal vasopressin improved social skills more than a placebo, suggesting that the hormone may treat core features of the disorder.

Stanford Athletics

Men’s Gymnastics receives 2019 NCAA title

Cardinal captures NCAA team title in thrilling fashion.

Medicine

Mast cells crucial to causing osteoarthritis

Mast cells – infamous for secreting allergy-triggering chemicals – also secrete a cartilage-degrading enzyme. Blocking mast cell development, or the activity of the enzyme, protected mice from osteoarthritis in a Stanford study.

Science & Technology

A new way to generate hydrogen fuel from seawater

A Stanford-led team has developed a way to harness seawater – Earth’s most abundant source – for chemical energy.

Stanford Athletics

Women’s Swimming and Diving champions

Stanford Women’s Swimming and Diving won its third straight NCAA championship.

Science & Technology

Lifetime flu vaccine?

Another year, another flu vaccine because so far scientists haven’t managed to make a vaccine that protects against all strains of flu. A new approach could end that ritual and protect against deadly pandemic flu.

Awards

Stanford senior named 2020 Rhodes Scholar

A Stanford senior is among the 32 Americans selected to attend the University of Oxford in England for graduate study in a field of their choice.

Science & Technology

New catalyst helps turn carbon dioxide into fuel

Stanford engineers Aisulu Aitbekova and Matteo Cargnello say a new process shows promise in turning the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide back into usable fuels, and yields four times as much fuel as previous approaches.

Stanford Athletics

Women win volleyball title

Stanford women’s volleyball team swept Wisconsin to win its second straight national championship on Saturday.

Stanford Athletics

Water polo champions

The Cardinal beat USC Sunday in the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s women’s water polo championships for a seventh title.