Behind the scenes, WashU IT and CTL partner to power back-to-school success
August is here and an “all hands on deck” push is underway across Washington University in St. Louis. Working alongside the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) and distributed educational technology experts across schools, WashU IT is mobilizing to ensure faculty and students kick off the academic year without a technical hitch. Strong partnerships are critical. “The WashU […]
Empowering secure discovery: Why Research Infrastructure Services (RIS) is built for modern science
In an era driven by massive datasets and rigorous regulatory demands, researchers need technology that accelerates scientific discovery without compromising security. Research Infrastructure Services (RIS) serves as that dedicated bridge—delivering high-performance, scalable computing and storage solutions tailored specifically to the unique needs of researchers. “RIS is very helpful and plays a critical role in our research by providing seamless, […]
Building a stronger digital foundation at WashU
WashU continues to advance its digital transformation through the Network Modernization Project, a multi-year initiative that has significantly enhanced the university’s technology infrastructure. Since 2024, the project has delivered major improvements in network performance, security and reliability across WashU’s campuses, creating a stronger foundation for teaching, learning, research and clinical operations. Building deployments are currently […]
Microsoft Publisher is retiring
Microsoft has announced that Publisher will retire in October 2026 and will no longer be included in Microsoft 365 after that date. The change is part of a broader shift toward modern, cloud-based tools across Microsoft 365. Before October, Users who have created flyers, newsletters or other materials in Microsoft Publisher should begin planning for the transition by finding and […]
Box storage stewardship: Keeping WashU’s digital footprint in check
Thanks to the incredible cooperation of the WashU community, great strides have been made to reduce the university’s digital footprint. A total of 222 of the university’s largest Box users, have partnered with WashU IT to evaluate more than 9 petabytes of data. Together they are working toward a tailored storage solution that reduces file […]
June IT All Hands recap, reminder and past meeting archives
The June WashU IT All Hands meeting featured an update on strategic university initiatives by Nichol Luoma, Executive Vice Chancellor for Enterprise Operations and Chief Operating Officer at Washington University in St. Louis, and details about the university’s response to the recent national Canvas cybersecurity breach delivered by Chief Information Security Officer Chris Shull. In her […]
RIS user attestation and training requirement
On June 30, all users of the Research Infrastructure Services (RIS) environment were assigned two required Workday tasks. What: To ensure everyone using the RIS environment meets the National Institutes of Health (NIH) requirements for controlled-access data, all RIS users must complete: 1. RIS User Attestation 2. Insider Threat Awareness Training (approximately 10 minutes) Why: This establishes compliance with NIST 800-171 security controls. RIS is […]
SharePoint updates bring a refreshed Microsoft 365 experience to the university
SharePoint is part of the university’s Microsoft 365 environment and is available to all faculty, staff and students. It provides a secure place for departments, teams, projects and campus groups to store files, share information, publish news, and collaborate within a team or across the university. A refreshed SharePoint experience is expected to begin rolling out across university SharePoint sites in late July, […]
Problem Management is the topic of July ITSM Roundtable
The topic of the next Information Technology Service Management (ITSM) Roundtable is Problem Management; an important ITSM practice focused on identifying and addressing the root causes of recurring IT issues. The roundtable session will be held on Friday, July 24, at 2:00 p.m. CDT. New invitations from Teams were sent on June 30th and should be on everyone’s […]
GPT-Rosalind: New AI workspace for WashU researchers
This month, WashU IT will begin providing the WashU research community with access to GPT-Rosalind, OpenAI’s frontier life science research model, provisioned to WashU in a dedicated beta workspace. GPT-Rosalind works in tandem with a Life Sciences Research plugin and a large library of skills that connect to public scientific databases, including UniProt, GWAS Catalog, RCSB […]