17吃瓜

The Brown School initiative is modeled on a first-of-its-kind program at USC that鈥檚 had a big impact.

What if you could pull expertise out of the ivory tower and deploy it in the real world? What if top St. Louis academics were encouraged to direct their attention to the region鈥檚 problems not as a subject of historical inquiry but in real time? 

Those are the questions being asked by a new initiative launching today at Washington University鈥檚 Brown School, and it鈥檚 already working to help St. Louis recover from one of its most challenging springs in recent memory. Called the , it was inspired by an initiative at the University of Southern California that鈥檚 had a big impact over its five years in Los Angeles. 

USC鈥檚 exchange describes itself as 鈥渢he first-of-its-kind matchmaker and A-to-Z project manager that enables partners working on complex problems to tap the entire spectrum of academic expertise at a world-class research university.鈥� The Brown School鈥檚 dean, Dorian Traube, came to 17吃瓜 from USC, where she worked with its Public Exchange as an investigator on a project. She says the idea of creating an exchange here鈥攖he second in the nation after USC鈥檚鈥攈ad been on her mind from the beginning. In fact, she approached 17吃瓜鈥檚 provost to pitch her on the idea during her first month in St. Louis.聽