Campus & Community

Career Catalysts is a series about WashU interns, by WashU interns. In this installment, meet architecture student Bedgid Aurelie Laguerre, who worked at Christner Architects as a CityStudioSTL Fellow. There, she learned that good communication and good design go hand in hand.

A special Convocation photo gallery from WashU.

Washington University in St. Louis continues to draw talented students from across the nation and around the globe. The Class of 2029 is the second-largest in university history and comprises 1,963 students from 49 states and 29 countries. While American universities continue to navigate federal guidelines that have changed how they recruit and admit students, WashU’s incoming class represents a wide variety of backgrounds and perspectives.

This summer, students in WashU’s Digital Transformation Summer Corps developed AI-driven tools and products that advance important interdisciplinary research projects. The new program is part of the Digital Intelligence & Innovation Accelerator, a “Here & Next” initiative.

There’s a lot of interest in revitalizing neighborhoods, but community leaders and investors need localized data and measurable benchmarks to know if their investments will generate the intended results. Olin Business School graduate students at Washington University in St. Louis created a tool that could help.

Mechanical and materials engineer Sara Roccabianca has been named director of the Center for Women’s Health Engineering in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis.

Stuart A. Kornfeld, MD, the David C. and Betty Farrell Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, died Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025, in St. Louis from complications of Parkinson’s disease. He was 88.

Catherine Hanaway, a member of WashU’s Board of Trustees, has been appointed to serve as Missouri attorney general. As such, Hanaway will step down from the board. She will be sworn in Sept. 8.

Alexander Chamessian, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of anesthesiology at WashU Medicine, was one of two early-career leaders chosen for this year’s Rita Allen Foundation Scholars Award in Pain.

Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis has received a landmark $10 million dual-purpose gift from longtime university benefactors Jerry and Judy Kent to create an endowed deanship and to propel the school’s Business of Health initiative.