Olin Business School

Washington University alumni thrive in the compelling and competitive art auction business.

One year after walking across the Commencement stage, these three alumni are charting their own path to success.

A recent internal investigation of the Veterans Affairs Department has alleged that supervisors got bonuses partly by reporting low wait times for veterans waiting for care. Lamar Pierce, PhD, an expert on compensation and incentive conflict at Olin Business School, says that while employers frequently use financial incentives to motivate employees, the VA should have thought more about unintended consquences.

Chairs provide great support during long meetings, but they may also be holding us back. Standing during meetings boosts the excitement around creative group processes and reduces people’s tendencies to defend their turf, according to a new Washington University in St. Louis study that used wearable sensors to measure participants’ activity levels.

A Belgian company was so impressed with the efforts of a group of Olin Business School students at Washington University in St. Louis, the CEO traveled 4,300 miles to campus this spring for further interaction with the students, marking the first time an international practicum partner has visited the school.

Contrary to popular belief, the Federal Reserve’s effort to encourage banks’ lending during the recent financial crisis by providing them short-term loans worked — and, in fact, worked quite well — finds a new study by assistant professor of finance Jennifer Dlugosz and colleagues.

In preparation for an upcoming summit on working families, Robert Pollak, PhD, an expert on family economics, recently attended a meeting at the White House with other academic leaders and senior administration officials. They gathered to discuss the implications of demographic and other changes for 21st-century workplaces.

A project to provide low-cost eyeglasses for people in the developing world and one to develop a cell-death detector will share $25,000 to further develop their projects as winners of the 2014 Discovery Competition. Washington University in St. Louis’ School of Engineering & Applied Science created the competition in 2012.

That the WUSTL-connected contingent comprises 40 percent of this year’s Arch Grant winners is no surprise to H. Holden Thorp, PhD, provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs.

Get an up close look at the eight WUSTL-affiliated 2014 Arch Grant winners.