Jennifer Johnston

Illustration by Dan Page   “I want to help you.” In a moving but chilling scene, that line is uttered by HAL 9000, the all-knowing computer system depicted in the classic 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, as it pleads with Dr. Dave Bowman not to disconnect the rogue machine… Read More

What if kids taught their parents to eat fruits and vegetables instead of the other way around? A program that flips traditional family dynamics to incorporate healthy eating habits into homes culminates in an April 28 event where teen participants cook for their families and caregivers. Read More

The partnership with Fisk through the Fisk-Vanderbilt Masters-to-PhD Bridge Program and other avenues, “presents us with an opportunity to see the results of our efforts impact an under-served community." Read More

Bright-colored products and brands do more than just draw attention. They allow people to signal a personal identity that aligns them with elite athletes, explains Vanderbilt marketing professor Jennifer Escalas. Read More

Allowing principals to involuntarily transfer teachers within a district resulted in more productive teachers replacing lower performing teachers in mostly disadvantaged schools. Read More

Government leaders did not properly recognize the strategic role of IT in defining and implementing policy in rolling out the online insurance exchanges mandated by the Affordable Care Act, according to Douglas C. Schmidt, a professor of computer science at Vanderbilt University. Read More

A $200,000 grant from the National Science Foundation will enable a team of U.S. and Chinese researchers to identify instructional supports that lead to higher levels of mathematics achievement. Read More

Labor organizing victories in Southern states could have far-reaching political implications for the region and the nation, according to Vanderbilt University labor sociologist Dan Cornfield. Read More

Alan Wiseman's research shows that women lawmakers, particularly ones in the minority party, are more effective than their male counterparts when it comes to negotiating and getting things done--as they did to end the government shutdown. Read More

Teachers and their observers viewed Tennessee’s teacher evaluation process more positively in 2013 than in 2012, according to a broad-based independent survey by the Tennessee Consortium on Research, Evaluation and Development at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College of education and human development. Read More

(iStock) Why are some high schools better than others at boosting achievement among traditionally underserved students? A new report from the National Center on Scaling Up Effective Schoolsfinds that student ownership and responsibility for academic success were key factors. Marisa Cannata (Vanderbilt) “The idea is to… Read More

Policymakers in Washington, D.C., increasingly are earning the distrust of the American people, and the current impasse that led to a government shutdown is no exception, according to Marc Hetherington, a political science professor and author of two books on trust and polarization in American government. Read More

Large urban school districts may need to adopt new strategies to draw prospective teachers to the most disadvantaged and geographically isolated schools, according to research from Vanderbilt University to be published in an upcoming issue of the American Education Research Journal. Read More

Women with access to group prenatal care had improved birth outcomes, including longer gestational periods and higher birth weight, in a study conducted by researchers at Vanderbilt’s Peabody Research Institute. Read More

“From a historical perspective, which looks at the American presidency since the end of World War II, Obama’s decision reflects a turning point, the clear triumph of domestic political considerations over foreign policy priorities,” according to Thomas Schwartz, a professor of history and political science at Vanderbilt. Read More

Positive interactions in a pre-kindergarten classroom may be equally or more important to the future academic development of 4-year-olds than learning letters and numbers, according to Dale Farran, senior associate director of the Peabody Research Institute at Vanderbilt's Peabody College for education and human development. Read More

New U.S. Department of Justice guidelines regarding the enforcement of the federal government’s longstanding marijuana prohibition constitute a “major policy shift,” according to Robert Mikos of Vanderbilt University Law School. Mikos, an expert on the conflict between state and federal marijuana laws, is available to provide expert commentary on the DOJ announcement. Read More

While high-frequency trading has been linked to several high-profile episodes, a new study conducted by Vanderbilt University finance professors Nicolas P.B. Bollen and Robert E. Whaley finds there has been no discernable uptick in average global market volatility correlated with the rise of high-frequency computer trading. Read More

Christopher Slobogin, the author of a book that addresses privacy and government intrusion, is available for expert commentary for ongoing stories regarding whistleblower Edward Snowden’s revelations of massive phone surveillance by a federal spy agency. Read More

Economic prospects improved for small mountain farmers in Guatemala when consumers developed a taste for coffee brewed with beans grown at high altitude, according to a new study from the Vanderbilt Institute for Coffee Studies. Read More