Year: 2025

Vanderbilt University will welcome 4,500+ alumni to campus Nov. 6-9 for Reunion, and staff volunteers are needed as Vanderbilt Ambassadors to make the weekend a success. Read More

RESEARCH SPARK: Learn a key tool new faculty leader Kristina Thomas Dreifuerst is using to prepare the next generation of nurses. Read More

The role of artificial intelligence in drug discovery has been limited by machine learning methods that fail when they encounter chemical structures they weren’t “trained” on. Assistant Professor Benjamin Brown has written a paper suggesting a more targeted approach: using a task-specific model architecture that’s intentionally restricted to learn from a representation of the interaction space between a protein and a drug molecule and be better able to generalize and figure out which compound might best interact with that protein. That’s important, because identifying those compounds early cuts the costs and time involved in developing drugs. Read More

Health inequity is one of the greatest problems facing people across the U.S., and the School of Nursing Health Equity Faculty Fellows program is designed to fight it. “I am confident that the work of our Faculty Fellows will both find solutions and inspire further research that addresses the very real issues faced by our communities,” Dean Pamela R. Jeffries said. This year’s cohort of six scholars, and their research projects, were announced late last month. Read More

Advanced melanoma can be notoriously resistant to standard immunotherapy, but a new drug combination might hold some hope for patients with this most common form of skin cancer. Professor Emerita of Pharmacology Ann Richmond and her team, in preclinical work, created a “tumor microenvironment more receptive to immune challenge.” The treatment slowed tumor growth, showed stronger immune responses and increased helpful T cells. It could be on a faster-than-typical track to human studies because all the drugs are already involved in other clinical trials. Read More

Flying can be a mess that everyone complains about but few people can change. Vanderbilt Law Professor Ganesh Sitaraman might be one of those people. He testified before Congress in early October about what they could do to fix the airline industry: requiring resilience and rainy day funds, setting minimum seat sizes, preventing dynamic pricing and giving passengers the ability to sue. Sitaraman was also a recent guest on Provost C. Cybele Raver’s Quantum Potential podcast, where he talked about his book Why Flying Is Miserable and How To Fix It. Read More

Gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD, plagues millions of people. Vanderbilt researchers led by Assistant Professor Xiaoguang Dong have developed a soft robotic valve that can seal off the lower esophagus from the stomach, keeping gastric acid where it belongs. Then when the patient eats or drinks, the valve, which is implanted in concert with a stent, can be opened with a wearable external magnet. “This platform holds promise not only for treating GERD, but also for managing other sphincter-related disorders,” said co-author and Assistant Professor Yuxiao Zhou. Read More

Collaboration, community and love for the written word were celebrated at the 2025 Southern Festival of Books, presented by Vanderbilt University in partnership with Humanities Tennessee Oct. 18–19 in downtown Nashville. The free event, the 37th in festival history, brought hundreds of prominent national authors together in dialogue with fellow writers, readers and thousands of Middle Tennesseans. It also marked the first year of an expanded partnership between the festival and Vanderbilt, evidence of the university’s deepening investment in the cultural fabric of the region. Read More

Eight decades of Vanderbilt University history are commemorated in a new exhibit at the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries. Dare to Grow, 1945–2025 is on view in the Central Library fourth-floor lobby through mid-February 2026. The exhibit explores Vanderbilt’s remarkable growth in faculty, facilities, enrollment and the quality of its students amid national and international crises, recessions, pandemics and other disruptions from postwar to present day. Read More

To strengthen account security and protect university resources, Vanderbilt University has updated its password requirements. These standards apply both when setting your password during the initial account claim process and when prompted to change your password annually. This revised standard will take effect Oct. 27, 2025. Read More

On September 14, 2015, at 4:51 a.m. Central Time, scientists witnessed something no human had ever seen before: two black holes colliding. These black holes, which were 29 and 36 times the mass of the sun, respectively, had been circling each other for millions of years. Their rotations became increasingly faster until they eventually collided and became a single black hole. Since then, scientists have had numerous breakthroughs that deepen our understanding of the universe, and researchers in the College of Arts and Science have been at the forefront, shaping the scientific field of black holes and gravitational waves. Read More

To accommodate the ESPN College GameDay broadcast, parking adjustments will be in place from now through Sunday, Oct. 26. Here’s what the Vanderbilt community should know.   Read More

Chancellor Daniel Diermeier was inducted into the White Rose Society on Sunday, October 12, by alumni and Vanderbilt parents Justin and Mara Berman in the Zeppos Great Room. The society recognizes non-Jewish individuals who exemplify moral courage and a steadfast commitment to justice. The chancellor was also recognized by The Rohr Chabad House and Lubeck Center for Jewish Life at Vanderbilt University during its Lamplighter Award Ceremony and Shabbat Dinner on Sept. 19. Read More

Three leaders in health policy, informatics and cancer research from Vanderbilt University Medical Center have been elected this year to membership in the National Academy of Medicine, a preeminent advisory body on critical matters of health care, medicine and public health. Read More

Political propaganda and artificial intelligence–driven misinformation are infiltrating social media accounts, and Americans need to do something about it. That’s the warning revealed in research from two Vanderbilt professors and discussed on this special episode of the Quantum Potential podcast. Read More

University Policies—policies that have a broad institutional impact—are now easier for faculty and staff to access than ever before. Through an initiative supported by a new University Policy Office in the Office of the General Counsel, the university has launched a policy portal that houses all approved University Policies in a searchable, easy-to-navigate centralized repository. Read More

We all face pain and hardships. Whether it’s a career setback, breakup or health scare, building resilience is crucial for navigating life’s challenges. While you can’t always control your initial reactions to tough situations, you can learn how to build resilience to help you recover and move through challenges faster.  Read More

For those experiencing writer’s block, or just looking for inspiration, journeying outside and spending time in nature may be the answer. The natural world has a cadence that helps us relax and refocus, allowing creativity to flow. This was the case for Professor of French and Comparative Literature Robert Barsky, who completed a solo bicycle trip across Europe after college. Along the way, he wrote poetry inspired by his travels. Years later, Barsky would draw on this experience as he embarked on a new project to tell the story of the transformative Atlanta Beltline, a 22-mile multi-use trail on a former railway track that encircles the core of Atlanta, Georgia. Read More

VUIT will offer walk-up support at a new Tech Hub in Vanderbilt’s Central Library beginning Monday, Oct. 13. The Central Library Tech Hub is located on the south end of the main service desk in the fourth-floor lobby. The Tech Hub is designed to offer quick, in-person assistance with university-owned devices for issues such as VUnetID problems, wireless connection issues, email setup, and software access. Read More