Reagan Villet

Vanderbilt’s Central Library and Divinity Library will be closed beginning at 6 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 21, through Sunday, Nov. 30, for scheduled facility maintenance. The libraries’ regular operating hours will resume on Monday, Dec. 1. Read More

On Friday, Nov. 7, Vanderbilt University’s Institute of National Security and the Naval Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (NROTC) Alumni Association partnered for the first time to host a full day of programming celebrating leadership, service, and pragmatic solutions to national security challenges—culminating in the 15th Annual National Security Symposium in Sarratt Cinema. Read More

As conversations about the value and nature of higher education continue at colleges and universities nationwide, a new national Vanderbilt Unity Poll finds that Americans are largely united on the fundamental value of higher education—and in their distaste for the influence of politics and the cost of college degrees.  Read More

Vanderbilt Crowdfunding, an initiative in its inaugural year, offers a new level of possibility through student-led philanthropy. Supported by university resources provided by the Office of Development and Alumni Relations, the forward-looking approach to engagement and philanthropy reframes fundraising from a formal transaction to a shared investment in future leaders—to a community coming together for support. Read More

Vanderbilt's Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization had an exceptional 2025 fiscal year, setting all-time records across multiple metrics while expanding the university's innovation impact. CTTC experienced growth in technology disclosures, licensing transactions, industry-sponsored research, and startups launched—demonstrating the university's commitment to expanding the entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem. Read More

Applications are now open for the next cycle of EAT!, a free program that provides international students and scholars a chance to enjoy American food and culture with a local family. Read More

Winners from the latest cycle of the Ignite Tech Development Grant have been announced, showcasing the diverse potential of emerging learning technology innovation. This year’s competition attracted a strong and diverse applicant pool from across Vanderbilt’s schools and all academic levels, from undergraduates to faculty. The winning proposals focus on learning that spans the spectrum from math to empathy to AI ethics. Read More

The Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries have partnered with Amazon Web Services to launch the Vanderbilt Cloud Innovation Lab for Libraries and Applied Digital Preservation, powered by AWS. This initiative, the first of AWS’s cloud innovation programs to be housed in an academic library and focused on archival preservation, was celebrated Oct. 27 at a ribbon-cutting event and reception on the Vanderbilt campus. Read More

Vanderbilt University has received a catalytic $30 million gift from John Addison, BE’01, and Shannon Addison, BS’02, to ignite a bold new era of innovation at the School of Engineering. Their visionary contribution serves as the lead commitment for Power the Impossible, a new $300 million fundraising campaign in support of the School of Engineering. Building on the remarkable momentum of the university’s record-breaking Dare to Grow campaign, Power the Impossible will position Vanderbilt Engineering among the world’s most influential, impactful and recognized engineering institutions of this century. Read More

A new PBS Kids series created to help children better understand the impact of weather and climate took instructional cues from Jeremi London, associate provost for academic opportunity and associate professor of mechanical engineering, who played a role in the show’s development. Read More

Schizophrenia has been proven to be heritable, but typical analyses so far haven’t been able to pinpoint what, genetically, is going wrong in the brain. A new paper by Professor Bingshan Li and research instructor Rui Chen outlines how to improve on existing genetic screening for schizophrenia risk by expanding the areas of the chromosome scanned for genetic signals. Their results point to a “tangible biological pathway—and potential treatment target—linking genetic risk to the pathogenesis of schizophrenia,” Chen said. Read More

Shan Meltzer has been awarded a prestigious Edward Mallinckrodt, Jr. Foundation Award to advance her pioneering research that seeks to determine how the body’s sensory circuits form and function. Her work seeks to answer a fundamental question in neuroscience: how do the brain and spinal cord organize their intricate networks to perform such a wide range of functions? Read More

As AI usage grows, so too does the energy demand on AI-related infrastructure. Experts in energy and energy policy discussed the environmental ramifications during the 2025 Vanderbilt AI Symposium. Read More

Vanderbilt University hosted more than 5,700 alumni and guests on campus Nov. 6–9 for Reunion and Homecoming 2025. This year’s attendance was the largest in university history—even surpassing 2022’s Triple Reunion. The weekend schedule featured more than 85 events showcasing the university’s latest programs and initiatives, deepening connections among alumni celebrating milestone class years, and welcoming back all alumni for Homecoming.   Read More

Vanderbilt (VU + VUMC, collaboratively) may nominate one candidate for the Mary Kay Foundation Innovative/Translational Cancer Research Grant program for 2026. Read More

International Education Week is an annual celebration of international education and cultural exchange. Created in 2000 through a memorandum issued by President Bill Clinton, IEW recognizes the importance of global exchange—whether it is encouraging students in the U.S. to study abroad or welcoming international students and scholars on U.S. campuses. Colleges and universities throughout the U.S. host IEW in mid-November each year with an array of programming that highlights the broad impact of international education on each campus.  Read More

Five exceptional Vanderbilt faculty members have been named 2025 Master Innovators for their extraordinary contributions to translating research into commercial applications that have significant societal impact. The 2025 honorees represent diverse fields from infectious disease therapeutics to neuroscience drug discovery and biomedical engineering.  Read More

New exhibits in three campus locations celebrate the Immersion Vanderbilt program and highlight hands-on learning projects created by former undergraduate students in collaboration with the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries. Read More

The room buzzed with energy at Operation Stand Down Tennessee as city leaders and university researchers gathered just a few blocks from Vanderbilt’s campus to tackle some of Nashville’s most pressing civic challenges. It was the first annual Civic Tech Jam, hosted by the Nashville Innovation Alliance on Oct. 22—a pitch event that brought together faculty from across Middle Tennessee universities, including many from Vanderbilt, and Metro Department leaders to explore technology-driven approaches to civic challenges.  Read More

What does it take to listen to the universe and ensure the U.S. stays at the forefront of that discovery? For Vanderbilt University researchers, part of the answer lies in continued federal support for science, particularly through agencies like NASA and the National Science Foundation. Read More