Engineering And Technology

A new way of assembling things, called metamaterials, may in the not too distant future help to protect a building from earthquakes by bending seismic waves around it, the way invisibility cloaks bend light. Jason Valentine, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, is quoted. Read More

Biomedical and chemical engineers at Vanderbilt University, working with a pathologist, have constructed a sponge-like, biodegradable tissue “scaffold” that releases an enzyme-blocking molecule to indirectly activate endogenous pathways and enhance tissue regeneration and wound healing. Read More

Recent advances in robotics technology make it possible to create prosthetics that can duplicate the natural movement of human legs which promises to dramatically improve the mobility of lower-limb amputees. Read More

Providing surgical robots with a new kind of machine intelligence that significantly extends their capabilities and makes them much easier and more intuitive for surgeons to operate is the goal of a major new grant announced as part of the National Robotics Initiative. Read More

A remote acoustic detection system designed to identify homemade bombs can determine the difference between those that contain low-yield and high-yield explosives. Read More

Solar cells that produce electricity 24/7. Cell phones with built-in power cells that recharge in seconds and work for weeks between charges: These are just two of the possibilities raised by a novel supercapacitor design invented by material scientists at Vanderbilt University. Read More

A team of engineers and doctors have developed a new wireless capsule that can give surgeons back their sense of touch when performing minimally invasive surgery. Read More

Byron Smith was eager to increase the number of people who get screened for colorectal cancer each year. His dedication has led to a new venture – EndoInSight – and a National Science Foundation Innovation Corps Program grant to commercialize a tool for an almost painless colonoscopy. Read More

After two days of live competition, a team of engineers from Vanderbilt’s Institute for Software Integrated Systems emerged as a top winner for their prototype software-defined radio that can communicate in adverse spectrum environments, and earned a $25,000 prize. Read More

Tony Capra, Ph.D., is a new assistant professor of Biomedical Informatics and investigator in the Center for Human Genetics Research at Vanderbilt. His goal is to use the tools of computer science to address problems in genetics, evolution and biomedicine. Read More

A pair of Vanderbilt graduate students has received a national award of $15,000 to pursue the development of an unique synthetic foam as a new treatment for deep skin wounds such as chronic foot ulcers caused by diabetes. Read More

Two months before graduating with a degree in civil engineering Mason Hickman earned two awards at the 2013 Southeastern Section Conference of the American Society for Engineering Education for his research on portable structures capable of withstanding blasts from explosives. Read More

A national experiment to develop a new generation of college science and engineering faculty, one equipped to excel in the classroom as well as the lab, is about to shift into high gear. The Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning, of which Vanderbilt University is a member, has received a three-year, $5 million grant from the National Science Foundation. CIRTL is partnering with Vanderbilt’s Center for Teaching to offer The Blended and Online Learning Design Fellows program. Read More

In the foreseeable future, robots will be sticking steerable needles in your brain to remove blood clots; capsule robots will be crawling up your colon as a painless replacement for the colonoscopy; and ultra-miniaturized snake robots will remove tumors from your bladder and other body cavities. Read More

Meghan Bowler, Erica Curtis, Melanie Gault, Samantha Saratt and Chelsea Stowell, biomedical engineering; Kirsten Heikkinen and Richard Hendrick, mechanical engineering; and Thushara Gunda, civil and environmental engineering, have received graduate research fellowships from the National Science Foundation. Read More

Vanderbilt graduate student Charleson Bell, who is the president of the high tech startup BioNanovations, is participating in a 12-week accelerator program in Silicon Valley specifically designed to encourage underrepresented tech entrepeneurs. Read More

Vanderbilt’s Institute for Software Integrated Systems (ISIS) was awarded a $9.3 million contract to develop a collaborative software so that other non-government teams could design a new amphibious tank for the Marine Corps. Sandeep Neema, research associate professor of electrical engineering, is quoted. Read More

For their senior design project for the School of Engineering, six Vanderbilt students created the KidSense Car Seat System. The system detects if a child has been left unattended and if the environment has become dangerously hot or cold. Co-creator Chelsea Stowell, BE’13, is quoted. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers reprogrammed a humanoid robot and an XBox Kinect to help autistic children improve their abilities to engage in social interactions. Nilanjan Sarkar, professor of mechanical and computer engineering, is quoted. Read More

Vanderbilt University seeks to be on the leading edge of the MOOC field with the opening of its Institute for Digital Learning. Read More