Research
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Where passions take flight: Programs for Talented Youth celebrates 25 years
By Jennifer Kiilerich Gabriella Noreen is teaching at PTY while earning her Ph.D. with Vanderbilt Peabody College. Gabriella Noreen loved math from a very young age, her passion deepening when she discovered A.P. statistics as a teen. But she tended to be quiet in school. “I wish somebody had… Read MoreNov 10, 2025
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Classroom creativity gets big-screen results for Cinema and Media Arts students
See how Cinema and Media Arts students are reaching real-world successes with their films. Read MoreNov 10, 2025
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Teaching for tomorrow: Next-gen learning tools at the LIVE Learning Innovation Incubator
By Jennifer Kiilerich and Jenna Somers Imagine learning about ecosystems by “becoming” a bee, connecting with your child more deeply by discussing a good book, or being inspired by a library of brand-new AI creations right at your fingertips. These experiences are all possible thanks to learning tools being developed,… Read MoreNov 7, 2025
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Vanderbilt Peabody faculty receive NSF grant to study how conversation shapes memory, with applications for AI and education
By Jenna Somers In daily conversations, most people are not aware of the complex brain processes taking place that make their conversations possible. However, understanding these processes could improve how AI communicates with people and how students learn at school. A new study aims to shed light on these processes,… Read MoreNov 7, 2025
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Vanderbilt joins Planetary Society’s Hill Day to champion federal science funding
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 MoreNov 6, 2025
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Claire Smrekar, school desegregation and school choice expert, retires in December
By Jenna Somers Claire Smrekar (center), associate professor of leadership, policy and organizations, and Ron Zimmer, former associate professor of public policy and education (left), took part in the panel discussion “Options in Education: School Vouchers—What Research Shows.” Claire Smrekar was well acquainted with Cleveland, Mississippi. She had traveled… Read MoreNov 6, 2025
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Research and music sync with Immersion Vanderbilt
Meet two student-professor teams using AI and social media to take their musical Immersion research to a new level. Read MoreNov 5, 2025
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Salvatore Falletta: Human resources and AI reach an ethical crossroads
RESEARCH SPARK: AI is becoming a common tool for Human Resources departments. Learn from new faculty Salvatore Falletta about the ethical lines between creepy AI analytics creative decision making. Read MoreNov 5, 2025
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At Vanderbilt, education leaders from around the globe meet to shape the future of AI in learning
By Jennifer Kiilerich Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development, with Florida State University Anne Spencer Daves College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences, and the University of Kansas School of Education and Human Sciences, hosted a four-day gathering of some of the world’s leading minds from institutions… Read MoreNov 5, 2025
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From cell phones to principal pipelines: How TERA empowers evidence-based decision making in Tennessee schools
Founded in 2016, the Tennessee Education Research Alliance (TERA) brought together leaders from Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development and the Tennessee Department of Education to launch one of the first state-level research-practice partnerships aimed at informing education policy and practice. Through TERA, researchers… Read MoreNov 5, 2025
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Peabody College welcomes new faculty
Salvatore Falletta (submitted photo) Warren Lowell (Vanderbilt University) Amy Owen Michelle Perdomo Douglas Ribeiro (Vanderbilt University) Jonathan Seiden… Read MoreOct 31, 2025
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Limited Submission Opportunity: Mellon Foundation Higher Learning Program
Vanderbilt University may submit up to three concept papers to the Mellon Foundation Higher Learning Program: 2026 Call for Concepts. Read MoreOct 29, 2025
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Peer tutoring in YMCA aftercare delivers powerful results, Vanderbilt study finds
By Jennifer Kiilerich In a game-changing partnership, Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development and the YMCA of Middle Tennessee are proving that effective reading interventions can come in all shapes—and ages. Reading Buddies is a peer-to-peer tutoring initiative spearheaded by Peabody researcher Jeanne Wanzek and Elizabeth… Read MoreOct 28, 2025
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Wolters Kluwer and Vanderbilt’s Heard Libraries collaborate on transformative medical research agreement
Wolters Kluwer Health and Vanderbilt University’s Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries have announced a new collaboration that will help support medical breakthroughs and improve access to scholarly research. The agreement, which is an expansion of Wolters Kluwer’s read-and-publish offerings in North America, will run through 2028. Read MoreOct 27, 2025
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Vanderbilt’s Ancora Partnership: A collaborative journey toward health care innovation
Since the inception of the Ancora Innovations partnership in 2018, Vanderbilt and Deerfield Management have enjoyed a robust collaboration. Deerfield’s commitment includes significant support for advancing translational research and sponsorship of various events across Vanderbilt University and Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Recently, key members of Deerfield's leadership team spent two days at Vanderbilt to engage faculty in discussions about potential projects of mutual interest. Read MoreOct 27, 2025
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Kristina Thomas Dreifuerst: Teaching nurses to reason and reflect in patient care
RESEARCH SPARK: Learn a key tool new faculty leader Kristina Thomas Dreifuerst is using to prepare the next generation of nurses. Read MoreOct 27, 2025
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Vanderbilt scientist tackles key roadblock for AI in drug discovery
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 MoreOct 24, 2025
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School of Nursing announces 2025 Health Equity Faculty Fellows
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 MoreOct 24, 2025
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Promising new drug combination may help melanoma patients resistant to treatment respond once again to the body’s immune defenses
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 MoreOct 24, 2025
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Law School’s Ganesh Sitaraman testifies before U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee
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 MoreOct 24, 2025