Research

How can research guide policymakers in selecting effective models of service delivery in early intervention? How can essential special education knowledge and best practices be integrated into juvenile court systems? And how can we better support the educational and developmental experiences of children and youth in foster care as they… Read More

Research into an aging paradox reveals details on why certain dysfunctions in mitochondria can lead animals to live longer lives. Read More

Vanderbilt researcher De-en Jiang and collaborators demonstrate a new way to get more energy from sulfur, a low-cost and abundant battery material. Read More

After more than a decade of erosion, support for democracy has stopped falling and begun a modest but widespread recovery across the Americas. The findings are detailed in the 2026 Pulse of Democracy, released today by Vanderbilt University’s Center for Global Democracy and the Kellogg Institute, part of the University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs. Read More

When humans return to the lunar surface in the coming decade, the tools they carry to listen to the earliest echoes of deep space will bear the distinct imprint of Vanderbilt University research and design. Karan Jani, assistant professor of physics and astronomy and of electrical and computer engineering, and founding director of the Vanderbilt Lunar Labs Initiative, is the principal investigator on two new federal awards that will fuel development of the Laser Interferometer Lunar Antenna, a gravitational-wave observatory program for the moon. Read More

Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development has long been at the forefront of human-centered innovations. The college continues that legacy with three faculty appointments for the 2026-27 academic year. Through their notable research, Conrad Borchers, Ryan Louie and Cynthia Rayner are tackling pressing issues… Read More

By Jennifer Kiilerich Marisa Flores on Peabody’s campus. It was almost midnight when Marisa Flores, MEd’17, collected the final scholar from the Nashville airport. Flight delays and thunderstorms did not dampen her enthusiasm; she had spent months preparing for the rising high school seniors who were finally settling into Vanderbilt… Read More

By Jennifer Kiilerich Vanderbilt University’s Golnaz Arastoopour Irgens, assistant professor of human-centered learning technologies at Peabody College of education and human development, partnered with Sarah K. Burriss (PhD’23, Peabody’s Department of Teaching and Learning), assistant professor of the practice at the College of Connected Computing, to rethink… Read More

Peabody Dean Camilla Benbow moderated the PISA U.S. results webinar on September 8. Click to watch the webinar. New results of a prominent international assessment of student learning were released on September 8 with Vanderbilt University leaders and faculty experts assisting in their rollout. Vanderbilt teamed with the Organization… Read More

Get to know some of our newest faculty as they explain what excites them about their transformative work and the positive impact it can have on society. Read More

One year after Vanderbilt launched the university-wide institute dedicated to solving the world’s toughest energy challenges, the Vanderbilt Center for Sustainability, Energy and Climate gathered researchers, industry leaders and policymakers for its first symposium, held Sept. 2-4.  Keynote speakers from a Fortune 500 energy company, a national laboratory and a Tennessee-born solar giant offered a wide-ranging look at meeting rising energy demand while building a resilient grid. Read More

Vanderbilt (VU & VUMC, combined) may submit Scholar (Career Development) Award, Research Grant, and Survivorship and Supportive Care Research Grant proposals for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation spring grant cycle.  Read More

Vanderbilt University may submit one LOI per department to the RRF Foundation for Aging November 2026 cycle. Read More

Vanderbilt (VU + VUMC, collaboratively) may submit one nomination per category for the 2027 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists. Read More

Vanderbilt University may submit up to three proposals for the W.M. Keck Foundation Research Program. Read More

Vanderbilt University may submit one application to the January 2027 cycle of the Conservation, Food and Health Foundation (CFH) Grants program.  Read More

Vanderbilt (VU and VUMC, collaboratively) may nominate one candidate for the 2027 Brain Research Foundation Seed Grant Program. Read More

A new pilot program between Vanderbilt University’s Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries and Cambridge University Press will expand Vanderbilt’s Evidence-Based Acquisitions (EBA) ebook agreement with Cambridge to include book publishing opportunities for Vanderbilt authors. Read More

On Sept. 1, Nashville Metro Council overwhelmingly approved Vanderbilt’s proposal for a Specific Plan to develop about 40 acres adjacent to the west side of campus into an innovation neighborhood. Read More

Vanderbilt University researchers are analyzing mineral deposits in Western caves to reconstruct thousands of years of climate and wildfire history. Backed by international and internal grants, the team studies subterranean records to better understand environmental change and climate trends. Read More