Research

While many people associate the word "pork" with lawmakers' wasteful spending for pet projects, new Vanderbilt research demonstrates the importance of cabinet secretaries and their political ideology in the distribution of lucrative federal grants. Read More

Working in a global economy means a lot more than where a business builds or sends its products. Today, a business owner may operate a shipping business in Florida, have the business incorporated in Delaware, maintain the company's assets in an offshore bank account in the Cayman Islands and specify that any legal disputes be litigated in the United Kingdom. And this is all perfectly legal. Read More

New research by Vanderbilt professor of law and economics Joni Hersch found that housework not only reduces the salaries of women, but also affects some men's wages. She also found that women's salaries are negatively impacted by housework regardless of profession. Read More

Ellen H. Fanning, Stevenson Professor of Biological Sciences at Vanderbilt University, has received a 2009 Humboldt Research Award. Read More

New research from Vanderbilt University's Peabody College offers guidance for teachers to help them improve writing instruction in the primary grades and develop stronger student writers. Read More

A team of Vanderbilt scientists have invented the world's smallest version of the periscope and are using it to look at cells and other micro-organisms from several sides at once. Read More

As the Obama administration begins its quest to right the economy through government spending, a counter story of recovery comes from admirers of the Reagan administration. President Reagan's admirers point out that he was also faced with a horrible economy upon his inauguration which, they assert, Reagan cured with deep tax cuts. Read More

Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist today announced the establishment of a collaboration that seeks to make education a top priority for Tennessee. The State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE), a nonpartisan initiative, hopes to jumpstart education reform efforts across the state. Vanderbilt will serve as a research partner to SCORE. Read More

The day that robot playmates help children with autism learn the social skills that they naturally lack has come a step closer with the development of a system that allows a robot to monitor a child's emotional state. Read More

Students helping other students learn has been proven to boost academic achievement and social skills in students with and without disabilities. A new book by Vanderbilt University researchers, Peer Support Strategies for Improving All Students' Social Lives and Learning, based on over 20 years of research in the field, offers teachers practical guidelines for implementing these peer support strategies in the classroom. Read More

Brandt F. Eichman, assistant professor of biological sciences and biochemistry at Vanderbilt University, has received Sigma Xi's Young Investigator Award. Read More

Thomas J. Weiler, professor of physics and astronomy at Vanderbilt University, has received a 2009 Humboldt Research Award. The award is granted by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Bonn, Germany for the purpose of encouraging research collaborations between German scientists and colleagues in other countries. Read More

Vanderbilt research shows impact of role models in African American performance Watch video of an interview with Ray Friedman. New research by Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management professor Ray Friedman finds that the presidential run of Barack Obama has had a strong positive impact on the test-taking… Read More

One of the most important themes to listen for in Barack Obama's inaugural address is a call for a united American body or citizenry, says Vanessa Beasley, an associate professor of communication studies at Vanderbilt University. Beasley is the author of You, The People: American National Identity in Presidential Rhetoric, which looks at previous inaugural addresses from 1885 to 2001. Read More

Voters in Tennessee House Speaker Kent Williams' district could continue to support and re-elect the Elizabethton representative – even if he switches parties – says Vanderbilt University political scientist Christian Grose. Read More

America's arduous struggle over competing visions of nationhood involving race is a giant step closer to resolution with the presidential inauguration of Barack Obama, says Vanderbilt University historian Gary Gerstle. Read More

Four Vanderbilt faculty members – Daniel Liebler, Charles Sanders, Gary Sulikowski and Michael Waterman – have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), an honor bestowed upon them by their peers. Read More

The fast-growing number of withdrawal restrictions being imposed by hedge funds to curtail capital drain during the financial market crisis comes with a hefty price tag for fund investors, says a new study from the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management. The research comes as investors seek desperately to exit hedge funds to avoid further declines and the possibility of fund failure, yet face a suspension of redemptions by fund managers. Read More

A detailed analysis of the measurements of five different satellites have revealed the existence of the warm plasma cloak, a new region of the magnetosphere, which is the invisible shield of magnetic fields and electrically charged particles that surround and protect Earth from the onslaught of the solar wind. Read More

In a pioneering, interdisciplinary study combining law and neuroscience, researchers at Vanderbilt University peered inside people's minds to watch how the brain thinks about crime and punishment. Read More