Engineering And Technology

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

"Popular Mechanics" named Vanderbilt mechanical engineer Michael Goldfarb one of this year's “Ten Innovators Who Changed The World” for an exoskeleton he developed that helps people with paralysis to stand. 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

Vanderbilt is where the science of risk is done. It’s why Doug Adams wants to be here. Read More

Growing up close to nature in the small timber-and-fishing community of Gold Beach, Ore.—population 2,000—gave John Wilson an early interest in biology and biologically inspired design. 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

Alumnus Pat Garner perished aboard nuclear submarine USS Thresher, which was lost with all 129 hands 50 years ago during deep dive tests 200 miles off the coast of Maine. Steve Krahn, professor of the practice of nuclear environmental engineering, is dedicated to keeping the memory of the Thresher alive. Read More

Vanderbilt University's latest offering on the online learning platform Coursera, "Data Management for Clinical Research," went live this week. More than 33,000 number of students have registered for the massive open online course or MOOC. Read More

Constant innovation helped make one of the first massive open online courses, or MOOCs, at Vanderbilt more like a “real class” and benefited faculty and students by improving on-campus teaching, according to Douglas Schmidt, professor of computer science and of computer engineering at Vanderbilt. 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

The Earl Sutherland Prize for Achievement in Research was presented to John Gore by Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos during the Fall Faculty Assembly Sept. 22. Deyu Li, associate professor of mechanical engineering, was one of five faculty members receiving a Chancellor’s Award for Research, which also recognizes excellence in research, scholarship, or creative expression. Read More