Spring 2009
Sweet Affliction
Mar. 16, 2009—For most of my adult life, I have been fascinated by the old Southern style of shape-note singing—even though for many years I actually knew little about it and certainly never participated in it. It lay at the intersection of several of my personal involvements: the history and culture of the South, religion and choral...
Where Are They Now?
Mar. 16, 2009—On football game days, you can find Don Orr, BE’56, at the same place he was some 50 years ago—overlooking Dudley Field and looking for a Vanderbilt victory. Orr led the Commodores to their first bowl game and first bowl win in the 1955 Gator Bowl with a 25–13 win over Auburn. “It was a thrill, unexpected,” he...
Bowled Over
Mar. 16, 2009—The man responsible for leading the Commodore football team to its first postseason win since Sputnik orbited the earth is not necessarily doing the things one might expect after such a feat. He’s not going to the beach. He’s not going on a fishing expedition with friends. The 2008 SEC Coach of the Year is conferring with...
Sports Roundup
Mar. 16, 2009—Women’s Tennis: Preeg, Blatt Undefeated in Fall Classic The women’s team closed out the fall season with six out of eight singles wins at the SEC Fall Coaches Classic held at the University of Alabama. Freshman Chelsea Preeg and junior Hannah Blatt won their respective brackets with 3–0 records. Also winning in singles play were sophomore Courtney...
This Is Your Brain on Bach
Mar. 16, 2009—Musicians really do think differently than the rest of us. Vanderbilt psychologists have found that professionally trained musicians more effectively use a creative technique called divergent thinking, and use both the left and right sides of their frontal cortex more heavily than the average person. Previous studies of creativity have focused on divergent thinking—the ability...
‘Quick Fix’ Leads to Personal Bankruptcy
Mar. 16, 2009—Each year some 10 million American households borrow money through payday loans. Payday lenders now have more storefronts than McDonald’s and Starbucks combined. But a recent study shows that payday-loan applicants who received the quick cash after their first application were significantly more likely to file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy than those whose initial application was...
Birthday May Play Role in Asthma Risk
Mar. 16, 2009—Children born four months before the peak of cold and flu season have a greater risk of developing childhood asthma than those born at other times of year, according to new research from Vanderbilt. In the Tennessee Asthma Bronchiolitis Study, which involved an analysis of the birth and medical records of more than 95,000 children...
Satellite Measurements Reveal Region of Magnetosphere
Mar. 16, 2009—Earth is protected from the onslaught of solar wind by the magnetosphere, an invisible shield of magnetic fields and electrically charged particles that surrounds our planet. The northern and southern polar lights—the aurora borealis and aurora australis, respectively—are the only visible parts of the magnetosphere, but it is a critical part of Earth’s space environment....
Military Grant Spurs Bone Regrowth Study
Mar. 16, 2009—Why do some bone cells knit together neatly following a fracture or amputation, while others grow wildly into soft tissue that can limit range of motion and cause problems with prosthetics? Dr. Erika Mitchell, assistant professor of orthopaedic trauma, has won a $1.3 million, three-year grant from the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command...
Vanderbilt Is First-Ever Higher Education Institution on Fortune List
Mar. 16, 2009—Fortune Magazine’s annual ranking of the 100 best places to work in the United States includes Vanderbilt this year, marking the first time a university has made the list. The No. 98 ranking represents approximately 21,000 employees at Vanderbilt University and Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The rankings are determined through an extensive survey process. More...
Expanded Data Pipeline Makes Big Bang
Mar. 16, 2009—Vanderbilt researchers now have access to 15 times more bandwidth, thanks to a new 10-gigabit-per-second circuit that began routing new traffic in December. The previous circuit allowed 662 megabits of data to be transferred per second. “The new 10-gigabit-per-second circuit connects to Southern Crossing in Atlanta,” says Matthew Hall, assistant vice chancellor for information technology...
“Obama Effect” Shrinks Performance Gap
Mar. 16, 2009—The presidential run of Barack Obama has made a strong positive impact on the test-taking achievement of African Americans, according to research by Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management Professor Ray Friedman. Documenting what Friedman and his co-authors call “the Obama Effect,” the study found the performance gap between black and white Americans in a...