Arts And Science

Some people may worry about being bitten by a snake or spider, but have you ever considered what would happen if a small black hole tried to pass through your body? An article by Professor of Physics Robert Scherrer in the International Journal of Modern Physics D poses and answers that very question. Scherrer set out to find what the gravitational effects would be if a primordial black hole passed through the human body, helping scientists better understand the properties of dark matter. Read More

A new study led by Aditya Kurre, BA’22, and Associate Professor of Biological Sciences and Guggenheim Fellow Larisa DeSantis has revealed the specific diet of two species of giant ground sloth, uncovering the vital roles they played in their environments. Their findings could help scientists restore ecosystems that once thrived thanks to these massive mammals. Read More

As conversations about the value and nature of higher education continue at colleges and universities nationwide, a new national Vanderbilt Unity Poll finds that Americans are largely united on the fundamental value of higher education—and in their distaste for the influence of politics and the cost of college degrees.  Read More

Get to know the Class of 2026 Outstanding Senior winner and incredible nominees and hear what inspires the winner most. Read More

Vanderbilt supports new faculty every step of the way—by connecting them with senior faculty who serve as mentors, observe their classes and provide valuable feedback, and proofread their grant proposals to make them stronger. These professors who joined Vanderbilt in the past few years shed light on how the university has helped them succeed.  Read More

New exhibits in three campus locations celebrate the Immersion Vanderbilt program and highlight hands-on learning projects created by former undergraduate students in collaboration with the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries. Read More

See how Cinema and Media Arts students are reaching real-world successes with their films. Read More

Caleb Feiring, BA'15, who studied English, economics and history at Vanderbilt, is an entrepreneur with an interesting—and incredibly tiny—place to call home in New York City. Read More

The Vanderbilt experience is woven into the lives of Allyson Maske, BS’92, and Jim Maske, BE’93, MBA’99, who first met as undergraduates. Between them, they have attended four of Vanderbilt’s schools and colleges, and their son, J.D., is a member of the Class of 2028 at Peabody College. The Maskes are on the Parent Leadership Committee and made recent gifts to Vandy United and Opportunity Vanderbilt in support of the university’s Dare to Grow campaign. Read More

The AAVA embodies the transformative power of connection and cultural identity—all from a place of gratitude. It strengthens the presence of the Asian Pacific Islander Desi American community through cultural celebrations and networking events, collaborating with student organizations to connect alumni with current Vanderbilt students. Joy Cox, BA’98, MD’02, is AAVA's president. Read More

Darryl Berger, BA’69, and his family, have hosted the New Orleans Commodore Launch for four decades, marked by hospitality, connection and Commodore pride. Read More

Russell Smith, BA'68, of Washington, D.C., after retiring from his law practice, has joined Associate Professor of Classical and Mediterranean Studies Joseph Rife and his students on international archaeological digs that have made extraordinary finds. Read More

Meet two student-professor teams using AI and social media to take their musical Immersion research to a new level. Read More

Thirty-five years ago, Alan LeQuire, BA’78, became Nashville’s most prominent sculptor with the unveiling of Athena Parthenos. In June, he returned to the Parthenon with a new body of work that celebrates contemporary people and an exhibit focused on Athena. Read More

As a research institution, the two “products” Vanderbilt puts into the world are alumni and the research produced. Whether it’s helping to cure cancer, inspire with art, or promote sustainability, Vanderbilt students learn to apply the combination of practical skills and confidence that can only be gained from experience to a broad range of fields—positioning them to be much more effective in translating their education to results outside the classroom. Read More

'The River Will Be a Part of Us' by Justus Wayne Thomas, BA'80, chronicles the journey of a group of young people from the U.S. and Germany who launched a homemade raft on the Missouri River near Kansas City, determined to float to St. Louis and from there all the way down the Mississippi to New Orleans. Read More

Jeff Martindale, BA'90, was awarded the Six Star Medal in March for completing the original six Abbott World Marathon Majors: TCS New York City Marathon (2010), Boston Marathon (2013), Bank of America Chicago Marathon (2017), Berlin Marathon (2022), TCS London Marathon (2023) and Tokyo Marathon (2025). Read More

Collaboration, community and love for the written word were celebrated at the 2025 Southern Festival of Books, presented by Vanderbilt University in partnership with Humanities Tennessee Oct. 18–19 in downtown Nashville. The free event, the 37th in festival history, brought hundreds of prominent national authors together in dialogue with fellow writers, readers and thousands of Middle Tennesseans. It also marked the first year of an expanded partnership between the festival and Vanderbilt, evidence of the university’s deepening investment in the cultural fabric of the region. Read More

On September 14, 2015, at 4:51 a.m. Central Time, scientists witnessed something no human had ever seen before: two black holes colliding. These black holes, which were 29 and 36 times the mass of the sun, respectively, had been circling each other for millions of years. Their rotations became increasingly faster until they eventually collided and became a single black hole. Since then, scientists have had numerous breakthroughs that deepen our understanding of the universe, and researchers in the College of Arts and Science have been at the forefront, shaping the scientific field of black holes and gravitational waves. Read More

Political propaganda and artificial intelligence–driven misinformation are infiltrating social media accounts, and Americans need to do something about it. That’s the warning revealed in research from two Vanderbilt professors and discussed on this special episode of the Quantum Potential podcast. Read More