Arts And Science Research

Widespread trust in vaccines often leads to higher vaccination rates, but vaccine shortages can deter even those with confidence in vaccines. Furthermore, while vaccine mandates can create an appearance of universal vaccination, people may remain hesitant, resulting in lower compliance than anticipated. Read More

Robert Talisse’s Open Inquiry Award recognizes his work on effective argumentation—an increasingly relevant topic for today’s polarized campuses and public squares. His work provides astute observations about the current climate and offers invaluable solutions to decrease polarization and improve constructive discourse. Read More

Mechanical engineering Professor Nilanjan Sarkar, Frist Center Director Keivan Stassun and collaborators receive $1M to develop an integrated AI and behavioral science-based driving training system to improve transportation independence for neurodiverse individuals. Read More

The Discovery Vanderbilt center welcomed adolescent and young adult health expert Stephen Russell to share evidence for strategies that create supportive communities, reduce mental health risk and promote well-being for LGBTQ+ youth. Read More

The grant will help biomedical scientists at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in launching a research platform devoted to molecular underpinnings of early-childhood determinants of health. The project, called ELVIS, or, less connotatively, the ECHO Laboratory core at Vanderbilt for Integrated Sample biobanking and processing, is part of an expansion of the NIH’s multi-center Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes program Read More

For his “eclectic but refined, musical, talky and witty” poetry, renowned poet Major Jackson, professor of English, director of creative writing and holder of the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in the Humanities, has been awarded the 2023 Academy of American Poets Fellowship. Read More

Assistant Professor of Physics and Mathematics Alex Lupsasca has won a 2024 New Horizons in Physics Prize for his theoretical work on the interpretation of black hole images and his proposal of a new method for using super-powered telescopes to look closely at black holes and their invisible fingerprints called photon rings. Read More

The Center for the Mechanical Control of Chemistry received a $20 million grant from the National Science Foundation to support its expansion to 11 partner institutions, including Vanderbilt University. Read More

Philosophy scholar David Thorstad’s mathematical modeling approach may spark counterintuitive discussions about existential risk and how to mitigate it. He concludes that we must rethink recent arguments in favor of prioritizing existential risk over other pressing problems. Read More

A $350,000 grant to develop next-generation archaeological mapping technology will let a Vanderbilt-led research team reveal information about the ancient civilizations of the central Andes. Read More

Supported by Discovery Vanderbilt and a collaboration between the College of Arts and Science and the School of Nursing, the center will deepen society’s understanding of the causes and consequences of health-related inequalities. An event marking the center’s launch will take place on Monday, Sept. 18. Read More

New research experience will expose undergraduates to diverse career paths and provide graduate-level training, mentoring and professional networking in the social sciences. This is the first year of a three-year program in the Department of Political Science. Read More

Jonathan Gilligan has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award for the 2023–24 academic year from the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. Read More

The U.S. Department of Energy is funding two Vanderbilt early-career nuclear physicists’ exploration of the universe’s properties and composition. Raghav Kunnawalkam Elayavalli and Jean-François Paquet, assistant professors in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and members of the multidisciplinary Vanderbilt Initiative for Gravity, Waves and Fluids, have been identified as among the nation’s most exceptional researchers. Read More

The fellowship program is intended to serve as a pathway and source of mentorship for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars across the Southeastern Conference to prepare them for tenured faculty positions.  This cohort of Vanderbilt scholars will attend the upcoming 2023-24 SEC Emerging Scholars conference Oct. 1–4 at the University of Arkansas.   Read More

Vanderbilt’s LAPOP Lab is the premier academic institution carrying out surveys of public opinion in the Americas. Read More

Neuroscientist Mark Wallace is spearheading a research consortium focused on childhood multisensory perception development. The international team includes researchers from Yale University, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois and Italian Institute of Technology. Read More

Aging stars expand and eventually destroy planets in their inner systems. Or do they? A team of researchers that includes Keivan Stassun finds evidence of a planet that survived its star’s transformation, and that is reshaping our understanding of planetary and stellar evolution. Read More

Nicole Creanza and Yakov Pichkar explore whether subtle cultural differences within a language mirror genetic structure within a population. The answer: Even small cultural differences like dialect can influence the spread of people and genes. Read More

Led by Stephen Taylor, assistant professor of physics and astronomy, a collaborative effort across 88 institutions has identified evidence of slowly undulating gravitational waves passing through our galaxy. Read More